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What historical events should a UK adult know about?

166 replies

julieca · 28/10/2021 13:57

So what do you think an adult brought up and living in the UK should know about history? I don't mean in-depth knowledge, but just very basic knowledge.
I think adults should all know about -

  • Both world wars and a bit of understanding about how many countries were involved
  • Transatlantic slave trade
  • Reformation
  • Existence of cold war
  • Holocaust, Hitler and Nazi party
  • Partition in India
  • English Civil War
  • Roman Empire and that it included England and parts of Wales
  • Act of Union
  • Troubles in Northern Ireland
  • Suffragettes
  • Feudalism
  • Black Death
OP posts:
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SickAndTiredAgain · 30/10/2021 19:42

Sorry, didn’t mean to put those links without comment.
The first talks about a specially annotated version selling in Germany as an academic book, being bought by schools and libraries.
The second talks about how in 2016 it could be printed because the copyright (owned by Bavaria, who didn’t allow it to be printed) ran out because it was 70 years since Hitler died. It says the German authorities allow academic, annotated versions to be printed, just not the original text alone.

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SickAndTiredAgain · 30/10/2021 19:36

@ColinTheKoala

German children read Mein kampf at school and are encouraged to employ critical thinking

They definitely do not, because it's banned.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38495456.amp

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35242523
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ColinTheKoala · 30/10/2021 19:14

German children read Mein kampf at school and are encouraged to employ critical thinking

They definitely do not, because it's banned.

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MamsellMarie · 30/10/2021 19:09

Wars -
First world war
Spanish Civil War
Second World War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Falklands War
Bosnian War
Iraq War

Relatively recent wars.

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HaveToSaySomethingHere · 30/10/2021 06:56

Industrial Revolution for sure.
Boston tea party.
Shackleton's North Pole explorations.
Trade unions.

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toofer · 30/10/2021 06:35

Finally, no-one should be allowed to comment on the Israeli-Palestinian issue unless they have first studied the history of the area in question going back thousands of years, have studied the history of antisemitism and therefore recognise antisemitic tropes when they see one, and, crucially, understand geography too.

For example, even in this thread, lots of well-meaning people have said, where could all the dispossessed Jews from E Europe who'd survived concentration camps go, they had to go to Israel, which gives the misleading impression that modern Israel is full of European Jews who only arrived post WW2.

This ignores the reality that 60% of Israeli Jews came from Middle Eastern countries, including Israel itself (which had always had a Jewish population, despite the attempts of numerous colonisers and invaders, over the last 2000 years). Plus it ignores the post-1948 ethnic cleansing of Jews across the Middle East and N Africa, which led to approx a million Jews from ancient communities of Jews from Tunisia to Iraq etc etc being forced out of their homes, massacred, and forced to take refuge in Israel. People who are unaware of this recent large-scale ethnic cleansing of Jews then have the chutzpah to refer to Israelis as 'white' in comparison to supposedly 'black' Palestinians. This is stupid, as all Jews are Middle Eastern in origin, and 60% of Israelis in addition lived in the Middle East & N Africa continuously for thousands of years. So the stupid racists who state all Israelis should 'go back to Poland' are just really dumb.

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toofer · 30/10/2021 06:17

Also, surprised that the history of the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union, the Cold War and the fall of communism doesn't seem to be mentioned. Essential for understanding the modern world.

Also the Great Depression.

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toofer · 30/10/2021 06:14

Rape in marriage not eape

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toofer · 30/10/2021 06:14

As well as the suffragettes, it's important to understand the rise in women's rights more generally. Many people take these for granted, and have no idea how incredibly recent it was that eape in marriage was legal, for example.

Ditto people should know about other civil rights movements, eg for black people in the US, or gay rights.

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Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 30/10/2021 04:55

I agree that people should know about the Chartists and the Industrial revolution.
The Rebecca Riots were taught at A level in Wales and the “Welsh Not”.
Exploited and not allowed to speak Welsh.

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Cherryana · 30/10/2021 04:03

From your original post Op, I realised where I have learnt something about most of your original list was through plays. Performing, studying and teaching them as a Drama teacher for 18 years.

I have been told in all serious on several occasions how unimportant and frivolous my subject is. It is an amazing vehicle for reflection and contextualising different events and historical time periods for myself and pupils.

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NashvilleQueen · 30/10/2021 03:31

Creation of the welfare state.

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Gloomandglow · 30/10/2021 03:17

Too right English kids should be taught about the effects of the empire on the modern world. In Germany kids are taught exactly how Nazi Germany came to be and the aftermath of ww2 in shaping modern Germany/Europe. German children read Mein kampf at school and are encouraged to employ critical thinking.

This is how history should be taught in schools here. To be able to study a source and analyse it and consider its merits and limitations is of huge importance when it comes to the understanding of history.

