Stand-Offish wrote:The Franco Prussian war of 1870/71 is fascinating.
For the German army to destroy their French counterparts in the efficient, ruthless way they did in such a relatively short time is unbelievable. But they were always ready, schooled in military colleges ... utterly professional.
None of which in any way is meant to justify the stupid loss of life, but nevertheless fascinating.
I was taught about that war at School. It was part of the curriculum about France and the Third Republic.
History at school for me was great.
Early on at secondary school I was taught about the Industrial Revolution which I found fascinating as I was living in the area where a lot of it took place. Later in complete contrast we spent a whole year learning about the History of Russia.
Onto "O" level and it was numerous topics including the French one mentioned above, the lead up to WW1 and then how that led to WWII.
I then studied A level which was British History from just prior to 1066 to the end of Edward I reign and European history from the end of the Carolingian Empire up to about the 14/1500's. The European stuff was mostly about The Papacy and The Holy Roman Empire finishing up with the establishment of the Swiss Canton's.
The one thing I was never formally taught was anything about the Tudor's and that was deliberate on the part of my A level history teacher as he reckoned if you understood what went before it that part of history was much easier to understand.
I wonder if Gove would give current teachers such latitude as to the syllabus they want to teach?
In contrast when my son came to do history at his secondary school it was pretty naff IMO. The A level included a huge portion on the pretty recent local history of the area around the School. OK Chester has alot of history associated with it and I think they were aiming to get the students to investigate history rather than just learn stuff as I did but I felt the stuff I learned was far more interesting!
