Year 12 Modern - Conflict in Europe PowerPoint

As promised, here is the PowerPoint from last week which provides an overview of the whole topic.

Conflict in Europe 1935-1945

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith | Upload your own presentation

Year 12 Modern - Anniversary of Chamberlain becoming PM

I just read that it was on this day in 1937, that Neville Chamberlain - the famous appeaser of Hitler - became Prime Minister of Britain. You can read all about his checkered career here.

Year 12 Ancient - Xerxes Biographies

You will notice as we study this intriguing ancient king, that just about every account is biased against him. Either he was a greedy, tyrannical, stupid, vain, and hubristic man, or the sources we have are wildly anti-Persian.

While reading about Xerxes, always bear in mind - he ruled for 20 years, and had some major successes within his kingdom, despite his defeats in the Greco-Persian Wars: putting down three revolts, and building the great city of Persepolis, as well as extending the empire to the east.

Here are some of the online biographies I have found:

A short and comprehensive account of his life at biographybase.com

An anti-Xerxes article at sacklunch.net

An extract from the Histories, by Herodotus, about the incident where Xerxes allegedly had the sea whipped 300 times, to punish it for a storm that destroyed his bridge...

Year 12 Ancient - Miltiades and Marathon

Below is the PowerPoint on the life of Miltiades, and his part in securing the Greek victory at Marathon in 490BC.

Miltiades – Hero of Marathon

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith | Upload your own presentation

Year 12 Modern - Syllabus for Conflict in Europe

Here is a copy of the relevant page from the syllabus, for our current topic: Conflict in Europe, 1935-45.

You can find the whole syllabus here.

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Poll Results

The polls for this week have closed, and the results are as follows:

Equal numbers (37%) said that The 300 was either absolutely rubbish, or a great action film. So the critics are divided...

Half of you said that the Nazis' most effective tool for controlling society was propaganda, with only a couple going for the other options.

New polls up soon.

Year 12 Modern - The Road to War PowerPoint

Hi Modern folks. Here is the presentation we did this week, on the 10 steps to World War Two - from leaving the League of Nations in 1933, to invading Poland six years later.


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith

You can download it here.

Year 12 Modern - Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933-39

Remembering LA-SCRAMCUP is a good way to start with Nazi foreign policy...but for a little more depth than the acronym alone, try visiting some of these sites:

This is a brief summary of Nazi foreign policy, written by Stephen Tonge.

This revision PowerPoint by Louisa Andersen is a very detailed and useful resource.

These student notes by John D. Clare might assist you in creating your own revision notes.

I will put the LASCRAMCUP PowerPoint up soon.

Year 12 Ancient - Persian Wars Powerpoint

Ancient Historians - here is our first PowerPoint on the Greek World 500-440BC, a summary of the Persian Wars, with some brief info on each of the six battles:

Marathon
Thermopylae
Artemisium
Salamis
Plataea
Mycale


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith

You can download it here.

Year 12 Modern - Online Games on Germany

Here are a few fun little flash games that you can play in about 5 minutes...all of the questions are on Germany 1918-1939, and with the 'Walk the Plank' games, you even get to make an avatar of your teacher (that would be me), and make me 'walk the plank' if you get 10/10 questions right.

Hitler's Rise to Power

Democracy to Dictatorship

Germany 1918-1939

Year 12 Modern - Terror and Control

Once again, schoolhistory.co.uk has some useful resources on Nazi Germany. This is a simple, easy-to-follow PowerPoint by Mr. Huggins, on how the Nazis used terror to control the German population.

Year 12 Ancient - Persian Wars Introduction

I have found a good summary of the Persian Wars, written by Richard Hooker, on this website.

Here is the first paragraph, to whet your appetite...

