What historical events should a UK adult know about?

[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

[Rebornagain]

The problem with history is too Many people harbour grudges about the past and won't let things go that didn't affect them.

Yes we should learn about some events but why the animosity still held many years on. The world has changed so much.

[SaskiaRembrandt]

Most of the seventeenth century.

[mellongoose]

I would like English children to learn history without all the England bashing. What English people did in the 12th or 19th century is not for us or our children to feel ashamed of.

Same goes for other nations. I do not vilify German people because of WWI or WWII.

Children should learn factually and without prejudice from teachers either 'for' or 'against' any nation.

Just my humble opinion.

[mellongoose]

I also think it's important that children learn how ordinary people lived throughout the ages. My hope is that they appreciate all the 'luxuries' they have now....like an indoor loo!

[roundtable]

@Rebornagain

The problem with history is too Many people harbour grudges about the past and won't let things go that didn't affect them.

Yes we should learn about some events but why the animosity still held many years on. The world has changed so much.

Who are the many people holding grudges about things that didn't affect them? The Irish? Indians? Africans? Jewish people? Do tell when people should let things go. As if generations later a group of people are still affected negatively because of the actions of another group. I don't think it's a black and white issue.

Have you heard of the phrase "the sins of their fathers"? It's quite old. Just because the repercussions aren't obvious to you, doesn't mean they don't exist.

Really interesting thread, there has been some great suggestions.

[PickUpAPepper]

The UK is more than just the English now. The colonies are now writing the history books and we aren't going to gloss over the sins of Empire.

Yes, that’s essentially what is happening at the moment. I hope “the colonies” also remember their own history and brutal acts, including towards women and children, but somehow I suspect the myth of innocence brutalised is being used.

I would include the growth of the early modern state leading to Enclosure, and the creation and conditions of the working classes of England in Victorian times.

[PickUpAPepper]

In fact, I know the op referred to ‘historical events’, events specifically: but the development of ideas would perhaps be as useful. Specifically the development of ‘empires’ and ‘imperialism’, the development of the private company and modern financial systems, and perhaps the concept of land ownership - I picked up a weighty looking tome about that the other day, in hopes of wading through it.

[IknowwhatIneed]

I would like English children to learn history without all the England bashing. What English people did in the 12th or 19th century is not for us or our children to feel ashamed of.

I agree children shouldn’t be ashamed of what people did centuries ago, but it needs to be taught without the gloss of glorious empire with a lens that acknowledges the harm. Much in the way I’d hope the Holocaust might be taught in Germany - people need to know what we as a human race are capable of when we dehumanise others, that our economy hugely benefitted from the wide scale harm of others.

It’s that old adage, those who ignore history are destined only to repeat it.

[Bottleofstout]

@IknowwhatIneed

I would like English children to learn history without all the England bashing. What English people did in the 12th or 19th century is not for us or our children to feel ashamed of.

I agree children shouldn’t be ashamed of what people did centuries ago, but it needs to be taught without the gloss of glorious empire with a lens that acknowledges the harm. Much in the way I’d hope the Holocaust might be taught in Germany - people need to know what we as a human race are capable of when we dehumanise others, that our economy hugely benefitted from the wide scale harm of others.

It’s that old adage, those who ignore history are destined only to repeat it.

Totally agree with this.

^ Also, countries need to take actively responsibility for previous wrong-doings.

It's all very well saying learn facts witnout "English bashing" but it's not quite as easy as that when the hand of British colonial power can be seen in so many modern conflicts: Pakistan, India , Bangladesh, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, Ireland, Northern Ireland, to name but a few! Haven't started on Africa!

[ILoveYouMoreTheEnd]

@julieca

Also a bit of understanding of the stone age. The myth is of men hunting mammoths and women tending the babies and this feeds into ideas of what is natural. In reality, most calories came from foraged fruit and nuts and fishing.

