CLIL history activities. Cross curricular resources for subject and language teachers. Con materiali per il docente. Con espansione online 9788842112174

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PER IL V ANNO

CL

L

Annalisa Bianco Eileen Mulligan

HISTORY ACTIVITIES CROSS CURRICULAR RESOURCES FOR SUBJECT AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS

EDITORI LATERZA

CL L

Annalisa Bianco Eileen Mulligan

HISTORY ACTIVITIES

CROSS CURRICULAR RESOURCES FOR SUBJECT AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS

EDITORI LATERZA

© 2013, Gius. Laterza & Figli, Roma-Bari Prima edizione 2013

L’Editore è a disposizione di tutti gli eventuali proprietari di diritti sulle immagini riprodotte, nel caso non si fosse riusciti a reperirli per chiedere debita autorizzazione.

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Questo prodotto è stato realizzato nel rispetto delle regole stabilite dal Sistema di gestione qualità conforme ai requisiti ISO 9001:2008 valutato da Certi W e coperto dal certificato numero IT.12.0160.QMS

Che cosa è il CLIL? CLIL è l’acronimo di Content and Language Integrated Learning. Si tratta di una metodologia di insegnamento il cui obiettivo è quello far apprendere una disciplina non linguistica tramite il veicolo di una lingua comunitaria diversa dalla lingua madre degli alunni (apprendimento in L2). Nasce negli anni Novanta del Novecento ed è a tutt’oggi particolarmente sviluppata in paesi nei quali la doppia lingua di insegnamento è un fattore strettamente connesso alla cultura locale (Canada, Nord Europa, Africa). Le raccomandazioni attuate dal Consiglio Europeo nel 2005 invitano all’utilizzo della metodologia CLIL in tutta l’Unione europea stabilendo delle linee guida recepite anche dalla nuova riforma dell’istruzione secondaria superiore. In Italia, percorsi di apprendimento in modalità CLIL su base sperimentale sono attuati già da vari anni in diversi contesti scolastici e coinvolgono diverse discipline. L’odierna normativa ne disciplina e regolamenta l’attuazione prevedendo l’introduzione modulare di percorsi di apprendimento in L2 a partire dal terzo anno del Liceo Linguistico e dal quinto anno per ogni istituto di istruzione secondaria superiore.

Cosa si valuta in un percorso CLIL? L’interconnessione fra contenuto disciplinare e lingua L2 e l’approccio laboratoriale sono i due elementi portanti della metodologia CLIL. Il perseguimento degli obiettivi linguistici viene modulato dal docente in base al livello linguistico curriculare degli alunni; il perseguimento degli obiettivi di contenuto non è mai svincolato dalle competenze chiave di materia per un dato anno di corso. La finalità ultima del docente è quella di favorire l’uso attivo di una lingua straniera in un ambito disciplinare non linguistico, pertanto il focus delle attività CLIL è essenzialmente comunicativo.

A chi si rivolge quest’opera? Questo testo si rivolge ai docenti e agli studenti dell’ultimo anno degli istituti di istruzione secondaria superiore che intendano attuare dei percorsi CLIL a partire da tematiche connesse al programma di storia. È pensato e strutturato come un insieme di attività di tipo laboratoriale che possano essere utilizzate esclusivamente dal docente di storia oppure congiuntamente dal docente di storia e dal docente di lingua inglese. L’intento è quello di migliorare la competenza linguistica e comunicativa degli alunni a partire da percorsi interdisciplinari utilizzabili sia come parte di Unità di Apprendimento pluridisciplinari sia semplicemente come attività integrative e riepilogative per l’approfondimento storico. Proprio al fine di garantire la massima flessibilità di utilizzo del prodotto finale, il testo è stato pensato congiuntamente da un docente di storia e da un docente di lingua inglese.

IV Come È organizzata? Il testo è organizzato in 8 moduli tematici. Ogni modulo non intende replicare i contenuti presenti nel volume di storia in adozione, bensì approfondire la riflessione su elementi salienti della storia del quinto anno. Nella pratica scolastica ci accorgiamo spesso che il tempo a disposizione è davvero scarso per perseguire tutti gli obiettivi che ci si propone inizialmente. Nella classe quinta, la gestione del tempo diviene ancora più importante, in quanto è necessario programmare le proprie attività in modo coerente alle esigenze di alunni che hanno in vista l’Esame di Stato. A tal fine le singole attività proposte intendono fornire ai docenti e agli alunni del materiale che favorisca di volta in volta il perseguimento di obiettivi essenziali per l’Esame di Stato quali: • il ripasso di concetti chiave, situazioni, eventi propri del programma di storia degli anni precedenti; • la pratica della comunicazione e della discussione in lingua a partire da un argomento di studio; • la comprensione di punti di contatto e di correlazione fra eventi storici e realtà contemporanea; • l’individuazione degli elementi di interconnessione fra conoscenze afferenti a discipline diverse.

Al fine di adattarsi alle diverse esigenze della didattica ogni modulo si compone di diverse unità, comprensive ciascuna di attività con diverso grado di difficoltà. Ogni modulo può quindi essere fruito nel suo insieme, per costituire un percorso didattico unitario, oppure per singola unità o attività in base a specifiche esigenze didattiche.

quali fonti sono state selezionate? Ogni fonte rappresenta un materiale autentico in lingua inglese: a estratti da testi di settore e fonti primarie si accompagnano elementi visuali (immagini, grafici, video sul web) che costituiscono parte integrante dei percorsi proposti. Vari sono i documenti tratti dalla rete: l’intento è quello di mostrare agli alunni la varietà, ma anche il livello di approfondimento su un contenuto dato, reperibile tramite internet, e notare al contempo il diverso registro linguistico utilizzato a seconda della finalità comunicativa del sito di provenienza.

Come sono state strutturate le attività? Le attività proposte hanno carattere laboratoriale. Ognuna di esse mira a esercitare una precisa competenza di settore attraverso la pratica nell’uso della lingua inglese e l’acquisizione di termini propri del vocabolario specialistico. Le attività si distinguono per livello di difficoltà, finalità didattica e tipologia di esercizio. Nella loro strutturazione si è tenuto conto di tutte le tipologie di prova presenti negli esami di certificazione linguistica internazionale per i livelli B2 e in alcuni casi anche C1. In tal modo, il materiale può divenire anche un ausilio utile a esercitazioni mirate alla verifica delle varie abilità oggetto di valutazione, quali reading comprehension, writing, speaking, listening, use of English. L’esercizio coinvolge sempre la riflessione a partire dalle fonti proposte e punta sullo sviluppo della capacità comunicativa dell’alunno: l’intento è quello di far esercitare gli alunni nella scrittura, nella discussione, nell’esposizione orale in lingua straniera anche in vista delle prove scritte e del colloquio dell’Esame di Stato. Nessuna attività ruota intorno alla mera acquisizione di regole grammaticali, mentre tutte mirano all’esercizio attivo delle regole attraverso la decodifica e la ricostruzione delle fonti (esercizi di reading comprehension e fill in the gaps) e alla pratica espositiva e dialogica.

V il testo si accompagna a materiale digitale? Il testo a stampa viene integrato da una ricca selezione di contenuti accessibili sia al docente sia allo studente previa registrazione nella sezione dedicata del sito http://www.laterzalibropiuinternet.it. L’area studente presenta la lettura ad alta voce dei brani evidenziati nel testo con il simbolo , più contenuti testuali e video/audio originali a completamento dei percorsi a stampa. La sezione dedicata al docente presenta materiali di approfondimento sulla metodologia CLIL e materiali per la didattica. le Autrici

Avvertenza • Gli asterischi indicano il grado di difficoltà crescente, da uno a tre, di ogni esercizio. • Il simbolo

mind the gap

evidenzia brani con lacune testuali richiamate negli esercizi use of English.

contents

Module 1

Module 2

Nation and nationalism

1

UNIT 1 Defining the idea of nation

2

What is a nation? What makes a nation, a state or a nation-state? 

2 4

UNIT 2 Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century

7

Between patriotism and nationalism  The case of Germany The case of Italy  The case of France

7 8 10 12

 Listening

Empire and imperialism 

23

UNIT 1 Frame of reference: empire, imperialism and colonization

24

Who is an imperialist? 

24

UNIT 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires

27

The Roman Empire The British Empire Trading and industrial superiority  Capitalism and military expansion 

27 29 33 34

UNIT 3 Imperialism and post-imperialism 35 1935: the Italian colonization of Ethiopia Italy vs. Libya: contemporary international trends 

The origin of nationalism

UNIT 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence in 19th and 20th century Europe

13

Irish independence The proclamation of the Irish Republic  Political propaganda Propaganda during the Second World War

13 14 16 18

35 37

 Listening

 Listening Nationalism

UNIT 4 Nationalism: contemporary trends

20

Europe’s ‘nationalist populists’ and the far right (November 2011)

20

1911: the Italian campaign in Libya

Module 3

Post-imperialism: the case of India

39

UNIT 1 Post-colonialism: a definition

40

The fight for independence in the post-imperial period  Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948). A biography

40 41

VIII

Contents

UNIT 2 1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate Mohandas K. Gandhi. Speech to the All India Congress Committee, Bombay, August 8th, 1942  Sir Stafford Cripps, Statement on India, August 6th, 1942 

UNIT 3 Past history and contemporary problems Postcard from Kashmir India to be the fastest growing exporter and importer: HSBC 

45

United Kingdom: piecing history together The British government 

74 76

45

UNIT 2 British politics: the political debate

80                

46

50 50 51

UNIT 1 The trench system The Western Front during the First World War Letters from the trenches  The Italian Front 1915-1918 

UNIT 2 Technology at war The development of the tank  The battle at sea: the Dreadnought, a truly enormous ship Submarines warfare in World War 2  Military aircraft Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar 

80 82 84 84 85

 Listening A voyage to Lilliput

Module 4

Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

Tories and Whigs: etymology  A touch of political satire: James Gillray (1757-1815) Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift From Whigs to Liberals Accountability and contemporary irony 

 

UNIT 3 Political speeches during the World Wars: Sir Winston Churchill

53

Winston Churchill: a biographical outline  Winston Churchill: the Blood, Sweat and Tears 54                                                    speech Winston Churchill: the post-war period 54 and the Cold war 55 Winston Churchill: at the House of Commons, 58 March 1st, 1955

87                 87 88 89 90

61                                                     Listening 61 Winston Churchill: 1939, a war speech 62 64 66 67

UNIT 4 Contemporary wars: new reasons for old arguments

92

War with Iraq. A speech by the Prime Minister Tony Blair

92

 Listening Service in submarines • The great fighters of the Second World War • The invention of radar

UNIT 3 Espionage during the World Wars 69 The Zimmermann telegram Russian secret service agencies  Origins of the Cheka  American secret intelligence: inside the CIA 

69 70 70 71

Module 5

Political parties: the case of Great Britain UNIT 1 The British political system

Module 6

The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

95

UNIT 1 USA: the economic situation at the beginning of the 20th century

96

An economic history of the United States 

96

UNIT 2 USA: driving the change

99                

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), 28th President of the United States  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), 74            32nd President of the USA  73

99 101

Contents

Speaking to the world: Wilson on oratory. The old order changeth Woodrow Wilson’s economic initiatives  The birth of the New Deal 

104 106 107

Women’s speeches and writing

UNIT 2 The 20th century: fighting for a change 109                        The Suffragettes Emily Davison 109 Christabel Pankhurst

 Listening John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

UNIT 4 USSR: Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century Russian empire and population  Russia in the mid-1920s. Industrialization and after

118 118 119

 Listening Causes of the Russian Revolution of March 1917

UNIT 5 USSR: from NEP to collectivization Lenin and the New Economic Policy  Collectivization under Stalin Contemporary Russia: fact sheet. The Russian economy today

 Listening . Further readings

Franklin D. Roosevelt: a voice of hope • Franklin D. Roosevelt: the New Deal • America Social Security Policy, from 1935 up to nowadays • President Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt

The Great Depression: An Overview by David C. Wheelock

132

Women of the Crusades

 Listening

UNIT 3 USA: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

Women under the influence of the Enlightenment

IX

135                135 136 137

UNIT 3 Women at war

139               

Women during World War II ‘Rosies’ in the work force 

139 141

UNIT 4 Women under totalitarian regimes

143               

What did the Nazis want from German women?  A Communist woman’s opinion Women under the Fascist regime

143 144 146

 Listening 121

The second wave of feminism

121 122

UNIT 5 Women in politics

148

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)  Angela Merkel (born 1954)

148 150

124

 Listening

. Further readings

Margaret Thatcher: biography of the Iron Lady

Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

. Further readings 300 women who changed the world

Module 7

Women’s rights and women’s duties

8

UNIT 1 The status of women from the ancient world to the Enlightenment

                            Module Youth and education under totalitarian regimes 128

Athenian women Women in ancient Rome  Women in the Medieval age  Women in the Renaissance

128 129 130 131

127

153

UNIT 1 Hitler and education

154               

Education in Nazi Germany Readings from Mein Kampf 

154 155

X

Contents

The Nazi curriculum

156

 Listening Hitler’s children • 1935: Hitler youth rally speech

The Gentile reform Children’s comics in the “age of Mussolini” Football and Fascism. The national game under Mussolini 

 Listening 1936: Fascist youth organization march • Italian Fascism and football

165

Soviet schools and education Totalitarianism and sport in Russia  The ordinary life of a young girl under the Soviet regime

165 168

159                                                  Research 159 The Russian education system today 161



UNIT 2 Education in Fascist Italy

UNIT 3 Education and Soviet society

163

170

Module 1 Nation and nationalism UNIT 1 Defining the idea of nation UNIT 2 Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century UNIT 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence in 19th and 20th century Europe UNIT 4 Nationalism: contemporary trends

Learning Outcomes n Defining the idea of nation: what it implies [unit 1] n Understanding historical concepts: nationalism and patriotism in 19th century Europe [unit 2]

n Comparing attitudes and ideas: from self-defense to self-determination [unit 3]

n Reflecting on contemporary trends: new waves of nationalism in contemporary Europe [unit 4]

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

2

Unit

1

. What

Defining the idea of nation

is a nation?

The nation is a territorial community of nativity. One is born into a nation. The significance attributed to this biological fact of birth into the historically evolving, territorial structure of the cultural community of the nation is why the nation is one among a number of forms of kinship. It differs from other forms of kinship such as the family because of the centrality of territory. It differs from other territorial societies such as a tribe, city-state, or various ‘ethnic groups’ not merely by the greater extent of its territory, but also because of its relatively uniform culture that provides stability, that is, continuation over time. [Steven Grosby, Nationalism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, p. 7]

A nation is a group of people identified as sharing any number of real or perceived characteristics – such as common ancestry, language, religion, culture, historical traditions and shared territory – the members of which can identify themselves and the others as belonging to the group, and who have the will or desire to remain as a group, united through some form of organization, most often political. Not every nation has the same combination of characteristics to define it. [...] It is essential that all the individual members are aware of the ties that link them together as a nation or a national community. [...] Beyond shared characteristics and a national identity, nations also need to be actively preserved and supported by some form of political structure or organization. [Timothy Baycroft, Nationalism in Europe 1789-1945, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, pp. 3-4]

For John Fox and Cynthia Miller-Idriss, in what it is the most complete statement of this research agenda to date, claim that ‘to make the nation is to make people national’. It is, in fact, ordinary people who produce the nation and national identities in their own ways and in the course of their everyday activities and relations. [Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism, Polity Press, Cambridge (UK) - Malden (MA) 2010, p. 83]

Unit 1 Defining the idea of nation

3

!Reading [*]

Mapping ideas and making preliminary assessments

1. Looking carefully at the text you have read, fill in the following scheme. Nation Grosby a nation is related to .......................... ...............................................................

Baycroft

Smith

a nation is related to ....................................... ........................................................................

to make a nation is .............................. ...............................................................

but

this implies

and

and

............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... ...............................................................

................................... ................................... ................................... ................................... ................................... ...................................

needs to be supported by .............................. ................................... ................................... ................................... ...................................

a nation is made of ................................ ............................................................... in the course of ...................................... ............................................................... ...............................................................

and ............................................................... ............................................................... ...............................................................

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

2. Summarize the main ideas on the map.

territory

The idea of nation is related to different features, among them there are

3. If a nation is defined by these characteristics, the next question is: when might we say that a territory is a nation and when is it not?

............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

4

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

!Speaking [**]

Developing thinking skills

4. Working with a partner, discuss the following questions. a. Might a territory be called ‘nation’ even if it shares only some of these characteristics or not? b. Do we need the existence of a state in order to have a nation or not? c. What is the relationship between state and nation or state and empire? d. What makes a nation or a state? Many of these questions do not have a simple answer, but we can find some clues in the following extract.

. What makes a nation, a state or a nation-state?



Why do England, Scotland and Wales take part in the Six Nations rugby chamc . What do we mean by calling them pionship alongside Italy, Ireland and France? o ‘nations’? The nation has become one of the most contested concepts of our times. Scholars, politicians and political activists present different definitions of the nation, usually focusing on a variety of cultural, political, psychological, territorial, ethnic and sociological principles. o The crux of the matter probably embraces the link that has been established between nation and state and to the common practice of using the nation as a source of political legitimacy. Recognition as a nation grants different rights to a community that claims to comprise a single national unit. It usually implies an attachment to a particular territory, o. Of course, nations are not internally homogeneous and are affected by internal and external migration flows. Yet, to define a specific community as a nation involves the more or less explicit acceptance of the legitimacy of the state which claims to represent that nation. If the nation does not possess a state of its own, it then implicitly acknowledges the nation’s right to self-government involving some degree of political autonomy. This, in turn, may or may not lead to a claim for independence or secession from the state which claims sovereignty over the nation. The nation, however, cannot be viewed in isolation and a clear-cut distinction has to be drawn between three main concepts: state, nation and nation-state. Max Weber defines the ‘state’ as ‘a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’ (Weber et al.). The concept ‘nation’ refers to ‘a human group conscious of forming a community, sharing a common culture, attached to a clearly demarcated territory, having a common past and a common project for the future and claiming the right to rule itself’ (Guibernau). This definition attributes five dimensions to the nation: (1) psychological (consciousness of forming a group); (2) cultural; (3) territorial; (4) political; (5) historical. People who share such characteristics are referred to as having a common national identity. o However, a nation-state, being different from a nation and a state, has to be distinguished from the other two. The nation-state is a modern political institution. First, it is a state that both claims and exercises the monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a demarcated territory. Second, it is a state that seeks to unite the

Listening

mind the gap

Unit 1 Defining the idea of nation

5

people subjected to its rule by means of homogenization, creating a common culture, symbols, values, reviving traditions and myths of origin, and sometimes inventing them. In seeking to engender a sense of belonging among its citizens the nation-state demands their loyalty and fosters their national identity. The nation-state aspires to consolidate the nation where it already exists, but, should the nation-state rule over a territory containing different nations, parts of nations or ethnic groups, it tends to prioritize the culture and language of a particular nation. These then become dominant under the state’s protection. o In the case of Catalonia, these institutions were dismantled after 1714 as Spanish troops conquered and occupied Barcelona. The nation-state has exercised control of institutions and laws, the national media and the national education system. It has variously sought to nominate and promote a single official language, sometimes a single religion, and disseminate a specific version of the nation-state’s history based on remembering, ignoring or forgetting certain key events, and recovering and inventing national symbols, ceremonies, rituals, heroes, sacred places and traditions. Such strategies have been consistently employed in order to create and sustain a homogeneous national identity among its citizens. o Differences have prevailed in spite of the nation-state’s historical strategies to instill a common identity among its otherwise diverse citizenry. [http://openlearn.open.ac.uk]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Six sentences have been removed from the text above. Read it carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences.

a. For instance, at its inception, the Spanish state imposed the Castilian language and culture on the various peoples living within its territory, notably Catalonia and the Basque country, which had previously enjoyed their own independent institutions and laws. b. a shared culture and history and the assertion of the right to self-determination. c. Are they all ‘nations’? d. It is the sharing of a common national identity, expressed in terms of culture, language, religion, ways of life, common memories, shared past experiences and territory, that makes people feel they belong to the same community and have a certain degree of solidarity towards their fellow-nationals. e. However, numerous examples prove that very few nation-states have managed to successfully homogenize their populations. f. The lack of an agreement on what constitutes the nation suggests there is some difficulty in dealing with such a complex phenomenon.

!Writing [*] Summarizing ideas

2. What’s the difference between nation, state and nation-state? Using the text above and other sources, write a definition of the following phrases.

6

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

a. A nation is ....................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. A state is .......................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. A nation-state is .............................................................................................................................................................. ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [**]

Recalling historical facts

3. Think about some examples of contemporary nation-states and identify them on the following map.

!Speaking [***] Working in groups

4. With the support of your teacher, work in groups and investigate if there is a relation between the contemporary nation-states and the historical process you have studied.

a. Did you find nation-states whose act of settlement goes back to medieval history? b. Do nation-states have a common Constitution? c. Which nation-states were founded at the end of revolutionary processes? d. Has Italy ever been a nation-state or not? Why?

Unit 2 Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century

Unit

2

7

Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century

Once we have defined what a nation is or might be, we could focus on how the idea of nation is connected to the concepts of nationalism and patriotism. Are these two words synonymous or not? Patriotism is often found in the process of building a nation, but is nationalism bound to the existence of a nation or not? Finally, what’s the meaning attached to the idea of defending one’s own nation by thinkers who contributed to the birth of contemporary European nations?

. Between

patriotism and nationalism



What the wide use of the term patriotism indicates is that the individual puts aside, or ‘transcends’, his or her own self-interest for the sake of others. [...] There are often different aspects to the patriotic attachments that one forms to one’s nation, as a consequence of the different factors involved in the historical formation of a particular nation. One may, for example, be loyal to one’s nation because of its laws, or its customs, or its religion. There are usually many and differing, even conflicting, views of the nation that correspond to these different factors. However, inexplicable is the fact that the individual often shows a preference for his or her fellow nationals. This preference need not take the form of a prejudice against, or hatred of, those who are not members of one’s nation. Patriotism need not deny varying and different pursuits by the members of the nation. [...] When one divides the world into two irreconcilable and warring camps – one’s own nation in opposition to all other nations – where the latter are viewed as one’s implacable enemies, then, in contrast to patriotism, there is the ideology of nationalism. Nationalism repudiates civility and the differences that it tolerates by attempting to eliminate all differing views and interests for the sake of one vision of what the nation has been and should be. [Steven Grosby, Nationalism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, pp. 16-17]

 Listening

The origin of nationalism

Listening

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

8

!Writing [**]

Comparing and contrasting

1. Read the previous extract from Grosby and reflect on the relation between patriotism and nationalism, then link the words in the cloud to one or both the keywords and discuss your results with a classmate.

Patriotism

Nationalism

friendship, loyalty, war, companionship, defense, civility, sake of others, tolerance, prejudice,

attachment, opposition, debate, love, intolerance, justice, equity, equal rights, movement, political party, feeling, democracy

What have you discovered? If you confront your views, you will probably find that most of you relate some words to both the ideas and some only to one. Different interpretations often imply the existence of different critical approaches, but in this particular case contrasting views are commonly in place. Some views might be connected to the historical process which contributed to shape the modern nations. When did modern nations appear? This is still an unanswered question. Let us now look at the meaning attached to the idea of defending one’s own nation by thinkers who contributed to the birth of contemporary European nations.

. The

case of Germany

At the beginning of the 19th century, Germany was still divided into 39 independent states, meanwhile a considerable group of intellectuals began to share the idea of a German nation as a unified territory for people who shared the same culture and the same race. After Prussia’s disastrous defeat at the battle of Jena in 1806, Berlin was under French occupation. In 1808, in Berlin, the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte delivered the famous Addresses to the German Nation, with the intention of guiding an uprising against Napoleon.

The noble-minded man will be active and effective, and will sacrifice himself for his people. [...] So it has always been, although it has not always been expressed in such general terms ................. and so clearly as we express it here. What inspired the men of noble mind

mind the gap

Unit 2 Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century

9

among the Romans, whose frame of mind and way of ................. still live and breathe among us in their works of art, to struggles and sacrifices, to patience and endurance for the .................? They themselves express it often and .................. It was their firm belief in the eternal continuance of their Roma, and their confident ................. that they themselves would eternally continue to live in this eternity in the stream of time. [...] In this belief in our earliest common ................., the original stock of the new culture, the Germans, as the Romans called them, bravely ................. the oncoming world dominion of the Romans. [...] To those who submitted the Romans gave ................. of distinction in the form of kingly titles, high commands in their armies, and Roman fillets; and if they were driven ................. by their countrymen, did not the Romans provide for them a place of refuge and a means of subsistence in their colonies? [...] Freedom to them meant just this: remaining Germans and continuing to ................. their own affairs, independently and in accordance with the original spirit of their race, going on with their development in accordance with the same spirit, and ................. this independence in their posterity. All those blessings which the Romans offered them meant slavery to them because then they would have to become something that was not German, they would have to become half-Roman. They assumed as a matter of course that every man would rather ................. than become half a Roman, and that a true German could only want to live in order to be, and to remain, just a German and to bring up his children as Germans. They did not all die; they did not see slavery; they ................. freedom to their children. It is their unyielding resistance which the whole modern world has to thank for being what it now is. [...] It is they whom we must thank for everything that we have been as a nation since those days, and to them we shall be indebted for everything that we shall be in the future, unless things come to an end with us now and the last ................. of blood inherited from them has dried up in our veins. [Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation, translated by R.F. Jones and G.H. Turnbull, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1922, pp. 136-138, 143-145]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

resisted • expectation • fatherland • forefathers • marks • out • settle • die • bequeathed • drop • distinctly • propagating • thinking

!Writing [*]

Summarizing information

2. Make notes on the main points made by Fichte, looking at the following points. a. What does the parallel with the Romans imply? b. What similarities with motives used in the national German propaganda of the 20th century can you find?

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

10

!Speaking [*]

Being able to present historical information

3. Working with a partner, now summarize your notes verbally.

. The

case of Italy



Giuseppe Mazzini, one of the greatest liberals and republican leaders who fought for Italian national unity, in 1837 had moved to London where he started a school for Italian boys and a newspaper, “Apostolato popolare” (“Apostleship of the People”), in which he published part of his Essay On the Duties of Man. In 1858 Mazzini founded another journal in London: “Pensiero ed azione” (“Thought and Action”). In 1860, one year before Italian unification, the unabridged version of the Essay On the Duties of Man. Addressed to Workingmen was published.

Men are the creatures of education, and their actions are but the consequence of the principle of education given to them. The promoters of revolutions and political transformations have hitherto founded them all on one idea, the idea of the rights pertaining to the individual. Those revolutions achieved Liberty – individual liberty, liberty of education, liberty of belief, liberty of commerce, liberty in all things and for all men. But of what use were rights when acquired by men who had not the means of exercising them? Of what use was mere liberty of education to men who had neither time nor means to profit by it? Of what use was mere liberty of commerce to those who possessed neither merchandise, capital, nor credit? In all the countries wherein these principles were proclaimed, Society was composed of the small number of individuals who were possessors of the land, of capital, and of credit, and of the vast multitude who possessed nothing but the labour of their hands, and were compelled to sell that labour to the first class on any terms, in order to live. For such men, compelled to spend the whole day in material and monotonous exertion, and condemned to a continual struggle against hunger and want, what was liberty but an illusion, a bitter irony? The only way to prevent this state of things would have been for the upper classes voluntarily to consent to reduce the hours of labour, while they increased its remuneration; to bestow an uniform and gratuitous education upon the multitude; to render the instruments of labour accessible to all, and create a credit for workmen of good capacity and of good intentions. Now, why should they have done this? Was not well-being the end and aim of life? Was not prosperity the one thing desired by all? “Let those help themselves who can.” [...] It was natural they should speak thus, and thus in fact they spoke. And this mode of regarding the poor by the privileged classes soon became the mode in which individuals regarded one another. Each man occupied himself with his own rights and the amelioration of his own position, without seeking to provide for others; and when those rights clashed with the rights of others, the result was a state of war – a war, not of blood, but of gold and craft; less mainly than the other, but equally fatal; a relentless war in which those who possessed means inexorably crushed the weak and inexpert.

