Causes of the Boer War

A really useful summary can be read here - http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/anglo-boer-wars/anglo-boer-war2i.htm

Some key events...

the Witwatersrand Gold Rush - http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/online%20books/all-that-glitters/the-glitter-of-gold.htm

the Uitlander Franchise -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uitlander

The Jameson Raid - http://www.angloboerwar.com/other-information/87-jameson-raid/1754-the-jameson-raid

The Unknown Warrior

Published today on the BBC News website is the story of the Unknown Warrior.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11710660

The story is also told in pictures here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11713676

Lest we forget.

Remembrance

A couple of links to give some background as to how we commemorate the war dead at this time of year.

Why 11th November?
http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/armistice.htm

A history of the Poppy Appeal
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-poppy-appeal

The Last Post - Why do we sound 'The Last Post'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Post

Search for your own family at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site.
http://www.cwgc.org/

Nursing in the Crimea...

.. a recommendation from one of my students whislt comparing the roles of Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale.

Angels and Citizens,  British Women as Military Nurses, 1854-1914 By Anne Summers

Available to read on Google Books - click the title to read the book online. Also looks at the Boer War and WW1 for later parts of the course!

Thanks Isobel!

An interesting article on WW1 aerial photos

Found this on the BBC website. An interesting article and slide show about the role of aerial photography in WW1 based on photographs in the archives of the Imperial War Museum, London.

Article here
Slide show here

I always thought that gardening was bad for you!

The Army of 1854

To understand the nature of the British Army in 1854 it is worth taking a look at the following clip.

British Army at Waterloo, 1815

Although this looks at the Army at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Army of 1854 had not changed much since then. Therefore much can be learnt about how the army was commanded, fought, its tactics etc.

Another issue of the time was to do with the 'Purchasing of Commissions'. Find out more by following these links...
What was it?
How much did commissions cost?
Why was it becoming an issue?

An introduction to Britain c.1850

Did you know....

... that it was not until 1840 that Britain had a standard time zone. Before that times could vary across the country by as much as 10-15 minutes! Find out all about 'Railway time'

To find out more about life in Britain in 1850 the following site has loads of information on all aspect of Victorian Britain. It has something to interst everyone!

http://www.victorianweb.org/index.html

A new WW1 Cemetery

Today, more than 90 years since the First World War, a new cemetery has been dedicated in northern France. In May 2009 work began to exhume the remains of 250 British and Australian soldiers who has been killed at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.

On 19th July 2010 the final re-burial took place and Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery was formally completed, the first CWGC cemetery to have been built for 50 years. Of the bodies recovered, 205 have now been identified as belonging to Australian soldiers, three served with the British army and 42 are still classified as unknown.

Some of the artefacts recovered - here

Details of the process of identification - here

Video clips here

Remembering Fromelles website - here

New book on the Somme battles

Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century

Newly released in paperback, 'Bloody Victory' is getting rave reviews!

"The battle is firmly fixed in the collective British memory as a futile massacre, in spite of a number of efforts to argue that the matter was rather more complex. Dr Philpott’s book is the latest, and perhaps the most ambitious and impressive, attempt to buck this trend... this is an important and powerful book that deserves to be read and its arguments debated. " Dr Gary Sheffield in BBC History Magazine

"Required reading . . . A thoughtful and important book by a first-rate historian . . . It is a proper history of the battle, not simply an agonising account of its first day . . ." Richard Holmes

"A sweeping and authoritative re-examination of the battle . . . Bloody Victory is a magnificent and powerful book, destined to become the standard work on the subject" Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

The review speak for themselves... maybe some useful summer holiday reading?! Click here to buy and read further reviews.

Some final reminders before Thursday!

I have posted this before but no harm in bumping it back to the top.

My top 10 tips to help you in the exam!

1. Read and analyse the sources carefully, making brief notes by the side to save you time later on. Relate what you have read back to the question.
2. Plan your answers before you start writing.
3. The number of marks is proportional to the time you have (20 marks = 20 minutes)
4. Use the sources as the basis of your answer. This will help keep you focussed. Remeber to give examples from the sources to support your argument.
5. Use contextual knowledge - on Qb 24 of the 40 marks are awarded for your own knowledge! Use this information to put the sources into context.
6. Cross reference individual points, rather than the sources as a whole.
7. Develop inferences (what does the source suggest to you?) and support these with evidence.
8. Analyse the provenance (Nature, Origin, Purpose). Evaluate the significance of the source and its reliabilty, if appropriate.
9. Weight up the evidence, especially if is asks you for a judgement, eg How far...
10. Dont generalise the sources. Judge each source on its own merits, eg, not all private letters are reliable.