AA307, can start already really

The Open University can be very fast acting sometimes, two days after i registered on-line to do AA307 next year the course materials arrived! I also have 2 of the 3 set books too thanks to Amazon (the third is on the way from the US). So i am all set really. I think i will start the course in the 1st or 2nd week of January. Officially the course does not start until February but i like to give myself a bit of slack in case i feel like a week or a few days off here and there.

Usually this need comes in handy during the Summer, it is difficult to maintain interest in your text books when the sun is shining outside. The OU are switching to October starts for all their new history undergraduate courses it seems but that's too late for me. Probably.

Update : there was nothing on TV so i decided to start the course tonight!

Nazareth dwelling discovery may shed light on boyhood of Jesus

"Israeli archaeologists today unveiled what could be the remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that can be dated back to the time of Jesus – a find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period of Jesus's boyhood, according to the New Testament.

The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres. It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means, said archaeologist Yardena Alexandre, excavations director at the Israel Antiquities Authority..."

Stonehenge bones may be evidence of winter solstice feasts

"Some 4,500 years ago, as the solstice sun rose on Stonehenge, it is very likely that a midwinter feast would already have been roasting on the cooking fires.

Experts believe that huge midwinter feasts were held in that period at the site and a startling picture is now emerging of just how far cattle were moved for the banquet. Recent analysis of the cattle and pig bones from the era found in the area suggests the cattle used were walked hundreds of miles to be slaughtered for the solstice celebrations – from the west country or west Wales..."

Guardian reviews of the 2000s

There are those that say* the decade did not begin until 2001 (and thus does not end until 2010) though most people are happy to treat the period 2000-2009 as the 2000s decade (i hate the term Noughties! The first decade of the last century is referred to as the 1900s after all.) So as the decade enters it's last few days there are many reviews of the decade in various newspapers and news sites.

One set of reviews i do like has been published by the Guardian, especially their technological review of the decade. Instant nostalgia. It is really too early to be able to know but it would be interesting to see how this decade will be viewed by future generations. Of course much of that depends on how the decisions and events of the decade affect the years to come.

* Personally i agree with the logic but i think going with the flow is most suitable in things like this.

AA307 registered

It begins anew, registered AA307 on Tuesday and my course materials should arrive today (that is very fast work by the Open University i must say!) Three set texts have also been ordered from Amazon though 1 will have to come from the USA so they will maybe come in the new year. The course does not start until early February in any case though i always like to start my study a few weeks early so i have some leeway later in the year in case i need a week or so off (or if the Sun is shining too much!)

The Open University are switching to October starts for it's undergraduate history courses though it will not effect me as by the time all the courses have switched i will likely be on my MA by then...

AA312 passed

Course result out today, and i have passed AA312. That means i have now passed both of the compulsory modules for the Open University BA History degree. The pass wasn't that great, maybe my worst mark so far! But a pass is a pass, maybe the car accident affected me more than i thought. Or my revision wasn't very good! Whatever it was its done now.

And i have registered for AA307 and will start that in February. Apparently the current BBC4 documentary series on the history of Christianity is quite useful for parts of the course...

BBC and British Library to take joint approach to building digital archive

"The BBC and the British Library are collaborating on a digital technology project to open up the institutions' archives, with the aim of giving the public greater online access to a vast cultural treasure trove.

Under a memorandum of understanding to be signed by the two organisations today, they will collaborate on the task of provising greater digital access to the British Library's archive of more than 150m items collected over the past 250 years, as well as nearly 1m hours of TV and radio output from the BBC, which has been broadcasting since 1922..."

All i can say is... fantastic!

Zanclean flood

Somewhat pre-historical though ancient megafloods have always interested me.

"Research has revealed details of the catastrophic Zanclean flood that refilled the Mediterranean Sea more than five million years ago.

The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way into the cut-off and desiccated Mediterranean basin."

Families on the brink of war

"A genealogist's challenge under the Freedom of Information Act could unlock records providing a unique snapshot of UK families as World War II broke out..."

Specifically he wants the release of the 1939 National Registration of the UK which was a census-like survey taken at the beginning of the war.

Birmingham museum receives £4.8 million funding for history project

Birmingham Museum and Gallery has been granted £4.8 million to create a new wing dedicated to the history of Birmingham.

The museum, which also hopes to be home to the Staffordshire Hoard, was awarded the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The money will be used to boost the £9.7million project Birmingham – A City in the Making project, which includes the development of a new wing of galleries focussing on the history and development of Birmingham and its people...

This treasure stirs the West Midlands' Anglo-Saxon soul

"The Staffordshire hoard has brought history to life in modern-day Mercia – and it is here that the collection has to return."

From the Lindisfarne gospels to the Lewis chessmen, much of British heritage policy is about putting things back where they belong. Now we have a golden opportunity not to commit the original sin, and ensure the most fascinating find in a generation remains where it should...

WW1 submarine found after 93 years

The wreck of HM Submarine E18 has been found after a 10 year search and over 90 years after it was sunk in the Baltic Sea during the First World War. The Captain's hatred of using the boat's toilet facilities while submerged almost resulted in the submarine being sunk. He prefered to relieve himself over the side after ordering the submarine be surfaced in the morning and it was on one of these occaisions the submarine was spotted by a Zeppelin and nearly sunk.

Collector finds unseen Charlie Chaplin film in tin sold for £3.20 on eBay

Morace Park was footling around on eBay looking for antiques when he stumbled on an item that was listed casually as an "old film" – and even then he was really more interested in the tin it was in.

"It had a lovely look to it," said Park. But the contents of the battered container, which he bought for the princely sum of £3.20, have turned out to be a previously unknown film by Charlie Chaplin...

The film may be a propaganda film made during World War 1, it shows Chaplin making fun of Zeppelins which at the time were bombing Britain and causing a lot of terror and anger (if not that much damage).

Update : this article has more details about what is contained in the film.

A History of Christianity (TV)

The Open University and the BBC have produced this series which began showing last night on BBC4. It was quite interesting especially for me as i am probably going to be studying Religion in History next year!