I'd like to start here 😊 thanks for the thread. Where to go from there though? I'm Scotland and I honestly cannot remember anything about history at school so I'm ignorant with most, if not all of your comments. I would love to learn though, how the UK has come about and especially the laws. Probably sounds as if I'm rather simple 😂 xx

[TheWatersofMarch]

@SirensofTitan we live in a democracy, that's the reason why people should know this stuff. People have actual power to dictate the policies of government and a knowledge of history, statistics and basic science and skills in critically evaluating information is a fundamental part of being a citizen. That's why we bother to provide an academic education to young people until they are 16.

[AuntieStella]

I'd say everything in 1066 And All That as a starting point.

Because if you don't have some (easily absorbed) starting points, it's pretty hard to find the pegs in which to hang the rest.

And of course, 'the rest' includes current affairs - for example looking at how Henry VIII was responsible for the first Brexit (read Scharma for more on this) can give quite different insights into European power blocs and how they rise and fall

[Fizbosshoes]

I probably only (vaguely) know about half of the things on the original OP list

The more I read MN the more uneducated I feel!

[Fizbosshoes]

...following on from the fact I don't know about many if the topics mentioned (the original list and those people have added) in what way should I know about them?
What does it mean , in your opinion, if I am uneducated on some of this stuff...?

[ColinTheKoala]

I think we need less emphasis on English history and more on European and world history.

I did a wide range of eras up to GCSE but other than the Romans and Greeks, it was very UK- and England-centric (though we did the Berlin blockade/wall and the Korean war as part of GCSE).

For A level I did the period 1450-1603, and we did study European history for half the course, so I eg covered French wars of religion, Ferdinand and Isabella, to name but two topics. We also covered relationships between England and Scotland, and England and France at the time, but very little on Ireland or Wales.

And I agree we need more nuance - certain things get portrayed very simplistically (eg Highland Clearances) and with only a passing nod to accuracy.

[ColinTheKoala]

The problem with history is too Many people harbour grudges about the past and won't let things go that didn't affect them

I do agree with this - we do need to move on. An example would be the British (English) attitude towards Germany because of WW2. Very few people in Germany today were alive during WW2 and have zero responsibility for what their parents or grandparents might have done. We do need to move on.

History is interesting and you can learn from it (although people don't) but you should not harbour grudges from it. I think we'd do a lot better in international relations if we moved on.

[AccidentallyOnPurpose]

All the events that are considered essential to know for the Life in the UK test.

[MareofBeasttown]

@PickUpAPepper

The UK is more than just the English now. The colonies are now writing the history books and we aren't going to gloss over the sins of Empire.

Yes, that’s essentially what is happening at the moment. I hope “the colonies” also remember their own history and brutal acts, including towards women and children, but somehow I suspect the myth of innocence brutalised is being used.

I would include the growth of the early modern state leading to Enclosure, and the creation and conditions of the working classes of England in Victorian times.

I can't go into too much detail here for fear of outing myself, but part of my job is being a historian and I can assure you there is plenty published on the 'brutal acts of the colonies." I wrote a book on it myself.

As for English children learning history without" English bashing," that is ridiculous. You want a diverse class with brown and black children to learn about how wonderful the Empire was for their ancestors? Might as well ask American children to learn history without learning about slavery because that might be bashing Thomas Jefferson.

[inferiorCatSlave]

@ELCismyspiritnana

Has anyone mentioned the Chartists yet? Lots on the suffragettes - rightly, but until the Chartists only the wealthy could vote, I think more people should learn about them.

I had heard of all the histrocial events on OP orginal list and most not all of other people's suggestions but Chartists as a poltical movement not really.

I knew there was poltical reform and there was demand for it but not much beyond that till we moved here - a big histroical chartist event happened - which I hadn't really heard about till moving. Still took a while to realise how big a poltical movement it was how widespread and it took them 19 years to get reform.