Listening

Unit 2 Nationalism and patriotism in the 19th century

11

[...] And you, who for fifty years have been preaching to the individual that Society is constituted for the purpose of securing to him the exercise of his rights, how can you ask him to sacrifice them all in favour of that Society, and submit, if need be, to ceaseless effort, to imprisonment or exile, for the sake of improving it? After having taught him by every means in your power that the end and aim of life is happiness, how can you expect him to sacrifice both happiness and life itself to free his country from foreign oppression, or to produce some amelioration in the condition of a class to which he does not belong? After you have preached to him for years in the name of material interest, can you pretend that he shall see wealth and power within his own reach and not stretch forth his hand to grasp them, even though to the injury of his fellow-men? [Joseph Mazzini, An Essay On the Duties of Man. Addressed to Workingmen, Funk & Wagnalls, New York 1898, pp. 10-12]

!Reading [*]

Interpreting primary sources

1. Answer the following questions by choosing a, b or c. 1. What does the writer think about the relation between rights and achieved liberties? a. Rights are not always preserved by liberty. b. People with a poor education are not able to use the rights that liberty gives them. c. Many of the conquests derived from the revolutionary process were denied by the political and social context of Europe in the 19th century. 2. Why should workingmen consider liberty an illusion? a. Because they did not experience real liberty in their own lives. b. Because poor people were nominally free, but constrained by the lack of means of support and therefore under the rule of rich people. c. Because they never had any wish to be free. 3. What might improve the conditions of the poor? a. New regulations regarding working conditions and education. b. A different attitude to the poor by the rich. c. A better government policy. 4. What did the upper classes think about the relation between the poor and their rights? a. There was no need for working people to defend their own rights. b. Each individual should be able to affirm his own rights. c. The upper classes had the moral duty to help those who were unable to help themselves. 5. What does the expression “a war not of blood, but of gold and craft” mean? a. The class struggle would have led to revolution. b. The poor used to rob the rich. c. Economic success was the key to improve conditions. 6. How does class struggle influence the attitude of single individuals towards their own country? a. Working people are not eager to fight for their own country. b. Liberty is considered as a result of a better economic condition and not of a war in defense of the state. c. Individual success is the key to self-esteem: people are willing to fight for this, but not for their own country, because this would give benefits mainly to the high classes.

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

12

!Speaking [**] Working on concepts

2. Work with your teacher. a. How were Mazzini’s ideas related to the Italian cultural context of his time? b. What role does Mazzini give to education in shaping the national identity? c. Are his ideas still relevant today?

. The

case of France

11 March 1882: France was defeated by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War; the great French motherland of the French Revolution, the Declaration of Human Rights and the Napoleonic Code, the state who taught democracy to others, was now going through a difficult historical time. In a speech given at the Sorbonne, What is a Nation, Ernest Renan made an appeal to the fundamental spirit beyond the constitution of France as a nation. a The essence of a nation is that individuals have many things in common, but o

also that they have forgotten many other things. No French citizen knows if he is Burgundian, Alani, Taifali, or Visigoth; every French citizen must have forgotten St. Bartholomew’s Day, the thirteenth century massacres in the Midi. o The principles in such cases come to light only by the most unexpected surprises. It is France’s glory to have proclaimed, through the French Revolution, that a nation exists by itself. What is a nation? Why is Holland a nation, whereas Hanover and the Grand Duchy of Parma are not? How does the principle of nationality differs from the principle of race? [...] o A nation is therefore the expression of a great solidarity, constituted by a feeling for the common sacrifices that have been made and for those one is prepared to make again. o The modern nation is therefore a historical result brought about by a series of phenomena converging in the same direction. Sometimes unity has been brought about by a dynasty, as is the case with France; sometimes by the direct will of the provinces, as is the case with Holland, Switzerland and Belgium; sometimes by a general sensibility, belatedly conquering the caprices of feudalism, as is the case with Italy and Germany. o A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things, which strictly speaking are just one, constitute this soul, this spiritual principle. One is the past, the other is the present. One is the common possession of a rich legacy of memories; the other is actual consent, the desire to live together, the will to continue to value the heritage that has been received in common. [http://ig.cs.tu-berlin.de]

!Use of English [***] Reordering ideas

1. In the previous text you will find that some extracts from the speech presented to you are in the wrong order. Reassemble them cohesively (a is given).

Unit 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence

Unit

3

13

Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence in 19th and 20th century Europe

If nationalism seems to go alongside patriotism during the process of consolidation of national European independent states, by the end of the 19th century it became more and more related to the conflict among states and it represented a weapon against anti-national socialism or Marxism. Self-defense is now connected to the self-determination of one nation which is ready to fight against other nations in order to preserve its own territory, race and culture. This process contributed to shape the political scenario in the years to come, laying the foundation for new independent countries such as Ireland, but it also cleared the ground for a new World War.

. Irish

independence

For centuries British dominion in Ireland gave rise to unrest which finally erupted into violence with the Easter Rising of 1916, when independence was proclaimed. The rising was crushed and many of its leaders executed, but the campaign for independence carried on through a bloody Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921. It was in 1922 that 26 counties of Ireland gained independence from London following negotiations which led to the other six counties, part of the province of Ulster, remaining in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Partition was followed by a year of civil war. Relations between Dublin and London remained strained for many years afterwards. Northern Ireland saw decades of violent conflict between those campaigning for a united Ireland and those wishing to stay in the United Kingdom. In an unprecedented and concerted effort to resolve the situation, the Irish and UK governments worked closely together in negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement on the future of Northern Ireland in 1998. [http://news.bbc.co.uk]

!Reading [*]

Understanding historical contexts

1. Read the text quickly. Which are the crucial events in the history of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland?

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

14

!Vocabulary [**] Using dictionaries

2. Find the meaning of the following verbs taken from the text above. In each case the infinitive of the verb is given. Use your dictionary to find the correct meaning in context.

a. To give rise to:.................................................................................................................................................................. b. To crush:............................................................................................................................................................................ c. To lead: ............................................................................................................................................................................. d. To see:...............................................................................................................................................................................

. The

proclamation of the Irish Republic



Britain and Ireland were at war with Germany at the time of the Easter Rising. The roots of the Rising lay in the ‘new nationalism’ which emerged in Ireland in the 1890s. Its most significant outcome was the birth of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a small, revolutionary body which organized the insurrection in 1916. They were acting on the principle: ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’. If at the time of insurrection the great majority of Irish people did not participate in the ‘cause of Ireland’, the executions of the leaders resulted in alienating sympathy towards the British government and fostering a larger popular intervention.

The Proclamation of the Irish Republic, 1916

Listening

Unit 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence

!Speaking [*]

Interpreting primary sources

1. Look at the manifesto above, then answer the questions that follow. a. Is the uprising presented as a sudden upheaval of Irish claims against Britain? b. Which form of government do they avow? c. Is there any reference to religion? Why?

 Listening

Nationalism

15

16

. Political

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

propaganda

Nationalistic claims and political propaganda spread through Europe before and after the World Wars. The people’s will to preserve their own cultural identity shifted to national appeals to defense during the wars.

Britons [Lord Horatio Kitchener] wants you, 1914

I want you for U.S. Army, 1916

For the glory of Ireland, ‘Will you go or must I’?, 1914 [Imperial War Museum, London]

These women are doing their bit, learn to make munitions, 1915

Unit 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence

Eat less, 1916-17 [United States Food Administration]

17

Don’t waste bread!, 1917 [Imperial War Museum, London]

!Speaking [**] Discussing in groups

1. Look at the previous images, then work in groups and discuss them. When analyzing posters, make sure you consider both the words and the image/s. Try to identify who these posters are addressed to (men, women, students, soldiers, children etc.) as well as who devised them (race, gender, age, class etc.).

a. What message/s do these illustrations communicate? b. What techniques are used to express the message?

18

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

. Propaganda

during the Second World War

Karl Gold, Your ’Yes’ to the Führer, 1938 [Salce Collection, Civic Museum Luigi Bailo, Treviso]

Mr Hitler wants to know!, 1939-46 [The National Archives, United Kingdom]

Napoleon was defeated. The same will be with Hitler!, 1941 [Leningrad-Moscow, Russia]

Unit 3 Right-wing nationalism and fighting for independence

Everytime you twist a nut think of Hitler, 1942-43 [National Archives and Records Administration, College Park (USA)]

!Speaking [**]

Interpreting primary sources

1. Analyze the previous posters. In your opinion, which country issued each of them?

19

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

20

Unit

4

Nationalism: contemporary trends

. Europe’s

‘nationalist populists’ and the far right (November 2011)

RW AY

Europe today is not exempt from nationalistic claims. The cultural globalization favoured by the European Union is counterbalanced by new claims to preserve the national, cultural and racial identity of individual countries.

NO

i)

UK a) b)

h)

GERMANY c)

FRANCE

g)

AUSTRIA d)

e)

ITALY f)

Unit 4 Nationalism: contemporary trends

UK a. English Defence League. A non-party street movement, this began in Luton in 2009 as a response to what members call Islamic militancy. The EDL has staged a number of marches in strongly Muslim areas, many of which have seen violence and racist chanting. b. British National Party. Standard bearer of the UK anti-immigrant far right for almost 30 years, it won 12 seats on a London council, Barking, in 2006, and three years later gained two Euro MPs. Since then the party has slipped into near-chaos under leader Nick Griffin, although its 1.9% share of the 2010 general election vote was marginally higher than that of 2005. FRANCE c. Bloc Identitaire. While officially now a party it remains mainly street-based. It was formed in 2003 to represent what it calls ‘identitarian’ politics. It is most notorious for running food kitchens for the homeless serving pork-based soups, thus excluding Muslims and Jews. Its emblem, a black boar, is also seen as anti-Islam. d. Front National. The vehicle for decades of populist far right firebrand – and sometime Holocaust doubter – Jean-Marie Le Pen; from 1972 it reached a peak in 2002 when he won through to the second round of France’s presidential election. After a subsequent decline, the party is reviving through the leadership of his daughter, Marine. ITALY e. Lega Nord (Northern League). The party, a key member of Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition, is officially based on more autonomy for Italy’s north, but it is increasingly anti-immigrant, bringing accusations of xenophobia. In 2003 the party’s leader, Umberto Bossi, caused outrage by suggesting the Italian navy fire on

21

boats carrying illegal immigrants towards the country. f. Casa Pound. A far right street movement begun in 2003, it takes its name from Ezra Pound, the US writer and Mussolini sympathiser. Socially conservative, Casa Pound has a strong interest in property ownership for white Italians. The group has 16,000 Facebook backers, 87% male and overwhelmingly young. AUSTRIA g. Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (Austrian Freedom Party). Begun as a liberal party in 1956, it made its transformation to populist nationalism under the leadership of the late Jörg Haider, whose far right views drew accusations of xenophobia. A near-27% vote share in 1999 saw the party enter coalition, prompting a boycott from many EU partners. After a subsequent slump, polls now show the FPO returning to similar support levels, especially among the young. GERMANY h. Die Freiheit (Freedom). Only founded recently, it is led by René Stadtkewitz, a former Christian Democrat who greatly admires Geert Wilders, he began his strongly anti-Muslim campaigning in 2005 with a protest against a mosque in Berlin. NORWAY i. Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party). Formed as a tax-cutting lobby in 1973 its later anti-immigration stance helped it become the country’s second-biggest party in 2005, and in 2009 it won just under 23% of the votes. After the Norwegian mass killer, Anders Breivik, killed 77 people in July 2011 it emerged that he was a former party member, and had been an activist in its youth wing.

[www.guardian.co.uk]

!Writing [*]

Comparing and contrasting

1. Look for the scenario of political European groups and parties, which testify to a new wave of nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, then make notes following the scheme. Common features

Differences

22

Module 1 Nation and nationalism

!Speaking [**]

Discussing in groups

2. In pairs, verbalize the notes you have made.

Module 2 Empire and imperialism UNIT 1 Frame of reference: empire, imperialism and colonization UNIT 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires UNIT 3 Imperialism and post-imperialism

Learning Outcomes n Understanding complex phenomena: imperialism, colonialism and colonization [unit 1]

n Learning about their role in ancient and modern history [unit 2]

n Making connections between past and present: post-imperialism and contemporary international relations [unit 3]

24

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

Unit

Frame of reference: empire, imperialism and colonization

1

. Who

is an imperialist?



Listening

An empire is a large, composite, multi-ethnic or multi-national political unit, usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate, sometimes far distant, peripheries. Imperialism is used to mean the actions and attitudes which create and uphold such big political units – but also less obvious and direct kinds of control and domination by one people or country over others. It may make sense to use terms like cultural or economic imperialism to describe some of these less formal sorts of domination: but such labels will always be contentious. Some analysts also use terms like dependency – closely associated with economic underdevelopment – to describe these relationships, which are clearly bound up with ideas about the newest of all these words: globalization. Colonialism is something more specific and strictly political: systems of rule by one group over another, where the first claims the right (a ‘right’ usually established by conquest) to exercise exclusive sovereignty over the second and to shape its destiny. Usually the political domination is ‘long-distance’: the rulers of one bit of land exercise rule over another, separate one, whether the latter is a neighbour or on the far side of the world. But in a few cases – perhaps including apartheid-era South Africa, and parts of Latin America – the rulers and the ruled occupied the same physical space. Terms like internal colonialism, though again highly contentious, may be appropriate here. Colonization refers to large-scale population movements, where the migrants maintain strong links with their or their ancestors’ former country, gaining significant privileges over other inhabitants of the territory through such links. When colonization takes place under the protection of clearly colonial political structures, it may most handily be called settler colonialism. This often involves the settlers entirely dispossessing earlier inhabitants, or instituting legal and other structures which systematically disadvantage them. [Stephen Howe, Empire. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, pp. 30-31]

!Reading [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

1. Read the previous text, then identify the main features related to the concepts of empire, imperialism, colonialism and colonization. You can use the conceptual map on the next page in order to draw your conclusions.

Unit 1 Frame of reference: empire, imperialism and colonization

25

is a multi-national or multi-ethnic political unity

...............................................................................................................................................

Empire ...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... double meaning

Imperialism

is related to words like

Colonialism

...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ........................... ........................... .......................... ........................... ..........................

that is to say

......................................................... ......................................................... ......................................................... ......................................................... .........................................................

........................... ........................... .......................... ........................... ..........................

that is to say

......................................................... ......................................................... ......................................................... ......................................................... .........................................................

The word has a .......................................... significance it implies that

............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... it could be exercised as

............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... but sometimes ....................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................

26

Colonization

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

differs from colonialism because

............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................

It might imply ............................. when ................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................

Unit 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires

Unit

2

27

The time machine: ancient and modern empires Imperialism and colonization often lead to the constitution of an empire. History has shown that military conquest and colonization processes go hand in hand, although different empires developed by means of different historical processes. In order to understand if the imperialistic attitude expressed by some nations in the 19th and 20th century has something in common with fundamental characteristics of ancient empires, let us try to compare some historical sources. The unit will take us back to the ancient world and, passing through the 17th and 18th century, will lead us up to the 20th century.

. The

Roman Empire

pushed forward in three directions The boundaries of the empire, however, were ................. during Augustus’ reign. Egypt was annexed, and an effort was made to establish the Danube as the frontier line on the northeast, and the Elbe in the northwest. [...] The advance of Roman arms as far as the Danube was also a political necessity. An intermittent border warfare had been kept up on the frontier of Illyricum for two centuries, and Caesar had planned to bring it to an end by pacifying the whole Balkan ................. Even before Actium, Augustus had invaded Dalmatia in person, apparently for the ................. of clearing the roads to Greece before opening the struggle with Antony. Later he met the barbaric raids by a series of attacks which finally brought the pax Romana to the banks of the Danube. [...] The acquisition of Egypt and the Danube frontier followed ................. which neither Augustus nor the senate considered wars of aggression and which, in fact, might be justified on the ................. that the frontier could not ................. have ................. peace. [...] The provinces especially profited by the responsible rule inaugurated by Augustus. With the pax Romana not only the Augustus of Prima Porta Polychromy original (I century BC) [Vatican Museums, Rome]

mind the gap

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

28

ravages of civil war, and the irresponsible exactions of partisan leaders ended, but also the extortions of tax gatherers and of conniving governors. [...] Augustus gave stated and liberal salaries to his procurators and prefects so that he could abolish the mischievous fee system, and rewarded ................. and able agents by long terms of office and promotion in the civil service. He also continued Caesar’s policy of fixing the amount of the provincial tribute [...]. Needless to say, the senate accepted the example ................. by the emperor. It gradually adopted his reforms in the provinces under its ................., and if at any time it did commit abuses, the prince, as master of morals, was ready to call ................. to them. This wise reform of the civil service and the peaceful organization of the outer line of provinces established an ................. system which could not be wholly wrecked, even by the maddest and most tyrannous of his successors. [...] Despite the sacred rules that forbade aggression, despite the ................. constitution that compelled the ruling populace to assume the burdens and sufferings entailed by their decisions to expand, despite the obstruction of the aristocracy, whose self-interests manifestly urged a policy of domesticity, the free Roman people stumbled on falteringly and unwittingly into ever increasing dominion, until finally the overgrown empire ................. a burden of rule upon the conquerors that leveled the whole state to a condition of servitude. [Tenney Frank, Roman Imperialism (1914), Batoche Books, Kitchener 2003, pp. 189-193]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

republican • otherwise • sake • ground • had • set • supervision • wars • attention • imperial • imposed • peninsula • honest

!Vocabulary [*] Using a dictionary

2. Using a monolingual dictionary, find the meaning of the following words from the text above. a. Warfare: ........................................................................................................................................................................... b. Banks: ............................................................................................................................................................................... c. Ravages: ............................................................................................................................................................................ d. Mischievous: .................................................................................................................................................................... e. Civil service: ...................................................................................................................................................................... f. To stumble on: .................................................................................................................................................................. g. Falteringly: .......................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires

29

!Speaking [***]

Working on concepts: discussion activity

3. Work in groups and answer the following questions. a. The image shows the Roman Empire at the death of Augustus, 14 AD. Work in groups and explain where the borders quoted by Frank are.

b. Why was the acquisition of Egypt and the Danube frontier never considered a war of aggression? c. What were the consequences of the pax Romana? d. What action was taken to secure the Roman Empire? e. Did administrative policy have a role in preserving the empire? f. Why does the author argue that “the overgrown empire imposed a burden of rule upon the conquerors that leveled the whole state to a condition of servitude”?

. The

British Empire

Defining the start and finish for the dates of the British Empire has not been an easy task. It is generally divided into two distinct Empires. The First Empire revolved primarily, but not exclusively, around the settler colonies of the Americas. These would be termed the Thirteen Colonies and would gain their independence from Britain in b It is the Second, predominantly Victorian, Empire that most people associate 1783. o with the British Empire. Historians have long debated how and why the British were able to amass such a formidable and expansive empire in the years since 1497. And why were the British able to supplant the Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish Empires in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and effectively see off French, Russian and German challenges over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

mind the gap

30

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

Christianity, commerce and civilization

This was a popular combination of factors given for the rise of the British Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. o Ever since the Reformation, religion represented not merely a spiritual difference between the Catholic and Protestant churches but was part of a far larger cultural and political competition between deadly rivals. Portugal, Spain and France were the Catholic nations who developed successful commercial empires before the English (and Dutch) were able to do so. Religion gave an excuse for this commercial rivalry to turn into military and political competition. The very success of the Protestant nations in challenging the Catholic hegemony in the New World and the East Indies seemed to confirm that God might be on the Protestants’ side after all – although this did ignore the fact that the English and Dutch co-religionists were just as frequently found at the throats of one another. Mercantilism

Mercantilism and Chartered Monopoly Companies were becoming quite the fashion in the late sixteenth and seventeenth century (and would live on to the nineteenth in some cases). It was a cheap and relatively easy way for a Feudal Monarch to gain an income on the back of his nation’s prestige and maritime exploits. He (or she) could give permission to explorers to claim lands on his behalf and then authorize certain companies (with the aid of Charters) to exploit the natural resources in that part of the world in return for a fixed income to the Monarch. In many ways it was something for nothing for the ruler. o It invariably, but not always, resulted in ignoring the rights of any indigenous or local peoples that were ‘in the way’. Colonial powers imposing silence on the native populations, 1886 [from “Il fischietto“]

Unit 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires

31

Technological and industrial superiority

The British had no monopoly on technological innovation. o Europe from the fifteenth century onwards was becoming a dynamic place where new ideas were swirling around with unnatural haste. Britain was benefitting from this much wider European Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment and yet it was also in a position to take these ideas, and many others, much further as it would become the first nation to harness the power of steam which in turn would unleash an Industrial Revolution and an avalanche of high quality, mass-produced goods that would flood the markets around the world. They, in turn, would provide a technology gap that non-European nations would find difficult to compete with. Strategic imperatives

Sir John Seeley once stated that the British Empire was acquired in a ‘fit of absentmindedness’. What he meant by this was that the Empire was acquired for a variety of reasons that did not add up to a coherent whole. o The best example of this might be the colony of India. Maritime advantages

The Royal Navy would undoubtedly become a formidable military institution, but it was not always inevitable that Britannia would rule the waves. o But, Portugal and then Spain had got off to a far more promising start with regards to maritime domination of the seas from the fifteenth century onwards. They had come to understand the ship design, navigational and long distance skills required to explore and commercially exploit the routes that they discovered. The English were always playing catch up or were merely picking up the scraps left by the Portuguese and Spanish. [http://www.britishempire.co.uk/]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. The previous text outlines the main features connected to the growth of the British Empire. Read it carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. He also had in mind the fact that new colonies were being added in order to defend existing colonies and borders. b. The Second Empire then developed from the remnants of the First – particularly India – and were added to during the Napoleonic Wars and then throughout the nineteenth century and even into the beginning of the twentieth century. c. The Protestant aspect of Christianity was seen by many within the British Empire as part of the larger battle with the more ‘Catholic’ nations of Continental Europe. d. Gunpowder, the printing press, navigational equipment were all developed and improved on the continent or further afield yet. e. Naturally, being an island nation, ship-building and sailing would be important skills and industries to a country like England. f. He could provide exclusive (monopoly) rights to certain cronies in return for money, political support or promotion at home.

32

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

2. Now summarize the main features of the British Empire. Fill in the scheme below then write a brief summary (220-260 words). First Empire: when ........................................................................ ..................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................... period Second Empire: when ................................................................... ..................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................

The British Empire

grounds

Some of the motives related to the expansion of the Roman or British Empire, have been used through history to justify wars of conquest, expansion and defense. It might be useful to see the possible connections or differences between some of the features we have seen as proper to the Roman or British Empire and imperialistic policy of the 19th and 20th centuries. Religion is often used as a reason to promote wars of conquests. Consider the relationship between war and religion recalling what you have studied in the previous years.

!Writing [*] Making a timeline

1. Make a timeline positioning the following events in chronological order. a. Spread of Islam in the near East.

e. The expansion of the Holy Roman Empire.

b. The Napoleonic Wars.

f. The War of the Roses.

c. The expansion of the Mongol Empire.

g. The Crusades.

d. The Spanish Reconquista.

h. The French Revolution.

!Speaking [**]

Discussion activity

2. Look at your timeline and discuss with your partner which of these conflicts were related to religious motives and which resulted in territorial expansion.

Unit 2 The time machine: ancient and modern empires

. Trading

and industrial superiority

33



John Hobson, an English economist and critic of imperialism, argues in Imperialism (1948) that imperial expansion is driven by the following issues.

It was this sudden demand for foreign markets for manufactures and for investments which was responsible for the adoption of Imperialism as a political policy. [...] They needed Imperialism because they desired to use the public resources of their country to find profitable employment for their capital which otherwise would be superfluous. [...] Every improvement of methods of production, every concentration of ownership and control, seems to accentuate the tendency. As one nation after another enters the machine economy and adopts advanced industrial methods, it becomes more difficult for its manufacturers, merchants, and financiers to invest their economic resources profitably, and they are tempted more and more to use their Governments to secure for their own personal use distant, undeveloped countries by annexation and protection. They saw this process to be inevitable, a question of excessive powers of production, excessive capital, in search of investment. It is admitted by all business men that the growth of the powers of production in their country exceeds the growth in consumption, that more goods can be produced than can be sold at a profit, and that more capital exists than can find remunerative investment. It is this economic condition of affairs that forms the taproot of Imperialism. [http://www.fordham.edu]

Businessmen in a Malay malacca factory, 1877

!Writing [**]

Developing thinking skills

1. Answer the following questions. 1. Outline the essential features Hobson connects to imperialism. a. Need for new markets. b. ...................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................... c. ...................................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................................

Listening

34

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

2. Could the need for new markets also be considered connected to the expansion of the Roman Empire? a. Yes, because ................................................................................................................................................................... b. No, because ................................................................................................................................................................... 3. Which of the following elements is not strictly related to imperialistic policy of ancient empires? a. Mercantilism. b. Religion. c. Territorial expansion. d. Technological and industrial superiority. e. Military superiority.

. Capitalism

 Listening and military expansion

Hobson is not the only one to reflect on the connection between capitalism and military expansion. On the brink of the Russian revolution of 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote a book titled Imperialism. The Highest Stage of Capitalism, in which the concept of the class struggle in Marxist ideology characterizes his assessment of imperialism.

If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism. [...] We must give a definition of imperialism that will include the following five of its basic features: (1) the concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life; (2) the merging of bank capital with industrial capital, and the creation, on the basis of this ‘finance capital’, of a financial oligarchy; (3) the export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance; (4) the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share the world among themselves, and (5) the territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers is completed. Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed. [http://www.marxist.org]

!Speaking [**] Working on concepts

1. Work in pairs. Choose one of the following questions and discuss it together. a. What were the reasons for Russian expansion under the tsar, before the Russian revolution? b. Do we have examples of post-imperialistic expansion connected to economic growth in the contemporary world?

Unit 3 Imperialism and post-imperialism

Unit

3

35

Imperialism and post-imperialism

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, various nations claimed their right to conquer other territories. Imperialism and colonization hit the headlines of national newspapers. The reason for this fresh outbreak of violence has been given various interpretations, all of them quite similar to those analyzed so far.