Asterix at 50

The famous Gaulish warrior turns 50 this week and i should note what an inspiration Asterix was on me as a youth and fed my love of ancient history. It is amazing how much historical knowledge you can glean from reading the comic strip such as knowing who Vercingetorix was! I'm sure i am not alone is this. Most of the latin i know probably came from Asterix too though of course the image of Rome and ancient Gaul as portrayed in the comic strip is not strictly accurate!

Fürer-Haimendorf Collection

From the School of Oriental & African Studies : "The SOAS archive of Professor Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf (1909-1995) includes photographs, cine film and written materials. It reflects his fifty years of scholarship and is widely recognised as the world's most comprehensive study of tribal cultures in South Asia and the Himalayas. It is especially valuable because it documents these cultures before many changed rapidly with the advent of external civil administration after the mid-twentieth century. In 1995, Nicholas Haimendorf donated his father's archive to SOAS, where it was deposited in the Special Collections department of the Library."

How will the 'Noughties' be remembered?

The biggest stories of the 21st century have been terrorism, technology and a stock-market crash. But, says Dominic Sandbrook, history may view the 'Noughties’ in a different light...

I really hate that word "Noughties" though.

Makeover may lose Bolivian pyramid it world heritage site listing

As with all makeovers, it seemed a good idea at the time. The village of Tiwanaku in the Bolivian Andes reckoned it could attract more tourists by giving an ancient pyramid a facelift.

Workers plastered the Akapana pyramid – one of the biggest constructions in South America which predates the Incas – with adobe to make it look more impressive.

The problem, according to some experts, is that the new look is an archaeological travesty which could cost the pyramid its UN world heritage site designation...

(So basically the lesson is guys, leave it to the experts!)

Future plans

Now AA312 is out of the way i need to look into next year's course, which will complete my degree (assuming i pass this year). AA307 Religion in history : conflict, conversion and coexistance is now looking the odds-on favourite for next year's course. I won't register until December though (deadline is December the 16th which should be a couple of days after i get my result for this year).

After that, and assuming i get my BA ok, i want to move to masters level (finally), i have been looking at masters degrees both at the OU and other universities. One i was looking at last night was the OU's MA in Classical Studies which seems interesting (i have done a Dip CS as part of my OU career) though one year would be on Greek Theatre which might to be too far from my comfort zone for ...er... comfort.

Although we are talking about something i will not be doing until 2011 (or 2012 if i decide to take a year off) its best to start considering these as soon as possible...

AA312... done!

The exam was on Tuesday. The exam itself was not too bad though the day was trying considering rogue drivers seemed out to kill me. Anyway that is AA312 done and dusted. I also got my final TMA back from the tutor with a morale boosting 82% for my essay on resistance in world war 2. Now i am enjoying a few months off before my next course, probably Religion and history which will complete my degree. After that i think i will do the Oxford Advanced Diploma but one thing at a time.

Now to wait for the course result in December. I hope I (and everyone else who did the course) did OK.

Lost Greek city that may have inspired Atlantis myth gives up secrets

The secrets of a lost city that may have inspired one of the world's most enduring myths – the fable of Atlantis – have been brought to light from beneath the waters off southern Greece.

Explored by an Anglo-Greek team of archaeologists and marine geologists and known as Pavlopetri, the sunken settlement dates back some 5,000 years to the time of Homer's heroes and in terms of size and wealth of detail is unprecedented, experts say...

The oldest filmed person?

Last night, as part of my revision, i was watching some old newsreels on DVD. One was of the 1935 general election and showed a 103 year old man going to cast his vote. This of course means he was born in about 1832! So that got me wondering, who is the oldest person to have ever been filmed? By that of course the person born before anyone else who was filmed by a motion picture camera. As motion pictures or films date back to the late 1880s it is possible that someone born in the 18th century was filmed. Does anyone know?

B Jones

B Jones, originally uploaded by megara_rp.

Another old Erdington shop, this photo dates from the late 1990s (i know as i took it myself) though the shop itself was abandoned by then and looks like it had been in a time warp. Notice the ERD phone code.

Huge Anglo-Saxon gold hoard found

The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure has been discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire. Experts say the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size and worth "a seven figure sum".

It has been declared treasure by South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh, meaning it belongs to the Crown...

The road to the exam begins

The final TMA has been completed (the resistance one, i am not that happy with it but its out the way!) Now i have the small matter of an exam in mid-October. When you have been studying a subject for about 7 or 8 months condensing all of that into a few weeks revision is a bit tricky of course but i do have a revision plan kindly provided by one of the OU tutors on the course forum.

These last couple of days i have been looking into the causes of World War 1, who was to blame, and some of the historiographical debates (Fischer, AJP Taylor et cetera). I have also been trying to finally get the Maier/Mayer different straight in my mind. Why couldn't these two dudes have had names which were more distinct?!

Shopfront at 73 Mason Road, Erdington, Birmingham, 30 May 1955

Shopfront at 73 Mason Road, Erdington, Birmingham, 30 May 1955
Originally uploaded by allhails

The maze that is Balkan politics

Well over 2000 words now, i am currently trying to made head and tail of the politics of 1940s Yugoslavia. Of course it is largely the same as it is now with splits on ethnic and political lines. You had Tito's pan-Yugoslavian Communists, Mihailovic's Serbian nationalists, the Croatian fascists, Italy, the Soviet Union, the Allies, oh and Nazi Germany too just to keep things interesting.

Operation Pied Piper

As well as being the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 2 today also marked the 70th anniversary of Operation Pied Piper, the mass evacuation of 1.5 million children, mothers, pensioners and vulnerable people from the cities to the perceived safety of the countryside. My Mother was an evacuee so i decided to see what she could remember of the time.

Not everyone was evacuated in September 1939, Mum doesn't think she was as she could remember sheltering from the German bombers so it was perhaps in 1940 when she, aged 5, and some friends were among children evacuated from Birmingham and sent into the countryside. She ended up in a hall somewhere near Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. Her older brother had gone elsewhere but Mum was told to "stay with Brenda" and so she went off with 4 friends to stay with the Rileys in a farmhouse near Donisthorpe.

The experiences of evacuees differed greatly, some were very well cared for while others did not have a good time. My Mum's experiences were "OK", most of the family looking after them were nice though there was some "spite" from others.

