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Conflictuniteditedwebsite050308
Whose warfield?
Conflict and peace-making since 1945
Introduction: how to use this material
This material was designed to help plan a unit of work on recent world
conflicts for use in a Manchester comprehensive school. The material is
not specific enough to form a scheme of work – which should be tailored
specifically to the needs of a particular school – but could be used by a
history department to work through the planning stages of designing the
scheme of work. It is suggested that a department work through the
following activities.
1 Rationale
Read the rationale in section A below. Discuss how much of this is
appropriate in your context. Draft a brief statement of your department’s
aims in adopting a unit such as this one.
2 Your pupils
Consider the following questions in order to help you decide which conflicts
to study.
 Which recent conflicts have had an impact on our local area?
 What issues in recent world conflict and peace-making are resonant
with our pupils and why? Could we incorporate their views into our
planning?
 What burning questions about the modern world do pupils want
answered?
3 Resources
Pool your existing resources. Look closely at textbooks, including GCSE
textbooks, from which it might be possible to adapt materials that are not
used for your GCSE course.
Consider staff expertise and confidence in teaching new topics.
If you do not have materials about conflicts you wish to study, look into the
possibility of working with other local history departments on developing
some new ones.
Consider what you can find on the internet. Some useful websites are listed
below in Section D.
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4 Framing your enquiries
Read through section B below. Decide which of the conflicts might be
appropriate for study, and whether you wish to use these particular enquiry
questions and why.
5 Planning for learning
Before you design your detailed scheme of work, it is worth considering the
following issues.
 How much depth of knowledge do we expect from our pupils? Are we
going to present it to them, or allow them to conduct the investigations
themselves? Emphasis could be on learning to learn, and building
confidence in being uncertain.
 What sensitive issues might arise in discussing very recent history,
especially in terms of personal involvement of some pupils?
 Do we believe that it is it the role of the history teacher to encourage
moral and political debate arising from historical events? How will we
deal with any expression of extreme views? Will we divulge our own
views on controversial issues?
 How far should we teach in depth about the background history of the
country we are studying? There is a danger that pupils might leave
with a purely negative impression of that country. Could this difficulty
be overcome by inter-disciplinary work with colleagues, or by pupils'
research, perhaps as homework, for example by suggesting reasons
for tourism to that country either before or after the conflict? Pupils
whose own origins lie in that country might be keen to bring in
artefacts, stories and other sources.
 What should be the conceptual focus of our learning, and what key
processes are we drawing on? How can we create meaningful
learning outcomes?
6 Your scheme of work
Read through the ideas for teaching and learning outlined in section C
below. Discuss how you might adapt these to suit your own needs.
Consider how you will help pupils to draw upon a range of key processes
and concepts.
You should now be ready to draw up your scheme of work.
A Rationale
1. Following a study of the First World War, the Second World War and
the Holocaust, this unit aims to develop pupils’ understanding of
conflict in a very modern context. It helps meet the requirement for all
pupils to 'identify and understand major events and changes in British,
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European and world history' (3b) and 'to make appropriate links to
some of the parallel events, changes and developments in British,
European and world history' (3c). It also allows pupils to explore 'the
changing nature of conflict and cooperation between countries and
peoples and it impact on national, ethnic, racial, cultural or religious
issues…and the role of European and international institutions in
resolving conflicts'. (3j)
2. Many refugees from the two world wars found their way to Britain. For
all pupils, there is a focus on understanding the experiences of these
refugees. For some pupils, there are opportunities to investigate
aspects of personal, family or local history and how they relate to a
broader historical context. Our school catchment area is home to
communities from Kosovo and Somalia. Since 1956, there has been a
Hungarian community within the wider Manchester area. Many of our
pupils are refugees or the children of refugees. Studying even a
snapshot of the history of their countries of origin can help them to
discover and feel pride in their own identities, while encouraging
understanding and respect from their peers.
3. There are few textbooks yet available on the post-Second World War
period. Textbooks are more likely to cover the Arab-Israeli conflict and
the Cold War conflicts than others. Some information may also be
found in geography textbooks. There is a plethora of material on the
internet, much of which is controversial and needs careful monitoring.