Like the Trojan War, the Persian Wars were a defining moment in Greek history. The Athenians, who would dominate Greece culturally and politically through the fifth century BC and through part of the fourth, regarded the wars against Persia as their greatest and most characteristic moment. For all their importance, though, the Persian Wars began inauspiciously. In the middle of the sixth century BC, the Greek city-states along the coast of Asia Minor came under the control of the Lydians and their king, Croesus (560-546 BC). However, when the Persians conquered the Lydians in 546 BC, all the states subject to the Lydians became subject to the Persians. The Persians controlled their new subject-states very closely; they appointed individuals to rule the states as tyrants. They also required citizens to serve in the Persian army and to pay fairly steep taxes. Smarting under these new burdens and anxious for independence, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, began a democratic rebellion in 499 BC. Aristagoras was an opportunist. He had been placed in power by the Persians, but when he persuaded the Persians to launch a failed expedition against Naxos, he began to fear for his life. So he fomented a popular rebellion against the Persians and went to the Greek mainland for support. He went first to the Spartans, since they were the most powerful state in Greece, but the Spartans seem to have seen right through him. When he approached the Athenians, they promised him twenty ships. In 498 BC, the Athenians conquered and burned Sardis, which was the capital of Lydia, and all the Greek cities in Asia Minor joined the revolt. The Athenians, however, lost interest and went home; by 495 BC, the Persians, under king Darius I (521-486 BC), had restored control over the rebellious Greek cities...
(click here to read the rest of the article)

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Latest Polls Closed

It's that time of the week again: the verdicts are in for the latest history polls...

75% of you agreed that Nazi Germany was indeed, a totalitarian dictatorship; and

70% of you thought that Spartan pottery was their finest type of art.

New polls as soon as I can think of a subject...

Year 12 Modern - Propaganda and Terror

Hi Nazi Germany experts...here is the PowerPoint on propaganda and terror in Hitler's Germany. Enjoy!


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith

Download the presentation here.

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Latest Polls Closed

When did Germany take the fateful step to being a dictatorship? A huge percentage - 85% - said it was when the Enabling Act of March 1933 was passed...which is when Hitler had the power to make any law he wanted, so I think you were pretty spot on there.

For Sparta - 44% of you said the perioeci were most integral to the economy, and 33% went for the helots. Again, pretty much as expected, as these groups certainly did underpin the crafts/agriculture side of the economy, while the Spartiates were off training or waging war.

New polls up very soon!

Year 12 Modern - Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will was the documentary/propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl, as a record and celebration of the Nazi Party Conference held in Nuremburg in September 1934.

As a record of a truly historical event, it is quite amazing. When you recall that the Nazis had only been in power for just over 18 months, the scale of the celebrations and the rallies are quite stupendous.

One viewing of this film will stand you in good stead when it comes to discussing how the Nazis used propaganda and symbolism, and how Hitler could manipulate the masses.

Year 12 Modern - Sinking of the Lusitania

Source: www.flatrock.org.nz

Today marks 94 years since one of the major events of World War One: the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania. The torpedoing of this civilian ship by a German U-boat very nearly dragged the USA into the war, and forced the Kaiser to call off his policy of unlimited submarine warfare. Click here to read an article (on the very informative site firstworldwar.com) all about this event.

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Blog Ban Lifted!

Just a quick post to alert you all to some important news: the Department has unlocked access to the blog, so you can all now access it from school. So now there's no excuses for not going on to revise!

Year 12 Ancient - Spartan Culture

Hi class, here is the powerpoint from today's lesson on Spartan art and culture:


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith

And you can download it here

Year 12 Ancient - Apollo and Hyakinth

I have been searching around on youtube for some decent Sparta videos, and unfortunately, tere are few of much educational value. however, there seem to be a few decent ones on the religion and mythology of Ancient Greece in general. Below is a 4-minute clip made by the youtube user Pathiarakos, on the entire Apollo/Hyakinth myth. It explains the story rather well:

Year 12 Modern - From Democracy to Dictatorship

Hitler was a very canny operator. He became Chancellor in January 1933, supposedly the puppet of Hindenburg and von Papen...but by April, he was able to pass any law he liked, and by mid-1934, he was the total ruler of Nazi Germany. How did this transformation occur?

Here is today's presentation, listing the 8 steps (Rigged German Election Leads To Psychopath Nazi Fuhrer):


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by tomgriffith

And here is the Youtube video, posted by mrjportman, on the 4 steps that took Hitler from Chancellor to dictator: