scholarly journals "One Great Epic Unfolding": H.G. Wells and the Interwar Debate on the Teaching of History

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Osborne
Keyword(s):  
History Education ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Human Species ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World ◽  
The Universe

AbstractThis essay explores H.G. Wells’s attempts to reform the teaching of history between the two World Wars. Holding history teachers largely responsible for creating the mood of bellicose nationalism that made the First World War possible, Wells concluded that only a fundamentally reformed history education would ensure the survival of the human species. He pressed for a global history, to be taught in all the world’s schools, that began with the origins of the universe and ended with the present and a glimpse into the future that transcended national borders, and would be taught appropriately. Wells was widely read and often quoted by teachers but was unable to change the priorities of educational policy-makers. This essay examines his objections to conventional history; explores his alternative model of history education; and explains his eventual failure. Wells made an important contribution to the debate about history teaching in the inter-war years and his educational ideas have been unduly neglected. Résumé Cet article expose les tentatives de l’écrivain H. G. Wells en vue de réformer l’enseignement de l’histoire entre les deux guerres mondiales. Il tenait les professeurs d’histoire responsables du climat de nationalisme belliqueux qui avait rendu possible la guerre de 1914-1918. Wells était arrivé à la conclusion que seule une réforme en profondeur de l’enseignement de l’histoire pouvait assurer la survivance de l’espèce humaine. Il préconisait une histoire universelle, enseignée dans toutes les écoles du monde, qui commencerait avec les origines de l’univers et qui se terminerait avec le présent et un aperçu du futur qui transcenderait les frontières nationales. Cette histoire se devait d’être enseignée adéquatement. Beaucoup lu et souvent cité par des enseignants, néanmoins Wells n’a pas réussi à influencer les orientations des programmes. Cet article examine sa critique de l’enseignement conventionnel de l’histoire, explore son modèle alternatif et explique son échec éventuel. La contribution importante de Wells au débat sur l’enseignement en histoire durant l’entre-deux-guerres et ses idées éducationnelles ont été par trop négligées.

Das Projektionsplanetarium als hyperreales Environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Hans-Christian von Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Fand Sich ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
First Time ◽  
First World ◽  
The Universe

"In den Jahren nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg wurde im Jenaer Zeiss-Werk im Auftrag des Deutschen Museums in München das Projektionsplanetarium als immersives Modell des Universums entwickelt. In ihm hallte eine lange Geschichte von Himmelsgloben, Armillarsphären, Astrolabien und mechanischen Planetarien nach, die seit der Antike als astronomische Demonstrationsobjekte gedient hatten. Erstmals aber fand sich diese Aufgabe nun mit einer Simulation des raum-zeitlichen In-der-Welt-Seins des Menschen verbunden. In the years following the First World War, commissioned by the German Museum in Munich, the projection planetarium was developed as an immersive model of the universe at the Zeiss plant in Jena. In it, a long history of celestial globes, armillary spheres, astrolabes, and mechanical planetaria resonated, which had served as astronomical demonstration objects since ancient times. For the first time, however, this task was associated with a simulation of man’s spaciotemporal being-in-the-world. "

BRITISH MIDDLE EAST POLICY-MAKING AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR: THE LAWRENTIAN AND WILSONIAN SCHOOLS

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 773-793
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY J. PARIS
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
British Rule ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
Middle East Policy ◽  
First World

In the aftermath of the First World War, two schools of divergent thought emerged among Whitehall's Middle East policy-makers. One, propounded by T. E. Lawrence, found support in the Foreign Office, where many favoured Arab national ideals and backed the Hashemite family for rulership positions in the region. The other, epitomized by Arnold Wilson, the civil commissioner for Iraq, was thought to reflect the India Office view that direct British rule in Iraq was essential and that Hashemite pretensions should be opposed. In this article, the author shows that the lines separating the India and Foreign Offices were not so clearly drawn. Many senior officials in the India Office were disturbed by Wilson's imperial programme for Iraq and some were prepared to support Hashemite aspirations. But Lawrence's 1920 campaign for Hashemite rule and his hyperbolic press attacks on Wilson's policies had the paradoxical effect of moving the India Office to defend Wilson and to revert to their anti-Hashemite stance. The article concludes with an analysis of the reasons behind the triumph of the Lawrentian over the Wilsonian schools at the end of 1920, when Wilson was removed from Iraq and Middle East policy-making was consolidated in the Colonial Office.

DÉTENTE 1914: SIR WILLIAM TYRRELL'S SECRET MISSION TO GERMANY

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. OTTE
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great Power ◽  
World War ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World ◽  
Proper Context

ABSTRACTBased on hitherto unused archival material, this article reconstructs the genesis of a clandestine mission to Germany by Sir Edward Grey's private secretary, Sir William Tyrrell, planned for the summer of 1914. The mission remained abortive, but it offers fresh insights into a growing sense of détente in Great Power relations on the eve of the First World War. Although the episode involved key officials in London and Berlin, the article emphasizes that, pace many recent scholars of the period, the Anglo-German antagonism was not the central concern of British policy-makers. Rather, relations between the two countries were a function of Anglo-Russian relations, and the revival of Russian power after 1912 provides the proper context to the attempts by British and German officials to place relations between their countries on a friendlier footing. The article thus also calls into question criticisms of the British foreign secretary as irrevocably ententiste, and provides an antidote to assumptions of the First World War as somehow inevitable.

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