Why are interpretations so important in History What

Why are interpretations so important in History?

What are the problems for historians? • • • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ww_Li 3 j. FHb. Q https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=-4 Ss. Gg 0 c 6 eg (watch to 1 min 21) https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Quj 7 d. KM 3 j 0&list=PLSeg. Y__g. UYId 2 YDUZ 3 l. WGflim. Rm. Zm 7 TE 4

Historiography • • • Dr Fern Riddell is highlighting the issue of historiography. This is how historians tend to tie in with ‘schools of thought’. These are dependent upon the time they are writing (e. g. the cold war has a big impact), attitudes of society and what resources are available to them. They also use the works of other historians in their research so will be influenced by them.

Which area of historiography would we put the WW 2 Historians arguments into? 1950 s Orthodox view: Hitler was a master planner who intentionally started WW 2 due to his strong beliefs on fascism, expansionism and the supremacy of the German State Post revisionism – contemporary view Hitler was a strategist with clear aims and objectives that would not have been achievable without taking advantage of the opportunities given to him. The causes of the war can be expanded from this version to not just focus upon blame. 1970 s Revisionist view: It was an ordinary war by world standards and Hitler was an opportunist. This is common in world history.

Can you identify the interpretations in these films? • • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=x. BWmkwa. TQ 0 k https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Tx. Jt 02 r 91 L 4

“For me, it was Hitler and his general’s underestimation of the Red Army [Soviet Union’s Army] coupled with their ideology [beliefs] in their own superiority, that were most decisive to German’s defeat. Ben Shepherd Their military intelligence substituted hard facts about the Red Army with arrogant, racially coloured assumptions of chaos and incompetence [unable to do something]. “Hitler’s June 1941 advance into the USSR - known as operation Barbarossa - was the decisive moment of the war…The Red Army [Soviet Union’s Army] did the heavy lifting: first to contain the German’s and finally defeat them. Max Hastings I rest my case that an enormous amount of killing and dying had to happen before the Nazis were crushed, and though it did not seem so to the Western Allies and their peoples at the time, posterity can see that the Soviets did most of it. ” The mobility of German soldiers was eviscerated [worn away] by Russia’s immense distances, harsh environment and ramshackle [did not work] transport. The Wehrmacht [Nazi army] was never able to attempt to claw back the advantage. ” James Holland If Hitler, instead of launching Barbarossa and facing the Red Army, had reinforced the West, Churchill’s government would not have survived. “Historians have usually focused on the success of WW 2 as a result of the fighting, when an arguably more important consideration is how combatant [fighting] nations increased their resources. “The single greatest factor in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in Europe was the role that Adolf Hitler played in determining campaigns [battles fought] by the Wehrmacht [Nazi army]. Before the start of WW 2, neither USA or Britain had much of an army with small air forces. Yet in four years, they had grown exponentially [rapidly]. Hitler’s decision making was flawed. Hitler frequently ignored the recommendations of his advisors, and ordered major operations that ultimately had enormous consequences and affected Germany’s ability to gain a victory. Mary Barbier For example, Britain had 132, 500 aircraft, which provided 31% of all supplies to the US and European powers. In contrast, Germany was caught in a production downward spiral which they simply could not recover. They suffered from food and fuel shortages. Britain’s ’big war’ strategy meant victory was assured. ” His decision to invade the USSR on 20 th June 1941, which led to thousands of German soldiers surrendered or died whilst fighting in Moscow. Hitler authorised the final offensive in the west as well - called Autumn Mist - which ended in defeat and was the final nail in the coffin. ”

“Between 1941 -45, the Soviet Union [Russia] produced 58, 681 tanks. They were not the most powerful tanks in terms of fire-power, not the fastest, but their vast numbers won battle after battle for the Red Army, which is ultimately what destroyed Nazi Germany. Even Stalin himself said, “in the end, quantity Andrew Roberts becomes quality. ” Although, German tanks were far more superior they could not overcome the odds of one German tank to 4/5 Red Army tanks. “Fundamentally, Allied sea power ensured Nazi Germany’s defeat. Nick Hewitt The Royal Navy also protected domestic ships to ensure Britain and the Soviet Union got the supplied they needed to defeat Axis. For example, in Operation Bagration in Russia from June to August 1944, 450, 000 casualties were inflicted. Finally, sea power - 7000 ships and vessels - put the army onto the shores of Normandy in 1944 and reinforced the troops with food and ammunition. ” That s why the T-34 was the most decisive factor in destroying Nazism. ” “The Nazis transmitted important encrypted [coded] messages through the ‘Enigma’ machine. This scrambled all 26 letters of the alphabet to a pre-set key that changed every 24 hours. They were essentially translated in gibberish but they were intercepted by coders at Bletchley Park, which housed the UK Government Code School known as Peter Caddick- ‘Ultra. ’ Adams They were developing ‘bombes’ that were devices to decode these scrambled messages. Understanding these messages, was extremely important for success in the Battle of Britain, which motivated British survival 1941 -42. Without Ultra, the war would have been something like two years longer, perhaps even three or four years. ” During the dark days of 1940 -41, Allied warships and other craft saved a success of armies from certain destruction, evacuating them at first from Norway and then Dunkirk and then Greece. After France fell, it was the Royal Navy that saved Great Britain from invasion. “Fundamentally, the European Axis lost because they were much weaker than the Allied coalition. WW 2 was fought between the haves and the havenots. Following the Treaty of Versailles (1919), Germany had restricted forced until the mid-1930 s and caused them to lack resources. Evan Mawdsley Hitler believed that he could knock out the Allied forces one by one, which had started to fail by 1941. Hitler faced a situation where he could not invade Britain nor could he control more than the deep borderlands [outskirts] of the USSR. Historically, the Axis powers were late-comers, trying to catch up from a position of weakness. Because they were weak, they failed. ”

Investigate the area of History you chose. Go to www. historytoday. com and search for the area of history you are interested in. You are aiming to find two articles about the same thing but showing different views which you will report back on. You could do the same for film if you know there are films about your subject. • It will probably ask you to log in to see the articles. Our username is: salesian and password: history Do not forget to log out or it won’t let others in.