. 1935:

the Italian colonization of Ethiopia

The different phases of Italy’s colonial history are bound together by basic common factors. The seizure of Eritrea in 1890, Giolitti’s invasion of Libya in 1911, the affirm Italy’s status as a major conquest of Ethiopia in 1935 were all attempts to ................. power akin to France and Britain. They were all part of the ‘scramble for Africa’, they all diverted attention away from domestic problems and they all tapped into a series of nationalistic ................. and fantasies. Elements of continuity between Liberal and Fascist Italy were evident in the type of legislation adopted in the overseas territories as well as in the kind of repressive strategies that were employed to deal with widespread resistance to Italian rule. The operation to ‘re-conquer’ Libya began in the wake of the First World War, but it was not officially concluded until ................. Each of the periods of Italian expansion in Africa gave birth to its own slogans, its own propaganda and its own forms of writing, creating a substantial corpus of colonial literature. [...] A great deal of writing was published on the military invasion of Ethiopia. Works were written by ................., soldiers and by Fascist hierarchs who participated in the military ................. [...] Interpretation of the event ................. other genres, especially film. Corrado D’Errico’s Il cammino degli eroi, appeared in 1936, La battaglia dell’Amba aradam was first shown in 1936, Ore di guerra nel cielo africano in 1941. Most accounts were extreme masculinist versions of ................. which frequently deployed Futurist techniques to glorify violence and the ideal type of black-shirt. The structure that such accounts followed was simple: they ................. the preparation for war, the war itself, and the final victory. Within that narrative the foreign soil ................. a series of metamorphoses: it became a ................. for the palingenesis of Italy; the site where the history of Italy and the history of Fascism would merge; the place where the ‘spirit of the .................’ could be sensed and where the presence of fallen Italian soldiers could be felt; the ................. promised land that the Duce had

mind the gap

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

36

pledged his people; the site that cancelled the memory of the ................. and which established Italy as a great power. [Charles Burdett, Journeys Through Fascism: Italian Travel Writing Between the Wars, Berghahn Books, New York-Oxford 2010, pp. 118-120]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

homeland • spread across • operation • colonial discourse • underwent • recounted • metaphor • mythical • Treaty of Versailles • journalists • myths • 1932

 Listening

1911: the Italian campaign in Libya

!Speaking [**] Working on concepts

2. Surf the net for information about the 1911 Italian campaign in Libya, then discuss the elements of Italian propaganda (songs and posters) used in 1911, at the time when Italy declared war on Libya. 3. Now work in groups and answer the following questions. a. Which African territories were conquered by Italian troops in the 19th and 20th centuries? b. What does the expression “the scramble for Africa” mean? c. What degree of tolerance did the conquerors exercise on their subjects? d. What was the aim of the Fascist propaganda? e. Can you think of other examples of nationalistic propaganda related to the process of colonization?

Unit 3 Imperialism and post-imperialism

. Italy vs. Libya:

contemporary international trends

37



Listening

How did the relations between African territories and the Italian government change in the post-colonial era? Old wounds are not easy to heal: while in 2005 the Italian government tried to re-establish business relations with Libya, six years later a new conflict against this country arose. Libya cuts ties to mark Italy era

27 October 2005 Libya has commemorated the Italian invasion 94 years ago by cutting links with the outside world for the day. Callers from abroad heard a message saying communications were being interrupted to “denounce the odious crimes” by Italy on the Libyan people. Libyans were also asked to wear black to mark the 1911 invasion. Relations between the two countries improved during the 1990s, but Libya wants a gesture of reparation for what it considers to be historic injustices. Tripoli has asked Italy to build a 6bn euros ($7.2bn) motorway. [http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Berlusconi and Gheddafi pledged friendship in October 2004

Italy presses for Nato command of Libya war

22.03.11 @ 09:28 / By Valentina Pop – Wary of immigrants fleeing Libya and potential retaliation from Gaddafi, Italy is calling on its allies to bring the airstrikes under Nato command or else it will withdraw authorisation for the use of its military bases in the enforcement of the no-fly zone. Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa is closer to Tripoli than Rome: “We want Nato to take control over the operation [...] We have given permission for our bases to be used and would not like to bear the political responsibility lampedusa

38

Module 2 Empire and imperialism

for things done by others, without our control,” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said during a press conference in Brussels on Monday (21 March), after a meeting with foreign ministers. In Turin, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also insisted it was “important that the command passes to Nato with a different coordination structure than what we have now.” Neither Germany nor Turkey are in favour of Nato’s involvement in the mission. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been the first to call for strikes and who organised the ‘Paris summit’ to lay out the operation among allies, is also unwilling to have the military alliance take over control. A special cabinet meeting in Rome dedicated to Italy’s involvement in Operation Odyssey Dawn underscored the fact that the country is not going to drop any bombs on its former colony, but only use jets for surveillance purposes. [...] On the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, closer to Tripoli and Tunis than Rome, locals are wary about the country’s participation in the military mission against Libya’s dictator Moammar Gaddafi. The prospect of refugees from Libya “is a definite risk,” says the mayor of Lampedusa, Bernardino de Rubeis, as Tunisian migrants arriving by boat outnumbered the regular inhabitants on the island. [...] The other risk, that Gaddafi strikes back at Italy for its involvement in the mission, would be a déjà vu for some Lampedusans. In 1986, when a Nato base was on the island, Gaddafi shot two missiles towards Lampedusa, missing it only by a few miles. [...] Meanwhile, Russia, India and China have urged the alliance to immediately stop military strikes. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the UN resolution endorsing a no-fly zone was a “medieval call to crusade.” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov also said his troops will not take part in the “adventure” against Libya because it is motivated by oil concerns. “Oil and the future exploitation of Libyan oil are the main motives driving this operation,” he said in Sofia, according to AFP. [http://euobserver.com]

!Reading [*]

Making links across history

1. Read the previous articles, then work in groups and discuss how the Italian colonization of Libya still influences the diplomatic relationship between these two countries.

!Writing [***] Expressing points of view

2. Both the articles show how complex post-colonial relations can be. Choose one of the questions and write a short essay (450-500 words) expressing your own views about the topic.

a. Which elements have had a great impact in shaping the international relations between the two states? b. Are the reasons for the 2011 war in Libya similar to the classic imperialistic propaganda or did new elements contribute to change the scenario?

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India UNIT 1 Post-colonialism: a definition UNIT 2

1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate

UNIT 3 Past history and contemporary problems

Learning Outcomes n Understanding recurrent historical features: the relationship between rulers and ruled in post-colonial eras [unit 1]

n Analyzing a case study: cultural and political scenario at the time of Indian independence [unit 2]

n Making links across history: contemporary problems connected to India’s colonial past [unit 3]

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

40

Unit

1

Post-colonialism: a definition

. The

fight for independence in the post-imperial period



Postcolonialism claims the right of all people on this earth to enjoy the same material and cultural well-being. The reality, though, is that the world today is a world of inequality, and much of the difference falls across the broad division between people of the West and those of the Orient. This division between ‘the west and the rest’ was made fairly absolute in the 19th century with the expansion of European empires, as a result of which nine-tenths of the entire land surface of the globe was controlled by European, or European derived, powers. Colonial and imperial rule was legitimized by anthropological theories which increasingly portrayed the peoples of the colonized world as inferior, childlike or feminine, incapable of looking after themselves (despite having done so perfectly well for millennia) and requiring the paternal rule of the west for their own best interests (today they are deemed to require ‘development”). The base of such anthropological theories was the concept of race. White culture was regarded as the basis for ideas of legitimate government, law, economics, science, language, music, art, literature – in a word – civilization. Throughout the period of colonial rule, colonized peoples contested this domination through many forms of active and passive resistance. It was only towards the end of the 19th century, however, that such resistance developed into coherent political movements: for the peoples of most of the earth, much of the 20th century involved the long struggle- and eventual triumph- against colonial rule, often at enormous cost of lives and resources. [...] When national sovereignty had finally been achieved, each state moved from colonial to autonomous, postcolonial status. Independence! However, in many ways this represented only a beginning: a relatively minor move from direct to indirect rule and domination, to a position not so much of The races of the world, 1877 [Illustration from a French school book]

Listening

Unit 1 Post-colonialism: a definition

41

independence as of being in-dependence. It is striking that despite this process of decolonization, the major world powers did not change substantially during the course of the 20th century. For the most part, the same (ex-)imperial countries continued and continue to dominate those countries that they formerly ruled as colonies. [...] Yet the story is not wholly negative. The winning of independence from colonial rule remains an extraordinary achievement. And even though power remains limited, the balance of power is slowing changing. [adapted from Robert J.C. Young, Postcolonialism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003, pp. 2-3]

!Reading [**]

Understanding historical contexts

1. Read the extract carefully then write answers to the following questions. a. Did the post-colonial era inaugurate a period of equality among peoples from all over the world? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. On what basis was colonialism justified? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Which century saw the major struggles for independence undertaken by many colonial countries? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. In the author’s opinion, what changed in the relations between former ruled and former rulers after independence? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Mohandas

Gandhi (1869-1948). A biography

Known as ‘Mahatma’ (‘great soul’), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his nation. His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar in c During his 20 Gujarat. After university, he went to London to train as a barrister. o years in South Africa he was sent to prison many times. Influenced primarily by Hinduism, but also by elements of Jainism and Christianity, as well as writers including Tolstoy and Thoreau, Gandhi developed the satyagraha (‘devotion to truth’), a new non-violent way to redress wrongs. In 1914, the South African government conceded to many of Gandhi’s demands. Gandhi returned to India shortly afterwards. In 1919, British plans to intern people suspected of sedition – the Rowlatt Acts – prompted Gandhi to announce a new

mind the gap

42

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

satyagraha which attracted millions of followers. A demonstration against the acts resulted in the Amritsar Massacre by British troops. o He transformed the Indian National Congress, and his programme of peaceful non-cooperation with the British included boycotts of British goods and institutions, leading to arrests of thousands. In 1922, Gandhi himself was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. o In 1930, Gandhi proclaimed a new campaign of civil disobedience in protest at a tax on salt, leading thousands on a ‘March to the Sea’ to symbolically make their own salt from seawater. In 1931, Gandhi attended the Round Table Conference in London, as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress, but resigned from the party in 1934 in protest at its use of non-violence as a political expedient. He was replaced as leader by Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1945, the British government began negotiations which culminated in the Mountbatten Plan of June 1947, and the formation of the two new independent states of India and Pakistan, divided along religious lines. o Gandhi was opposed to partition, and fasted in an attempt to bring calm in Calcutta and Delhi. On 30 January 1948, he was assassinated in Delhi by a Hindu fanatic. [http://www.bbc.co.uk]

Mahatma Gandhi in prayer, 1949

Gandhi on his arrival in Bombay after being released from prison, 1931

Unit 1 Post-colonialism: a definition

43

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the text carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. By 1920, Gandhi was a dominant figure in Indian politics. b. Massive inter-communal violence marred the months before and after independence. c. He returned to India in 1891 and in 1893 accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them. d. He was released after two years and withdrew from politics, devoting himself to trying to improve Hindu-Muslim relations, which had worsened.

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

2. Use a bilingual dictionary and find the correct translation for the following terms. a. To intern: ........................................................................................................................................................................... b. Civil disobedience: ........................................................................................................................................................... c. Partition: ........................................................................................................................................................................... d. Barrister: ...........................................................................................................................................................................

3. Use a monolingual dictionary to discover the etymology of the following terms. a. Appal: ............................................................................................................................................................................ b. Boycott: .............................................................................................................................................................................

4. Use a dictionary or a thesaurus to find a synonym for the following words. a.. To worsen: ......................................................................................................................................................................... b. To mar: ............................................................................................................................................................................... c. To culminate: .....................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [*] Making a timeline

5. Create a timeline of significant events in the political life of Gandhi.

!Research [***]

Using the net to search for information

6. Religious and humanitarian theories had a great impact in shaping Gandhi’s political thought. The essential biography you have read shows how different theoretical influences contributed to shape a very particular philosophy of life which also became an influential new way of talking politics. Working in groups, find more information, then, discuss the key features (see p. 44) related to Gandhi’s non-violent and humanitarian theories.

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

44

JAINISM What is it?

HINDUISM

TOLSTOY

What do you know about it?

Was he a writer or a priest?

THOREAU Was a philosopher and writer; what does he write about?

Unit 2 1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate

Unit

2

45

1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate Political debates as well as civil opposition marked the years before India’s independence. The following speeches show how ruled and rulers held their ground in the political arena.

. Mohandas K. Gandhi. Speech

to the All India Congress Committee, Bombay, August 8th, 1942  Listening Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for India’s independence. In a violent struggle, a successful general has been often known to effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship. A non-violent soldier of freedom will cover nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country. The Congress is unconcerned as to who will rule, when freedom is attained. The power, when it comes, will belong to the people of India, and it will be for them to decide to whom it should be entrusted. [...] There is the question of your attitude towards the British. I have noticed that there is hatred towards the British among the people. The people say they are disgusted with their behaviour. The people make no distinction between British imperialism and the British people. To them, the two are one. This hatred would even make them welcome the Japanese. It is most dangerous. It means that they will exchange one slavery for another. We must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the British people; we fight their imperialism. The proposal for the withdrawal of British power did not come out of anger. It came to enable India to play its due part at the present critical juncture. It is not a happy position for a big country like India to be merely helping with money and material obtained willingly from her while the United Nations are conducting the war. We cannot evoke the true spirit of sacrifice and valour, so long as we are not free. I know the British government will not be able to withhold freedom from us, when we have made enough self-sacrifice. We must, therefore, purge ourselves of hatred. Speaking for myself, I can say that I had never felt any hatred. As a matter of fact, I feel myself to be a greater friend of the British now than ever before. One reason is that they are today in distress. My very friendship, therefore, demands that I should try to save them from their mistakes. As I view the situation, they are on the brink of an abyss. It, therefore, becomes my duty to warn them of their danger even though it may, for the time being, anger them to the point of cutting off the friendly hand that is stretched out to help them. People may laugh; nevertheless that is my claim. At a time when I may have to launch the biggest struggle of my life, I may not harbour hatred against anybody. [Joseph Black et al. (eds.), The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, vol. 6b, Broadview Press, Peterborough 2008, pp. 784-785]

46

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

!Reading [*]

Comparing and contrasting opposite views

1. Answer the question choosing a, b or c. 1. The opening of Gandhi’s speech lays emphasis on: a. The non-violent spirit of the Indian uprising. b. The unwillingness to ­­be considered as a new individual leader in search of personal power. c. The elitist character of the revolt.

!Writing [**]

Interpreting primary sources

2. From the information given in the text, write an answer to the following questions. a. What does Gandhi want to make clear both to the rulers and to his Indian audience? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. What does the expression: “Our quarrel is not with the British people; we fight their imperialism” mean? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

3. Having read the previous text, try to fill in the gaps correctly. Indian people – according to Gandhi’s thought – need .................................................................... In order to obtain it, they have to get rid of ................................................................... against ....................................................................

. Sir

Stafford Cripps, Statement on India, August 6th, 1942



Concerning the attitude of the British Government there will be no doubt the Secretary of State for India made a statement last week which makes it plain that “His Majesty’s Government stands firmly by the broad intentions of their offer in the draft declaration” which I took with me to India, and that they “reiterate their resolve to give the fullest opportunity for attainment by India of complete self-government.” It is therefore plain beyond doubt that Indian self-government is assured as soon as hostilities are over and it becomes possible to re-plan life in India upon a new basis. [...] Gandhi has asked that the British Government should walk out of India and leave the Indian people to settle differences among themselves, even if it means chaos and confusion. What would this chaos and confusion actually mean? All government that is based on the existing Constitution would immediately cease. There would be no Viceroy, no executive council, no legislative assembly, and no civil service with any legal authority. The Governors of the provinces would cease to function; so will all the provincial

Listening

Unit 2 1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate

47

governments and legislatures. There will be no authority to collect revenue and no money to pay for any government service. The police would cease to have any authority, courts of justice would no longer function, and there would be no laws and no order. [...] In this chaos Gandhi proposes to set up a provisional government if he can, but as it is, there would be no electoral machinery and no law as to representation. [...] Chaos in India at this moment would not affect India only. It would affect vitally the whole war against the Axis powers. [Joseph Black et al. (eds.), The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, vol. 6b, Broadview Press, Peterborough 2008, pp. 786-787]

!Reading [*]

Comparing and contrasting opposite views

1. Answer the questions choosing a, b or c. 1. According to Sir Cripps, is Great Britain reluctant to grant India self-government? a. Yes, because .................................................................................................................................................................. b. No, because .................................................................................................................................................................. 2. What is the credit that the British take for themselves? a. Being the official representative of justice in India. b. Having responsibility for Indian administrative and legal system. c. Being able to administrate India much better than Indian people by themselves. 3. Sir Cripps’ words show awareness of which of the following underlying problem? a. Indian leaders will not be able to rule by themselves without British intervention. b. Indian people are too divided to assume power. c. Indian people will not be able to maintain the government of India by themselves for lack of education and unity. Gandhi with members of the Indian Delegation in London, 1931

!Matching [***]

Understanding cultural and political contexts

2. Gandhi’s and Sir Cripps’ speeches well reflect the view of the opposing parties in the debate on India’s independence. Both speeches were given soon after Gandhi’s resolution to ‘quit India‘ which implied the demand for immediate independence from Britain and disobedience if the demand was not met. Both speeches are fully comprehensible only with a better grasp of the relationship between India and Great Britain in the years before the general uprising. In order to understand what the Indian context was a few years before independence, for each of the following paragraphs (a)-(f) choose one extract (1)(5) that expresses that idea.

48

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

(a) The Congress is unconcerned as to who will rule, when freedom is attained.

(1) “The ruling vice of our government is innovation; and its innovation has been so little guided by a knowledge of the people [...]. We have, in our anxiety to make everything as English as possible in a country which resembles England in nothing, attempted to create at once, throughout extensive provinces, a kind of landed property which had never existed in them.” Minute by Sir Thomas Munro, December 31st, 1824, from Frederick Madden and David Fieldhouse (eds.), Imperial Reconstruction, 1763-1840: the Evolution of Alternative Systems of Colonial Government, Greenwood Press, New York 1987, p. 241.

(b) The Governors of the provinces would cease to function; so will all the provincial government and legislatures. There will be no authority to collect revenue and no money to pay for any government service.

(c) “His Majesty’s Government stands firmly by the broad intentions of their offer in the draft declaration” which I took with me to India, and that they “reiterate their resolve to give the fullest opportunity for attainment by India of complete self-government.”

(2) In November 1858, Queen Victoria promised to “respect the rights, dignity, and honour of the native princes as our own.” Simon C. Smith, British Imperialism 1750-1970, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 55.

(3) In 1882, the viceroy, Lord Ripon, introduced his resolution on Local Self-Government, which introduced representative institutions to municipal and local boards. In no real sense was this measure designed to promote political advance in India. Rather it sought to increase the number of Indians who collaborated with the British, particularly in such unpopular tasks as raising local revenue. Simon C. Smith, British Imperialism 1750-1970, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 56.

(d) Gandhi has asked that the British Government should walk out of India and leave the Indian people to settle differences among themselves, even if it means chaos and confusion.

(4) “I do not understand what the words ‘national Congress’ mean. Is it supposed that the different castes and creeds living in India belong to one nation, or can become one nation, and their aims and aspirations be one and the same? I think it is quite impossible and when it is impossible there can be no such thing as a national congress, nor can it be of equal benefit to all peoples.” Letter from Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to Badruddin Tyabji, January 24th, 1888, from Bishwa Nath Pandey (ed.), The Indian Nationalist Movement, 1885-1947, Macmillan, London 1979, p. 15.

(e) There is the question of your attitude towards the British. I have noticed that there is hatred towards the British among the people. The people say they are disgusted with their behaviour. The people make no distinction between British imperialism and the British people.

(a) ............; (b) ............; (c) ............; (d) ............; (e) ............

(5) The Indian National Congress came into existence on 28 December 1885 when 72 delegates gathered at Bombay with the aim of allowing “the most earnest labourers in the cause of national progress.” Simon C. Smith, British Imperialism 1750-1970, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 56.

Unit 2 1942. India vs. Britain: the political debate

!Speaking [***] Discussion activity

3. Having solved the previous exercise, working in groups, decide: a. If and where there is a cause-effect process. b. Which paragraph pair gives preliminary information about a fact or event? c. Which paragraph pair explains the cause-reaction process?

49

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

50

Unit

3

Past history and contemporary problems Contemporary India has not definitively solved many of the causes of conflict which characterized the process of independence. Today, religious conflicts and internal divisions go hand in hand with economic growth and modern development.

. Postcard

from Kashmir

June 29th, 2012, 1:48 am / By Andrew C. Revkin I am in Kashmir, the disputed paradise on the border of India, Pakistan and China, as part of a project in which I am photographing people from opposite sides of violent conflicts around the world. On Monday, Dastgir Sahib, the most revered Sufi shrine in Kashmir, caught fire and was destroyed. I went to photograph a separatist leader the morning after and was surprised by the number of police and army on the streets. There are normally many army and police here – every major intersection has a few with machine guns. On this morning we crossed an intersection with in Srinagar, Kashmir, was several dozen baton- and machinegun-carrying Life disrupted this week after a blaze police and trucks. There is a lot of nervousness destroyed a Muslim shrine. and anger. The Kashmir conflict has been hot and violent over much of the last two decades, but it had cooled off in recent years and tourism picked up. So even though there are army and police everywhere, the city of Srinagar is packed with mostly Indian tourists this time of year. Still, many people tell me that this is just a lull, and that feelings about independence still run strong. I came to Kashmir as ignorant about the situation here as most Americans probably are. Kashmir is a large area that was divided between India and Pakistan. Ethnically it is predominantly Sufi Muslim – a sect of Islam that promotes unity among world religions. The main part of Kashmir is controlled by India, which is largely Hindu. I had always thought that the Kashmiri conflict was about religious differences, but I’ve found that isn’t the case. The conflict here is about control of the land, and one of the things that most irks Kashmiris is that they don’t have any control over their own natural resources. [http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com]

Unit 3 Past history and contemporary problems

51

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Use a monolingual dictionary to find a definition of the following words. a. Shrine: .............................................................................................................................................................................. b. Lull: ................................................................................................................................................................................... c. To irk: ................................................................................................................................................................................ d. To blaze: ...........................................................................................................................................................................

2. Find the antonym of: a. To cool off: ....................................................................................................................................................................... b. To pick up:........................................................................................................................................................................ c. To pack with: ....................................................................................................................................................................

. India

to be the fastest growing exporter  Listening and importer: HSBC July 9th, 2012 / Press Trust of India Even as the country struggles to get the balance of trade into the positive territory, global bank HSBC said the country’s imports will rise faster than the exports in the next five years. overtake its export growth in the next five years. The “India’s import growth will ................. forecast is consistent with a developing global .................. where traditionally exportdriven emerging markets will become .................. trade hubs and important facilitators of international economic growth,” HSBC said in a report. According to the bank, the country’s imports will grow at an .................. of 7 percent annually over the next five years, dwarfing1 the export growth, which is estimated at 5 percent. World Trade .................. said the country’s exports grew 2.1 percent to $78.64 billion in the January-March period this year versus the 21.8 percent growth in imports to $122.47 billion. [...] HSBC also predicted that the country will be the fastest .................. importer and exporter in the next five years. It said their exports to China will grow at an average of 8 percent till 2016, while imports will be up 11 percent. Among the emerging trade corridors, HSBC said the country’s exports to Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia are .................. to grow at around 11 percent while those to Nigeria and UAE2 will be up by 10 percent. 1. to dwarf: ‘far sembrare piccolo, sminuire’. 2. United Arab Emirates.

mind the gap

[http://www.firstpost.com]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

global • Organisation • growing • average • expected • shift

Module 3 Post-imperialism: the case of India

52

!Reading [**]

Making links across history

2. Read the previous articles and underline the elements which highlight persistence or radical change in the patterns of Indian colonial history, then work in groups and discuss these ideas.

!Speaking [**] Working on concepts

3. Both the articles refer to new and old trends or problems related to the Indian political and economic contemporary context. Make notes in the scheme below then work in pairs and discuss India’s relation with its past.

Recurring problems

................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. .................................................

The relation with the past is ................................................ ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... .........................................................................................

new trends

................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. .................................................

The difference with the past is ........................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... .........................................................................................

Module 4

Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war UNIT 1 The trench system UNIT 2 Technology at war UNIT 3 Espionage during the World Wars

Learning Outcomes n Managing primary and secondary sources: from personal to academic military accounts [unit 1]

n Understanding the relevance of technical evolution in a war context [unit 2]

n Learning about the history of contemporary agencies: the secret services [unit 3]

Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

54

Unit

1

The trench system

. The Western Front during the First World War When the soldiers of the Western Front dug in to defend their positions in the autumn of 1914, no one imagined that the lines of trenches would remain virtually unchanged until the spring of 1918. [...] British and French trenches usually consisted of a frontline trench, a supporting trench and then a reserve line, connected by communication trenches designed to protect soldiers as they went up the line. In Flanders, Belgium, the ground was so wet that it flooded immediately if soldiers dug down, so the troops constructed above-ground sandbag defences known as “breastworks”. The Germans thought of their trenches as reasonably permanent and so they tended to be better constructed than those of the British, often including reinforced concrete shelters, or dugouts, which were in some cases equipped with electric lights and furniture. [Elizabeth Trueland, International Cooperation and Conflict 1890s-1920s, Pearson, Harlow 2004, p. 36]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a bilingual dictionary, translate the following words describing the trenches. a. Trenches:........................................................................................................................................................................... b. Frontline:.......................................................................................................................................................................... c. Reserve line: ..................................................................................................................................................................... d. To dig:............................................................................................................................................................................... e. Sandbag:........................................................................................................................................................................... f. Shelter: ............................................................................................................................................................................. g. Dugout: ............................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [*]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers to the following questions.

Unit 1 The trench system

55

a. In what way did British and French trenches differ compared to the German ones? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Which trenches were better built and why? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**]

Using a specialized vocabulary

3. The following picture explains how the trench system worked. With the help of your teacher describe it to one of your classmates, using the correct vocabulary.

Features of the trench system

. Letters

 Listening from the trenches

Twelve and a half million letters were sent to the Western Front every week. In 1914 the Postal Section of the Royal Engineers had a staff of 250 men. By 1918 the Army Postal Service employed 4,000 soldiers. Letters only took two or three days to arrive from Britain. Even soldiers in the front line trenches received daily deliveries of letters. Soldiers were also encouraged to write letters to friends and family in Britain. Most men decided it would be better to conceal the horrors of the trench warfare. As a result of the Defence of the Realm Act that was passed in 1914, all letters that the men wrote should have been read and censored by junior officers.

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Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

Private H.F. Leppard of East Grinstead wrote a letter to his mother on December 19th, 1914. The letter was not censored.

The soldiers at the front need more rest. While in the trenches the water is over our knees most of the time. The war is going to last some time yet, and might be another twelve months before it is over. The war has only just begun and it’s going to be a war of exhaustion. After the regular armies have done their work it means that all the young lads at home being trained and disciplined will take our place in the field. The sooner people understand this, the better, it will be for the nation. Private Stanley Terry of 15 North End, East Grinstead, wrote a letter to his family in November, 1915. The letter was not censored.

We have just come out of the trenches after being in for six days and up to our waists in water. While we were in the trenches one of the Germans came over to our trench for a cigarette and then back again, and he was not fired at. We and the Germans started walking about in the open between the two trenches, repairing them, and there was no firing at all. I think they are all getting fed up with it. Rudolf Binding, letter (April, 1915)

I have not written to you for a long time, but I have thought of you all the more as a silent creditor. But when one owes letters one suffers from them, so to speak, at the same time. It is, indeed, not so simple a matter to write from the war, really from the war. The further I penetrate its true inwardness the more I see the hopelessness of making it comprehensive for those who only understand life in the terms of peacetime, and apply these same ideas to war in spite of themselves. They only think that they understand it. It is as if fishes living in water would have a clear conception of what living in the air is like. When one is hauled out on to dry land and dies in the air, then he will know something about it. So it is with the war. Feeling deeply about it, one becomes less able to talk about it every day. Not because one understands it less each day, but because one grasps it better. But it is a silent teacher, and he who learns becomes silent too. [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk]

!Vocabulary [**] Using dictionaries

1. Using a monolingual dictionary, find a synonym for the following words. a. To conceal:........................................................................................................................................................................ b. To censor: ......................................................................................................................................................................... c. Lad:....................................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 1 The trench system

57

d. To be fed up:.................................................................................................................................................................... e. Inwardness: ...................................................................................................................................................................... f. Conception:....................................................................................................................................................................... g. To haul:............................................................................................................................................................................. h. To grasp: ..........................................................................................................................................................................