The difficulty in gaining access to textbook resources can be
overcome by inviting pupils to conduct investigations into events,
critically assessing the materials they find. Their findings can then be
shared with other schools or with the wider community.
4. Any number of countries can be used as case studies. It may be
possible to allow pupils to choose. (See, for example, Hungary 1956;
Czechoslovakia 1968; Solidarity in Poland 1981–89; Israel/Palestine
in 1948-49 and subsequent disputes over territory in 1956, 1967 and
1973; Democratic Republic of the Congo 1960-65, 1996-2003, 19982003; Rwanda 1994, Kosovo 1996 and now; Iraq 2003–present,
Afghanistan 2001–present, Darfur 2003–present).
5. There are many cross-curricular links and opportunities, especially
with citizenship as well as maths, English, and geography.
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B Possible enquiries
If you decide to adopt and adapt this unit discuss, as a department, the
pros and cons of teaching about each of the case studies below. Take
into account pupil interest, local connections, resources and the needs of
the pupils in terms of addressing the key concepts and processes. Then
consider other case studies that you might wish to adopt.
1 Why didn’t the world come to the aid of the Hungarian people in
1956?
Possible areas of interest
 What was the nature of the totalitarian government in Hungary
during the Cold War period? What were the reasons for discontent
among the populace? Why did Hungarian pupils have to learn the
Russian language and why did they hate it?
 Why was the destruction of the statue of Stalin one of the first acts
of the insurgents? (compare with the toppling of the statue of
Saddam in Baghdad on 9 April 2003)
 Why was the AVH (Hungarian state security police) treated with
such brutal contempt by the insurgents?
 What were the reasons for the swift response of Soviet troops?
 Why did the international community fail to act?
 How can we find out what happened to the refugees when the flow
of information was limited by the Soviets?
 Who became refugees and what were their experiences?
 What happens to the relics of the past in the very different
circumstances of the present day? (for example, communist
memorabilia, national holidays, street names, statues and
memorials, songs in popular memory, school curricula )
 Why have many people migrated from Eastern Europe to Britain
since the widening of EU membership in recent years?
2 Why did the UN ask Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from the
Sinai Peninsula following the Suez War of 1956?
Possible areas of interest
 Why couldn’t Israel get on with its Arab neighbours?
 How did war begin and why did success come so quickly?
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 Why were UN demands for ceasefire and withdrawal from the Sinai
Peninsula followed on this occasion?
 How much influence has the UN had on Israel since 1956?
 Why are Palestinians still living as refugees in the neighbouring
Arab countries and elsewhere?
3 How successful has the UN been in restoring peace to Somalia since
1992?
Possible areas of interest
 How far was the civil war in the 1990s the fault of the colonising
powers?
 What was the role and influence of UNISOM I and UNISOM II?
 Why did refugees leave Somalia and come to Manchester? How
can we find out about their experiences? Why haven’t they gone
back?
 Why was it so difficult for Somali children to settle into Britain in the
early 1990s?
4 Why was the world so slow to recognise genocide in Rwanda?
Possible areas of interest
 Why was there a genocide in Rwanda?
 What happened during the '100 Days' in 1994?
 How should we remember the Rwandan genocide?
 What was the reaction of the outside world?
5 How did the UN help to secure peace in Kosovo in 1996? What is the
future for Kosovo?
Possible areas of interest
 Why did the conflict arise?
 Did NATO’s intervention make the situation better or worse?
 Why did refugees leave home? How did they end up in
Manchester, and what has it been like for them? Why don’t they go
back?
 What has been the role of the UN in keeping the peace?
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6 How can we find out the truth about the toppling of Saddam’s
statue?
Possible areas of interest
 Why was the worldwide media so excited on 9 April 2003?
 Was this a propaganda coup for the US Army or a genuine
outpouring of Iraqi hatred of a dictator?
 Did the UN encourage or discourage the invasion of Iraq in 2003?
 What has been the role of the UN since 2003?
7 Summary and looking to the future
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How far has the nature of conflict changed since 1914?
Why have world affairs become local affairs?
What impact have refugees made on local/national communities?
What have been the successes and limitations of the UN in
peacekeeping in the modern world? What is the significance of the
UN in the modern world?
C Ideas for teaching and learning
Each of these ideas can be adapted for any of the case studies outlined
above.