Whether that is why they decided to run away back to Birmingham, as happened when my Mum's elder brother joined them, is unknown. They sneaked away from the farmhouse and got on a bus for Birmingham. My Mum being told to not admit she was 5 so she wouldn't have to pay the fare! When they got back to Aston they were immediately spotted and then sent back to their evacuation house after no doubt a talking to by the police!

Mum's Mum came to visit them when she could though later on they got a cottage near to the Riley farmhouse and lived there for some time before returning to Birmingham once the threat from bombing had lessened, perhaps in 1942.

Second attempt is better

I started again and am currently up to 1444 words. I'm still on France though so i think i may limit my inclusion of Italy to some comparisons otherwise even with a 4000 limit i'm going to run out of space before i've written about Yugoslavia, made comparisons, conclusion et cetera.

A dead end

Up to 900 words so far but i do not like what i am writing at all! In fact i think i am going to start again. Reading back what you wrote the day before is always an interesting experience. And i found i was reading a narrative about what the French resistance did and not an answer to the question (which was how effective resistance was militarily and politically). Some narrative is required of course to put things in context but i went too far over into writing a history of the French resistance.

Draft 2 will commence tonight then.

Final TMA underway

After much reading (and forgetting no doubt) and no little procrastination i have finally started to write my final TMA for my course. It is a double-TMA so 3500 to 4000 words, the longest i have yet to attempt in my OU career in fact. The subject is Resistance and how effective it was in WW2 from a military and political point of view. I will be concentrating on France and Yugoslavia with Italy also mentioned to add some contrast. So far i am up to 701 words which is not bad for the first day!

My conclusion will be on the lines of resistance in the form of partisan warfare was more effective militarily in the East but the resistance was more effective politically in the west. Now i just have to explain myself!

Start writing family history

I still have not decided on next year's course but i am considering a "filler" course to tide me over in the 3-4 month gap between AA312 and whatever i do next year. A173 is what i am considering, it is a short course (so has no bearing on my degree though the 10 points can be kept in the bank i guess for another day) to help "you to interpret and write about family history". I need to get my family history research project back up and running. I've dropped the ball on this this year.

Stone Age man used fire to make tools - 50,000 years earlier than thought

A team at the University of Cape Town in South Africa say they have found evidence of early man using fire to make tools 50,000 years earlier than first thought and maybe even earlier. Stone Age man from 72,000 years ago was using fire to soften a stone called silcrete to allow it to be worked on. They may even have been doing this since 164,000 years ago, up until now heat treatment was thought to date from Europe a "mere" 25,000 years ago. Knowing how to use fire may have been how these early humans were able to survive the colder climes when they left Africa and gave them a crucial advantage over the Neanderthals.

90 years of RAF military pilot training

Some nice photos celebrating the 90th anniversary of RAF military pilot training. A number of events were held to celebrate this at RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Religion in history: conflict, conversion and coexistence

Continuing my musings for next year, AA307 looks to be an interesting course. I quite enjoy religious history, i even enjoyed the module on the Reformation when i was doing A200 (which was not a popular opinion!).

Photographs of the 1800s

A nice photo essay on the Daily Telegraph website showing early photography. The British Library is holding an exhibition of 19th century photography later in the year. Looks like it could be well worth a visit.


Nelson's Column under construction in 1844

AdvDip in Local History

Continuing my thoughts about what is next, i apparently can include Oxford University's Advanced Diploma in Local History via the Internet as part of my Open University degree. This could be an option to fill in the "missing" 60 points i still need at the end of this year (assuming i pass of course!)

This Oxford course looks interesting, it would not start until September 2010 so i would be delayed in getting my degree for a year and is a little more expensive than an OU degree but would gain me an Oxford qualification (Advanced Diploma) and of course would make me an alumnus of Oxford which i can use to impress the chicks.

Of course as i would be free for most of next year i could maybe learn Welsh...

Turning one's thoughts to next year

There is still a lot of work to do with my current course but the end is in sight. I am now considering what to do for my final module for the BA History. To be honest the choice is not that broad but Film & TV History looks interesting and gets me away from fascism and war which i am heartily bored with by now!

I've also started thinking about what to do after that, i want to get an MA in History but maybe not with the Open University. Leicester have an interesting MA in English Local History which is distance learning too, i shall be looking more deeply into that as time goes on.

Rare gramophone records found in stately home

Jim Pattison, a retired recording engineer, has discovered rare gramophone records dating back from the early 20th century in a stately home he was visiting. At Brodsworth Hall, in Yorkshire, records such as a 1908 recording of Goodbye to Sweet Awakenings, made by Caruso, Antonio Scotti, Geraldine Farrar and Gina Viafora and a 1905 recording of John Philip Sousa conducting Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 were found among 100 others.

Coast returns

Slightly late i know as the first part of the new series was shown on the 11th of July but Coast has returned to BBC2. It is a very good series which is well worth watching, for those who haven't seen it before, following along a portion of the British coastline and reporting on interesting aspects of local history (as well as some geography and nature). The first part included a feature on the Red Sands Sea Forts, an electric railway that ran along the sea shore (and hence underwater) and early film making in Brighton.

Cave record of Britain's pioneers

When humans returned to the British Isles after the ice sheets retreated the Cheddar Gorge was one of the first places they returned to. Radiocarbon testing on bones found in Gough's Cave shows people were there 14,700 years ago. The re-occupation closely follows the warming of the climate and man could have returned to the area just a couple of years after the climate warmed.

Watergate Hotel to be sold

Probably the most famous hotel in the world and (indirectly) responsible for any recent scandal to be suffixed with -gate, the Watergate Hotel is to be sold at auction. The hotel, in Washington DC USA, has been closed since 2007 after the previous owners ran out of money.

Of course the hotel rose to fame (or infamy) when it was where burglars in the pay of President Nixon stayed before they broke into the Democratic Party office at the adjoining Watergate Office Complex. The trail investigators followed eventually led to the White House and the fall of Nixon of course.

Update : the sale did not attract any bids.

World's oldest man dies

Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man has died at the age of 113. He was one of the last surviving veterans of World War 1 and the last survivor from the founder members of the RAF. Now when someone dies at such a great age i am always fascinated by how much "history" they have seen in their lives. Henry was born in 1896 so:

• Despite being a founder member of the RAF was 7 before man actually first took to the air in an aeroplane
• Was 9 when my grandmother was born
• Was 22 when World War 1 ended
• Was nearly 40 when my parents were born
• Was nearly 50 when World War 2 ended
• Was 56 when Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne
• Topically was 73 when men first landed on the moon
• And was 75 when i was born!