!Reading [*]

Interpreting primary sources

2. Choose the best answer for the following questions. 1. How long did it take for a letter to arrive from Britain to the Western Front? a. One week. b. Two or three days. c. Five days. 2. In your opinion, why were soldiers encouraged to write letters to friends and family? a. Because people at home were anxious to get some news from their relatives at war. b. Because the efficiency of the British postal service was able to deal with a huge amount of letters. c. Because writing was a way to keep in touch with the human side of their life while living under the distress of war. 3. What do both H.F. Leppard and Stanley Terry complain about regarding their life in the trenches? a. Having water up to their knees. b. Being exhausted by war. c. Soldiers needed more rest. 4. What does the relationship between the British and Germans in that situation reveal? a. Any hostile feelings existed between countries, not between people. b. The difficulties of living in trenches animated a reciprocal, helpful attitude between opposing forces. c. The need for a cigarette was greater than the fear of being shot. 5. Why does Rudolf Binding believe it is not possible to talk about the war to those at home? a. Because he would have shocked his relatives with a true account of his life in the trenches. b. Because living in the trenches was so different from normal life that it could not be communicated to people living as usual. c. Because he is not able to write properly.

!Writing [**]

Giving a personal account of events

3. Imagine you are a soldier fighting during the First World War. Write a letter to your parents describing your

experience (max 200 words). You might use some of the following words and take into account some of the images on the next page.

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Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

No Man’s Land • rifles • breakthrough • trench • water • soldier • rations • awful • companionship • stale • enemy • machine guns • trench mortar • grenades • artillery • mud • trench foot • petrified • homesick

German soldiers in their trench in the First World War

An English soldier eating his ration inside a trench, 1917

A French soldier shovels mud from a trench in Champagne, 1915

. The

 Listening Italian Front 1915-1918

The Italian army was an extension of the Piedmontese army that had overseen unifib In an attempt to forge a truly national force, regiments were recruited across cation. o regions and often changed their urban headquarters, the elite Alpine units being the only exception to this rule. State expenditure on the army forces was heavy for a country as poor as Italy – some 24 percent of the budget between unification and World War I – but this was still half the total of French military expenditure and a third that of Germany. The officer corps was small (about 15,000 in 1910) but of good quality.

mind the gap

Unit 1 The trench system

Italian intervention: May-December 1915

On May 24, 1915, Italy entered the war without having been attacked and with the bulk of the country opposed to the venture. This meant, first, that military operations had to be offensive and, secondly, that Italian soldiers lacked the main motivating beliefs of their German or French counterparts, o. Despite this offensive imperative, the war plan of General Luigi Cadorna, o, was constrained by geography. Mountains dominated much of the front rising between 1,000 and 2,000 meters. An offensive breakthrough was impossible and all the attacks of the summer of 1915 were doomed to fail. The defeat at Caporetto: October 1917

In late 1917, the German army was preparing an offensive battle of a new kind for the western front the following year, in the hope of bringing the war to a decisive end. [...] The key attack was to proceed through the Isonzo valley via a small provincial capital that played no part in the battle, but which nonetheless gave the latter its name, Caporetto (today Kobarid in Slovenia). The Austro-German offensive rapidly overran the Italian lines and penetrated deeply using agile columns that easily overcame the Italian back-line troops. o But different factors then intervened. In the first place, in France there were no precise strategic objectives, whereas in Italy the progression of the German-Austrian troops brought them up behind the bulk of the Italian army stationed on the Isonzo. Then there is the question of reserves. In France, the German offensives were halted by the arrival of new troops, o. Finally, the high commands responded differently. The British and French generals did not lose their heads or blame their setbacks on the troops. But when the extent of the disaster became apparent to Cadorna, he immediately blamed it on soldiers, stating on the evening of October 25: “About 10 regiments surrendered en masse without fighting. I see a disaster developing.” In a bulletin on October 27, he noted “a lack of resistance by units of the Second Army which have vilely retreated without fighting and ignominiously surrendered to the enemy,” and he sent a telegram to the government on the same day declaring that: o . There is no foundation for these accusations, as was shown by the commission of enquiry set up in 1919 to look into the causes of the rout. Abandoning the Isonzo was unavoidable owing to the lack of reserves with which to resist the Austro-German advance. But so convinced was Cadorna of his troops’ untrustworthiness, that he abandoned his post as Commander without attempting to oversee the withdrawal. [...] o Overall, the Italian army suffered 40,000 dead and wounded and an enormous 280,000 taken prisoner. The loss of arms and munitions was likewise extremely serious: 3,150 cannons, 1,700 trench mortars, 3,000 machine guns, and huge storehouses of munitions and food. [Giorgio Rochat, The Italian Front, 1915-18 (translated by Paul O’Brien), from John Horne (ed.), A Companion to World War I, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2012, pp. 82 ff.]

59

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Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Read the text carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. while in Italy there were no reserves. b. From the 1870s, it was reorganized along German lines as a conscript force based on three years’ military service, but with 12 Army Corps and a quarter of a million men, it outstripped its resources in training and equipment. c. “The army falls under the blows not of the external enemy but of the enemy within.” d. The extent of the disaster was enormous. e. Up to this point the success of the offensive can be compared to those that the Germans would enjoy in France in the spring of 1918, when the British Fifth Army collapsed much like the Italian divisions at Caporetto. f. namely that they were defending the fatherland against unprovoked attack. g. Commander of the Italian forces since July 1914.

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Having read this assessment of a key moment in Italian history, write answers to the following questions. a. Was Italian state expenditure on armies heavier or smaller compared to those of other European countries and what effect did that have? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. What problems did the Italian Army have to cope with at the beginning of the war? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. In your opinion, what is the psychological difference between offensive and defensive combat? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. Why was the question of ‘reserve troops’ so significant in the Italian defeat at Caporetto? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. How does the author judge the behaviour of General Luigi Cadorna? What is your opinion? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 2 Technology at war

Unit

2

. The

61

Technology at war

 Listening development of the tank

inventor demonstrated a ‘war-car’ that consisted In 1902, Frederick Simms, an .................., of a motorcar engine surrounded by a bullet-proof .................. and equipped with machine guns. At the time, the War Office was not impressed and the ‘war-car’ was ................... It was only after the First World War reached a stalemate that some government ministers began to take Simms’ ideas more seriously. Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty (the government minister responsible for the navy), set up a committee to .................. the possibility of building a ‘landship’ that might help in achieving a .................. on the Western Front. The new war machine was given the codename ‘tank’. ‘Little Willie’, the first real tank, was produced in great secrecy. .................. it was slow and could not cross trenches, it showed that tanks could be useful in the future. A .................. model was designed and, early in 1916, this tank was demonstrated to government ministers. It was hoped that the tank could .................. No Man’s Land and break through the enemy’s .................. 150 tanks were ordered.

[Elizabeth Trueland, International Cooperation and Conflict 1890s-1920s, Pearson, Harlow 2004, p. 52] The British secret weapon: the tank Mark I, 1916

mind the gap

62

Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

!Use of English [*] Practicing your language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

breakthrough • abandoned • examine • shell • Although • cross • defences • new

!Speaking [**]

Making links across history

2. War machines, like tanks, were not only used in the 20th century. During the Renaissance Leonardo Da Vinci

sketched formidable war machines that predicted many new technologies. Da Vinci’s design for an armoured vehicle made from wood and operated by eight men was made in 1487. The ‘tank’ was operated by turning the cranks. Can you think of other innovative ‘war machines’ in the past that changed the nature of combat?

Leonardo da Vinci’s tank model, 1487 [photographed at the exhibition ‘Leonardo da Vinci. Genius and Inventions’, 2009-14, Rome]

. The

battle at sea: the Dreadnought, a truly enormous ship The launch of the Dreadnought was unquestionably the most important naval event leading up to the First World War. [...] H.S.M. Dreadnought of the British Royal Navy (1906), at her time the largest, fastest and most powerful battleship in the world, provided not only the generic name for all her imitators, [...] but also initiated a new era in ship design, naval strategies and tactics. She was the initiator of an age of fear-

Unit 2 Technology at war

63

ful naval competition. But her influence went far beyond the narrow boundaries of naval architecture and maritime theory and conflict. The Dreadnought was the manifestation of the nations’ need to vaunt their power and their riches and to instill fear in those who might seek to intimidate, deprive or deter. She and her successors were the massive representatives of the struggle between the old colonial powers, intent on holding what they had, and the new colonial powers, equally determined to grasp their share of new lands and new markets. [Richard Hough, A History of the Modern Battleship, Dreadnought, Periscope Publishing, Penzance 2003, p. 2]

The battleship Dreadnought, 1906

!Reading [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

1. Write answers to the following questions. a. What is the Italian translation of dreadnought? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Why was this British battleship copied by other nations? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What, in the author’s opinion, does the Dreadnought represent? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [***] Discussing in groups

2. In groups, and with the help of your teacher, discuss the following questions. a. At the beginning of the 20th century, nations spent a huge amount of money building their Dreadnoughts. In your opinion, were these expenses impelled only by the war?

64

Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

b. The design and development of the tank led to a series of innovations and modifications to road transport technology generally. Can research into military technology benefit people in a non-military context? Can you think of any examples of this?

. Submarines

 Listening warfare in World War 2

In World War 2, as they did in World War 1, submarines were widely used by both sinking sides as the ultimate weapon of naval blockade, .................. large numbers of both merchant ships and .................., resulting in either paralyzing the enemy’s military industry and war effort by .................. severe shortages of war materials and products and preventing maritime troop transfers, or .................. the enemy to dedicate enormous resources to anti-submarine warfare in order to protect materials: resources which could otherwise be .................. in the enemy’s war effort. Either way, the submarine is the classic .................. of the war of attrition, where victory is achieved by the side which inflicts significantly more losses .................. it suffers. The submarine’s ability to attack almost anywhere and .................., in total surprise and with devastating results, makes it a highly efficient weapon, in which a small crew of about 40 to 80 sailors can do more damage than .................. sailors in a battleship, and for a fraction of the cost. A much larger anti-submarine force is required to efficiently fight the submarine. The same features of the submarine also make it the perfect blockade runner, capable of quietly smuggling .................. agents and commandos, or small amounts of high importance cargo, to and .................. almost any enemy beach or a blockaded harbor, making the submarine one of the main vehicles of intelligence and special forces warfare.

A German U-Boat, 1941-42

mind the gap

Unit 2 Technology at war

65

Unlike the post war nuclear submarines, .................. submarines had quite limited underwater speed, range, and endurance. They usually came to the surface, especially at night, and submerged only when they had to, to avoid being detected and attacked. In the first years of the war, German submarines even made group night attacks while surfaced, as if they were surface torpedo boats. As RADAR and aircraft were more widely used to detect and attack submarines, they were forced to remain .................. most of the time, and new technical and electronic improvements were invented, mostly by the Germans, to significantly improve the submarine’s underwater performance. [http://www.2worldwar2.com]

!Use of English [*] Practicing your language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

causing • forcing • used • 1,000 • than • anytime • from • secret • World War 2 • submerged • warships • weapon

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers to the following questions. a. What were the immediate consequences of the development of submarines? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Which kind of war did submarines contribute to? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Why is the submarine said to be “one of the main vehicles of intelligence”? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. Did submarine navigation methods and techniques change after the invention of radar? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

 Listening

Service in submarines

Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

66

. Military

aircraft

Air power unquestionably increased the destructive abilities of nations during the Second World War, especially with the introduction of heavy, long range bombers that could drop thousands of pounds of high explosives on areas previously considered safe from attack. [...] The military powers quickly realized the potential of aircraft and as a result the nature of combat changed forever. The incredibly successful Japanese torpedo bombing of the U.S. Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor demonstrated, quite conclusively, that oceans no longer provided walls of separation from belligerents. [...] The American use of aircraft to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated that aircraft could be used – quite effectively, if ruthlessly – to deliver the most frighteningly potent of new weapons: the atomic bomb. This weapon was so immensely powerful that it forced Japan into immediate capitulation and, many historians argue, has since kept the nations of the world from entering into a Third World War. Often unnoticed by many students and scholars alike, however, is the fact that aircraft also increased the speed of modern war, and they did so by an order of magnitude. They could both inflict previously unthought-of levels of destruction and could do so with previously unthought-of immediacy. [Justin D. Murphy, Matthew A. McNiece, Military Aircraft, 1919-1945: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, ABC-Clio Inc., Santa Barbara (CA) 2008, pp. ix-x]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a bilingual dictionary, translate the following words from the text above. Make sure you consider the context of the word before choosing your translation. a. Bomber: ............................................................................................................................................................................ b. To drop: ............................................................................................................................................................................ c. To station: ......................................................................................................................................................................... d. To enter into: ...................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [**]

Working on concepts

2. Having read the extract above, write answers to the following questions. a. Why was the sea no longer considered a safety barrier between enemies? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Summarize in what way the nature of warfare changed with the use of aircraft. ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 2 Technology at war

67

c. What was the immediate result of the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. What are the more long term results of the use of the atomic bomb? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**] Expressing points of view

3. Looking back over this unit, and with the help of your teacher discuss the following questions. a. In your opinion, which invention had the biggest impact on modern warfare: the tank, the aircraft carrier, the submarine, the aeroplane, the atomic bomb? b. Have you ever seen a war film? When was it set? Which of the above military innovations were present in the film?

 Listening

The great fighters of the Second World War

. Robert

Watson-Watt, the inventor of radar



Numerous scientists contributed to the development of radar, but none have a clearer claim as radar’s inventor than Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt. At the age of 15 he was working for the London Meteorological Office, analyzing the weather patterns of thunderstorms, in an effort to reduce the dangers of early air flight. In 1919 he patented an early version of echolocation, and in 1923 he developed a system using oscilloscopes to show lightning strikes by plotting the strikes’ electrical interference against rotating directional antennas. In 1934 he was asked to develop a weapon based on radio waves, but he quickly reported that such weaponry was not yet feasible. Instead he re-tasked his team of scientists to work on using radio waves to detect incoming aircraft. Watson-Watt and his assistant Arnold Wilkins then prepared a report titled “The Detection of Aircraft by Radio Methods”, which foreshadowed his team’s subsequent invention of radar. On 26 February 1935, a mere two weeks after preparing the report, Watson-Watt demonstrated radar’s potential in a test that detected the movements of a British bomber from a distance of about eight miles. Within a few years his team was able to pinpoint aircraft from up to ninety miles. His system, called Chain Home, went into 24-hour service in September of 1938, and was credited as a decisive factor in allowing the Royal Air Force to repulse attacks from the German Luftwaffe during World War II’s Battle of Britain in 1940. The term radar, short for “radio detection and ranging”, was coined in about 1941. Watts went to America to offer advice on radar defenses

Listening

Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

68

following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and later developed an airborne interception radar that allowed defensive aircraft to detect attacking bombers in the dark of night. He is also credited with inventing several devices that enhanced early flight safety, and a direction finder used in atmospheric research. [http://www.nndb.com]

!Reading [*]

Interpreting secondary sources

1. Choose the best answer for the following questions. 1. In his early stage, Watts developed a system: a. To detect bolts of lightning. b. To prevent aircraft from flying during storms. c. To improve aircraft visibility at night. 2. His system was then improved in order to: a. Fight against enemy aircraft. b. Send coded messages. c. Locate incoming aircraft. 3. When did the invention of radar prove to be most useful to Britain? a. In 1935. b. During the German air force attack on Britain. c. During the final years of war. 4. What was Watt’s final development of the radar system? a. Spotting aircraft at night. b. Monitoring the skies during storming weather. c. Sending coded messages across the enemies lines.

 Listening

The invention of radar

Unit 3 Espionage during the World Wars

Unit

3

. The

69

Espionage during the World Wars

Zimmermann telegram

In January 1917 the German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a cable to his Ambassador in Washington for transmission to the German Ambassador in Mexico. In it, Zimmermann announced that Germany was going to start unrestricted submarine warfare on all shipping, Allied or neutral, in the Atlantic. He then made a startling and audacious proposal: the German Ambassador was to offer the Mexican government an alliance directed against the United States and furthermore, to ask the Mexicans to contact the Japanese to see if they could be persuaded to switch sides (Japan was on the Allied side in the First World War). British intelligence decoded the telegram and passed it on to the Americans, with momentous consequences. [...] 1917 was the crucial year in the First World War. [...] The American president Woodrow Wilson had been re-elected on a platform of keeping his country out of the conflict. [...] Rarely a single piece of paper had such consequences. Mexico and Japan refused to be drawn into an alliance, but when President Wilson read the decoded telegram he went straight to Congress for declaration of war on Germany. ZIMMERMANN’S TELEGRAM WE PROPOSE TO BEGIN ON I FEBRUARY UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE. IN DOING THIS HOWEVER WE SHALL ENDEAVOR TO KEEP AMERICA NEUTRAL......(?) IF WE SHOULD NOT (? SUCCEED IN DOING SO) WE PROPOSE (? MEXICO) AN ALLIANCE UPON THE FOLLOWING BASIS: (JOINT) CONDUCT OF WAR, (JOINT) CONCLUSION OF PEACE.......YOUR EXCELLENCY SHOULD FOR THE PRESENT INFORM THE PRESIDENT SECRETELY (? THAT WE EXPECT) WAR WITH THE USA (POSSIBLY)......(JAPAN) AND AT THE SAME TIME NEGOTIATE BETWEEN US AND JAPAN.......PLEASE TELL THE PRESIDENT THAT.....OUR SUBMARINES.....WILL COMPEL ENGLAND TO PEACE WITHIN A FEW MONTHS. ACKNOLEDGE RECEIPT. ZIMMERMANN.

[Barbara W. Tuchman, The Zimmermann Telegram, The Folio Society, London 2004, pp. xi-xv, 6]

!Writing [*]

Understanding historical contexts

1. Read the previous extract carefully and then write answers to the following questions. a. What was the Germans’ intention as expressed in the Zimmermann telegram? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

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Module 4 Modern warfare: from trenches to blitzkrieg, the experience of war

b. Were the Germans planning to bomb ships in the Atlantic from long-distance aircraft? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Having decoded the telegram and read it, what effect did it have on the President of the United States? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. What does the document tell us about the espionage during the First World War? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. Why was this document considered astounding? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Russian

 Listening secret service agencies

Until the Soviet Union’s dissolution in the early 1990s, the KGB resembled a combination of the American CIA, FBI, and Secret Service (the agency charged with protecting the President and vice President and their families). This integration of foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security roles in a single agency was unusual, though the old Soviet system set the pattern for intelligence services in other communist countries. The lineage of the KGB begins with the Cheka, the secret police established by the Bolsheviks in 1917. [http://www.britannica.com]

. Origins

 Listening of the Cheka

In December 1917 Lenin set up the Cheka. The head of this secret police force was the cold and incorruptible Felix Dzerzhinski. He set up headquarters in the ‘Lubyanka’ in Moscow, a name that was to become feared because of the torture and executions that were carried out there. The Cheka arrested people who were considered dangerous. After an assassination attempt on Lenin, the Cheka launched the Red Terror. Anybody who spoke out against the government was arrested, and many were shot without trial. Sometimes it was enough to be someone who might oppose the Bolsheviks. [Terry Fiehn, Russia and the USSR, 1905-1941. A Study in Depth, Hodder education, London 1997, p. 50]

Unit 3 Espionage during the World Wars

. American

secret intelligence: inside the CIA

71



Listening

The United States has carried on foreign intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they been coordinated on a government-wide basis. Even before Pearl Harbour, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was concerned about American intelligence deficiencies. He asked New York lawyer William J. Donovan to draft a plan for an intelligence service. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established in June 1942 with a mandate to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies. During the War, the OSS supplied policy makers with essential facts and intelligence estimates and often played an important role in directly aiding military campaigns. But the OSS never received complete jurisdiction over all foreign intelligence activities. Since the early 1930s the FBI had been responsible for intelligence work in Latin America, and the military services protected their areas of responsibility. In October 1945, the OSS was abolished and its functions transferred to the State and War Departments. But the need for a postwar centralized intelligence system was clearly recognized. [...] President Harry S. Truman established the Central Intelligence Group in January 1946, directing it to coordinate existing departmental intelligence, supplementing but not supplanting their services. [...] Under the provision of the National Security Act of 1947 the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were established. [Sharad S. Chauhan, Inside CIA: Lessons in Intelligence, APH Publishing, New Delhi 2004, p. 1]

!Writing [***]

Comparing and contrasting

1. Having read the previous extracts describing the birth and development of the Russian and American secret service agencies, write a brief summary and single out the points of comparison and difference between the organization of security in USSR and USA.

Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain UNIT 1 The British political system UNIT 2

British politics: the political debate

UNIT 3 Political speeches during the World Wars: Sir Winston Churchill UNIT 4 Contemporary wars: new reasons for old arguments

Learning Outcomes n Piecing history together: contemporary British institutions and their past [unit 1]

n Analyzing a case study: British parties and political irony [unit 2]

n Understanding the relationship between leadership and communication in 20th century Britain [unit 3]

n Making links across history: did political debate ever change? [unit 4]

Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

74

Unit

1

. United

The British political system Kingdom: piecing history together

The birth of Parliament

In November 1236, Henry III (1216-1272) adjourned a law case to a ‘parliament’ which was due to meet in January the following year – the very first occasion the term ‘parliament’ was recorded in an official document of the English crown. [...] The use of term in 1236 was new, but it described a type of assembly which had existed for many centuries. [...] At first, assent to taxation was given by the barons, but increasingly as the 13th century progressed Henry III was forced in addition to negotiate directly with the representatives of the counties, towns and lower clergy (later to be known as the ‘commons’). Parliament therefore became synonymous with an enlarged gathering of the kingdom’s political elite. [...] In the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) parliament became a more consistent part of political life, brought together as and when the king required it, which usually was when the crown needed taxation. Most assemblies met at Westminster, but it was not uncommon for parliament to be held elsewhere in order to accommodate the king’s itinerary. [...] The Commons did not become a regular or permanent feature of the English Parliament until Edward II’s reign (1307-1327). [...] The incessant warfare between England and Scotland, and then France, in the 14th century cemented the place of the Commons in Parliament, as the crown regularly looked to MPs to provide the funds necessary for defense and military campaigning. [...] In 1388, the combined opposition of the Commons and the Lords overwhelmed Richard II. The resulting purge of the royal household was so excessive that it earned the assembly the epithet of ‘Merciless Parliament’. The King sitting in Parliament, XIII century [British Museum, London]

Unit 1 The British political system

The political scenario at the time of the English revolution

The civil war which broke out in 1642 contributed to change dramatically the political scenario. [...] Realizing that the kingdom could never be settled in peace while Charles I remained alive, a number of radical MPs and officers in the New Model Army eventually decided that the king had to be charged with high treason. Charles was accordingly tried, found guilty, and beheaded in January 1649. [...] In 1653, Cromwell was installed as ‘lord protector’ of the new Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Over the next five years, he strove to establish broad-based support for a godly republican government with scant success. [...] In May 1660, Charles II entered London in triumph. The monarchy had been restored. [http://www.bbc.co.uk] Modern Britain

The Bill of Rights (1689) contributed a great deal to the establishment of the conHollar Wenceslaus, Oliver Cromwell, 1650 cept of parliamentary sovereignty and the [British Library, London] curtailment of the powers of the monarch. Leading, ultimately, to the establishment of constitutional monarchy. The following Act of Settlement (June 12, 1701) regulated the succession to the throne of Great Britain. The Treaty of Union (1707) led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the political union of the Kingdom of England (including Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. Only in the 1800, with the Act of Union, Ireland became part of Great Britain, at least until 1921, when the Anglo Irish Treaty recognized the Irish free state and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was officially established. [http://www.bbc.co.uk]

!Reading [*] Making a timeline

1. Read the previous extracts and draw a timeline for the major events in British political history.

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76

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

2. Using a monolingual dictionary, find synonyms for the following words taken from the extract above. a. To adjourn: ....................................................................................................................................................................... b. Assent: .............................................................................................................................................................................. c. To accommodate:............................................................................................................................................................. d. Purge: ............................................................................................................................................................................... e. To behead:........................................................................................................................................................................ f. Scant: ................................................................................................................................................................................. g. Curtailment: .....................................................................................................................................................................

!Reading [*]

Interpreting secondary sources

3. Choose the best answer for the following questions. 1. Why did the king use to summon Parliament? a. To ratify new taxation. b. To start a new war. c. To discuss new alliances. 2. Did the Parliament become a threat for the king’s leadership? a. Yes, because ................................................................................................................................................................. b. No, because .................................................................................................................................................................. 3. Which social classes were represented in the ‘commons’? a. Representatives of the counties, towns and lower clergy. b. Knights and nobles. c. Members of the Anglican church. 4. Which countries are now part of the United Kingdom? a. Wales, Scotland and England. b. England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. c. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

. The

 Listening British government

The UK political system

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy: government is voted into power by the people, to act in the interests of the people. Every adult has the right to vote – known as ‘universal suffrage’. Alongside this system, the UK is also a constitutional monarchy. This is a situation where there is an established monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II), who remains politically impartial and with limited powers.

Unit 1 The British political system

The two-House system

The business of Parliament takes place in two Houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. n The Commons. The Commons is publicly elected. The party with the largest num-

ber of members in the Commons forms the government. Members of the Commons (MPs) debate the big political issues of the day and proposals for new laws. It is one of the key places where government ministers, like the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, and the principal figures of the main political parties, work. The Commons alone is responsible for making decisions on financial Bills, such as proposed new taxes. The Lords can consider these Bills but cannot block or amend them.

n The Lords. The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament, it

complements the work of the House of Commons. It makes laws, holds government to account and investigates policy issues. Its membership is mostly appointed and includes experts in many fields.

Government and Parliament

n Government. The government runs the country. It has responsibility for develop-

ing and implementing policy and for drafting laws. It is also known as the Executive.

n Parliament. Parliament is the highest legislative authority in the UK. It has respon-

sibility for checking the work of government and examining, debating and approving new laws. It is also known as the Legislature.

n Forming a government. The political party that wins the most seats in a general

election forms the new government, led by their party leader – who becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appoints ministers, including the Cabinet, who often work in a government department, and run and develop public services and policies.

n Ministers and MPs. Government ministers are chosen from MPs and Lords in Par-

liament. Your MP may be a member of the party forming the current government, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are working ‘in government’. Ministers must regularly respond to oral and written questions from MPs and Lords.

Checking the work of government

n Questions. Questions to government ministers may be answered orally or in writ-

ing. Ministers from each government department attend the Commons on a rota basis to answer oral questions. The Prime Minister answers questions every Wednesday. In the Lords, the House questions government ministers at the start of each day’s business, but there are no set days for government departments.

Devolved Parliaments and Assemblies

UK devolution created a national Parliament in Scotland, a National Assembly in Wales and a National Assembly in Northern Ireland. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all held successful referendums on devolu-

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Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

78

tion in the late 1990s. This led to the establishment of separate Parliaments or Assemblies and the democratic election of officials. n Devolved and reserved powers. Devolved powers are decisions that Parliament

controlled in the past, but are now taken by the separate bodies, e.g., the Scottish Parliament. This could include matters like education or health. Reserved powers are those decisions that remain with Parliament in Westminster. In each case, the legislation establishing the separate bodies determined which powers were devolved and which were reserved.

n Transfer of powers. The Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales

took responsibility for their devolved powers on 1 July 1999, the Northern Ireland Assembly followed on 2 December 1999. The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended at midnight on 14 October 2002. Power was restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007.