Activities based on Chronology / Change and continuity / Cause and
consequence (Key Concepts 1.1, 1.3 and 1.4)
These ideas will need to be adapted depending on the conceptual focus.
 Use of photographs, maps or witness testimony as initial stimulus.
These could be made into a mini-mystery for pupils to work out
what the context could be.
 Contrast photos of the area taken for the purposes of tourism with
those taken in wartime.
 Plot conflicts and UN interventions on a time-line – this could be
done as a human time-line in an overview lesson.
 To speed up study of one conflict, the facts could be presented to
pupils as packs of cards, which they could then place on a
continuum from 'Neglect' to 'Help' to show the extent of outside
help for the victims of violence . (This idea came from the
www.survivors-fund website on Rwanda – see below).
 Groups of pupils investigate different case studies, presenting their
findings to the class. This could be done as a simulation with a
group of pupils acting as UN commissioners, who outline enquiries
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and send reporters on fact-finding missions. These groups of
pupils report back on their findings and on the difficulties they
encounter in obtaining accurate information. If possible, messages
could be sent by e-mail. This is an excellent opportunity for
teamwork in historical enquiry (Key Process 2.1), where pupils can
be encouraged to ask questions about historical situations, as well
as to answer them.
Assess the value of a variety of websites and other sources (e.g.
the film Hotel Rwanda) for the enquiry in question. There could be
opportunity to assess the value of the wikipedia website,
apparently a neutral encyclopaedia, but a fascinating on-line
collaboration which is open to editing. Guidance can be found on
the website itself for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of its
approach. This is an opportunity to practise using evidence (Key
Process 2.2).
Spies: How would you gain information about the other side by use
of deceit?
Links with English: Literature of totalitarian states or of conflict in
general.
Links with maths: What can numbers tell us about the experiences
of people involved in conflict? (i.e. figures about deaths,
armaments, refugees, distances etc).
Activities based on diversity (Key Concept 1.3)
 Storyboard experiences of refugees in British schools.
 Create questionnaires for refugees in our local area. Carry them
out if possible. On-line questionnaires to link pupils from different
schools.
 Compile questions to ask survivors and refugees. Could liaise with
maths department to consider surveys and types of questions.
Even if links with a local community could not be established,
pupils could still consider the questions to be asked, and the actual
questionnaire could be the end product of their enquiry. They could
consider how to find out about people's experiences when they
cannot ask them themselves.
Activities based on significance (Key Concept 1.5)
 Judge the significance of the UN and how this might have changed
over time. Create a simulation where pupils represent citizens from
a variety of different nations with different perspectives on the UN.
Teacher could encourage a free-for-all debate to start with, then
when this proves to be too chaotic to make any decisions, pupils
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could be asked to draw up clear criteria to judge significance of an
international organisation.
Activities based on historical interpretations (Key Concept 1.6)
 Examination of how interpretations of national history are recreated when there is a change of regime. This is an opportunity to
develop links with the heritage sector.
D Useful websites
General
http://www.un.org/english/
The United Nations website. See especially the Peace and Security pages.
www.en.wikipedia.org
There are over 2.25 million articles in English on 'the free encyclopaedia that
anyone can edit' – which means that care is needed in its use. The History Portal
has a subportal devoted to War.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/united_nations1.htm
Contains a time-line of UN action up to 1989, plus information on its background,
structure, problems and so on.
http://elearning.security-research.at/flash/un/un_peacekeeping.htm
Interactive site with details about UN peacekeeping missions.
Somalia
www.somaliculture.net
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/africa/2004/somalia/default.stm
BBC news sites with various links to content about Somalia.
Hungary
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hungary_1956.htm
http://www.hungary1956.com/photos.htm
Images and video about the events of 1956.
Rwanda
www.survivors-fund.org.uk
Contains educational materials about Rwandan genocide, with eye-witness
accounts, discussion questions and lesson plans and a Powerpoint presentation.
Iraq
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm
Suggests that the toppling of the statue of Saddam on 9 April 2003 was not the
outcome of a mass protest by Iraqis but was engineered by the Americans.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_3502000/35
02633.stm
BBC news on 9 April 2003 including video footage of Iraqis destroying images of
Saddam and a link to a profile of Saddam in support of the main story, the
toppling of the statue.
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