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immersivereader · 30/10/2021 02:25

Have to say that my education was heavy on the Industrial Revolution (Northern mill town, so unavoidable really.. Helmshore Textile Mill anyone?) and WW2, much of which was courtesy from Year 10 history and my grandad. Bit of Henry VIII thrown in for good measure

Lots of events in this thread I've never heard of, so I'll be gooogling.

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lnsufficientFuns · 30/10/2021 02:20

I’mListening to The Rise and Fall of The British Empire which ha pretty good - 30 odd half hour lectures - topping up my history gaps nicely

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immersivereader · 30/10/2021 02:11

Super interesting thread, thanks for starting op.

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PickUpAPepper · 29/10/2021 23:34

think adults should know more gender history. So:

- when did women get the right to own property?

And when it got taken away - Henry VIII time in England (it was England then). Whose laws are being widely quoted and brought back into use of late? And why? Women are right to be worried.

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SickAndTiredAgain · 29/10/2021 23:24

@ClafoutisSurprise

Oh yes, of course, the Egyptians. Nobody else though! It’s like Africa doesn’t exist other than as the departure point in the slavery story (itself very briefly covered). When learning about religion, oral history, art, music and the many varied cultures of Africa has much to offer children.

That’s true. But it’s also true about the Middle East, Asia, South America, North America, Australia, New Zealand, the islands of the South Pacific. Basically, the entire world. I think learning about other cultures is important, and incredibly interesting. I just don’t know how you’d pick!

I’d include the ancient Middle Eastern civilisations, Sumeria for example.
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SarahAndQuack · 29/10/2021 23:14

@julieca

So what do you think an adult brought up and living in the UK should know about history? I don't mean in-depth knowledge, but just very basic knowledge.
I think adults should all know about -

  • Both world wars and a bit of understanding about how many countries were involved
  • Transatlantic slave trade
  • Reformation
  • Existence of cold war
  • Holocaust, Hitler and Nazi party
  • Partition in India
  • English Civil War
  • Roman Empire and that it included England and parts of Wales
  • Act of Union
  • Troubles in Northern Ireland
  • Suffragettes
  • Feudalism
  • Black Death

Feudalism is an odd one - there's a case to be made it never really happened in England, and it certainly didn't happen anywhere in the way Victorian historians imagined, which is what most people think of when they think about feudalism. So I think it'd be more about exploding myths.

I think adults should know more gender history. So:

  • when did women get the right to own property?
  • when could women have the right to their own earnings?
  • when could women get secure access to their children after a marriage breakdown?
  • when was rape in marriage criminalised?


Etc.
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ClafoutisSurprise · 29/10/2021 23:11

That is an interesting question, PickUpAPepper! Ethiopia springs to mind immediately - an ancient home of Christianity, a long tradition of learning, emperor haile selassie. Or what about West Africa - diversity of religions and cultural practices and, yes, the significance of this part of the world in the international slave trade. How there are people in Brazil and other countries across the Atlantic who still keep traditions from west Africa alive.

I remember we did the Aztecs for a full term at junior school and that was fairly standalone (and was fascinating), so I would think it possible to select a discrete topic from the African continent to teach.

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PickUpAPepper · 29/10/2021 22:29

It’s a huge continent with huge content though! How on earth would you select, so as not to overwhelm?? Egypt comes in as part of our historical threads, connecting narratives of civilization and its spread. (Thinking of, and agreeing with, an earlier pp about how much there is to learn!)

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ClafoutisSurprise · 29/10/2021 22:01

Oh yes, of course, the Egyptians. Nobody else though! It’s like Africa doesn’t exist other than as the departure point in the slavery story (itself very briefly covered). When learning about religion, oral history, art, music and the many varied cultures of Africa has much to offer children.

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Coyoacan · 29/10/2021 21:58

If there is one thing the Industrial Revolution teaches us it is that the English working class suffered every bit as much as the Irish and the slaves in the colonies

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julieca · 29/10/2021 21:52

Egyptians are routinely covered. Not other bits of Africa though.

OP posts:
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ClafoutisSurprise · 29/10/2021 21:42

American War of Independence and relations with the US since - I don’t think you can understand modern Britain without this context.

Completely agree with all comments saying we need to teach the British Empire and colonialism more. It’s not about blame. I find it amazing I learnt nothing about the 18th century at school and that we focused in on styles of architecture when studying the Victorians! I spent inordinate amounts of time learning about the Holocaust at school - nothing about atrocities carried out under British colonial rule. This is not right.

On a related subject, why aren’t the cultures of Africa ever studied in history? I came away from school with an understanding of sub-Saharan Africa that was all safaris and slavery. Not a lot about the different ways people had lived historically or today.

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