Europe

The UK is one of 27 member states of the European Union and is subject to European Union (EU) legislation. [http://www.parliament.uk]

!Reading [**] Mapping ideas

1. Having read the extract on the UK political system, now complete the following map.

The United Kingdom is .......... ................................................ and also .................................. ................................................

It is known as the .................................. .............................................................. Its functions are: ................................... .............................................................. .............................................................. It is formed by ....................................... ..............................................................

Devolution

Devolved Parliaments are: 1. ................................................................................. 2. ................................................................................. 3. ................................................................................. Reserved powers: ......................................................... ..................................................................................... .....................................................................................

Form of government

Government

The UK political system

Parliament

It is the highest ..................................... .............................................. authority. Its functions are: ................................... .............................................................. .............................................................. .............................................................. ..............................................................

is divided in two ........................... Questions

..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... .....................................................

House of ........................

Distinctive features: ........................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................

House of ........................

Distinctive features: ........................ ........................................................ ........................................................ ........................................................

Unit 1 The British political system

!Speaking [***] Working in groups

2. Work in pairs: choose three words and explain their meaning within the UK political context.

parliamentary democracy, universal suffrage, constitutional monarchy, House of Commons, House of Lords, Prime Minister, Chancellor, Bills, chamber, the Executive, legislative authority, Cabinet, Ministers, UK devolution, referendum, European Union

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Unit

2

British politics: the political debate

British politics has always reflected a sharp contrast between few political parties. The two historical political groups, Tories and Whigs, have evolved over time, but the contemporary political debate in Britain still has much in common with its historical background.

. Tories

 Listening and Whigs: etymology

The terms ‘Whig and Tory’ did not always function as political labels. They became ‘party’ labels, but they have an older history and a completely different meaning compared to the way in which they were used from the late 17th century onwards. [...] An excerpt from Mist’s Weekly Journal (7.10.1727) illustrates the ambivalence of the terms Whig and Tory: “The Words Whig and Tory were originally Names of Contempt, which at Times, when Division ran high, the opposite Parties in their Spleen fixed upon each other by Way of Reproach.” [...] These terms were first connected to political circumstances during the reign of Charles II1. There are several explanatory attempts about the origin of the term Whig. One is that it is a form of Gaelic term to describe cattle and horse thieves. Another, that it contains the outstanding initial letters in the Covenanters motto: “We hope in God.” But the most probable explanation of the term would be that it is an abbreviated form of the term ‘Whiggamore’. The term Whiggamore has been around since 1649 and refers to a group of rebels that were against the government in Western Scotland. Thus the rising of the political term Whig can be connected to Presbyterianism in Scotland during the 17th century. The term was then transferred to those English politicians who showed a disposition to oppose the Court, and to treat Protestant Nonconformists as heroes. The term Tory also comes from outside of England. Initially the term was used for Papists that lived in the Irish wetlands and lived by robbing English settlers and 1. King Charles II (1630-1685) was the son of Charles I, executed on 30 January 1649 during the English Civil War. Although Parliament proclaimed Charles II King of Great Britain and Ireland in 1649, the country at that time was led by the Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell. Only on the death of Cromwell in 1658, was the monarchy officially restored.

Unit 2 British politics: the political debate

81

soldiers. Later on the Whigs transferred the term to those politicians who opposed the Exclusion of James II. Although the terms Whig and Tory were first used as an insult to the opposite party, both parties soon adopted the terms and used it with pride. [http://www.anglistik.uni-kiel.de]

!Speaking [**]

Using a specialised vocabulary

1. Explain the meaning of the following expressions. a. Political label:................................................................................................................................................................... b. Names of contempt:........................................................................................................................................................ c. Spleen:............................................................................................................................................................................... d. Way of reproach:............................................................................................................................................................. e. Papist: ............................................................................................................................................................................... f. Wetland:............................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers to the following questions. 1. Did the words Tories and Whigs originally have a political meaning? a. Yes, because .................................................................................................................................................................. b. No, because ................................................................................................................................................................... 2. What are the possible explanations of the word Whig? a. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... b. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... c. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3. How was the term Tory first used? It was used to .....................................................................................................................................................................

The political turmoil on the British scenario at the end of the 17th century, led Britain to a new form of government: the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701) imposed strong limitations on the power of the Crown and Britain headed for a unitary parliamentary and a constitutional monarchy. The rise of political debate, together with the new political settlement, gave writers a good chance to express their criticism and animate the political debate: satirical cartoons and ironic literature became immensely popular. The cartoonist James Gillray and the writer Jonathan Swift were among those most able to amuse their audiences.

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Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

. A touch of political

satire: James Gillray (1757-1815) English caricaturist, James Gillray trained as a commercial engraver before studying at the Royal Academy. He gained a reputation as a leading caricaturist in Britain, winning himself a profitable job with print seller, Hannah Humphrey. He worked and lived above the workshop and was employed there exclusively from 1790 on. His favoured targets were national and international political figures such as Napoleon, and the royal family, especially George III. Gillray was also an alcoholic who suffered from insanity from 1810 to his death five years later. [http://www.wwar.com]

!Speaking [**]

Interpreting primary sources

1. Work in pairs and discuss the following Gillray cartoons. a. Who are the subjects of Gillray’s interest? b. How are political figures sketched? c. What impression do you get about the political debate at the time?

The European reaction to Britain’s loss of the American colonies, 1783 [from “The Times”]

Unit 2 British politics: the political debate

A block for the wigs, 1783 [National Portrait Gallery, London]

The plum-pudding in danger, 1805

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84

. Gulliver’s

Travels by Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Irish cleric, political pamphleteer, satirist, and author wrote Gulliver’s Travels (1726); “I grew weary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage was at first very prosperous.” First published under the pseudonym Lemuel Gulliver, Gulliver’s Travels (1726) is considered Swift’s masterpiece, a culmination of his active years in politics with the Whigs then Tories. Laden with symbolism and rife with socio-political commentary it was in instant best-seller. It is a timeless illustration of the pettiness of politics, people, and the games they play. It has inspired numerous sequels and been adapted to the stage and film, entering popular culture iconography. [http://www.online-literature.com/swift/] A picture from Gulliver’s Travels (1726-35) by Jonathan Swift

 Listening

A voyage to Lilliput

. From

Whigs to Liberals

The Liberal Party is a British political party that emerged in the mid-19th century as the successor to the historic Whig Party. It was the major party in opposition to the Conservatives until 1918, after which it was supplanted by the Labour Party. The Liberals continued as a minor party until 1988, when they merged with the Social Democratic Party to form what is now called the Liberal Democratic Party. Through its long history, the Liberal Party included various schools of thought, but all Liberals were united by the conviction that the source of progress lay in the free exercise of individual energy. The purpose of politics, therefore, was to create the conditions within which individual energy could thrive to the betterment of all. [http://www.britannica.com]

Unit 2 British politics: the political debate

85

!Reading [*] Mapping ideas

1. Having read the extract, fill in the map below.

liberal party

emerged in

.................................................... ....................................................

is related to

.................................................... ....................................................

is in opposition to

.................................................... ....................................................

merged with

.................................................... ....................................................

to form

.................................................................. ..................................................................

main ideas

....................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................

. Accountability

and contemporary irony



Tony Wright, Labour MP entering Parliament in 1992, records his impression on what really ‘seems’ to work in the contemporary UK political system.

After my first few weeks in the House of Commons, one of my children asked me what was the best bit so far about being a Member of Parliament. I remember saying that I thought there were two best bits. First, the fact that the library research staff would instantly provide you with a brief on any subject under the sun. My son thought this would be very useful for his homework. Second, the supply of yellow forms on which questions could be written to any Cabinet minister at any time requesting information on anything that came within the Minister’s area of responsibility, with an obligation for an answer containing the information to be given (and published in Hansard, the parliamentary record) within a matter of days. My son was disbelieving at such an extraordinary facility. So we agreed that we would put it to the test. But what to ask about? After some thought we suggested an esoteric question about the dangers of milk floats1, on the basis that when I was my son’s age I had crashed into one on my bike early one morning while delivering newspapers before going to school and had long harboured a grudge against them2. This 1. milk floats: ‘furgoncini del lattaio’. 2. to harbour a grudge against someone: ‘nutrire rancore per qualcuno’.

Listening

Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

86

was duly agreed, and the yellow form was filled in and submitted. A few days later the following reply was received, as recorded in the Hansard record (30 June 1992): Milk Floats Dr. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what figures are available on the number of accidents and injuries associated with milk floats. Mr. Kenneth Carlisle: Milk floats cannot be specifically identified from accident records held by the Department. However, using vehicle registration marks, additional vehicle information is obtained from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency at Swansea for about 80 per cent of vehicles involved in injury accidents. The table shows information on injury accidents in 1990 where DVLA data indicate the involvement of floats. The 1991 data are not yet available. Injury accidents involving floats and casualties in those accidents: by float propulsion type: Great Britain 1990 Propulsion type

Injury accidents

Electric Other

124 64

Casualties

Fatal

Serious

Slight

3 1

31 14

126 70

Pandora’s box was henceforth to be forever open. Accountability was not a stale word3 but a continuous practice. 3. a stale word: ‘un termine sorpassato’. [Anthony Wright, British Politics. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003, pp. 79-81]

!Speaking [**]

Analysing data and graphs

1. Working in pairs, confront your view on Tony Wright’s account. Do you think that accountability is a good practice? 2. With the help of your teacher discuss what is funny about the text.

Unit 3 Political speeches during the World Wars: Sir Winston Churchill

Unit

Political speeches during the world wars: Sir Winston Churchill

3

. Winston

87

Churchill: a biographical outline



Listening

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), the son of Lord Randolph Churchill and an American mother, was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. After a brief but eventful career in the army, he became a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1900. He held many high posts in Liberal and Conservative governments during the first three decades of the century. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty – a post which he had earlier held from 1911 to 1915. In May, 1940, he became Prime Minister and Minister of Defence and remained in office until 1945. He took over the premiership again in the Conservative victory of 1951 and resigned in 1955. However, he remained a Member of Parliament until the general election of 1964, when he did not seek re-election. Queen Elizabeth II conferred on Churchill the dignity of Knighthood and invested him with the insignia of the Order of the Garter in 1953. Among the other countless honours and decorations he received, special mention should be made of the honorary citizenship of the United States which President Kennedy conferred on him in 1963. For his many works of literature he received the Nobel prize in Literature in 1953. [http://www.nobelprize.org] He died on January 24, 1965.

!Reading [*]

Summarizing information

1. Fill in the chart below. Family

The son of ............................................................................. and ......................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................

Boyhood

He studied at .................................................................. and was enrolled in ....................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................

Political career

1900: ..................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1911-1915: ........................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1940-1945: ........................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1951-1955: ........................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................

Honours

1953: .................................................................................... and ......................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................... 1963: ..................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................

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Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

The charismatic role of Churchill as an outstanding political figure became manifest during the Second World War. In the most difficult period for Britain, the Prime Minister’s speeches addressed to the nation on the radio or delivered in the House of Commons reveal all the strength and firmness of the man who was to be considered the saviour of his country.

. Winston

Churchill: the Blood, Sweat and Tears speech May 13th, 1940 evening last I received from His Majesty the mission to form a new On Friday .................. administration. It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it .................. include all parties. [...] To form an administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself. But we are in the preliminary phase .................. one of the greatest battles in history. We are in action at many other points – in Norway and in Holland – and we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. The air battle is continuing, and many preparations have .................. made here at home. In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are .................. by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before .................. an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to .................. war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at .................. – Victory in spite of all terrors – Victory, .................. long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall .................. forward toward his goal. I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled .................. this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”

[http://www.famousquotes.me.uk]

mind the gap

Unit 3 Political speeches during the World Wars: Sir Winston Churchill

89

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

all costs • of • should • to be • us • wage • move • however • at • affected

!Reading [**]

Interpreting primary sources

2. Underline in different colours the sentences in the speech that in your opinion lay emphasis on: a. The war in the European context; b. Churchill’s role.

3. Which parts of the speech are intended to persuade and strengthen the audience? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

4. Why does Churchill insert questions followed by his own answers? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

5. How would you define the speech? a. A speech to strengthen people’s will in a dangerous moment. b. A speech to emphasize the present danger and make people aware of the real dangers of the war. c. A speech to express his unwillingness to go on with the fighting.

 Listening

Winston Churcill: 1939, a war speech

. Winston

Churchill: the post-war period and the Cold War Churchill got a second chance for being on the political arena some years after the end of the war. At the General conference of the Tory Party at Margate in October 1953, he needed to show to Britain he was still fit to carry on the job as Prime Minister, even though he had suffered a recent stroke; Britain was under strain from economic problems and the world was terrified by a potential, destructive nuclear conflict arising from the Cold War. Notwithstanding health problems and his uneasiness about dealing with economic matters, Churchill seemed still to grasp the heart of the problem: the world needed peace. In a private report of events, his personal doctor on October 10th, 1953 wrote:

Even in the last election his Party (Conservative) lost many votes because Labour had called him a warmonger. And now this astonishing man, who is about to enter his eightieth year, wants to be accepted over the world as the apostle of peace.

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Eisenhower was the new President of the United States, the death of Stalin opened a new political epoch in the West’s relationship with Russia. Churchill was convinced that his role in those final years was to use all his political influence and personal knowledge with Eisenhower to ease the tension between the super powers. His awareness of what the new nuclear weapons could produce was always on his mind:

The rapid and ceaseless development of atomic warfare and the hydrogen bomb – these fearful scientific discoveries cast their shadow on every thoughtful mind, and yet the probabilities of another world war have become more remote. Indeed, I have sometimes the odd thought that the annihilating character of these agencies may bring an utterly unforeseeable security to mankind. When I was a schoolboy I was not good at arithmetic, but I have since heard it said that certain mathematical quantities, when they pass through infinity, change their signs from plus to minus or the other way round. It may be that this rule may have a novel application, and that when the advance of destructive weapons enables everyone to kill everybody else, nobody will want to kill anybody at all. [(adapted from) Lord Moran, Churchill. The Struggle for Survival 1945-60, Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 2006] Winston Churchill in his observation point watching the Allies’ offensive north of Florence, Italy, 1944

. Winston

Churchill: at the House of Commons, March 1st, 1955 We live in a period, happily unique in human history, when the whole world is divided intellectually and to a large extent geographically between the creeds of Communist discipline and individual freedom, and when, at the same time, this mental and psychological division is accompanied by the possession by both sides of the obliterating weapons of the nuclear age. [...] I am not pretending to have a solution for a permanent peace between the nations d I shall only venture to which could be unfolded this afternoon. We pray for it. o offer to the House some observations mainly of a general character on which I have pondered long and which, I hope, may be tolerantly received, as they are intended by me. [...] Unless a trustworthy and universal agreement upon disarmament, conventional and nuclear alike, can be reached and an effective system of inspection is established and is actually working, there is only one sane policy for the free world in the next few years. That is what we call defence through deterrents. This we have already adopted and proclaimed. o To make our contribution to the deterrent we must ourselves possess the most up-to-date nuclear weapons, and the means of delivering them.

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Unit 3 Political speeches during the World Wars: Sir Winston Churchill

91

That is the position which the Government occupies. We are to discuss this not only as a matter of principle; there are many practical reasons which should be given. o There are scores of airfields from which the Soviets could launch attacks with hydrogen bombs as soon as they have the bombers to carry them. It is essential to our deterrent policy, and to our survival, to have, with our American allies, the strength and numbers to be able to paralyze these potential Communist assaults in the first few hours of the war, should it come. [...] o All deterrents will improve and gain authority during the next ten years. By that time, the deterrent may well reach its acme and reap its final reward. The day may dawn when fair play, love for one’s fellow-men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair. [http://www.winstonchurchill.org]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Should war come, which God forbid, there are a large number of targets that we and the Americans must be able to strike at once. b. These deterrents may at any time become the parents of disarmament, provided that they deter. c. To conclude: mercifully, there is time and hope if we combine patience and courage. d. Nor shall I try to discuss the cold war which we all detest, but have to endure.

!Writing [**]

Interpreting primary sources

2. Summarize the main points of Churchill’s 1955 speech using the following table. Preliminary remarks

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Main arguments

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Reasons in favour of the arguments

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Conclusion

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

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Unit

Contemporary wars: new reasons for old arguments

4

Today Britain is not exempt from intervening in world conflicts. In 2003, combined troops from the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq defeating Iraqi military troops. The post-war period in Iraq has been animated by insurrection. In 2012 what has become an Iraqi civil war continues the cycle of violence.

. War

with Iraq. A speech by the Prime Minister Tony Blair Tony Blair, Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, on Thursday, 20 March 2003 addressed the nation to report on the start of British intervention in Iraq and the reasons why Britain had decided to support the United States in fighting the war. His speech was broadcast on radio, tv and on numerous on-line news sites.

mind the gap

March 20th, 2003 On Tuesday night I gave the order for British forces to take part in military action in Iraq.

Marines on the border between Kuwait and Iraq, 2003

Unit 4 Contemporary wars: new reasons for old arguments

93

d Tonight, British servicemen and women are engaged from air, land and sea. o I know this course of action has produced deep divisions of opinion in our country. But I know also the British people will now be united in sending our armed forces our thoughts and prayers. o The threat to Britain today is not that of my father’s generation. War between the big powers is unlikely. Europe is at peace. The Cold War already a memory. But this new world faces a new threat: of disorder and chaos born either of brutal states like Iraq, armed with weapons of mass destruction; or of extreme terrorist groups. o My fear, deeply held, based in part on the intelligence that I see, is that these threats come together and deliver catastrophe to our country and world. o [...] Removing Saddam will be a blessing to the Iraqi people. Four million Iraqis are in exile. 60% of the population dependent on food aid. Thousands of children die every year through malnutrition and disease. Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes or murdered. I hope the Iraqi people hear this message. We are with you. Our enemy is not you, but your barbarous rulers.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk]

!Use of English [**] Practicing your language skills

1. Read the extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Both hate our way of life, our freedom, our democracy. b. They are the finest in the world and their families and all of Britain can have great pride in them. c. These tyrannical states do not care for the sanctity of human life. The terrorists delight in destroying it. d. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

!Reading [***]

Comparing and contrasting

2. Work with your teacher: compare the 1940 Blood, Sweat and Tears speech by Sir Winston Churchill with Tony Blair’s speech, the urgency of war is different, but the appeal to the nation presents similar traits.

a. Can you compare the structure of the two speeches? b. Do the two speakers make use of long or short sentences? c. Do they make use of repetitions of concepts? d. In your opinion, does the means of communication (radio, tv etc.) influence the message of the speeches?

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Module 5 Political parties: the case of Great Britain

!Speaking [**]

Using the net to search for information

3. What is the actual political situation of Iraq nowadays? Surf the net searching for up-to-date information and discuss the results with your classmates and your teacher. You can start your search from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Module 6

The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR UNIT 1 USA: the economic situation at the beginning of the 20th century UNIT 2 USA: driving the change UNIT 3 USA: the Great Depression and its economic consequences UNIT 4 USSR: Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century UNIT 5 USSR: from NEP to collectivization

Learning Outcomes n Understanding historical and economic contexts: the USA from 1900 to 1932 [unit 1]

n Confronting ideas and initiatives: the USA economic policy from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin D. Roosevelt [unit 2]

n Connecting facts to consequences: what the Great Depression implied for the USA economic system [unit 3]

n Understanding historical and economic contexts: from the Russian empire to the birth of USSR [unit 4]

n Comparing economic policies: USA and USSR in the 20th century [unit 5]

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Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

Unit

USA: the economic situation at the beginning of the 20th century

. An

1

economic history of the United States



Listening

Usa economy: 1900-1919

In 1900 Americans still counted themselves as a country people, and for most of rural them the rhythms of ................. life shaped their ideas about past, present, and future. [...] But before the twentieth century had half passed, the American city grew to ................. the farm. [...] The shift to cities required more elaborate networks of connections extending not only from farm to mill to market, but from steel town to rubber town to manufacturing center. The movement of the ................. people from farm to city thus entailed the extension of American influence throughout the continent, as railroads and ................. made the riches of the interior available to the manufacturing centers on the coasts. [...] In the first decade of the ................. century, annual net immigration to the United States increased ................. from about 288,000 in 1901 to about 818,000 in 1910. Foreign immigration accounted for as ................. as half the population growth in the US during this period. [...] Immigrants to the United States made up a diverse population before they even began to mix with the ................. resident Americans. [...] The numerous nationalities encouraged some enthusiastic observers to invent American multiculturalism: as Randolph Bourne wrote, “We have needed the new peoples – the order of the German and the Scandinavian, the turbulence of the Slav and Hun – to save ................. from our own stagnation” (Rauchway). But to more Americans, the many kinds of immigrants mattered for their economic ................. [...] While an influx of immigrants competing for workingmen’s wages generally increased support ................. restriction of immigration, it had other effects too. On average, and ................. for the influence of other factors, American cities with rising numbers of immigrants began spending more of their tax dollars on ................. health. [...] With the introduction of tractors, American farming changed dramatically. The amount of farmland devoted to the feeding of horses and ................., the draft animals who provided the principal, nonhuman, pre-mechanical source of horsepower in the fields, peaked in 1915. [...]

mind the gap

Unit 1 USA: the economic situation at the beginning of the 20th century

USA economy: 1920-1932

Over the course of the 1920s American motor vehicle bureaus showed an increase of automobile registrations from an average of one for every three households to one per household. By 1929, 123 million Americans owned 23 million cars, which meant that, at a tight fit, the whole country ................. go on the road at once. The growth of the automobile industry signified an increase of factory production, which meant an increasingly urban laboring class; it drew on glass, iron, steel, rubber, timber, and other industries. It drove the construction of roads and roadside attractions. It also indicated the increasing importance of consumer debt. Henry Ford’s ................. company made it possible for more Americans to own cars. [...] Global credit, .................., had extended as a result of the war, and the United States was at the center of the world network of debt. Belligerent nations borrowed money from the US to wage war. Unlike the money Americans had .................. from Europe in the nineteenth century, wartime borrowing went to destructive purposes. Through the ................. the crippled countries struggled to recover from the damage they had inflicted on each other, and to pay back their debts. Continued American lending kept them afloat for much of the decade. [...] With higher interest rates in the United States, New York’s foreign capital issues halved after 1928. And countries that depended ................. money from America slid into default: Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and Poland all began to falter. In 1929, the New York stock market crashed. American consumers, uncertain

An assembly line at the Ford car factory in Detroit, first half of the 20th century

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98

about what might happen next, paused in their buying and their borrowing to buy. [...] Banks failed, factories closed, and unemployment began a sickening climb to its peak, in 1932, at slightly under 25 ................. of the American workforce. Americans had a folk tradition of returning to the countryside when the cities entered a slump, and in 1932 and 1933, the ................. of Americans living on farms rose – the only time in the first half of the twentieth century it would do so. Even ................., the American economy had become an urban economy, and with the coalition of voters behind Franklin D. Roosevelt’s victory in 1932, its politics would become more ................. too. [Eric Rauchway, An Economic History of the United States, from John T. Matthews (ed.), A Companion to the Modern American Novel 1900-1950, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2009, pp. 1-8]

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

us • American • telegraphs • 1920s • dramatically • already • allowing • motor • too • twentieth • borrowed • impact • much • could • on • percent • for • public • share • so • overshadow • urban • mules

!Reading [**] Mapping ideas

2. Fill the map with the information given in the first part of the extract (years 1900-1919), then draw yourself your own map for the second part (years 1920-1932).

usa economy 1900-1919

In 1900 Americans moved from

.................................................... ....................................................

changes were caused by

......................................................................... ......................................................................... ......................................................................... .........................................................................

to

a relevant event was ............

......................................................................... .................................................... ......................................................................... consequences .................................................... ......................................................................... .........................................................................

its consequences were ............................................................................. .................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................

Unit 2 Usa: driving the change

Unit

2

99

USA: driving the change Two American Presidents more than others have been remembered for the way they dealt with the economic crisis: Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Both had to cope with the war and both introduced economic measures bound to last. Two outstanding political figures with very different backgrounds and political visions, both with charisma.

. Woodrow

Wilson (1856-1924), 28th President of the United States



Woodrow Wilson was born in Virginia in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina. After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson advanced rapidly as a young, conservative professor of political science becoming President of Princeton in 1902. His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential timber. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In the campaign he asserted his independence from the conservatives and from the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor. He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New President Woodrow Wilson at the White House, first half of the 20th century

Listening

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Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

Freedom, which stressed individualism and states’ rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote. Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices. Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan “he kept us out of war,” Wilson narrowly won re-election. But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2, 1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. The massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims – the Fourteen Points, the last of which would establish “A general association of nations [...] affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.” After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an ‘enduring peace’. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, “Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?” But the election of 1918 had shifted the balance in Congress to the Republicans. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate. The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924. [http://www.whitehouse.gov]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. With the help of a bilingual dictionary, match each term on the left with its possible meaning. Pastor

To give political support to somebody

Charred

To alter or change direction

Timber

To permit something financially

To endorse Burnt To tip the balance

A figure in the non conformist church

To endure

A solemn agreement

Covenant

To suffer or survive

To shift

Another word for wood

To afford

To have an effect, to make a difference

Unit 2 Usa: driving the change

101

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

2. Summarize the events related to the life of Woodrow Wilson. Birth

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................................................................

Early childhood

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Education

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Academic career

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Political career and main actions

Political party: ............................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

Death

.................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................

. Franklin

Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945),  Listening 32nd President of the USA Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York – now a national historic site – he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. On St. Patrick’s Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but b as a Democrat. o In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, disaster hit, he was stricken with poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as “the Happy Warrior.” In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. o In his first ‘hundred days’, he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. By 1935 the Nation had achieved some measure of recovery, but businessmen and

mind the gap

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bankers were turning more and more against Roosevelt’s New Deal program. o Roosevelt responded with a new program of reform: Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the unemployed. In 1936 he was re-elected by a top-heavy margin. Feeling he was armed with a popular mandate, he sought legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court, which had been invalidating key New Deal measures. o Thereafter the Government could legally regulate the economy. Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the ‘good neighbor’ policy. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement.

o

Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled. As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt’s health deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. [http://www.whitehouse.gov] Franklin D. Roosevelt talking to the nation’s press, 1939

Unit 2 Usa: driving the change

103

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read Roosevelt’s biography carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. b. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. c. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation’s manpower and resources for global war. d. Roosevelt lost the Supreme Court battle, but a revolution in constitutional law took place. e. They feared his experiments, were appalled because he had taken the Nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget, and disliked the concessions to labor.

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

2. Summarize the events related to the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Birth

His fifth cousin was ........................................................................................................................................ ....................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................

Education

....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................

Political career and main actions

Political party: ............................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................

International policy

....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................

Death

....................................................................................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**] Discussion activity

3. Having read Woodrow Wilson’s and Roosevelt’s biographies, work in pairs and compare their lives. a. Did they enter in the political arena from a similar background or not? b. What was their position about American intervention during the war? c. Had their respective economic policies anything in common?

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Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

. Speaking

to the world: Wilson on oratory. The old order changeth “What is the object of oratory? Its object is persuasion and conviction – the control of other minds by a strange personal influence and power. What are the fields of labor open to us in our future life career as orators? The bar, the pulpit, the stump, the Senate chamber, the lecturer’s platform” (Woodrow Wilson). Both Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt owe much of their personal success to their power to persuade their audiences. Woodrow Wilson learned how to speak in public at an early age, when he used to listen to his father’s sermons in the church, then practiced oratory at Princeton and declared that his passion was “interpreting great thoughts to the world.” Woodrow Wilson gathered together his speeches delivered during the Presidential campaign. The resulting book, The New Freedom, published in 1913, lays the foundations of his political program and reveals his oratorical talent. As Woodrow Wilson expressed in the preface to the book: “The book is not a discussion of measures or of programs. It is an attempt to express the new spirit of our politics and to set forth, in large terms which may stick in the imagination, what it is that must be done if we are to restore our politics to their full spiritual vigor again, and our national life, whether in trade, in industry, or in what concerns us only as families and individuals, to its purity, its self-respect, and its pristine strength and freedom. The New Freedom is only the old revived and clothed in the unconquerable strength of modern America.”