Full steam ahead to the final TMA

I completed TMA05 this week, a source analysis essay examining and comparing two documents by Stalin and Hitler. I'm glad its over as i have totalitarian dictator fatigue. Now i have just one TMA left to complete for this year's course, its the big one though. TMA06/07 is a double assignment where we are left to study a subject on our own from a list of suggested topics. I have chosen resistance in WW2 and how effective it was against fascism.

I actually started the TMA in a way back in April when i read the first of two books on resistance in western Europe. Now i will likely re-read the four books i have bought on the subject (and i have a couple already in my military book collection), i started reading a book on the resistance in Italy in the latter part of the war after 1943.

I shall be looking at Italy and France for my essay. I did consider looking at three countries but that would mean i would not be able to go in as much depth. Of course with France i can include Vichy too so it is almost 2.5 countries to examine! The deadline is September 15th so i have plenty of time, i probably will not start writing until late August.

Tomb of St. Paul found?

The Vatican is claiming that human remains found in a tomb discovered in 2006 belong to St. Paul the Apostle. Fragments of material and bone were found in the tomb which has remained closed but investigated using a small probe. The bone was carbon-dated to the 1st century AD. Vatican experts point to the tomb's position in the the basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome underneath an epigraph "Paulo Apostolo Mart (Paul the Apostle and Martyr)" as being proof the remains are of St. Paul.

Oldest musical instrument found

A 35,000 year old flute has been found, the oldest musical instrument discovered. The five hole flute was found in Germany's Ach Valley and was carved from the wing bone of a large vulture. The flute is nearly intact, three other flutes in fragments have been found plus a female figurine. The flutes show that music played a part in the Aurignacian culture which lasted from 40K to 10K years ago.

Past the 40%

I got back TMA04 today and my highest mark of the year so far (just above the mark for TMA03) which pleases me no end as i was a little unsure about my essay which discussed the revolutions of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia at the end of WW1 and whether they were a consequence of the war. The tutor liked my essay though it was not flawless but i did explain why i felt the way i did about the subject which is important.

This morning i created a spreadsheet for my assignment scores which also works out the weighting for each one to give the overall assignment mark. I have just passed over the 40% with my scores to date which is the pass for the assignment part of the course. The next 2 TMAs (which include the last one which is worth 25% of the overall score) are thus purely a bonus though of course i will aim to get good scores again. Just the exam then to pass as well of course!

Too much World War 2!

This week's programme of study is on the nature of World War 2, i am actually finding this one of the more difficult weeks so far this year. Why? Because i have read so much about WW2 already! I have an interest in the military and warfare anyway and have over 100 books on WW2 covering many subjects from German jet fighter projects to the Romanian Army. So when i read the course material i have an awful sense of deja vu.

That is dangerous of course as i am maybe skimming the material more than usual and thus missing out on the specific information the course wishes to cover. So far i think i am OK though. Luckily i am not reading a military history at the moment alongside my studies, i am reading a novel instead. OK it is a novel about a Royal Navy destroyer in WW2 but still...

Language of ancient Indus found?

The Indus valley civilisation in what is now eastern Pakistan is one of the most ancient known civilisations dating back over 4,500 years but there is no historical information about the civilisation or it's people. That may change if the claims by researchers that they have found the written language of these people are true.

Many artifacts have been found inscribed with symbols which researchers claim are a written language, although others say they are just pictograms. 500 distinct symbols have been found and scientists have used computers to analyse the symbols to try and work out what exactly they are. Statistical regularities have been found in the sequences of symbols which indicates it could be a written language. Work is now ongoing to try and discover syntax and grammar rules. Deciphering the script though, if that is what it is, will be much harder in lieu of anything like the Rosetta Stone.

Revolution!

My next assignment will be on the subject of revolution, it asks if the revolutions in Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary at the end of World War 1 were because of that war or would they have happened anyway. It is an interesting subject and i think the key question to ask first is what do you mean by "revolution", a word now rather overused.

Relevant to my subject there are two kinds of revolution : political and social. In the three countries/empires in question political revolutions do apply though social revolution, a revolution in how a society operates and grows from top to bottom, applies mainly to Russia and in some ways to Austria-Hungary. It doesn't really apply to Germany even if The Kaiser was deposed. The aristocracy remained in place along with rich businessmen (indeed it is because of the political power and influence of these groups largely that Hitler was able to gain power, but that is a subject for another day).

Political revolution, on the other hand, applies to all. Germany became a republic with a socialist government, Austria-Hungary broke up, and Russia of course became the USSR. There is little doubt that the pressures of war, especially the effect of shortages and restrictions on the civilian population, helped build up the pressure for change. However it is simplistic to say the working class were equally oppressed and impoverished. Indeed many workers did well in the war and saw their wages rise, especially those in vital industries. It was the middle class who suffered, falling incomes, those on fixed incomes especially. However everyone saw their spending power erode in the end as raging inflation and shortages bit in later in the war.

One could argue, however, that there were revolutionary pressures in all three states before the war. Russia had had problems for years, the 1905 revolution for example which saw the Tsar give up some powers before snatching them back and leaving the Duma impotent. Germany had seen the rise of socialism and even from the early 1900s The Kaiser had to use political guile to get his armaments programmes through the Reichstag. Austria-Hungary was a basket case empire which uses the tension between various ethnic groups to maintain cohesion, a policy that was probably bound to fail sooner or later.

It can be no co-incidence that all three states suffered their revolutions within a couple of years of each other. Pressures already existed and the war causes these pressures to keep on building up. Without the war it may have been all three states saw revolution in any case but perhaps of a different (and less violent) kind. That of course is something we will never know for sure.

TMA03 back

TMA03 was returned to me yesterday and i was very pleased with the result. My mark for TMA02 was average and knocked my confidence a bit but my essay on total war was well received so i am back and rocking!

Tutorial tomorrow then i shall commence TMA04 which is due in early June. I am still about 4 weeks ahead of schedule study wise so i may just concentrate on the assignment next week. This week's study was on cinema and radio in the interwar period which i found very interesting indeed.

