CHA3UB- EUROPEAN HISTORYWelcome

Mr. R. Bergman• richard.bergman@tldsb.on.ca

• http://rbergman.weebly.com

• Office: 223

• Prep: Period 2

• CHC2DB and CLU3M

European History• 1815- 1914- relative

• The French Revolution- why?

• Effect of the revolution on Europe (and the world)

• Politics, Economics, Society, Culture, etc…

• Enlightenment, Radicalism, Conservatism…

• And a hint of Nationalism

European History• Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France

• Reaction to Revolution- security in post-Napoleonic Europe

• The Congress of Vienna

• Liberal and Nationalist reaction

European History• Changes in the balance of power in mid 19th century

• Nationalism at work in Italy and Germany

• Unification of Italy and Germany

• Bismarck

• Imperial Russia

• *Nationalism, Liberalism and Conservatism

Where to begin?

What history is and is not• ‘history’ and ‘the past’- we must learn to use them

differently

• History is a narrative text, written in the present, about the subject of the past, using evidence that the past has left behind

• All history is an interpretation of the past and never the same thing as the past

What history is and is not• A process and a product- anyone can tell stories about

the past that appear historical, but if the process used (methodology) is not historical then its not history

• http://www.crushable.com/2014/05/02/entertainment/most-historically-inaccurate-movies-ever-list/

• History is made by historians- you are not one, neither am i- what is my purpose? What is yours? It is important to give historians the respect they deserve

• History is plural…and needed

Historical Problems• The epistemological (theory of knowledge) problems of

history- there are 3

• 1. Finding the raw material (the sources)

• 2. Interpreting the evidence (the method)

• 3. Writing the history of text (the product)

Problem 1: the Sources• The memory of the world is not a bright, shining crystal,

but a heap of broken fragments, a few fine flashes of light that break through the darkness (H. Butterfield)

• Social scientists observe participants- historians must deal with the inadequacies of the raw materials

• “heap of broken fragments”

• Most people who have ever lived and most events that have ever happened left no record (yikes…kind of existential)

Problem 1: the Sources• The records that do exist are often atypical or accidental• Some are left on purpose and therefore not representative• Some are source types that were never meant for future

interpretation, accidental by-products of past events (remember tank man)

• Evidence only speaks to historians indirectly

• Therefore, sources will be interpreted in various ways…

The Napoleonic Warsor War of 1812

• European Theatre- Napoleonic Wars

• North American Theatre- USA, Britain, France,

• The impact on North America of the war between France and Britain should be understated

• American won the war…So Did Britain