We have come upon a very different age from any that preceded us. We have come upon an age when we do not do business in the way in which we used to do business, – when we do not carry on any of the operations of manufacture, sale, transportation, or communication as men used to carry them on. There is a sense in which in our day the individual has been submerged. In most parts of our country men work, not for themselves, not as partners in the old way in which they used to work, but generally as employees, – in a higher or lower grade, – of great corporations. There was a time when corporations played a very minor part in our business affairs, but now they play the chief part, and most men are the servants of corporations. [...] In this new age we find, for instance, that our laws with regard to the relations of employer and employee are in many respects wholly antiquated and impossible. They were framed for another age, which nobody now living remembers, which is, indeed, so remote from our life that it would be difficult for many of us to understand it if it were described to us. The employer is now generally a corporation or a huge company of some kind; the employee is one of hundreds or of thousands brought together, not by individual masters whom they know and with whom they have personal relations, but by agents of one sort or another. Workingmen are marshaled in great numbers for the performance of a multitude of particular tasks under a common discipline. They generally use dangerous and powerful machinery, over whose repair and renewal they have no control. New rules must be devised with regard to their obligations and their rights, their obligations to their employers and their responsibilities to one another. Rules must be devised for their protection, for their compensation when injured, for their support when disabled. This is the country which has lifted to the admiration of the world its ideals of absolutely free opportunity, where no man is supposed to be under any limitation except the limitations of his character and of his mind; where there is supposed to

Unit 2 Usa: driving the change

be no distinction of class, no distinction of blood, no distinction of social status, but where men win or lose on their merits. The originative part of America, the part of America that makes new enterprises, the part into which the ambitious and gifted workingman makes his way up, the class that saves, that plans, that organizes, that presently spreads its enterprises until they have a national scope and character, – that middle class is being more and more squeezed out by the processes which we have been taught to call processes of prosperity. Its members are sharing prosperity, no doubt; but what alarms me is that they are not originating prosperity. No country can afford to have its prosperity originated by a small controlling class. [...] We are in a new world, struggling under old laws. [...] One of the most alarming phenomena of the time, – or rather it would be alarming if the nation had not awakened to it and shown its determination to control it, – one of the most significant signs of the new social era is the degree to which government has become associated with business. I speak, for the moment, of the control over the government exercised by Big Business. Behind the whole subject, of course, is the truth that, in the new order, government and business must be associated closely. But that association is at present of a nature absolutely intolerable; the precedence is wrong, the association is upside down. Our government has been for the past few years under the control of heads of great allied corporations with special interests. It has not controlled these interests and assigned them a proper place in the whole system of business; it has submitted itself to their control. As a result, there have grown up vicious systems and schemes of governmental favoritism (the most obvious being the extravagant tariff), far-reaching in effect upon the whole fabric of life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of the land, laying unfair and impossible handicaps upon competitors, imposing taxes in every direction, stifling everywhere the free spirit of American enterprise. [http://www.humanitiesweb.org]

!Reading [**]

Interpreting primary sources

1. Choose the best answer for the following questions. 1. Which parts of American society are affected by a radical change according to Woodrow Wilson? a. Farmers. b. Employees. c. Working-class. 2. Why are laws said to be inadequate to the new economic and social context? a. Because they have been issued for a different context. b. Because they have been shaped for corporations. c. Because they deal with rights related to the security of workingmen. 3. What’s the danger related to gathering wealth into the hands of a few? a. The divide between rich and poor increases. b. Enterprises are present only where rich people live. c. America cannot progress.

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4. On the relationship between government and business, Woodrow Wilson says that “the association is upside down.” What does he mean? a. That government is influenced in decision-making by businessmen. b. That who holds the capital, controls the country. c. That rules are not made to regulate business but to favour big companies’ interests.

!Speaking [***]

Developing thinking skills

2. Woodrow Wilson’s speech outlines the social and economic context of the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. a. Having read Rauchway’s outline [look back at Unit 1, pp. 96-98], can you find any common elements? b. What could be considered absolutely modern in Woodrow Wilson’s words?

. Woodrow

Wilson’s economic initiatives



Listening

Woodrow Wilson’s approach achieved spectacular results. He won his first victory with the passage of the Underwood-Simmons Tariff, which reduced duties on imports for the first time in 40 years. Accompanying the new tariff, to offset lost revenues, was an income tax, which was permitted under the recently adopted Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Woodrow Wilson’s second victory came when, after months of complicated debate and bargaining over banking and currency reform, Congress passed the act creating the Federal Reserve System, which remains the most powerful government agency in economic affairs. A third victory came with passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act, which strengthened existing laws against anticompetitive business actions and gave labour unions relief from court injunctions. Accompanying this act was one creating the Federal Trade Commission, which remains a major agency overseeing business practices. Woodrow Wilson followed those legislative accomplishments with a second wave of reform measures in 1916. In part to attract Roosevelt’s Progressive voters of 1912, he pushed through Congress laws to create an agency to regulate overseas shipping, to make the first government loans to farmers, to prohibit child labour, to raise income and inheritance taxes, and to mandate an eight-hour workday for railroad workers. [http://www.britannica.com]

!Reading [**] Mapping ideas

1. Fill in the mind map on the next page with the information given about Woodrow Wilson’s economic policy.

Unit 2 Usa: driving the change

.................................................................................. .................................................................................. .................................................................................. ................................................................................. ..................................................................................

UnderwoodSimmons Tariff

.................................................................................. .................................................................................. .................................................................................. ................................................................................. ..................................................................................

Federal Reserve System

wilson’s economic reforms

1916 reform measures

.................................................................................. .................................................................................. .................................................................................. ................................................................................. ..................................................................................

107

Federal Trade Commission

Clayton Antitrust Act

..................................................................... ..................................................................... ..................................................................... ..................................................................... ..................................................................... ..................................................................... .....................................................................

.................................................................................. .................................................................................. .................................................................................. ................................................................................. ..................................................................................

President Roosevelt made a powerful use of communication techniques. He inaugurated the habit of addressing the nation with a certain frequency and used modern technology like radio to reach the American population all over the country. Under his Presidency the Speechwriting office at the White House began to develop.

. The

birth of the New Deal



democratic presThe term New Deal was coined during Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 .................. idential nomination acceptance ................., when he said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” Roosevelt ................. the New Deal as a “use of the authority of government as an organized form of self-help for all classes and groups and sections of our country.” At his inauguration in March 1933, Roosevelt declared in ................. lilting style, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – needless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” In his first 99 days, he proposed, and Congress swiftly enacted, an ambitious “New Deal” to deliver ................. to the unemployed and those ................. of losing farms and homes, recovery to agriculture and business, and reform, ................. through the inception of the vast Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The New Deal effects would take time; some 13,000,000 people were ................. of work by March 1933, and virtually every bank was shuttered.

[http://www.u-s-history.com]

Listening

mind the gap

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108

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

summarized • in danger • speech • relief • notably • out • his

 Listening n

Franklin D. Roosevelt: a voice of hope

n

Franklin D. Roosevelt: the New Deal



n

America Social Security Policy, from 1935 up to nowadays



n

President Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt







Unit 3 usa: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

Unit

3

109

USA: The Great Depression and its economic consequences

. The

Great Depression: An Overview by David C. Wheelock Why should students learn about the Great Depression? [...] One reason to study the Great Depression is that it was by far the worst economic catastrophe of the 20th century and, perhaps, the worst in the American nation’s history. Between 1929 and 1933, the quantity of goods and services produced in the United States fell by onethird, the unemployment rate soared to 25 percent of the labor force, the stock market lost 80 percent of its value and some 7,000 banks failed. [...] Another reason to study the Great Depression is that the sheer magnitude of the economic collapse – and the fact that it involved every aspect of economy and every region of the country – makes this event a great vehicle for teaching important economic concepts. [...] The Great Depression also brought with it the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), regulation of securities markets, the birth of the Social Security System and the first national minimum wage. Money, banking and deflation

Money makes the economy function. Money evolved thousands of years ago because barter – the direct trading of goods or services for other goods or services – simply didn’t work. A modern economy could not function without money, and economies tend to break down when the quantity or value of money changes suddenly or dramatically. Print too much money, and its value declines – that is, prices rise (inflation). Shrink the money stock, on the other hand, and the value of money rises – that is, prices fall (deflation). In modern economies, bank deposits – not coins or currency – comprise the lion’s share of the money stock. Bank deposits are created when banks make loans, and deposits contract when customers repay loans. The amount of loans that banks can make, and hence the quantity of deposits that are created, is determined partly by regulations on the amount of reserves that banks must hold against their deposits and partly by the business judgment of bankers. In the United States, bank reserves consist of the cash that banks hold in their vaults and the deposits they keep at Federal Reserve banks. Reserves earn little or no interest, so banks don’t like to hold too much of them. On the other hand, if banks hold too few reserves, they risk getting caught short in the event of unexpected deposit withdrawals.

110

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

In the 1930s, the United States was on the gold standard, meaning that the U.S. government would exchange dollars for gold at a fixed price. Commercial banks, as well as Federal Reserve banks, held a portion of their reserves in the form of gold coin and bullion, as required by law. [...] The money stock fell during the Great Depression primarily because of banking panics. Banking systems rely on the confidence of depositors that they will be able to access their funds in banks whenever they need them. If that confidence is shaken – perhaps by the failure of an important bank or large commercial firm – people will rush to withdraw their deposits to avoid losing their funds if their own bank fails. [...] Starting in 1930, a series of banking panics rocked the U.S. financial system. As depositors pulled funds out of banks, banks lost reserves and had to contract their loans and deposits, which reduced the nation’s money stock. The monetary contraction, as well as the financial chaos associated with the failure of large numbers of banks, caused the economy to collapse. Less money and increased borrowing costs reduced spending on goods and services, which caused firms to cut back on production, cut prices and lay off workers. Falling prices and incomes, in turn, led to even more economic distress. Deflation increased the real burden of debt and left many firms and households with too little income to repay their loans. Bankruptcies and defaults increased, which caused thousands of banks to fail. In each year from 1930 to 1933, more than 1,000 U.S. banks closed. [...] Recovery

The monetary hemorrhage experienced during the Great Depression finally ended when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a national bank holiday just one day after he took office in March 1933. Roosevelt ordered all banks closed, including the Federal Reserve banks. He permitted them to reopen only after each bank received a government license. Meanwhile, the federal government set up a temporary system of federal deposit insurance and followed up a year later by creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and a permanent deposit insurance system. Roosevelt’s policies restored confidence in the banking system, and money poured back into the banks. The money stock began to expand, which fueled increased spending and production as well as rising prices. Economic recovery was slow, but at least the bottom had been reached and the corner turned. [©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; www.stlouisfed.org/education]

!Vocabulary [***] Using a specialized vocabulary

1. Read the following words and definitions and, working in pairs, explain their meaning.

Unit 3 usa: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

111

Economic lexicon

Barter, money stock, inflation, deflation, coin, currency, bank deposit, loan, bank reserves, cash, withdrawals, gold standard, fixed price, bullion, depositor, fund, commercial firm, financial chaos, bankruptcies, default, national bank holiday, federal deposit insurance, deposit

insurance system

Economic Definitions Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Deflation is a general downward movement of prices for goods and services in an economy. Depression is a very severe recession; a period of severely declining economic activity spread across the economy (not limited to particular sectors or regions) normally visible in a decline in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, wholesale-retail credit and the loss of the overall confidence in the economy. Inflation is a general upward movement of prices for goods and services in an economy. Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a year. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the production of all final goods and services within a country valued at constant prices (i.e., adjusted for inflation or deflation). Unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor force who are unemployed.

[©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; www.stlouisfed.org/education]

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts

2. Having read the passage on the Great Depression, answer the following questions. a. What are the reasons, according to Wheelock, that make the Great Depression a relevant subject of investigation? 1. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 2. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... b. When does an economy tend to break down? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What circumstances could cause the bank reserve system to break down? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

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112

d. Starting in 1930, what happened to the American financial system? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. Why did the institution of a national bank holiday help to stem the economic crisis? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**]

Analysing data and graphs

3. Working in groups and with the assistance of your teacher, present the USA economic situation orally. In order to explain the subject effectively, read again the previous text and make use of the following graphs and/or the given photographs.

a. What was the USA Great Depression about? b. What were the effects? c. How did the people live in those years? d. What remedies were introduced? Consumer price index, 1919-2006

20 18 16 14 12 10 Percentage

8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12 1919

1929

1939

1949

1959

1969

1979

1989

1999

Years [©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education]

Unit 3 usa: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

113

Consumer price index, 1929-1940

4 2 0

Percentage

-2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12 1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

Years [©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education]

Real gross domestic product, 1919-2006

9.5 Since 1969 the economy has grown at a slower average annual rate than it did over the preceding period

9

Log of real GDP

8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 1919

1929

1939

1949

1959

1969

1979

1989

1999

Years [©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education]

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

114

Real gross domestic product, 1929-1940

7.25

Log of real GDP

7

6.75

6.5

6.25

6 1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

Years [©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education] Civilian unemployment rate, 1919-2006

30

25

Percent

20

15

10

5

0

1919

1929

1939

1949

1959 Years

1969

1979

1989

1999

[©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education]

Unit 3 usa: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

115

Civilian unemployment rate, 1929-1940

30

25

Percent

20

15

10

5

0 1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934 1935 Years

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

[©2007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Permission is granted to reprint or photocopy this lesson in its entirety for educational purposes, provided the user credits the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, www.stlouisfed.org/education]

A school in Alabama, 1935 [Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration]

Children at a rehabilitation clinic in Arkansas, 1935 [Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration]

116

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

Dorothea Lange, Mother with children (Nipomo, California), 1936

Arthur Rothstein, Farmer and sons, dust storm (Cimarron County, Oklahoma), 1936

Unit 3 usa: the Great Depression and its economic consequences

Dorothea Lange, Toward Los Angeles (California), 1937

Dorothea Lange, Squatters (Kern County, California), 1940 [Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Division of Economic Information (Usa)]

 Listening

John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

117

118

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

Unit

USSR: Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century

4

. Russian

empire and population



of At the beginning ................. the 20th century, Russia was a vast empire ................. two continents – Europe and Asia. From West to East it stretched over 4,000 ................., from north to south some 2,000 miles. The USA could fit into Russia two and a half times over and Britain nearly 199 times. When it was night on one side of the empire, it was day on the other. Communications were difficult. There were few ................. roads. In the villages and small ................. in spring and autumn, people had to walk on platforms or boards to avoid ................. in the mud. [...] Railways were the most comfortable form of travel. There had been an enormous growth in ................. in the 1890s, but by 1900 Russia had only as many miles of track as Britain. Much of Russian land was very beautiful and dramatic, but little of it could be used for farming. The main agricultural areas were in European Russia, where most of the people lived. The Black Earth region was the most fertile. Beyond the Ural mountains, Russia was a wild place, with frontier ................. very like the old Wild West of America. Who were the Russians

The Empire contained around 130 million people, but less than half of the ................. were Russians. Many of them did not speak Russian and most were illiterate. n The peasants. At the beginning of the 20th century, four out of every five people

in Russia were peasants. For most of them, life was hard. Their main food was grain made into rye bread or porridge, and cabbage soup. Fish was common, but meat was rare. When the harvest was good there was food to go .................. But when the harvests were bad there was starvation and disease: 400,000 people died in 1891 when crop failure coupled with cholera hit the countryside. The average life ................. was less than 40 years. [...] The main problem was land. There was simply not enough. Until 1861, the majority of peasants had been serfs, owned by their masters. In 1861, they ................. freed and were allocated a share of land which they could buy with money ................. by the government. But they had to pay ................. the loans over many years. Moreover, the amount of land they got was often barely enough to survive on, let alone pay off loans. As a result, many peasants got into crushing ..................

Listening

mind the gap

Unit 4 USSR: Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century

119

n The nobility. Although the nobles made up just over one ................. of the population, they owned almost a quarter of all the land. Some were extremely rich with large country estates and often another home in St Petersburg or Moscow and would spend a good part of the year enjoying the ballet, the theatre and a round of ................. events in ‘society’. n The middle classes. Around 1900, with the development of industry, a new class of

people was growing in Russia: bankers, merchants and rich capitalists who ................. the industrial works. St Petersburg and Moscow were the main centers of commerce and of textile industry. The link between rich ................. and the government in Russia was very strong; the government gave them big contracts and loans.

n The workers. Life in the back streets of St Petersburg, Moscow and other Rus-

sian cities was very different for the men and women ................. worked in the new industries. They lived in cheap wooden lodging houses or large tenement buildings. In industrial centers away from the cities, workers often lived in barracks next ................. the factory. [Terry Fiehn, Russia and the USSR, 1905-1941. A Study in Depth, Hodder Education, London 1997, pp. 2-9]

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

social • spanning • sinking • population • settlements • to • businessmen • around • expectancy • towns • had been • miles • debt • per cent • paved • owned • railways • who • loaned • off

!Speaking [**]

Understanding historical contexts

2. Working in pairs, describe the organization of class society as you have understood it from the text.

 Listening

Causes of the Russian Revolution of March 1917

. Russia

in the mid-1920s. Industrialization and after The Russian economy was devastated by the First World War, and the Civil War and foreign intervention that followed the Revolution of 1917. In 1921, confronted with the hostility of the peasants, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). This

mind the gap

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Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

c But factory industry policy allowed the peasants freedom to trade on the market. o remained in state ownership. [...] In the first few years of the revolution, Lenin and his colleagues continued to believe that the successful construction of a socialist society could be undertaken only in an advanced country. They hoped, therefore, that Soviet Russia would soon be joined by a Soviet Germany, England or France. o [...] Soviet leaders resolved that Russia must undertake an industrial and technical revolution if the standard of living and the culture of her people were to surpass those of the advanced Western countries and thus demonstrate the superiority of socialism. In view of the failure of revolutions elsewhere, they would have to do this with Russia’s own resources. o They were profoundly conscious that Soviet Russia was isolated in a hostile world and believed that without a strong industrial base for defence, the country would be overcome by its foreign enemies, as had happened so often to Tsarist Russia over the centuries. Stalin summed up this resolve in November 1928, just as he was coming to supreme power: “In order to achieve the final victory of socialism in our country, it is necessary to catch up and surpass the advanced countries in both a technical and an economic respect. Either we achieve this, or they will destroy us.”

[Robert W. Davies (ed.), The Soviet Union, Unwin Hyman Inc., Winchester (MA) 1989 (II ed.), pp. 31-33]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Instead, the Soviet government found itself in power alone. b. The task seemed to them and urgent one. c. It also permitted private traders and privately owned factories on a small scale and various forms of cooperatives.

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write short answers for the following questions. a. What were the reasons behind the ‘industrial’ revolution in Russia, facilitated by the NEP? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Did Russian leaders manage to spread socialism throughout Europe at the beginning of the 20th century? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. How would you define the relationship between Russia and others European countries at the time? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 5 ussr: from NEP to collectivization

Unit

5

. Lenin

121

ussr: From NEP to collectivization

and the New Economic Policy



Listening

After the civil war, Lenin revised his economic policy and introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). Through this, peasants were allowed to sell some of their produce for profit and small traders were allowed to run businesses. In 1921, the Kronstadt sailors – who had been the Bolsheviks fiercest supporters – mutinied, demanding an end to War Communism. Trotsky put down the rebellion, but Lenin was worried – if the Kronstadt sailors had been pushed too far, how long would it be before the rest of the country rose up and threw out the Bolsheviks? The civil war was won. It was time to pull back. Lenin brought in what he called the New Economic Policy. Peasants who had been forced to hand over all their produce to the war effort – were allowed to keep some to sell for profit – some (the kulaks) became quite rich. Small traders called Nepmen were allowed to set up businesses. At the same time, local nationalities who had been forced to follow a strict Communist line were allowed to bring back their own language and customs. Churches, mosques and bazaars were re-opened. The economy picked up, and people were much happier. But many old Bolsheviks said Lenin had sold out to capitalism, and left the party. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/]

!Research [**]

Understanding historical contexts

1. With the help of your teacher find out more about the historical events, facts and characters mentioned in the extract.

Kronstad sailors, Bolsheviks, War Communism, Trotsky, kulaks, Nepmen

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

122

. Collectivization

under Stalin

Stalin’s Five-year Plans dealt with industrial production, but something needed to be done about the food supply so Stalin introduced collectivization. After years of resistance and famines, Stalin eventually executed those who resisted, or sent them to labour camps. By the end of the 1920s, it was clear that Russian agriculture was inadequate. Although the kulaks were relatively wealthy and successful, the thousands of tiny, backward peasant farms were not producing enough to feed the population. In 1927, Stalin declared that the way forward was for people in each village to voluntarily unite their farms into one collective farm. This kolkhoz would be able to afford machinery, be more efficient, and be able to create a surplus to send to the towns. After two years, when everyone had ignored his idea and there had been a famine, Stalin made collectivization compulsory. The peasants hated the idea, so they burned their crops and killed their animals rather than hand them over to the state. There was another famine in 1930. Stalin relaxed the rules for a while, but in 1931 he again tried to enforce collectivization. Again there was the same resistance and another, worse famine. Stalin blamed the kulaks, and declared war on them. They were executed or sent to the gulag. By 1939, 99 per cent of land had been collectivized and 90 per cent of the peasants lived on one of the 250,000 kolkhoz. Farming was run by government officials. The government took 90 per cent of production and left the rest for the people to live on. [http://www.bbc.co.uk]

!Reading [*]

Interpreting secondary sources

1. Having read the extract, answer the following questions. 1. When Stalin introduced collectivization, the peasants were: a. Glad to give up part of their products to the government. b. Exhausted by famine and determined to resist. 2. A kolkhoz is: a. A collective farm. b. A new industrial settlement. 3. In order to resist obligatory collectivization farmers: a. Moved away from Russia. b. Burned their farms. 4. By the end of 1939 which percentage of land was collectivized? a. 90 per cent. b. 99 per cent.

. Further readings

Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

Unit 5 ussr: from NEP to collectivization

123

!Speaking [**] Expressing points of view

2. The New Economic Policy and collectivization were accompanied by forceful propaganda campaigns. Look at the following posters and, working in pairs, discuss your impressions. Comment on the following:

a. Who are the posters aimed at? (class, gender, age etc.) b. What do they depict? (worker, farmer, soldier, child etc.) c. What message do they seem to convey?

Day of harvest and collectivization, 1930

Join us in the kolchoz!

To the elections! For collectivization! For the harvest!

Poster encouraging production and cultural growth, 1932

124

Module 6 The economy in the 20th century: the cases of the USA and the USSR

. Contemporary

Russia: fact sheet. The Russian economy today GDP (2010): $1.477 trillion. Growth rate (2011): 4%. Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, timber, furs, precious and nonferrous metals. Agriculture: Products – Grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, meat, dairy products. Industry: Types – Complete range of manufactures: automobiles, trucks, trains, agricultural equipment, advanced aircraft, aerospace, machine and equipment products; mining and extractive industry; medical and scientific instruments; construction equipment. Trade (2010): Exports – $376.7 billion: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, woods and wood products, metals, chemicals. Major markets – EU, CIS, China, Japan. Imports – $191.8 billion: machinery and equipment, chemicals, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semi-finished metal products. Major partners – EU, CIS, Japan, China, U.S. U.S. exports – $6.0 billion. Principal U.S. exports to Russia (2010) – oil/gas equipment, meat, motor vehicles and parts, aircraft, electrical machinery, automatic data processing machines and parts, medical equipment, plastics, cosmetics, and chemicals. U.S. imports – $25.7 billion. Principal U.S. imports from Russia (2010) – oil, chemicals (including fertilizer), radioactive materials, iron/steel, precious stones, nickel, aluminum, fish and crustaceans, alcoholic beverages, and base metals. [http://www.state.gov]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a bilingual dictionary, offer a translation of the following terms related to the following semantic fields. Economy GDP: ........................................................................................................................................ [look back at Unit 3, p. 111] Growth rate: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Trade: .....................................................................................................................................................................................

Agricultural production Timber: ................................................................................................................................................................................... Fur: ......................................................................................................................................................................................... Sugar beet: ............................................................................................................................................................................ Dairy products: .....................................................................................................................................................................

Transport and technology Truck: ..................................................................................................................................................................................... Motor vehicles: ..................................................................................................................................................................... Aircraft: ................................................................................................................................................................................. Automatic data processing machines: ............................................................................................................................... Electrical machinery: ............................................................................................................................................................

Unit 5 ussr: from NEP to collectivization

125

!Writing [**]

Comparing and contrasting

2. Having studied the Russian economic context in the 20th century, compare the present economy with the post-

war period. You might find the fact sheet useful and you can add more information that you find on the net. Write a brief essay (max 250 words).

!Speaking [***]

Understanding historical contexts

3. Both super powers, the USA and the USSR, underwent a grave period of poverty and famine in the 1920s and 1930s. In groups, discuss this phenomenon looking at: a. What class or classes were affected the most by this poverty? b. How did the respective governments hope to combat it? c. To what extent were they successful?

Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties UNIT 1 The status of women from the ancient world to the Enlightenment UNIT 2 The 20th century: fighting for a change UNIT 3

Women at war

UNIT 4 Women under totalitarian regimes UNIT 5 Women in politics

Learning Outcomes n Making links across history: the status of women in the ancient and modern worlds [unit 1]

n Understanding historical contexts: women fighting in the 20th century [unit 2] and the impact of World War on the woman’s condition [units 3, 4]

n Analysing contemporary trends: the woman’s role in politics [unit 5]

128

Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

Unit

The status of women from the ancient world to the Enlightenment

1

. Athenian

women

An Athenian woman could have almost no other association with a citizen than marriage [...] and after she was married infidelity was punished with the most terrible disgrace. An Athenian woman was generally married about the age of fifteen or sixteen. Up to this time she had heard or seen as little as possible and had enquired about nothing. Her acquaintance with the outside world had been made almost exclusively in religious processions. [...] Her duties lay entirely within the house. They were summed up in the words: ‘to remain inside and to be obedient to her husband’. She superintended the female Gynaeceum’s young woman, V century BC slaves who cared the wool, she made or assisted in making the garments of her husband and children; she took care of the provisions and she was expected to devote some time to the infants. If she went out at all it was to some religious procession or to a funeral. [...] For the discharge of the duties which fell to an Athenian woman, no great intellectual power was needed, and accordingly the education of girls was confined to the merest elements. [Sir James Donaldson, Woman, her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece and Rome, Kessinger Publishing Co., Whitefish (MT) 2005, p. 52]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a monolingual dictionary, find synonyms and antonyms for the words extracted from the text. Synonyms

Antonyms

Association: ....................................................................

Infidelity: ...........................................................................

Acquaintance: ................................................................

Obedient: ..........................................................................

Unit 1 The status of women from the ancient world to the Enlightenment

129

Superintended: ................................................................

Infants: ..............................................................................

Devote: .............................................................................

Confined: ..........................................................................

Garments: .........................................................................

Entirely: .............................................................................

. Women

in ancient Rome



Roman Republic she When a young woman married in the early years of the ................. left her childhood home and the authority of her father and entered ................. the home of her husband but his power and control as well. In law her status was not very different from that of her husband’s daughter. As Rome’s empire grew and more and more money poured in, things began ................. Any amendments to the law probably seemed quite insignificant at the time they were made, but the reality of daily ................. life gradually began to transform the way society viewed women and the way they viewed themselves. By the end of the First Century, ................. had achieved a level of freedom they would not see again in Western Society until the last half of the Twentieth Century.