The ghost of Dr Edward Jenner?

This photograph purports to be of the ghost of Dr Edward Jenner, the pioneer of smallpox vaccination. It was taken in his former home and appears to show a mysterious figure sitting in a chair.



Of especial interest to me because my Nan always said she was related to Dr Jenner, i have found though that her ancestors were called Genner but they do appear to have been from Gloucestershire (like Dr Jenner) and its of course possible there was a relationship somewhere in the mists of time, name spellings did vary until fairly recently.

Resistance

As mentioned here already i believe the final TMA on my course this year is a double one, it's subject will be how useful resistance and partisan warfare was in fighting fascism. I am currently reading Resistance in Western Europe which contains a number of essays on various countries in Western Europe and their resistance movements.

So far i have only read on Belgium and France (in another book) but one thing does seem to have sprung to mind at least from these 2 countries. Resistance was more against fascist collaborators than against the German Army at least until the war had turned for the worse for the Axis (after Stalingrad) and operations against the Germans seemed to require more assistance by the Allies (especially the SOE).

That is not to say there were not any operations against the army but the focus seemed to be to fight homegrown fascists. A reason for this may be that in the early years of the war the effect on the population of the German occupation was not as marked. Fascist collaborators in the occupied countries were given rein to rule for the Germans in return for satisfying the German's requirements. Its easy to see how a "wait and see" attitude would have arisen among the majority. However when those requirements got more onerous, especially when the Germans started to round up Jews, then resistance became more widespread but in a non-combat sense.

The popular image of resistance is of a civilian with a Tommy Gun shooting at some German soldiers but most resistance effort was in non-combat roles, such as producing newspapers with uncensored and anti-German news, hiding Jews and other people wanted by the authorities, supporting clandestine operations such as copying identity papers and intelligence. It is going to be interesting to try and work out how effective this was in combating Nazism but there must have been an effect, especially when 1000s of young people hid instead of be press ganged into working in German factories. The loss of that labour must have had an interesting degrading effect on the German war effort.

Anyway my reading continues...

Past music piracy

A couple of interesting snippets of previous examples of copyright infringements of intellectual property i.e. piracy. Music piracy dates back to at least 1897 according to this scan from the NY Times. Canadian pirates flooded the US market with cheap copies of the latest popular songs, well copies of sheet music that is. It does not say if anyone pirated wax cylinders too.

An interesting comment on a Slashdot article on this mentions even earlier piracy of material :

"In ancient Rome, it was completely ordinary for an audience member to transcribe a poetry recital, hand it over to amanuenses to massively copy, and then sell it in the marketplace with no money going back to the creator. Even poets didn't have a problem with it. The only protest I'm aware of in the literature is Martial's unhappiness that some talentless fellow was putting his own name on the transcription of Martial, and plagiarism is rather separate from copying without authorization."

Of course in both cases it did not kill off the entertainment industries of the time. Just as home taping didn't kill music in the 1980s.

What is total war?

A question i am currently wrestling with is, what is "total war"? In my current TMA i am being asked if total war is an adequate way to describe the First World War. Of course first of all you need to define what total war is.

The term first seems to have popped up in the 19th century and nowadays refers to unlimited warfare using the whole resources of the combatants. Of course in reality total war is very hard to achieve though massive nuclear armouries probably have made the potential for unlimited destruction of an enemy achievable. In WW1 that potential did not exist so can it be called a total war. Well logically no but in reality yes. The conflict was on an unprecedented scale and saw a level of destructive power far beyond the imagination of people even a few decades before. It also saw the line between combatant and non-combatant broken with civilians targetted on purpose such as in the case of the Zeppelin raids on the UK. Nations threw their whole resources into the fight with governments taking over industries, mass conscription and rationing to carry on the fight. The fight itself no longer being "just" to destroy the enemy army but the enemy's ability to wage war, even it's ability to exist.

These differences mark WW1 out from previous conflicts though "total war" surely can be applied to earlier wars. The question comes though with the Second World War. It saw even greater destruction across the world culminating in the first use of atomic weapons. If WW2 is a total war then does that mean WW1 no longer can be? Well that is an argument of some though i feel wars have to be compared with the past and not their future.

Because of that total war does adequately describe WW1. Now i just have to write an essay on this...

Collaboration vs collaborationism

At the moment my course is on the interwar period, this week Stalin in fact but i am also beginning to read on the subject of resistance in WW2 against Nazism for my final TMA. When i come across something interesting i might write it up here, for interest and also to help me remember things when i finally start to write the essay in August!

I am currently reading HR Kedward's Occupied France which is a history of Vichy France and German occupied France from 1940-44. Vichy of course was Marshal Petain's attempt to restore some honour to France and try and make the best of a bad situation in the face of defeat in 1940 though it is likely he totally misjudged the political reality of the time and expected a German occupation like the Franco-Prussian War and for France to pay a part in the new Europe, instead he got an idealogically based occupation and a Hitler who lost interest in France once his attention went east.

Anyway Vichy's form of collaboration is now genuinely regarded by historians as being different to that of the French fascists to whom has been given the name collaborationism (Kedward 1993 p41). This attempts to distinguish between the fascists' ideologically based collaboration and the more pragmatically and nationalistic based flavour of the Vichy regime.

Petain and other Vichy leaders thought it was better to protect French sovereignty if they carried out the arrest of resisters, the deportation of Jews and other acts to assist the Germans instead of the Germans doing it themselves. Their argument was this could act as a "shield" to protect the French people from a greater repression at the hands of the Germans (though of course it is unlikely the resisters, Communists, Jews et cetera who suffered at Vichy's hands really considered this a good thing) who would take the law into their own hands.

Vichy tried to keep it's brand of collaboration distinct from the French fascists though in reality there was a great deal of overlap and no shortage of fascists and Nazi supporters in Vichy. It is interesting to imagine what might have happened if Britain had fallen and there was a British "Vichy", would British people have tried the same brand of collaboration? The nature of resistance is something i will return to another time.

Another page on this subject is here.

