Teaching
History Online
Number
57: 27th October, 2002
Introduction
1.
English
Civil War
2.
Studs
Terkel: Oral History
3.
Guardian
Century
4.
William
Bauchop Wilson
5.
Egypt:
Secrets of an Ancient World
6.
HyperHistory
7.
World
War II
8. Naval
Weapons
Introduction
Spartacus Educational
publishes Teaching
History Online every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom. Members
of the mailing list are
invited to submit information for inclusion in future editions of
Teaching
History Online. In this way we hope to create a community
of people involved in using the Internet to teach history. Currently
there are 21,140 subscribers to the newsletter.
John Simkin
spartacus@pavilion.co.uk
English
Civil War: Easily the best website so far created on the English
Civil War. The site includes a collection of timelines: Parliament
and Constitution 1640-60, The First Civil War 1640-46, The Second
Civil War 1647-49, The Third Civil War 1649-51, The Commonwealth 1649-53,
Cromwell's Protectorate 1654-58 and The Restoration 1659-60. There
is also twenty-four biographies of leading figures in the conflict
and descriptions of sixty-two battles and sieges.
Studs
Terkel: Oral History: Produced by the Chicago Historical Society,
this website looks at the life and work of Studs Terkel, one of the
world's most important oral historians. Organized into galleries that
are largely centered around the extensive interviews that Mr. Terkel
did for his books, Division Street, Hard Times, The Good War, Race
and Talking to Myself. Each gallery contains dozens of audio clips
of these interviews. The website also contains a multimedia interview
with Studs Terkel, featuring him talking about his books, writing
oral history, and documenting everyday life in the United States.
Guardian
Century: "The maiden voyage of the White Star liner Titanic,
the largest ship ever launched, has ended in disaster. The Titanic
started her trip from Southampton for New York on Wednesday. Late
on Sunday night she struck an iceberg off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
By wireless telegraphy she sent out signals of distress, and several
liners were near enough to catch and respond to the call. Conflicting
news, alarming and reassuring, was current yesterday. Even after midnight
it was said all the passengers were safe. All reports, of course,
depended on wireless telegrams over great distances." That is
the way the Manchester Guardian opened its account of the sinking
of the Titantic on 16th April, 1912. This excellent website contains
hundreds of important articles that have appeared in the Guardian
during the 20th Century.
William
Bauchop Wilson: In his unpublished autobiography, William Bauchop
Wilson wrote about
how as a child he attended lessons with his father at Hugh Kerwin's
cobbler shop. "As I look back on the group of men that formed
our little circle in the early days at Arnot, many of them classed
as illiterate, I am still amazed at the knowledge they possessed of
many religious, social, economic, political, historical and scientific
questions, their wisdom and tolerance in discussing them, and their
wide acquaintance with good literature. It was a splendid school for
any boy to attend." It certainly was and Wilson, as America's
first Secretary of Labor, helped
shape the modern United States. This excellent website is devoted
to the life and work of this great man.
Egypt:
Secrets of an Ancient World: This excellent website on ancient
Egyptian civilization has been produced by the National Geographic
Society. It includes Explore the Pyramids where visitors can scroll
across the different pyramids, revealing their interior organization
and a number of facts about their construction. There is also a timeline
that gives information about each of the different Egyptian dynasties.
Other features include a quiz game on daily life in Ancient Egypt
and several lesson plans on Mummies.
HyperHistory
is an expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world
history with an interactive combination of synchronoptic lifelines,
timelines, and maps. As the author, Andreas Nothiger, points out the
"synchronoptic concept depicts a full panorama of history in
such a way that it will appeal to a cultivated public at large. A
true picture of the world would be incomplete if it equates history
with the history of wars and politics and neglects all other aspects
of life. The addition of scientific, cultural and religious facts
and events are therefore a key to a fundamental knowledge of society."
Over 2,000 files are interconnected throughout the site. In addition
to that HyperHistory provides several hundred links to the world wide
web. The growing site itself contains presently over 50 MB of images
and text files, but individual files are kept small enough to allow
for a quick display.
World
War II: Dave Depickere from Belgium has produced an interesting
website on the Second World War. On the site you have the following
sections: Battle Reports (information on battles, raids, generals);
The Battlefield Today (itineraries and pictures of the battlefields
in Europe); Fact or Myth (a look at controversial issues); The People's
War : (stories of how people lived and viewed the war) and Veterans
(stories of soldiers who fought in the great war and a place where
they can meet and search for comrades).
Book
Section
Naval
Weapons of World War II: There is no shortage of reference books
on the warships that fought the Second World War, but the weapons
they carried have often been ignored. This situation is rectified
in this classic work, which is encyclopaedic in scope and largely
based on original research. Divided by country (including minor powers
not directly involved in the war), the book covers all the major weaponry
of the period. Weapons of earlier vintage that were employed during
the war, and those that were at an experimental, trial or design stage
in 1945 are also included.(Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 0 0 85177 924
7, £45.00)
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