Listening

mind the gap

[http://www.womenintheancientworld.com]

Wedding scene, II century AD [Archeological Museum, Arlon (Belgium)]

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

not only • to day • women • to change

Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

130

. Women

 Listening in the Medieval age

The roles of women in the Middle Ages are indissolubly connected with the Church.

c [...] o

But their roles were not limited to spirituality. They could inherit land and hold fiefs. o The introduction among the rules of chivalry of the so called ‘Science of Love’ brought into the customs and ideas of medieval society a new element which became almost immediately dominant, side by side with the purely warlike element and the religious element. o Fully developed by the Provençal poets, and received by the chivalry of Southern France as a rule of life, it was accepted by the northern French and the Normans as a new gospel. The roles of women in the Middle Ages were fundamentally changed between the middle of the 11th Century and the middle of the 12th Century, when upper class women were elevated, literally, to the condition of goddesses. In earlier times, women had reigned, been honored, but there had been no gallantry in a world where relation of the sexes had been natural and simple, the outgrowth of material and social conditions. o

mind the gap

[http://www.medieval-spell.com]

Courtly love, XIII century miniature

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. The effects of the troubadour poetry originating from Provence, the new relation of men to women, or knights to ladies, cannot be over-estimated. b. From this period onwards, a new sentiment takes its place as a leading motive of life, connected with rank, wealth, and pride of place, and which found its natural development in a society governed by a warlike nobility, for whose convenience the trading and laboring classes existed. c. The Catholic Church was not only a system which contended with secular potentates for governing power, it also maintained an ideal of morality. d. They were entrusted with the charge of castles when their lords went on crusade.

Unit 1 The status of women from the ancient world to the Enlightenment

. Women

131

in the Renaissance

kids Women were primarily bearers and rearers of ................., keeping the domestic hearth, subordinate inferiors of men; custom and prejudice kept them at home. Duties of women were varied and arduous. Only a few wealthy women escaped these tasks which included making clothes from scratch and administrating most of the food production. After the 13th century, women were ................. responsible for as much of the ................. of basic supplies because each of these productions became individual male trades. In the Renaissance, women remained active only in carding and spinning wool. Small shops in master craftsman’s homes were moved to larger shops in a different location, removing the wife from participation in the ................. while keeping the house. [...] Paolo da Certaldo, c. 1320 said, “If the child be a girl she should be put to sew and not to read, for it is not good that a woman should know how to read, unless you wish her to become a nun.” The role of women, mostly upper class, placed crippling limitations on ................. artistic or intellectual ................. a woman might possess. Women had less freedom of movement in lower classes, they were always handicapped by the physical strains and dangers of constant childbearing and by endless hard labor ................. for family. Fathers and husbands who stood to profit from the careers of their daughters and wives were not likely to oppose them. However, this was not a very common situation.

mind the gap

[http://library.thinkquest.org] Parmigianino, Portrait of a Young Lady (Antea), 1535-37 [Capodimonte Museum, Naples]

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

production • skills • no longer • developing • to provide • business

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts

2. Read the previous text and answer the questions that follow. a. What were the household tasks that women were responsible for in the Renaissance? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Have these tasks altered much over history? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What kind of education did girls receive in that period? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. In your opinion, what were the dangers of ‘constant childbearing’? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. In your opinion, was life easier for women then or now? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Women

under the influence of the Enlightenment The feminist voices of the Renaissance never coalesced into a coherent philosophy or movement. This happened only with the Enlightenment, when women began to demand that the new reformist rhetoric about liberty, equality, and natural rights be applied to both sexes. c Swiss-born French philosopher o Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example, portrayed women as silly and frivolous creatures, born to be subordinate to men. In addition, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which defined French citizenship after the revolution of 1789, pointedly failed to address the legal status of women.

o

Olympe de Gouges, a noted playwright, published Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (1791; “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Pietro Longhi, The Geography Lesson, c. 1752 [Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice]

mind the gap

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133

of the [Female] Citizen”), declaring women to be not only man’s equal but his partner. The following year Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), the seminal English-language feminist work, was published in England. Challenging the notion that women exist only to please men, she proposed that women and men be given equal opportunities in education, work, and politics. o If they are silly, it is only because society trains them to be irrelevant. [http://www.britannica.com]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous text carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Women, she wrote, are as naturally rational as men. b. Female intellectuals of the Enlightenment were quick to point out this lack of inclusivity and the limited scope of reformist rhetoric. c. Initially, Enlightenment philosophers focused on the inequities of social class and caste to the exclusion of gender.

!Speaking [**]

Making links across history

2. This Unit draws a brief excursus on the women’s condition from the ancient world up until the 18th century.

Having read the five passages, connect features related to the roles of women to the different ages. Work in groups and discuss your scheme with a classmate. The same feature may occur in different ages. wife mother Athenian women

goddess worker outside the house

women in ancient Rome women in the Medieval age women in the Renaissance

manager reader and writer soldier nun

women under the Enlightenment

landowner housewife student worshipper

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134

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

3. Write a brief essay describing how the role of women changed until the 18th century (max 300 words).

 Listening

Women of the Crusades

. Further readings

Women’s speeches and writing

Unit 2 The 20th century: fighting for a change

Unit

2

. The

The 20th century: fighting for a change

Suffragettes

At the beginning of the 20th century many women began to advocate a more militant approach and the right to vote. These groups became known as the suffragettes. Their motto was ‘Deeds not Words’. In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. The WSPU adopted militant tactics. They chained themselves to railings, disrupted public meetings and damaged public property. In 1913, Emily Davison was killed throwing herself under the King’s horse at the Derby. Suffragettes were arrested and imprisoned, but continued their protest in prison by hunger strike. Although initially they were fed by force, in 1913 the Prisoners Tempo-

An English suffragette is arrested during a rally in London, 1914

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

136

rary Discharge for Ill-Health Act was passed in Parliament. Commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act, this allowed prison authorities to release hunger-striking women prisoners when they became too weak, and re-arrest them when they had recovered. Emmeline Pankhurst was jailed and released on 11 occasions. When the First World War broke out in 1914 the suffragettes and suffragists stopped their campaign in support of the government’s war effort. In 1918 – after the war – women were given limited voting rights. [http://www.bl.uk]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Find the meaning of the following words and expressions. a. To advocate: ...................................................................................................................................................................... b. Deeds: ................................................................................................................................................................................ c. To chain: ............................................................................................................................................................................ d. To disrupt: ......................................................................................................................................................................... e. Hunger strike: ....................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts

2. Write answers for the following questions. a. What did the Suffragettes demand? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. What actions did the WSPU take? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What did the ‘Cat and Mouse Act‘ prescribe? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. When were women in England granted the right to vote? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Emily

Davison

Emily Davison (to be born) in 1872 and, after (to study) at Oxford University, became a teacher. She (to join) the WSPU in 1906 and took part in militant action.

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137

Her actions included arson, assault and obstruction and while in prison she (to go) on hunger strike and suffered force feeding and solitary confinement. After (to attempt) suicide while in Holloway prison, Davison claimed she did so because she felt a “tragedy was wanted.” Davison (to remember) for her final protest, which caused her death. At the Epsom Derby in June 1913, she (to throw) herself in front of the King’s horse which knocked her down. She (to die) of her injuries four days later without ever (to regain) consciousness. It (not to know) whether she intended to commit suicide. [http://www.bl.uk]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extracts and transform the infinitive verbs given into the correct tense. a. To be born: ....................................................................................................................................................................... b. To study: ........................................................................................................................................................................... c. To join: .............................................................................................................................................................................. d. To go: ................................................................................................................................................................................ e. To attempt: ....................................................................................................................................................................... f. To remember: ................................................................................................................................................................... g. To throw: .......................................................................................................................................................................... h. To die: ............................................................................................................................................................................... i. To regain: .......................................................................................................................................................................... l. Not to know: .....................................................................................................................................................................

. Christabel

Pankhurst

parents were passionate camChristabel Pankhurst was born in 1880. Both her ................. paigners for women’s suffrage. Christabel herself became actively ................. in the suffrage movement in 1902 and helped ................. the WSPU in 1903. Christabel was an energetic speaker in the early years of peaceful campaigning but began to feel that a ................. approach was necessary if women’s suffrage was to be ................. particularly as it would ................. public awareness of the cause. WSPU actions became increasingly more ................. and, after 1912, arson and windowbreaking replaced the more symbolic actions of earlier campaigns. At the ................. of WWI, all suffragette activities were ................. and WSPU energies were directed towards helping the war effort. Christabel was also editor of “The Suffragette” and stood for election in 1918 as a ................. for the Women’s Party. Her work in the campaign for women’s suffrage was recognised in 1936 when she was made a DBE1. She died in 1958.

1. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

[http://www.bl.uk]

mind the gap

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

to found • involved • militant • raise • confrontational • suspended • candidate • outbreak • won

!Speaking [**]

Working on concepts

2. Work in groups and discuss how the role of women has changed over time.

!Research [*] Making a timeline

3. Draw a timeline recording the most significant events in the history of women’s rights from 1792 (the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman) to 1958 (the death of Christabel Pankhurst).

Unit 3 Women at war

Unit

3

. Women

139

Women at war

during World War II

For the nations who were deeply involved in World War II, the war effort was total, with women volunteering in huge numbers alongside men. At home, women filled traditionally male positions, taking both active and supporting positions in factories, government organizations, military auxiliaries, resistance groups, and more. While relatively few women were at the front lines as combatants, many found themselves the victims of bombing campaigns and invading armies. By the end of the war, more than 2 million women had worked in war industries. Hundreds of thousands had volunteered as nurses or members of home defense units, or as full-time members of the military. In the Soviet Union alone, some 800,000 women served alongside men in army units during the war. [http://www.theatlantic.com/]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a monolingual dictionary, find a synonym for the following words or expressions. a. Involved: ............................................................................................................................................................................ b. War effort: ......................................................................................................................................................................... c. Positions: ........................................................................................................................................................................... d. Combatants: ...................................................................................................................................................................... e. Campaigns: ....................................................................................................................................................................... f. To serve: ............................................................................................................................................................................ g. Army units: ........................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**] Describing images

2. Collected here are images that capture some of what these women experienced and endured during the war. Look at the following images and explain them to one of your classmates.

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

Rifle training for female volunteers in X-Mas, first half of the 20th century

Gas mask practice at school during the Second World War

An English family victims of bombing during the Second World War

Women workers groom lines of transparent noses for the A-20j attack bombers at Douglas Aircraft’s in Long Beach, California, in October of 1942

Unit 3 Women at war

. ‘Rosies‘

in the work force

141



worked in a variety of positions previously closed to them during While women ................. World War II, the aviation industry saw the ................. increase in female workers. More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft ................. in 1943, making up 65 percent of the industry’s total ................. (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years). The munitions industry also recruited women workers, as illustrated by the U.S. government’s “Rosie the Riveter” ................. campaign. Based in small part on a ................. munitions worker, but primarily a ................. character, the strong, bandanna-clad Rosie ................. one of the most successful ................. tools in American history, and the most ................. image of working women in the World War II era. In movies, newspapers, posters, photographs and articles, the Rosie the Riveter campaign stressed the patriotic need for women to enter the work force. On May 29, 1943, “The Saturday Evening Post” published a cover image by the artist Norman Rockwell, portraying Rosie with a flag in the background and a copy of Adolf Hitler’s racist tract Mein Kampf under her feet. Though Rockwell’s image may be the most commonly known version of Rosie the Riveter, her prototype was actually created in 1942 and featured on a poster for the Westinghouse power company under the headline “We Can Do It!” Early in 1943, a popular song debuted called “Rosie the Riveter,” written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, and the name went down in history.

Listening

mind the gap

[http://www.history.com] We can do it!

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

became • greatest • real-life • industry • workforce • recruitment • iconic • propaganda • fictitious

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts

2. After having read the extract about ‘Rosie the Riveter‘, write answers to the following questions. a. Which war industry saw the highest rate of female workers? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Is ‘Rosie the Riveter‘ a real-life character? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What was the aim of the ‘Rosie the Riveter‘ propaganda? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. What was the meaning of the cover image published on May 29th, 1943 on “The Saturday Evening Post”? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. Do you think this ‘mediatic’ portrayal of the woman helped women in their struggle for equality, or not? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Unit 4 Women under totalitarian regimes

Unit

4

143

Women under totalitarian regimes

. What

did the Nazis want from German women?



b In 1934 she Gertrude Scholtz-Klink was the Nazi Party’s ideal German woman. o was made Head of the Women’s Bureau but she never had any real political power. The Nazi Party was run by men who believed politics was not part of a woman’s world. One of their first edicts was to ban women from positions of leadership in the Party. o In Weimar Germany, women had been freed from many of the restrictions of the pre-war years. o One tenth of Reichstag members were women. For the Nazis this was yet another sign of how degenerate and corrupt Weimar Germany was. What the Nazis wanted from women was something much more traditional. o [...] When a deputation of women came to Hitler to discuss women’s rights, Hitler’s reply was to promise them that in the Third Reich every woman would have a husband! [...] Historians argue that Nazi Germany was full of contradiction and chaos. [...] o Germany was rearming. Men were joining the army. Now the Nazis needed more women to work.

Listening

mind the gap

[Greg Lacey, Keith Shephard, Germany 1918-1945. A Study in Depth, Hodder Education, London 1997, pp. 136-138]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. For example, after years of trying to get women out of work they suddenly discovered they needed them back! b. She had classic Aryan looks: blonde hair and blue eyes; she had four children, was devoted to her family and accepted without question the leadership of the Party. c. In 1933 they wanted mothers. d. Gertrude did as she was told! e. By 1933 there were 100,000 women teachers, 13,000 women musicians, and 3,000 women doctors.

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144

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers for the following questions. a. Did women have a major role in the Nazi Party? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. How did the woman’s position change from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi regime? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Why does the author imply that Nazi opinions about the role of women was contradictory? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

.A

Communist woman’s opinion

since It is five years ................. the Central Committee of our Party convened in Moscow the ‘All-Russian Women Workers’ and Peasants’ Congress’. Over a thousand delegates, representing one million ................. women, met for the congress. This congress was a ................. in the work of our Party among working women. The incalculable service rendered by this congress was to lay the foundation for the organisation of the ................. education of our Republic’s women workers and peasants. [...] The political education of working women is of primary importance today when power has passed ................. the hands of the workers and peasants. Let me demonstrate the reason. Our country has a population of nearly 140 million and no less than half are women, mainly women workers and peasants, backward, downtrodden and with little political consciousness. If our country has begun the construction of the new Soviet life seriously, then surely it is clear that the women of this country, ................. half its population, would prevent any advance if they remained backward, downtrodden and politically undeveloped in the future also? The woman worker stands shoulder to shoulder with the male worker. She works with ................. on the common task of building our industry. [...] The peasant woman stands shoulder to shoulder with the peasant. She advances, ................. with him, the ................. cause of the development of our agriculture, its successes and its flourishing. [...] Women workers and peasants are free citizens and are equal to male workers and peasants. The women elect our Soviets and our cooperatives and can also be elected to these organs. Women workers and peasants can improve our Soviets and cooperatives, strengthen and ................. them if they are politically literate. Women workers and peasants can weaken and undermine these organisations if they are backward and ignorant.

mind the gap

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145

Finally, women workers and peasants are ................. who bring up our youth – the future of our country. They can cripple the spirit of a child or give us youth with a healthy spirit, capable of taking our country forward. All this depends on whether the woman and mother has sympathy for the Soviet system or whether she trails in the wake of the priest, the kulak or the bourgeois. That is why the political education of women workers and peasants is a ................. of primary importance, a most important task for real victory over the bourgeoisie today, when the workers and peasants have set about the building of a new life. That is why the importance of the first ‘Women Workers’ and Peasants’ Congress’, which laid the ................. for the task of politically educating working women, is really quite inestimable. [On 5th Anniversary of First Women Workers’ and Peasants’ Congress (1923), from Women and Communism, Lawrence & Wishart, London 1950, HTML transcription by Sally Ryan (http://web.archive.org)]

!Use of English [*] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

political • constituting • mothers • together • landmark • develop • task • foundations • working • common • him • into

!Vocabulary [**] Using dictionaries

2. Find synonyms for the following verbs taken from the text above. a. To undermine: .................................................................................................................................................................. b. To cripple: .......................................................................................................................................................................... c. To trail: ...............................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [**]

Interpreting primary sources

3. After reading the text above, answer the following questions. 1. What roles of women in the new Soviet society are referred to in the text? a. Worker, peasant and mother. b. Worker, peasant, mother, Soviet member. c. Worker and mother. 2. Equality between men and women: a. Is not accepted by the Soviet society. b. Is based on the assumption that both sexes collaborate to improve the state economy. c. Implies an equal relationship even inside the family.

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Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

3. According to the text, why is education an essential prerequisite for any social, political or economic improvement? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 4. According to the text, what would happen if women were not allowed to actively participate in the future of Russia? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 5. What is the difference between the role of women in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Women

under the Fascist regime

In 1946 Italian women voted for the first time. In the language of many contemporary politicians women were ‘granted’ suffrage by the new anti-fascist coalition government (rather than ‘winning’ it) as a reward for their role in the Resistance. [...] The suffrage campaign born in the Liberal period died out in the late 1920s. Its only success had been the meaningless law of 1925 granting the vote to specific groups of women in local elections just as democracy was about to disappear. [...] Despite Fascist misogynous rhetoric and some oppressive legislation limiting their employment prospects, the interwar also opened up new activities and opportunities for many women. Many had fewer babies, some did gymnastics and other types of sports and a few found new types of employment in the growing social welfare sector. Even fascist ideology on gender roles was somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, the aspect more often stressed in early research on this topic was the fact that it preached female subordination and women’s need to submit entirely to their biological destiny. On the other hand, it also offered a new definition of the relationship between women and the state/nation. This implied, on a purely theoretical level, some equality of sexes since, in the new totalitarian order, no individual, of either sex, had rights. Instead both sexes had duties to the state. [...] As De Grazia has argued, the women’s sections of the Fascist party – the Fasci Femminili – and the girls’ organizations may have preached motherhood as women’s mission and destiny but, at the same time, they opened up new spaces for women. Despite the utterly subordinate nature of the Fasci Femminili to the male party hierarchs, the women involved in this organization were clearly activists. [...] The activism of the middle-class women was, however, in marked contrast to the experience of millions of other women who joined the PNF in the special sections, one for peasant women set up in 1933, and another for workers in 1937 (the Sezione Operaie e Lavoranti a Domicilio – SOLD), both of which encouraged a far more passive approach to politics among its membership. [Perry Willson, Peasant Women and Politics in Fascist Italy. The Massaie Rurali, Routledge, London 2002, pp. 1-2]

Unit 4 Women under totalitarian regimes

147

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts

1. Study the previous extract describing the situation in Italy and write answers to the following questions. a. What does the expression “women were granted suffrage rather than winning it” mean? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Why is the right to vote obtained by women in 1925 said to be “meaningless”? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Did Fascism lay the foundations for a complete equality of sexes? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. How did female activism change between the Fasci Femminili and the Sezione Operaie e Lavoranti a Domicilio? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. What is the difference between the woman’s role in Italy and that of women in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [***] Comparing and contrasting

2. The passages on women under totalitarian régimes highlight some of the many roles played by women at that time. In groups discuss what these roles were and what common features link the woman’s struggle for equality in the three societies described.

 Listening

The second wave of feminism

Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

148

Unit

5

. Eleanor

Women in politics Roosevelt (1884-1962)



“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” Although she had already won international respect and admiration in her role as First Lady to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt’s work on the b [...] Universal Declaration of Human Rights would become her greatest legacy. o The delegates to the Commission on Human Rights elected Eleanor Roosevelt their Chairperson. Like so many individuals throughout the world, the delegates recognized Eleanor Roosevelt’s unparalleled humanitarian convictions. During her tenure in the White House she had assisted her physically disabled husband in political matters, serving as his “eyes and ears,” traveling throughout the U.S. to gauge the mood of the people. o Even prior to her years in the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt was actively engaged in politics and advocacy on the local and national level. [...] Envisioning a declaration with enduring principles that would be perpetually recognized by all nations, she was a strong advocate of true universality within the Declaration. She was adamant that different conceptions of human rights be deliberated during the UDHR’s composition: “We wanted as many nations as possible to accept the fact that men, for one reason or another, were born free and equal in dignity and rights, that they were endowed with reason and conscience, and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood. The way to do that was to find words that everyone would accept.” Eleanor Roosevelt’s personal sense of accomplishment with the finished Declaration was unparalleled in her life. o “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Charta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the Gen-

Listening

mind the gap

Unit 5 Women in politics

149

eral Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the U.S., and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.” Eleanor Roosevelt’s concern for humanity made her the driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Her leadership of the Commission on Human Rights led to the composition of a Declaration that has endured as a universally accepted standard of achievement for all nations. [http://www.udhr.org]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Her speech before the General Assembly as she submitted the Declaration for review demonstrates the historical significance she placed upon its adoption. b. She was without doubt, the most influential member of the UN’s Commission on Human Rights. c. Through this work, she became widely esteemed as a person who both understood and felt the plight of the common man and woman.

!Reading [*] Mapping ideas

2. Having read the passage, complete the following map.

wife of .................................... ................................................

for her husband

............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

social involvement

Commission on Human Rights: ........................................... ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

political involvement

eleanor roosevelt

universal declaration of human rights features

............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

Module 7 Women’s rights and women’s duties

150

 Listening

Margaret Thatcher: biography of the Iron Lady

. Angela

Merkel (born 1954)

German stateswoman and chancellor (2005- ). Born July 17, 1954 in Hamburg, Germany. The daughter of a Lutheran pastor and a teacher, Merkel grew up in a rural area north of Berlin in the then German Democratic Republic. She studied physics at the University of Leipzig, earning a doctorate in 1978, and later worked as a chemist at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences (1978-1990). In 1990 she joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party and soon after was appointed to Helmut Kohl’s cabinet as minister for women and youth. Following his defeat in the 1998 general election, she was named Secretary-General of the CDU. She was chosen party leader in 2000 and ran unsuccessfully for chancellor in 2002. In the 2005 election she narrowly defeated Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, winning by just three seats, and after the CDU agreed a coalition deal with the Social Democrats (SPD), she was declared Germany’s first female chancellor. Merkel is also the first former citizen of the German Democratic Republic to lead the reunited Germany and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state in 1871. [http://www.biography.com]

!Speaking [***]

Understanding historical contexts

1. Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel are two political leaders in two different geographic and historic contexts. With the help of your teacher try to outline some features related to the two different historical and economic settings. You might find it useful to compare and contrast their roles as described in the profiles above.

. Further readings

300 women who changed the world

!Speaking [**]

Making links across history

2. Apart from the area of politics, in what other fields have women excelled or played a significant role? a. Science: .............................................................................................................................................................................. b. Arts and music: .................................................................................................................................................................

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151

c. Philosophy: ....................................................................................................................................................................... d. Design: .............................................................................................................................................................................. e. Medicine: .......................................................................................................................................................................... f. Exploration: ...................................................................................................................................................................... g. Business and industry: ...................................................................................................................................................... h. Sport: .................................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [*]

Summarizing information

3. Choose one woman whose contribution to her field is outstanding and write a short, biographical profile like the ones above.

Module 8 Youth and education under totalitarian regimes UNIT 1 Hitler and education UNIT 2 Education in Fascist Italy UNIT 3 Education and Soviet society

Learning Outcomes n Understanding social practices: schools and curricula in Nazi, Fascist and Soviet society [units 1, 2, 3]

n Comparing policies and historical contexts: education and totalitarian regimes in 20th century Europe [units 1, 2, 3]

Module 8 Youth and education under totalitarian regimes

154

Unit

1

. Education

Hitler and education in Nazi Germany

Hitler’s views on education were clearly concerned with a reshaping of values, the creation of national identity and racial awareness. He was contemptuous of intellectual endeavour and scholarly education. This is evidenced by his statement that “the whole method of instruction in secondary and higher schools is just so much nonsense. Instead of receiving a sound basic education, the student finds his head filled with a mass of useless learning, and in the end is still ill-equipped to face life.” Hitler associated intellectualism with Judaism and decadence. Instead of intellectualism, he called for a greater emphasis upon physical education. In addition, Hitler believed that education and training had to be so ordered as to give the young German “national comrade” the conviction of “absolute superiority to others.” Hitler spoke of the need for self-confidence and national pride to be inculcated in German youth: “The curriculum must be systematically built up [...] so that when a young man leaves school he is not a half-pacifist, democrat or something else, but a whole German.” [...] Hitler sought to produce a different breed of teachers in the Third Reich and to train them in accordance with his own educational imperatives for German society. The organization entrusted with this task was the Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund (NSLB) or National Socialist Teachers’ League. The NSLB was established on 21 April 1929. The majority of the NSLB membership at this time was made up of young radicalized teachers, aged between 20 and 40, who felt estranged from the associational life of the teaching profession and disillusioned with the Weimar Republic. [...] However, the NSLB did attract a number of older teachers as well. [...] The NSLB promised a change in the image of teachers towards “a new and more positive perception of themselves as forward-looking activists serving big national goals.” [Lisa Pine, Education in Nazi Germany, Berg Publishing, Oxford-New York 2010, pp. 13-14]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a monolingual dictionary, find synonyms and antonyms for the words taken from the text listed below. Synonyms

Antonyms

Endeavour: .......................................................................

Contemptuous: ................................................................

Breed: ...............................................................................

Ill-equipped: .....................................................................

Reshaping: .......................................................................

To be estranged from: ......................................................

Unit 1 Hitler and education

155

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers to the following questions. a. Why did Hitler not support the traditional methods of education? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Why was intellectualism condemned? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. What did Hitler hope to achieve with the new education system? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. What does “radicalized teachers” mean, as referred to membership of the National Socialist Teachers’ League in 1929? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

. Readings

from Mein Kampf



Mein Kampf was dictated by Hitler to his deputy Rudolph Hess from July to December 1924. The book became required reading in the schools of the Third Reich as well as in many other organizations. The speeches made by the Nazis, and many other books and articles published at the time, reflect the content of Mein Kampf. “The state is not an end but a means.”

The basic realization is that the state represents not an end but a means. It is indeed b the presumption for the formation of a higher human culture, but not its cause. o Hundreds of exemplary states may exist on this globe, but in case of a dying off of the Aryan culture supporter, no culture would exist which would correspond to the spiritual level of the highest people of today. o “The Jew has no culture.”

The Jewish people, with all its apparent intellectual qualities, is nevertheless without a culture of its own. o When judging Jewry in its attitude towards the question of human culture, one has to keep before one’s eye as an essential characteristic that there never has been and consequently that today also there is no Jewish art; that above all the two queens of all arts, architecture and music, owe nothing original to Jewry. What he achieves in the field of art is either bowdlerization or intellectual theft. o [from George L. Mosse, Nazi Culture. Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich, University of Wisconsin Press, London 1966, pp. 6-7]

Listening

mind the gap

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!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. With this, the Jew lacks those qualities which distinguish creatively and, with it, culturally, blessed races. b. On the contrary, the latter lays exclusively in the existence of a race capable of culture. c. For the shame culture which the Jews possesses today is the property of other peoples, and is mostly spoiled in his hands. d. One can even go further and say that the fact of human state formation would not in the least exclude the possibility of the destruction of the human race, insofar as the superior intellectual ability and elasticity, in consequence of the lack of his racial supporters, would be lost.