Sales of Mein Kamph soar in India

Sales of Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography/manifesto written in the 1920s are soaring in India where business students apparently see him as a management guru. 10,000 have been sold in the last six months in New Delhi alone. The surging sales are apparently because students see it as "a self-improvement and management strategy guide for aspiring business leaders". However academics say the students may be influenced by fascist political parties in India.

Sales are also strong in countries like Turkey and Croatia.

Archaeologists discover temple that sheds light on so-called Dark Age

The discovery of a temple in Turkey dating the 9th or 10th century BCE is shedding light on a period of history up until now known for it's upheavals, famine and civilisation collapse, a Dark Age. Sources such as Homer depict the time, the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age, as one of famine and war, and migrations such as the Sea Peoples which resulted in the collapse of Bronze Age civilisations.

However the excavations at Tayinat indicate a civilisation that was thriving at the time and appears to have been the capital of a Bronze Age kingdom. Though much work remains to be done at the site.

Exam date!

It always feels strange to have your exam date so early in the course but my exam will be in mid-October as always with Open University exams. However as my birthday is also in mid-October i've always had a mild anxiety about the exam falling on my birthday. But once again i am safe and the exam is a couple of days before. Phew!

TMA03 and the big one!

Time to start TMA03 which is due in the first week of May, i haven't had 02 back yet but hopefully that will be soon. I'd like to get some feedback on my last essay before starting the next (which is on Total War).

The long TMA (4K word one) will be on resistance in WW2 against the Nazis. I have ordered 3 books which i need and also "borrowed" a book on special operations in WW2 from my Mum (well it was my Dad's really). Ah its all go eh?!

Researchers find the earliest evidence of domesticated maize

New biological evidence from Mexico’s Central Balsas River Valley indicates maize was first domesticated 8700 years ago, 1200 years earlier than previously thought. Maize derives from teosinte, a wild grass native to central America and Balsas teosinte is the closest species to maize and that is found in the Central Balsas River Valley.


Balsas teosinte

Archaeological analysis has also found very early grinding tools which was used to grind the maize and this enabled the researchers to get a date of 8700 years ago. Remnants of maize starch, which is different to teosinte starch, was found on the tools.

Search on for 'lost' battlefields of England

A major new project is underway to rediscover the "lost" battlefields of England dating back to the Roman invasion and preserve what is left of them (if they arn't already under a carpark or housing estate). It is thought there could be as many as 450 battlefields out there somewhere but Battlefields Trust and English Heritage are aiming to discover the exact location of around 100 and document them on an on-line register. These sites will then have custodians to keep an eye on the battlefield site and promote it to the local community.

Time to decide on the Long TMA

TMA 5 & 6 on my course are one uber-assignment. We are being advised now to decide on which topic we will attempt for the assignment which calls for in-depth research. The problem with choosing now of course is that some topics cover material we haven't touched on yet so it is hard to know if the potential topics could be "the one".

I am considering the topic of resistance however, i do have a couple of books already which could be useful on this. I think i will decide for sure over Easter.

TMA02 done!

Right sent off TMA02 today, 2008 words according to Word (and 2018 according to Textwrangler which is what i actually typed it in). I put 2008 as the word count at the end of the essay naturally. Well i am not sure about this one, i don't think the essay is that good although researching for it did clear up some blanks in the course for me so far which is more important (as long as i don't get a fail).

Commencing TMA02

Time for TMA02, it is due on April the 1st so i had better get started. A 2000 word essay which i find less daunting than 500 word source analysis questions to be honest. I have written quite a lot of notes but now is the time to actually begin writing the essay.

The essay is on comparing the political and social structures of authoritarian and constitutional states in Europe in 1914 (or something like that, i don't have the question paper to hand at the moment). As with most things the answer will not be straightforward as it depends on what we actually mean by authoritarian and constitutional.

Diet like a... Spartan

The Spartan diet is the healthiest in history according to this website. The diet is only influenced by the actual diet of ancient Sparta though so i suspect eating black broth in communal houses after murdering a helot is not on the menu. Unfortunately you have to pay to find out the full details and i'm not ready for Sparta yet!

Red Cross WW1 archive unveiled in Geneva

Historian Peter Barton has unearthed archive records from WW1 which may help relatives finally discover the whereabouts of fallen soldiers and fill in gaps in their family histories. The archives, which have laid virtually untouched since 1918, are at the Red Cross HQ in Geneva. It is estimated there could be 20 million records there in card indices and ledgers and the hope is now to digitise the records and put them on-line by 2014.

"[T]he capture, death, or burial of servicemen from over 30 nations drawn into the conflict; personal effects, home addresses and grave sites cover page after page" is recorded, the information being passed to the Red Cross by the various combatants. Incredibly no one has inquired about the records until now.

TMA01 back!

I have got my first TMA back, and was pleased with the score. I won't actually announce my marks though i think there is no harm in saying it was above the 70% barrier which i would like to stay above for all of the TMAs (as i consistently did last year). Actually i was not expecting as good a mark for the first TMA as it was a source analysis assignment and traditionally these have been my weakest. I know last year TMA01 was my worst one of the lot!

Now onto TMA02, which is a 2000 word essay on the origins of WW1. I have a choice of questions though have not yet decided which one i will do yet. I may wait until the tutorial on Saturday before making my final decision and beginning the TMA (due April 1st!)

Mystery of murdered Russian Tsar's missing children solved by DNA study

DNA analysis of human remains found in central Russia appear to have ended the mystery over the demise of the last Tsar of Russia Nicholas II and his wife and children at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1918. Since then over 200 hundred people have claimed to have been one or other of the Romanovs (perhaps the most notorious being Anna Anderson who claimed to be Princess Anastasia), having escaped the slaughter of the rest of the family. Further speculation arose when the grave was finally examined in 1991 that only contained the remains of 3 and not all 5 of the children. However a second grave was found in 2007 and DNA analysis of these remains have found the 2 missing children, one of them Prince Alexei.

Earliest known domestic horses

A team of archaeologists has uncovered evidence of the earliest known domestication of the horse. The earliest domesticated horses were likely milked as well as ridden. The origins of horse domestication have been traced back over 5000 years to the Botai Culture of Kazakhstan by a team led by archaeologists from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol. This is 1000 years earlier than previously thought.

