History ToK Questions

1. Why study history?

We study history in order to better understand how the relationship of cause and effect effects our lives. We use history to find patterns in what we did and how it changed our present environment.

 2. Is knowledge of the past ever certain?

Knowledge of the past is never certain. The very best we can hope for is a certainty of 99.9%, seeing as every piece of evidence has some degree of doubt associated with it. 

 3. Does the study of history widen our knowledge of human nature?

By studying history, we are able to see how and potentially why human beings act and react the way they do. So many variables are involved when trying to understand human behavior and an understanding of history is vastly important.

 4. Can history help in understanding the present or predicting the future?

History can be useful in predicting the future because if we understand patterns that formed in the past, we may be able to recognize patterns as they form. 

 5. To what extent does emotion play a role in an historian’s analysis? Is (historical) objectivity possible?

Emotions play a large role in how a historical event is portrayed. Emotions cloud judgement and skew the information both accepted and conveyed by the historian. 

 6. Why do accounts of the same historical event differ? Whose history do we study?

Historical events differ because of the differences in perception the historians have. Each will view the same event through slightly different means and thus interpret the event in different ways. 

 7. What determines how historians select evidence and describe/interpret or analyse events?

A historian selects evidence based upon preconceived notions that fit his or her viewpoints. Things that don't fall into the viewpoints will either be ignored or have little to no emphasis placed on them.

8. What problems are posed for the study of history by changes in language and culture over time?

Changes in language pose a big problem because when words are translated, they may lose their connotative meaning. This present problems when ideas are trying to be conveyed either from one historian to another, or when one piece of evidence needs to be translated.

 9. Can history be considered in any sense “scientific”?

Because history does not utilize the scientific method, it can not be called a science, but history uses other sciences such as anthropology and geology in order to gather evidence.

Stalin Questions

1.) Stalin had a masterful control over manipulation and used whatever his position may have been in the government to turn people against one another as well as constantly forming and breaking alliances.
2.)Stalin had hoped to industrialize Russia through programs such as new railways as well as initiating collectivized farming. Stalin also wanted to kill all those he perceived as enemies of Russia such as Kulaks and political opponents.
3.) Stalin would constantly pit one person against another until he was the last one remaining and thus constant increased his power over the government.
4.) Stalin's rule can be called a totalitarian regime to the fullest extent of the definition of the word. The Soviet government under Stalin was notorious for the outright murder of civilians and all those that opposed Stalin.
5.) The judicial system under Stalin had a habit of setting up dummy-trials in order to "convict" all those against Stalin of sabotage and were immediately put in the hands of the military. 

6.) Force was used on opponents that Stalin feared would not be effectively dealt with at trials. Secret police were mobilized and sent to assassinate upper level political opponents.

7.) Stalin tried to set the Soviet Union into the modern industrialized era.

8.) Any person or group that was in any way suspected of turning against Stalin was immediately shipped of to Siberia or other gulags. Stalin's secret police ensured that many people were much too paranoid to attempt any serious resistance.  

9.) Stalin had complete control over any lower political positions and was free to do simply as he wished.

10.) Stalin greatly pushed any Western expansion that eventually covered parts of Finland, the Baltic States, and Ukraine.

11.) Stalin was known for the mass censorship of anything that did not portray the Soviet Union in a positive light. this included all major forms of media. One of Stalin's positive notes being that women were allowed to exhibit many of the same policies as men in terms of working.

12.) Stalin actively persecuted religious leaders as religion went against the theory of Communism

13.) While Stalin may have built many more schools, especially in rural areas, and offered a larger opportunity of education, all schools were forced to teach along party lines.

14.) Artists were only allowed to create works that depicted life as good under Soviet rule, as this was part of the censorship that Stalin used. 

15.) During Stalin's rule, artists were hired to go back and remove people from photographs in order to alter their historical importance. Stalin used this in order to increase his popularity. 

16.) Women were no longer bound to the restrictions they were in other areas of the world. Women could now go out and work along side men and earn the same amount. The expectation of women being nothing more than mothers and housewives was reversed. 

17.) Religious groups and minorities were sent to gulags as they were seen as a threat to the Soviet Union by Stalin.