!Reading [*]

Interpreting primary sources

2. After reading the text, choose an answer to the following questions. 1. What is the basis for culture according the Mein Kampf? a. Culture is directly related to the state. b. Culture is shared only by exemplary states. c. The only possible culture is directly related to the Aryan race. 2. The Jews are accused of: a. Being thieves and liars. b. Sharing their culture with other people. c. Not being masters of an innovative culture.

 Listening

Hitler’s children

. The

Nazi curriculum

The minds and bodies of young people were to be shaped to the Nazi cause. Certain subjects became more important than others: Physical education (to give) 15 per cent of school time, and some sports, such as boxing, (to become) compulsory for boys. Pupils (to have to) pass an examination, and unsatisfactorily performance could lead (to be) expelled. History. This concentrated on the rise of the Nazi Party, the injustices of the Treaty of Versailles and the evils of Communism and the Jews. Biology explained Nazi ideas on race and population control. Pupils (to teach) how to measure their skulls and to classify racial types; also that Aryans were superior and should not marry inferior races. German. This (to teach) pupils to be conscious of their national identity by (to read)

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about German heroes of the Hitler Youth and First World War. Geography taught about the lands which (to be) once part of Germany and the need for more living space (Lebensraum) for Germans. Religious studies became less important and by 1937 pupils (to be able to) drop the subject. Girls usually (to have) a different curriculum from boys. They also studied domestic science and eugenics learning how to produce perfect offspring by selecting ideal qualities in the father. [Greg Lacey, Keith Shephard, Germany, 1918-1945. A Study in Depth, Hodder Education, London 1997, p. 134]

A Jew tries to seduce an aryan girl, 1936 [Illustration from a German elementary school book]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract and transform the infinitive verbs given into the correct tense. a. To give: ............................................................................................................................................................................... b. To become: ........................................................................................................................................................................ c. To have to: ........................................................................................................................................................................ d. To be: ................................................................................................................................................................................. e. To teach: ............................................................................................................................................................................ f. To teach: ............................................................................................................................................................................ g. To read: ............................................................................................................................................................................. h. To be: ................................................................................................................................................................................. i. To be able to: .................................................................................................................................................................... l. To have: .............................................................................................................................................................................

!Speaking [**] Working on concepts

2. Having read the characteristics of a Nazi curriculum, discuss with one of your classmates. a. What are the differences between Hitler’s idea of school education and a modern curricula? b. What subjects are emphasized and why? c. For what reasons should a girl study the pseudo-science ‘eugenics’?

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!Writing [***]

Making connections across history

3. Look at these two quotations from Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and comment on how this idea existed in the past and may or may not exist today.

a. “Marriage, too, cannot be an end in itself, but rather it must have the larger goal of increasing and maintaining the species and the race. That only is its meaning and its task.” b. “The goal of female education must be to prepare them for motherhood.”

 Listening

1935: Hitler youth rally speech

!Speaking [**]

Expressing points of view

4. Look at the following propaganda posters and discuss your impressions with one of your classmates. Comment on: a. What or who is depicted (type of person, age, race, gender etc.); b. How it is depicted (realistic, romantic, comic, ironic, heroic etc.); c. What emotions are expressed on the faces; d. Who are the posters addressed to. Young people for the Führer. By the age of 10, everyone should be a member of the HJ (Hitler Youth)

Unit 2 Education in Fascist Italy

Unit

2

. The

Education in Fascist Italy

Gentile reform

The first major education reform of Fascism was the work of the Idealist philosopher Giovanni Gentile. It recast the organization of the Italian schools, altered the curriculum, gave the State increased control over monitoring the performance of students, encouraged private educational initiatives and restricted access to higher education. Mussolini proclaimed it a great Fascist reform, but it actually did little directly to entrench the new Regime. In fact, the Catholic Church was given new, if still tentative, rights in education. [...] Gentile and the Fascists recognized that the most pressing problem of the schools in 1922 was the high unemployment rate among the well-educated and the educational system’s relentless production of disaffected intellectuals. One of Gentile’s principal aims was the reduction of the number of students in secondary schools leading to the university faculties, a goal embodied in his slogan, “poche, ma buone.” [...] Unemployed teachers, engineers, doctors and lawyers all had vented their anger at the Liberal State for failing to provide employment for the educated sectors of society and for favouring, in their view, the interest of the workers. In order to put an end to the growth of unemployment among intellectuals, the ‘Riforma Gentile’ closed the university to almost all students matriculating from technical institutes, who had previously been eligible for higher education, and made preuniversity training the preserve of the classical secondary school, the ‘liceo’. Further, the number of normal schools (renamed ‘istituti magistrali’) was almost halved, and the ‘Riforma’ funnelled the overwhelming majority of elementary school students into programmes which precluded university study. School as an instrument of propaganda

The chief concern of Gentile reform was not to train up young Fascists, but rather to solve the vexing problem of a growing class of unemployed ‘educational misfits’. Initially, there was no attempt whatsoever to censor textbooks or to infuse directly the curricula with Fascist ideals. In fact, with the ‘Riforma Gentile’, the Fascists allowed a powerful potential ideological rival, the Roman Catholic Church, to influence the schools in a manner which the pre-First World War Liberal governments would never have permitted. Although Gentile’s reasons for doing so had nothing to do with faith, Catholics welcomed the teaching of religion in the elementary schools, religious textbooks, and crucifixes in classrooms. For Mussolini these concessions to the Church had strong political overtones. He hoped to persuade the Vatican that his Government could safeguard the interests

159

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of Catholicism better than a parliamentary regime headed by the ‘Partito Popolare’. [...] Further efforts to turn the schools to the service of the Fascist Regime came in 1928, almost five years after the promulgation of the ‘Riforma Gentile’. Not only did Fascist pedagogues realize by this time the shortcomings of the ‘most Fascist of all reforms’, but also with the suppression of the democratic political parties in 1926, the Regime began to think in more totalitarian terms. This necessarily involved tampering with curricular content. The first step towards ‘fascistizing’ the schools through curricular revisions occurred in 1927 when a national board was established to review and revise all school textbooks. In the following year, a law was passed which mandated the exclusive use of state textbooks in the elementary schools. Within a short time, history books, reading primers, anthologies of Italian literature, geography text and even Latin grammars became a primary means of inculcating Fascist thought and beliefs in the young. [...] Curricular revisions, so pervasive in the elementary grades, were less obvious in secondary schools and almost non-existent in the universities. ‘Libri di stato’ were not issued for secondary schools, although the theory of corporatism was taught and the ‘Dottrina del Fascismo’ studied. Many secondary schoolteachers, however, censored themselves, voluntarily choosing Fascist textbooks for their classes. In the universities, Fascist influence centered not on the curriculum, but rather on the activities of the Fascist youth organization, the ‘Gruppo Universitario Fascista’ (GUF). [Roy Lowe (ed.), Education and the Second World War. Studies in Schooling and Social Change, The Falmer Press, London 1992, pp. 74-76]

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

1. Using a bilingual dictionary, translate the following verbs. a. To recast: ........................................................................................................................................................................... b. To entrench: ...................................................................................................................................................................... c. To vent: .............................................................................................................................................................................. d. To halve: ............................................................................................................................................................................ e. To funnel: .......................................................................................................................................................................... f. To vex: ............................................................................................................................................................................... g. To tamper: .........................................................................................................................................................................

2. Using a monolingual dictionary, find a synonym for the following words. a. Misfit: ................................................................................................................................................................................ b. Overtone: .......................................................................................................................................................................... c. Shortcomings: ................................................................................................................................................................... d. Reading primers: ...............................................................................................................................................................

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!Reading [*]

Summarizing information

3. Having read the extract, sum up the main points using the following map. ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

links with Fascist ideology

............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

Gentile reform: main features

education in fascist italy

role of the Church

1927: political revisions

.............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ...............................................................................

. Children’s

............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

political overtones

............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................ ............................................................................................

comics in the “age of Mussolini”



An important medium used by the regime to convey its propaganda to its youngest inhabitants was that of children’s comic books. In recognition of the influential played by comics in children’s leisure time, the Ministry of Popular Culture role ................. passed a decree ................. 1938 to regulate and restrict the content of these juvenile magazines. “Comics”, according to the ................., “must be worthy of the time of Mussolini”: they should exalt the Italian race and ................. heroism and be divested of foreign influence. The reform decreed: the ................. of ‘foreign material’ and stories and illustrations inspired by foreign production, with the exception – thanks to Arnaldo Mondadori’s negotiating skills – of Walt Disney creations, considered to have some ‘cultural and moral value’: illustrations were to be ................. to less than half a page to allow greater space for text; illustrations and text should be produced only by professional writers and artists, and not ‘ill-prepared .................’, comic books characters must be ‘notably’ Italian; and comics should have a predominantly

Listening

mind the gap

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Module 8 Youth and education under totalitarian regimes

educative function and promote Italian ................. heroism, the Italian race, Italy’s past and present history. ‘Adventure’, it was conceded, could still have its place in comic books, but only ................. shed of what were considered its current criminal and ................. equivocal elements. Both pre-existing titles such as the Corriere dei Piccoli and the Gazzettino dei Ragazzi as well as magazines introduced during the ventennio, including the official comic of the ONB, Il Balilla, were mobilized as part of the regime’s efforts to mould young Italians into future fascist men and women. [Kate Ferris, Everyday Life Fascist Venice: 1929-1940, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (UK) 2012, extract from chapter 2]

Front cover of “Balilla”, the funny supplement to the paper “Popolo d’Italia”, October 2nd, 1930

!Use of English [*]

Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps: complete the previous text by choosing an appropriate word from the list below. The first word is given.

reduced • prohibition • decree • Italian • military • if • morally • in • dilettantes

!Writing [**]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Write answers to the following questions. a. What did the Ministerial Decree of 1938 decide about comics? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. What kind of subjects could be presented in a comic during the Fascist period? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Why do you think the fascist comics preferred text to pictures? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

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d. Why were Walt Disney cartoons allowed to be published during this period? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. According to the regime, what was the real aim of comics? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Writing [***] Expressing points of view

3. In your opinion, is it right that a government should intervene in the subject and style of children’s books, films, games etc.? Express the positive and negative reasons for such intervention (max 250 words).

 Listening

1936: Fascist youth organization march

. Football

and Fascism. The national game under Mussolini



Although Fascism preferred more classical, scholarly sports, such as fencing, and the modern sport of motor racing, the regime was quick to appreciate the mass appeal of c Under football (calcio), even if it questioned the game’s merits as a sporting activity. o the Fascist regime, which came to power on 28 October 1922, sport in general and football in particular were awarded a level of importance previously unseen in united Italy. o Moreover, Fascism’s intervention in calcio not only removed the threat

Listening

mind the gap

The Italian football team gives a Roman salute after victory, Berlin Olympic Games, 1936

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of implosion, but also resulted in a more disciplined structure capable of producing well-honed, technically outstanding footballers that raised the Italian national game to the highest international level. [...] The formation of the first national league in 1929 contributed to the emergence of a number of teams that dominated European competition in the following decade. o Yet, despite the arguably successful attempt to construct an imagined community by politicizing this form of mass popular culture, on occasion, the regime’s projected Italian identity met serious resistance that exposed some of the real and unavoidable conflicts and contradictions within Fascist society and the state. [Simon Martin, Football and Fascism. The National Game Under Mussolini, Berg Publishing, Oxford 2004, pp. 2-3]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Read the previous extract carefully and fill the boxes with the correct sentences. a. Financial and organizational investment quickly and dramatically improved results at the Olympic Games. b. Internationally, the Italian team won the 1934 World Cup, held in Italy, the 1936 Olympic soccer tournament in Berlin, and retained the World Cup trophy in France in 1938. c. The regime institutionalized calcio as a Fascist game in 1926 after which it was exploited domestically as a political soporific to develop a sense of Italian identity, and internationally as a diplomatic tool to improve the standing of the regime in the global arena.

!Reading [*]

Interpreting secondary sources

2. Answer the questions by choosing one of the answers below. 1. Which were the sports favoured by the regime? a. Scholarly sports and chess. b. Only scholarly sports like fencing and motor racing. c. Scholarly sports and football (calcio). 2. What did Mussolini hope to achieve through football? a. That it would become a national sport. b. That it would be a means to strengthen national identity and promote Italy abroad. c. That it would not be given any importance. 3. Did football achieve important results under the fascist regime? a. No, because there was very little investment in this sport. b. No, even though there was a lot of investments and it became an instrument of political propaganda. c. Yes, the Italian team won the World Cup.

 Listening

Italian Fascism and football

Unit 3 Education and Soviet society

Unit

3

. Soviet

Education and Soviet society schools and education

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks had taken power in the name of the proletariat and toiling peasantry, against the almost unanimous opposition of Russian educated society. Education, the Bolsheviks perceived, was one of the traditional prerogatives of the privileged classes. If a small minority of those who had received secondary or higher education under the old regime had embraced the cause of proletarian revolution, the great majority had remained ‘class enemies’ of the proletariat. It might be necessary for the new regime to employ the ‘bourgeois’ professionals and ‘petty-bourgeois’ clerks and office workers trained under Tsarism, but the best that could be expected of them in political terms was passive neutrality. From these premises, two policy conclusions could be drawn. In the first place, the workers’ and peasants’ state must provide basic education for the masses of the population. [...] The second policy conclusion which seemed to follow naturally from Bolshevik premises was that the new regime must create its own ‘proletarian intelligentsia’ – an administrative and specialist group drawn from the lower classes of society trained in the Soviet VUZ (higher educational institution) and giving wholehearted allegiance to Soviet power. Theoretical basis: Marx, Lenin and progressive education

The basic Marxist legacy was the concept of ‘polytechnical’ education. This concept, unfortunately, provided a most ambiguous guide to Soviet educators, since Marx and Engels were mainly concerned with the education of working-class children who were to remain workers, or, on a more theoretical level, with the education appropriate to a classless socialist society. In the simplest terms, the polytechnical school was one which taught a variety of practical skills – the antithesis of the ‘academic’ school exemplified by the Tsarist gymnasium. But beyond that there was no agreement on the interpretation of the polytechnical principle and, in particular, on its implications for the relationship of the state and the individual in the period of proletarian dictatorship. The new Soviet school Karl Marx, 1875

165

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Module 8 Youth and education under totalitarian regimes

From the viewpoint of Soviet Marxists, an apolitical school was neither desirable nor possible. Education was, by definition, ideological; and only hypocrites would deny this. The Soviet school must train Soviet citizens to be free from the prejudices of religion and to understand the meaning of class war, the legitimacy of the revolution and the goals of the Soviet state. [...] These, however, were statements of principle, not descriptions of the educational realities of NEP. In the 1920s, the great majority of teachers were non-Marxists and religious believers. [...] The ‘revolutionary liberation’, which probably most affected the schools from the point of view of the liberation from discipline, revealed an absence of clear instructions from the centre on questions of methodology and curriculum. [...] Remembering their old revulsion against the teaching of ‘official ideology’ in the Tsarist school, the Narkompros1 leaders found it impossible to recommend any similar inculcation of regime values in the Soviet school. Thus the schools were forbidden to teach Christian doctrine, but not required to teach atheism; and the old course in Russian patriotic history was abolished, but replaced only by a vaguely defined course in social studies which, until 1927, was not necessarily taught from a Marxist point of view. Progressive methods

In the early 1920s, Narkompros’ Academic Council (GUS) set about devising programmes which would embody the polytechnical activity principle. [...] The ‘complex method’ which GUS adopted was an attempt to get away from teaching by subject, and involved the linking of separate schools disciplines by a general ‘complex’ theme. These themes were to be socially oriented and related directly to the child’s environment and experience of the world. From studying the familiar and domestic in his first school years, the child would progress to a study of the world beyond his immediate horizons. Each theme was studied under three basic headings: Nature, Society and Labour. [...] GUS did not give detailed instructions on how these themes were to be taught. [...] In organizational terms, political consciousness was developed within the school by the institution of pupils’ ‘self-government’ (detskoe samoupravlenie). In practice, ‘self-government’ provided a forum for pupils’ complaints against teachers, or for the disciplining of individual students by the collective. [...] For many children and adolescents, however, it was not the school but the Communist youth organizations which provided the basic political and ideological training. Reaction against the progressive methods

At the 1925 All Union Congress of Teachers, delegates not only complained but ‘literally wept’ at the inadequacy of Narkompros’ instructions on the new methods. According to the school inspectors, teachers were doing their best to undermine the ‘complex’: “You go into a school, take up a teacher’s diary, and see that for the first term the school appeared to be working on the ‘complex’ system according to the GUS programmes. From the second half of the second term there is usually a break: they are 1. The acronym of the government agency responsible for education and culture, the Commissariat of Enlightenment.

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‘coaching’ the pupils on the old subject system. Why? Because they have got terribly behind with formal skills.” Schoolchildren and their parents were also unhappy with the progressive school. Peasants complained that the school was not carrying out his basic function of teaching children to read, write and count: growing vegetables and breeding rabbits, the peasants reasoned, was something they could teach their children themselves and was not the business of the school. [...] The [subsequent] 1927 reforms look, at first glance, like the beginning of a return to the old school; and undoubtedly many people at the time thought that this was what was happening. Yet, within less than two years, the pendulum was swinging, in the opposite direction. During the first Five-Year Plan, progressive methodologists with even more radical ideas than those current in the Nep period, became dominant in Narkompros. They moved social studies back to the centre of the curriculum, dropped the formal programmes, and recommended that it be taught solely by ‘activity’ methods. [Sheila Fitzpatrick, Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union, 1921-1934, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1979, extracts from p. 3 to p. 40]

!Writing [***]

Understanding secondary sources

1. Write answers to the following questions. a. Why did the post-1917 regime want to extend education to the proletariat? 1. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 2. ....................................................................................................................................................................................... b. What was the aim of ‘polytechnical education‘? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. In order to train Soviet citizens, what should the new school achieve? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... d. The ‘complex method‘ implied: 1. Adoption of a new teaching methodology. 2. Adoption of strict discipline in schools. 3. A shift from country schools to centralized city education centres. e. What were respectively parents’ and teachers’ reasons for complaining about the ‘complex method‘? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... f. Did the 1927 reforms substantially change the education system? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

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

 Research

The Russian education system today

. Totalitarianism

and sport in Russia



cataclysmic transformation and authoritarian dictatorship, sport has In a society of ................. acquired a unique meaning for ................. people in terms of identity and the Platonic ‘empathy and catharsis’. Nikolai Starostin, one-time Soviet football captain and Gulag victim, came close to explaining this role when he talked of Soviet football in the 1920s and 1930s:

“I think that the prewar social role and significance of football grew out of the special relationship the public had with it. People seemed to separate it from all that was going on around them. It was like the utterly unreasoned worship by sinners desperate to seek oblivion in their blind appeal to divinity. For most people football was the only, and sometimes the very last, chance and hope of retaining in their souls a tiny island of ................. feelings and human relationships.” (Starostin). This is a perceptive comment on the role of sport under a totalitarian regime, and it applies to sports men and women, as well as fans, in all such countries, whether Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Falangist Spain or any of the one-time or current communist states. Impact on sport of industrialization, collectivization and dictatorship

The implications for the sports movement of the economic and ................. processes (rapid industrialisation, collectivization of agriculture and political dictatorship) of the late 1920s and early 1930s were extremely important, for it was then that the organised pattern of Soviet sport was formed – with the nationwide sports societies, sports schools, national fitness programme and the uniform rankings system for ................. sports. The new society saw the flourishing of all manner of competitive sports with spectator appeal, of leagues, cups, championships, popularity polls and cults of sporting heroes. All were designed to provide recreation and diversion for the ................. urban populace. The big city and security forces (Dinamo) teams, with their ................. resources, dominated competition in all sports. Thus, the premier football league of 1938 included nine Moscow and six Dinamo clubs (from the cities of Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tbilisi, Odessa and Rostov) out of its 26 clubs. In 1935, the government set up sports societies based on the trade unions: Spartak for white-collar workers, Lokomotiv for railway workers, Torpedo for car workers, etc. Together with the clubs of the armed forces and security forces, they formed ................. professional ‘teams of masters’ to compete in the nationwide cup and league tournaments instituted in 1936. One of the main tasks of the sports societies was to act as a catalyst in raising standards through rational organisation and competition, to act as ‘transmission belts’ for talented athletes. Once these were discovered, it was then necessary to categorise them according to level of ability and to give them an

Listening

mind the gap

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incentive and special amenities to realise their potential. For this purpose a uniform rankings system was introduced in 1937, with rankings decided by times, distances or weights recorded in a ................. event and/or success in competition. Once an athlete had risen through the three adult rankings and reached ‘Master of Sport’ level, he or she could apply him/herself full time to sport, unencumbered by a job or work outside the sporting vocation. The ................. sports parades and pageants which constituted a background to the sports contests were intended to create a ‘togetherness’ and patriotic feeling. Significantly, sports rallies often began to accompany major political events and festivals (May Day, Anniversary of the Revolution, Constitution Day), thereby linking members of the public, through sport, with politics, the Party and, of course, the nation’s leader, Joseph Stalin. A relatively ................. link was re-established in the 1930s between sport and the military, stemming from the conviction that a state surrounded by unfriendly powers (especially with the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany) must be militarily strong. Sport openly became a means of providing pre-military training and achieving a relatively high standard of national fitness and defence. The two ................. and most successful sports clubs were those run by the armed forces and the security forces: the Central House of the Red Army (later to become the Central Sports Club of the Army, TsSKA) and Dinamo, respectively. [James Riordan, Totalitarianism and sport in Russia, in “International Review on Sport and Violence”, 6, 2012, pp. 54-69]

!Use of English [**] Practicing language skills

1. Fill in the gaps with an adjective chosen from the list below. The first adjective is given. many • sincere • political • fast-growing • individual • substantial • particular • full-time • close • largest • ordinary

!Writing [**]

Summarizing information

2. Summarize the data from the extract using the table below. People’s feeling about sport under totalitarian regimes Functions of competitive sports Clubs’ role and athlete’s career Parades and patriotic feelings Sport and military training

.............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................................. ..............................................................................................................................................

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!Speaking [**]

Comparing and contrasting

3. You have read about the role that sport and physical education exercised under different totalitarian regimes. Work in groups and discuss what common features and recognizable characteristics you can trace.

. The

ordinary life of a young girl under the Soviet regime Antonina Golovina was eight years old when she was exiled with her mother and two younger brothers to the remote Altai region of Siberia. Her father had been arrested and sentenced to three years in a labour camp as a ‘kulak’ or ‘rich’ peasant during the collectivization of their northern Russian village, and the family had lost its household property, farming tools and livestock, to the collective farm. Antonina’s mother was given just an hour to pack a few clothes for the long journey. The house where the Golovins had lived for generations was then destroyed and the rest of the family dispersed: Antonina’s older brothers and sister, her grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins fled in all directions to avoid arrest, but most were caught by the police and exiled to Siberia, or sent to work in the labour camps of the Gulag, many of them never to be seen again. Antonina spent three years in a ‘special settlement’, a logging camp with five wooden barracks along a river bank where a thousand ‘kulaks’ and their families were housed. After two of the barracks were destroyed by heavy snow in the first winter, some of the exiles had to live in holes dug in the frozen ground. There were no food deliveries, because the settlement was cut off by the snow, so people had to live from the supplies they had brought from home. So many people died from hunger, cold and typhus that not all of them could be buried; their bodies were left to freeze in piles until the spring, when they were dumped in the river. Antonina and her family returned from exile in December 1934, and, rejoined by her father, moved into a one-room house in Pestovo, a town full of former ‘kulaks’ and their families. But the trauma she had suffered in these years left a deep scar on her consciousness, and the deepest wound of all was the stigma of her ‘kulak’ origins. In a society where social class was everything, Antonina was branded a ‘class enemy’, excluded from higher schools and many jobs, and always vulnerable to persecution and arrest in the waves of terror which swept across the country during Stalin’s reign. Her sense of social inferiority bred in Antonina what she herself describes as a “kind of fear,” that “because we were kulaks the regime might do anything to us, we had no rights, we had to suffer in silence.” She was too afraid to defend herself against the other children who bullied her at school. On one occasion, Antonina was singled out for punishment by one of her teachers, who said in front of the whole class, that “her sort” were “enemies of the people, kulak filth: you were exiled for good reason, and should all be left to rot!” Antonina felt a deep injustice and anger that made her want to shout out in protest. But she was silenced by an even deeper fear. This fear stayed with Antonina all her life. The only way that she could conquer it was to immerse herself in Soviet society. Antonina was an intelligent young woman

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with a strong sense of individuality. Determined to overcome the stigma of her birth, she studied hard at school so that one day she could gain acceptance as a social equal. Despite discrimination, she did well in her studies and gradually grew in confidence. She even joined the Komsomol, the Communist Youth League, whose leaders turned a blind eye to her ‘kulak’ origins because they valued her initiative and energy. At the age of seventeen Antonina made a bold decision that set her destiny: she concealed her ‘kulak’ origins from the authorities – a high-risk strategy – and even forged her papers so that she could go to medical school. She never spoke about her family to any of her friends or colleagues at the Institute of Physiology in Leningrad, where Antonina worked for forty years. She became a member of the Communist Party (and remained one until its abolition in 1991), not because she believed in its ideology, or so she now claims, but because she wanted to divert suspicion from herself and protect her family. Perhaps she also felt that joining the Party would help her career and bring her professional recognition. For over forty years Antonina concealed the truth about her past from her husband. They rarely spoke to one another about their families – until one day in 1985 when an elderly aunt of Antonina’s husband paid them a visit and let slip that his father was a tsarist naval officer who had been executed by the Bolsheviks. All these years, without knowing it, Antonina had been married to a man, who, like her, had spent his early years in labour camps and ‘special settlements’. Encouraged by the policies of glasnost introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev, and by the open criticism of the Stalinist repressions in the Soviet media during the late 1980s, Antonina and her husband began to tell each other about their hidden pasts. But they did not speak about such things to their daughter, a schoolteacher, because they feared a backlash against Gorbachev and thought that ignorance would protect her if the Stalinists returned. It was only after the collapse of the Soviet regime, in 1991, that Antonina at last overcame her fear and summoned up the courage to tell her daughter about her ‘kulak’ origins. [Orlando Figes, The Whisperers. Private Life in Stalin’s Russia, Metropolitan Books, New York 2007, extract from the Introduction]

!Writing [**]

Understanding historical contexts and recalling historical facts

1. Write answers to the following questions. a. Why was Antonina’s father arrested? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... b. Who were the ‘kulaki’? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... c. Where were they sent? ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

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d. What happened to the family’s house, land and possessions? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... e. Why did she conceal her ‘kulak’ origins when she went to university? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... f. Did she and her husband tell each other about their families? Why? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................... g. When did she finally feel that she could talk about her life? ............................................................................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

!Vocabulary [*] Using dictionaries

2. With the help of a monolingual dictionary, divide the following words taken from the text, according to their semantic field. household • terror • father • gulag • uncles • stigma • inferiority • grandparents • anger • husband • fear • sister • courage • kulaks • daughter • special settlement • aunts • Communist Youth League • afraid • Bolsheviks • mother Family

Emotions

Soviet terminology

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!Speaking [***]

Developing thinking and research skills

3. Working in groups, choose one of the following topics related to the historical and political context of Antonina’s family life, and discuss it, making reference to other totalitarian regimes.

a. As a kulak, Antonina was stigmatized and deported to a camp. Why did the Soviet regime persecute certain sections of society? Can you think of similar situations in Italy or Germany? b. What role did the Youth League have in persecuting kulaks? What does this tell us about the role of young people in totalitarian regimes? c. What was the Glasnost policy of Mikhail Gorbachev?