The team found a variety of evidence including traces of fats from horse milk in pottery, drinking horse milk popular in Kazakhstan to the present day. Analysis of horse bones also shows evidence of "bit damage" showing the horses were harnessed and maybe ridden. The bones are also different to wild horses in the region, being similar to later domesticated horses from the Bronze Age.

Dip CS (Open)

I received my certificate today for my Diploma in Classical Studies (Open) which i was awarded after passing AA309 last year (and A219 2 years ago). I can put Dip CS (Open) after my name if i want though i've been able to put BSc (Hons) after my name for the last 14 years but haven't done it yet. Well i tell a lie, it appeared on my business card once though i never actually got to give any of these out so that doesn't count!

'Oldest English words' identified

Researchers from Reading University have identified the oldest words in English and other Indo-European languages that are still in use. "I" and "we" are among the oldest unsurprising, well you didn't expect it to be "antidisestablishmentarianism" did you? The researchers have set up a web site which catalogues how words have changed over time allowing people to insert a date and see what words were used at the time.

They have also created a computer model to analyse the rate of change and see which words could become extinct. "Bad" is one of them apparently.

Update (06/03/09) : i am a historian not a linguist so felt the above story was interesting but a bit odd, proper linguists have found the whole thing rather baffling and laughable. Oh well!

Ancient Black Sea Flood: Nuisance or Calamity?

A catastrophic flood in the Black Sea area in pre-historic times is something that has interested me for some time, especially the idea that a major disaster in that area may have been the genesis (so the speak) of the great flood stories that appear in so many early cultures (including Noah of course).

However new research by a team led by Liviu Giosan, a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, indicates that there was not a huge flood. The Black Sea was originally a fresh water lake but 9500 years ago rising sea levels caused the Mediterranean to raise sufficient to be able to flow into the Black Sea. Initially it was thought this caused a catastrophic flood indicating a sudden change of water from fresh to salt water. However by analysing sediments in the Danube delta researchers think the flood was much smaller than thought as the original level of the Black Sea was higher to start with. However the results are not accepted by other researchers and it is hoped further analysis can take place now the region is more accessible following the end of the Cold War.

Iraq's National Museum reopens

Good news, Iraq's National Museum has reopened following the years of chaos after the fall of Saddam. Though many of the artefacts looted or damaged have yet to be replaced. Only a quarter of the 15,000 artefacts stolen after Saddam's fall have been recovered. The museum still has a vast collection though little of it has been catalogued or put on display.



Because of a dispute between various the museum and the Culture ministry who say the security situation is still not stable enough, only 8 of the 20 wings have been reopened yet and only to organised groups but its a start.

Resurrecting the Neanderthal

John Hawk's blog is a recommended read on anthropology, evolution and human origins and the like. He presents an interesting discussion about resurrecting the Neanderthal in the wake of the publishing of the Neanderthal genome. Not the technical aspect but rather the morals behind bringing back to life an extinct race of hominids. Also if they were bought back to life what would Neanderthals be like in the 21st century world. I kind of like the idea that they would like watching sitcoms and would be very popular on dating websites!

First TMA on the way

I am currently into week (or unit) 6 of AA312 and also need to start the first TMA, or tutor marked assignment which is due later this month. The first TMA is, as usual, a source analysis question which i don't enjoy that much but there will be some in the exam so its good to get as much practice as possible! I need to analyse an extract from a Times of London article on the eve of World War 1 (Aug 1 1914 to be exact) and sum up it's historical significance.

I should be fine though i always tend to miss something out on these kinds of questions, still its only worth a tiny amount of my overall mark at the end of the year.

I have started reading a book on Llyod George, not on the required reading list for the course but the book seemed interesting and it is related information anyway. He was involved in a scandal involving the selling of peerages, now where have i heard of that before?

Free history lectures on iTunesU

Something my employer is currently working towards is joining the Apple iTunesU project. Basically iTunesU uses the popular iTunes Store to deliver free video and audio lectures from universities across the world. Most of the universities are in the US still as you would expect but a few already are from the UK including the Open University as one would imagine they would be in at the start!

Unfortunately my current course is not covered on the OU's iTunesU site though my course last year is, with a number of video lectures. iTunesU has been a great success for the OU with the million download mark being reached last October.

There are a number of interesting history lectures on iTunesU already, i have just been watching a video lecture given by David Starkey for Cambridge University on the British Monarchy for example. Maybe next i'll start listening to a lecture series on British Parliamentary and Electroral Politics 1688-1832 from the University of Warwick...

Village photograph triggers police murder hunt for missing teenager - 80 years late

The case of a servant girl who went missing is now being treated as murder by the police, 83 years after she went missing. 16-year-old Emma Alice Smith disappeared on the way home from work in Tunbridge Wells in 1926. She was reported as missing but no trace of her was ever found and everyone apart from her family lost interest.


Waldron village 'stool ball' team, Emma is top left

The case has come to light again after Valerie Chidson began to research into Emma's disappearance after seeing her in a photograph and she wrote a short film based on Emma's story called Finding Esther.

Afterwards Chidson was told by a relative of Emma that they had been told Emma had been murdered and the killer had made a deathbed confession to Emma's sister, who is now deceased. Chidson persuaded Emma's family to go to the police and they have now begun an investigation. Their main aim is to locate Emma's remains so Emma can finally have a burial.

Unfortunately as the deathbed confession took place in 1953 the investigation will be difficult but they think they may have been murdered near to Waldron or Horam and her body disposed of in a pond.

Biodiversity hotspot enabled Neanderthals to survive longer in south east of Spain

Over 14,000 years ago when most of Europe was covered in ice and snow during the last ice age of the Pleistocene Neanderthals were able to survive in the very southern tip of the Iberian peninsula in the region of Gibraltar for much longer than elsewhere in Europe because of the plant and animal biodiversity in this "refuge". An international team has reconstructed the landscape near Gorham's cave in Gibraltar by analysing paleobotanical data from geological deposits.

The biodiversity in the area was "unique" compared to the rest of Europe at the time (much of which was under masses of thick ice anyway) and enabled the Neanderthals to survive here 10,000 years longer than in the rest of Europe.