I lived in Manchester but only know about Peterloo Massacre because of a recent film - though I had a vauge idea that military has been used against peaceful protesters because we did cover the corn laws briefly at school. I think they have put more remembrance stuff up in Manchester since I lived there though.

[longwayoff]

Everyone should have a good look at Afghanistan right now. We, the West, have done this. Future generations will wonder 'how did they become radicalised?' as people seek revenge. It's history in the making.

[CaptainCallisto]

I think there's a difference between teaching the things that happened, in a balanced way (so telling children the awful things that happened in the name of Empire along with the benefits it brought to us as a nation) and saying "English people did these awful things through the centuries, which makes us terrible people now, and we should all shoulder that guilt even if we feel it was abhorrent". I think the pp was referring to the latter when they talked about English bashing.

I am thoroughly disgusted by many of the things done by Britain and the British Empire, but I don't feel guilty on a personal level because I didn't do it.

On the other hand, I vividly remember putting my hand up during a GCSE history lesson on the blitz, in which we were being taught how awful it was that the Germans were bombing a civilian population, and asking when we were going to learn about Dresden and the major allied bombing attacks on German cities. My teacher just looked flummoxed, and none of my classmates had any idea that we had done that. We need balanced teaching across the history curriculum, regardless of the period/event being covered.

[MareofBeasttown]

@CaptainCallisto

I think there's a difference between teaching the things that happened, in a balanced way (so telling children the awful things that happened in the name of Empire along with the benefits it brought to us as a nation) and saying "English people did these awful things through the centuries, which makes us terrible people now, and we should all shoulder that guilt even if we feel it was abhorrent". I think the pp was referring to the latter when they talked about English bashing.

I am thoroughly disgusted by many of the things done by Britain and the British Empire, but I don't feel guilty on a personal level because I didn't do it.

On the other hand, I vividly remember putting my hand up during a GCSE history lesson on the blitz, in which we were being taught how awful it was that the Germans were bombing a civilian population, and asking when we were going to learn about Dresden and the major allied bombing attacks on German cities. My teacher just looked flummoxed, and none of my classmates had any idea that we had done that. We need balanced teaching across the history curriculum, regardless of the period/event being covered.

Nobody is asking you to feel guilty. My ancestors did terrible things too. I don't feel guilty.

I am just saying that there are literally millions of books on what a wonderful chap Churchill was. Surely there is room for a few books showing his part in the Bengal Famine.

[TrashyPanda]

The UK is more than just the English now

The U.K. has never been just the English. It is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Someone who is British is not automatically English and English history is only one part of British history. Sounds like the Union of the Crowns and the Union of Parliament and how this created modern Britain is something that needs to be taught more thoroughly

[MareofBeasttown]

@TrashyPanda

The UK is more than just the English now

The U.K. has never been just the English. It is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Someone who is British is not automatically English and English history is only one part of British history. Sounds like the Union of the Crowns and the Union of Parliament and how this created modern Britain is something that needs to be taught more thoroughly

I am well aware . I was responding to a previous poster's usage of that phrase. It was not my own.

[inferiorCatSlave]

it was that the Germans were bombing a civilian population, and asking when we were going to learn about Dresden and the major allied bombing attacks on German cities

I know about this from varous sources but your right it's rarely mentioned.

A recent House through Time and a documnetary about WW2 looking at propaganda and I found nearby city was badly bombed but it wasn't widely repored in UK press at time- they'd just had coventry - and were worried about national moral so isn't as widely know as other places - helped explain current layout. Plus a nearby building we wondered about we learnt was actually a brick built shelters that was common in this area rather than other shelters we were more familiar with.


PP said best thing we can do is intil curiosity to go and find things out when we hear something new - I agree but not so sure how.

We're near some spectular Roman sites -30 minute country walk to free one or nearby city with world hertitage site that's is quite pricy - DD2 was covering Romans recently she was the only one who'd been to anything Roman in local area.

Even the local museum in city center had some great Romans stuff in - very few had even been there - and that's free and a good thing to do with children.