What makes for a good historical question? Evaluating historical research quiz
Take a look at the historical source before selecting what you think are two (of five possible) good questions
for the source. A good question will be one that is specific, has a testable hypothesis, and relates to other
historical scholarship; a bad question is one either too broad, anachronistic, or containing moral/political
prejudices that prevent a fair investigation. For the final question, please share your two answers, and
justify them, on the Moodle discussion board.
1. Shell shock and World War One
Image from film source: "War Neuroses". Seale Hayne Military Hospital, 1918.
http://www.wellcomecollection.org/explore/sickness--health/topics/militarymedicine/video.aspx?view=war-neuroses
a. Were the shell-shocked soldiers faking their symptoms?
b. Why should we care about these soldiers in Britain today?
c. Did the explosion of shells cause shell-shock?
d. How did soldiers' military rank affect diagnoses of 'shell shock'?
e. How did 'shell shock' affect mental health treatments during world war one?
2. Levellers and The English Civil War
Text source: John Lilburne et al. ,"An Agreement of the free people of England", 1649.
(http://www.constitution.org/lev/eng_lev_12.htm)
Excerpt: 'I.---That the Supreme Authority of England and the Territories therewith incorporate, shall be and
reside henceforward in a Representative of the People consisting of four hundred persons, but no more; in
the choice of whom (according to naturall right) all men of the age of one and twenty yeers and upwards
(not being servants, or receiving alms, or having served in the late King in Arms or voluntary Contributions)
shall have their voices; and be capable of being elected to that Supreme Trust those who served the King
being disabled for ten years onely. '
a. Did an 'Agreement of the free people' prophesise our modern democratic state?
b.
c.
d.
e.
Should all the recommendations of the 'Agreement' be introduced today?
Did John Lilburne and the constitution writers deserve to go to jail?
What can we learn about the Leveller movement from the 'Agreement'?
Why did the Leveller demands of the 'Agreement' lead to prosecution from Oliver Cromwell?
3. The Spanish Civil War
Image source: Guernica. Pablo Picasso. 1937. Museo Reina Sophia, Madrid. Available at:
http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp
a. Could Guernica have avoided the bombing by German and Italian war planes during the Spanish Civil
War?
b. Is Guernica the most powerful anti-war statement in European history?
c. Did the Nationalists deserve to win the civil war?
d. How does Picasso's interplay of figures represent the central role of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War?
e. What advantages and disadvantages does Guernica's symbolism provide to a historical account of the
Spanish Civil War?
4. The Berlin wall
Video source: The fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany opens the gates. BBC News (9th November 1989).
Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjNz1lvXgzU
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
What was the best way of getting across the East-West border?
Was West Germany a better country than East Germany?
How did ideologies of Nazism, Communism and Capitalism prevent German reunification?
How was the demolition of the wall considered as a symbol of freedom?
What causes led to the construction of the Berlin wall in August 1961?
5. The conquests of Alexander the Great
Text source: Plutarch, Life of Alexander, in Plutarch's Lives, trans. B. Perrin (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1919).
The Macedonian counsellors of Alexander had fears of the crisis, and thought he should give up the Greek
states altogether and use no more compulsion there, and that he should call the revolting Barbarians back
to their allegiance by mild measures and try to arrest the first symptoms of their revolutions; but he himself
set out from opposite principles to win security and safety for his realm by boldness and a lofty spirit,
assured that, were he seen to abate his dignity even but a little, all his enemies would set upon him.
Accordingly, he put a speedy stop to the disturbances and wars among the Barbarians by overrunning their
territories with an army as far as to the river Danube, where he fought a great battle with Syrmus, the king
of the Triballi, and defeated him; and on learning that the Thebans had revolted and that the Athenians
were in sympathy with them, he immediately led his forces through the pass of Thermopylae, declaring that
since Demosthenes had called him a boy while he was among the Illyrians and Triballians, and a stripling
when he had reached Thessaly, he wished to show him that before the walls of Athens he was a man. [Plut.
Alex. XI 2-3]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Was Alexander a terrorist or a freedom-fighter for the ancient world?
What lessons can politicians learn today from Alexander the Great?
What strategies did Alexander adopt to external political questions?
What threats faced the Macedonian kingdom upon the accession of Alexander?
What were Plutarch's motives in reconstructing the personality of Alexander behind his campaigns?
6. 9/11 and the War on Terror
Image source: Cover of Newsweek magazine, September 2011 (http://www.theblaze.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/10/newsweek-cover-9-11.jpg)
a. Did the Americans deserve to be attacked on 9/11?
b. Who were the real 'good guys' in the War on Terror?
c. Did the Americans fake the attack on the twin towers?
d. How did the symbol of the damaged World Trade Center transform America's global self-image?
e. Why did the United States respond to the destruction of the WTC by beginning its 'War on Terror' in
attacking Afghanistan?