BCU dig yields archaeological finds

Birmingham City University (place of my employ) are currently in the early stages of building a major new campus in the city centre. Before the bulldozers went in a team from the University of Leicester's Archaeological Services took the opportunity, late last year, to have a look to see what they find. Stone flints indicating signs of human activity dating back some 9000 years have been found.



Photo (c) University of Leicester Archaeological Services

Evidence of wood clearing was also found in an area which would have been boggy land at the time. Clay samples are currently being examined for traces of pollen and insects and is also being radiocarbon dated. More details of the archaeological excavation can be seen here.

Ancient Greek homes doubled as pubs and brothels

The kapeleia or lively Greek tavern features prominently in ancient Greek plays but so far no evidence of these establishments has been unearthed by archaeologists. Clare Kelly Blazeby, from the University of Leeds, however thinks she has found the kapeleias. They doubled as Greek private homes.

Some homes she investigated contained hundreds of drinking cups, far too many even for private parties of the well-off. Blazeby says that the most likely explanation is that the homes doubled as public houses. Porneia or brothels may also have been in private homes. An abundance of entrances, small rooms and facilities for bathing could indicate the dual use.

If this dual-use is true then it sheds interesting light on the classical Greek economy and also social life in ancient Greece. Blazeby said, "My research shows that a lot of trade was embedded within the domestic walls. It also changes our perception of who was drinking wine, and where they were doing it. Women, slaves and foreigners as well as ordinary Greeks, would all have enjoyed time and wine in a classical tavern."

Chinese writing 1000 years older than previously thought?

Professor Liu Fengjun at Shandong University has discovered Chinese inscriptions on bone, which if the dating is correct, would put the age of Chinese writing back 1000 years earlier than previously thought. The writing dates from the Longshan Culture which existed from 2800 to 2300 BCE. This would pre-date the Yinxu inscriptions which came from the Shang dynasty of the 2nd millennium BCE.

Not everyone is convinced the marking are the work of man though, some are saying the marks could have been left by worms or tree roots.

Neanderthal weaponry lacked projectile advantage

The Neanderthals of course are the most successful species of humans so far in that they were around on the planet for a lot longer than us and recent discoveries have begun to dispel the myths that Neanderthals were knuckle dragging morons. However despite being able to produce sophisticated tools and weapons the modern humans had a key advantage over them, projectile weapons.

Anthropologists have analysed the skeletons of early modern men and Neanderthals and found that the latter lack the backward displacement of the shoulder joint that results in overhead throwing activities. Without thrown overhead a projectile weapon has much greater speed and range. While the Neanderthals probably did still throw spears and other weapons modern humans who did throw overhead had a definite advantage. Steve Churchill, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, said "perhaps their...short, squat body build with short and massive limbs was not conducive to using throwing-based hunting technology".

A look at the 1911 census

I have taken a look at the 1911 census which was put on-line yesterday. I did a search for my Grandmother who was just 5 at the time. The occupations of her siblings as listed on the census was interesting. I knew my Great-Grandfather was a miner but it was interesting that his two eldest sons living in the house were "rubber workers". I assume this means they worked in a tyre factory! I live, literally, a rolling tyre journey away from Fort Dunlop, who knows maybe they worked there.

My Grandmother's eldest sister Amy lists her occupation as "painter". I assume she didn't mean a house painter (or maybe it was, how common was that for a woman in 1911?) so maybe she was a painter in a factory. As with most of my family history research so far all i seem to find are more questions rather than that many answers!

Unlocking secrets of Mediaeval manuscripts using DNA

North Carolina State University researcher Assistant Professor of English Timothy Stinson is working on techniques to use DNA analysis to date and locate the origins of the animal skin parchments used in many Mediaeval manuscripts. Up until now handwriting and linguistic analysis has been used but these methods have their limitations. Stinson is aiming to create a baseline of DNA markers from manuscripts with known dates and origins and then compare the DNA from manuscripts of unknown origin with the baseline. Genetic similarities could then assist in narrowing down the time scale and locale of the manuscript in question. It will also allow the tracing of the trade route of manuscripts through the mediaeval world.

1911 census goes online

The British 1911 census has been digitized and put on-line. The 1911 census was not originally intended to be made available until 2012 but a Freedom of Information Act request has seen it made available a few years early. When the 1901 census was made available it crashed the servers though at the moment the 1911 one seems fine, of course i am writing this at 8:20am!

Comet impacts may have caused ancient famine

Continuing the ancient climate change theme, scientists think multiple comet impacts 1500 years ago plunged the world into darkness and caused worldwide famines.

Historical records tell of a "global dimming" in 536CE where a fog of dust blanketed the Earth cutting daylight, dropping temperatures and causing crops to fail. Until now the cause of this dimming was unknown though some speculated it could have been due to volcanic activity. A team from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory now think it was due to multiple comet impacts. Tiny balls of condensed rock vapour found in ice cores taken at Greenland date back to 536, this is the kind of debris thrown up by a major impact. The length of time the debris was laid down indicates there was more than one impact. Two possible craters have also been identified by the team led by Dallas Abbott.

Decline of Roman and Byzantine Empires 1, 400 years ago may have been driven by climate change

A team of American and Israeli geologists have put together a much more detailed than previously possible climate record from 200 BCE to 1100 CE from geochemical analysis of a stalagmite from Soreq Cave near Jerusalem. Using an advanced ion microprobe they measured oxygen isotope signatures and impurities in the mineral layers of a stalagmite to sufficient resolution to be able to tell the rainfall for individual years and seasons. They were thus able to build up a detailed picture of the climate.

And they found the weather between 100 and 700CE became increasingly dry with "steep drops in precipitation" between 100 and 400 CE, a period that coincides with a drop in power and influence of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in the region. University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor John Valley said "Whether this is what weakened the Byzantines or not isn't known, but it is an interesting correlation."

Time to start studying again

I need to get back into the studying groove again, i did plan to start my next Open University course (AA312 Total war and social change: Europe 1914-1955) last Sunday but did not feel quite ready! Actually i have until early February until the course officially starts but i like to start early so i have a little slack in case i need to take the odd week off especially when the sun is finally shining in the Summer!

I have been doing quite a lot of background reading though, "The Origins of the Second World War in Europe" by PMH Bell is an excellent book i recommend. I've just finished the short but very interesting "The inter-war crisis 1919-1939" by RJ Overy too.