What makes a historical event significant

The French sought freedom. An end to kings made them all the same. End of the Ancient Regime. Long live the Revolution. A similar reflection arises when a group of students chose the end of the Franco dictatorship, now in contemporary times, as their central theme.

So far, we have only pointed out those reflections on historical significance which the students expressly mentioned. While unaware of the terms of their significance, these occupy a preeminent place in their knowledge of universal History.

Graphic 2 Most frequent historical episodes over the different stages of history. The broken line represents the mean value. To calculate representativeness we analyzed how many of the narratives talked about each episode in relation to its corresponding period of history, and then compared the frequencies of each element with respect to its stage.

However, for events that appear in both stages the calculation was made with respect to the total number of texts in both stages. In view of this, by historical stages it is found that for the students the Neolithic revolution, be it with regard to the appearance of farming, livestock, domestication or settling, is one of the most recurring elements It should be noted here that historical landmarks that serve as a transition from one period to another are usually the most frequent, appearing in narratives relating to both the stages.

Allusions to other elements of huge historical significance, all be they difficult for the students to detect, e. The star event is the French Revolution There was just a single reference to the Industrial Revolution 8. Finally, for Contemporary Times, there are, as we mentioned, numerous references to the Second World War, some relating to leading figures Hitler, Stalin , some to its consequences The Holocaust, the atom bomb or to the countries at war Britain, Germany.

Episodes like the First World War It is worth noting that in the case of Spanish History almost the only events of significance since are the Spanish Civil War Knowing, teaching and learning history: national and international perspectives. The position adopted by students to History enables us to see how they understood those events. In this sense, when narrating Prehistory they include themselves as hunters 5 or farmers 3 , and, in one case as builders of megaliths.

It is from the viewpoint of the subject that they describe the tools, way of life and characteristics of the time. New weapons and engineering came and changed our lives. Now we plough and harvest and have domesticated dogs.

We will lay low Germany; not one barbarian will survive. When dealing with the Middle Ages, we find a larger number of subjects identified with Europe or with Christian Europe. In general, when the students adopt a position, it has to do with war. In the Iberian Peninsula we were reconquering, Hispanics were taking back their lives.

Y con Alfonso X el Sabio entramos en Sevilla. During the Reconquest a Nazari I killed. And with Alphonso X, the wise, we entered Seville. Lost at sea and at the mercy of the wind, in , Columbus claims America for Spain.

In the Santa Maria he returns to find the Alhambra, back in Spain. I went in search of India till I came upon dry ground; after sailing, sailing, sailing, America I found. Lastly, there was just one group that broached the reform movement of the Catholic Church, or that avoided the Franco dictatorship.

Ponerme en contra de la Iglesia. I would like to travel through Europe with Erasmus; I break free from the church. I throw off its dictates and feel how my spirit of protest grows. Prehistorically, one of the most determining facts was the development of the stone industry and the invention of farming, which are presented as elements that culminated in settlements [T, T].

The Metal Age, for example, presents clear consequences, the invention of arms and, subsequently, the beginning of wars [T, T]. One of the few events deemed worthy of remembering in the Ancient World is the appearance of democracy in Athens [T] and its current influence on our world. The French Revolution is another example of a significant moment, not only because of the number of mentions it gets, but also because, on occasions, [T] there are reflections in its role in history as a turning point in social rights.

Frequently, however, a high number of mentions is accompanied by a complete absence of reflection. In the Ancient World, and in particular Ancient Egypt, we find no element related to causality or historical significance, but just a list of proper names. According to the data obtained, in principle when our students establish that something is historically determining, they do so in the following terms: 1 because it affected many people, 2 because it lasted a long time, 3 because it somehow affects them today, or 4 because the event supposed a turning point in the timeline of the history of humanity.

Despite these distinctions, the scarce appearance of important elements and the scarce significance attributed to them makes us wonder if the students are really unable to understand the scope of many of the historical events they remember. In broad terms, it has been shown that the time scheme of these future teachers is founded minimal historical pillars or episodes, most of which are limited exclusively to episodes that marked a change of historical stage. We are contemplating an almost empty skeleton; there are no muscles, no tendons, practically nothing.

Equally surprising is the scarcity of certain episodes that are clearly of historical significance for southern Europeans. Examples are Romanization, the expansion of Islam and the ensuing influence of Al-Andalus, to cite just a few highly significant cases. Panta Rei, Murcia, p. It cannot be overlooked that, despite all our efforts as teachers, there are external factors like the mass media, the social context, the group, the family, even the relation between teachers and students, etc.

Social Education , Silver Spring, v. The fact that our students may have mastered some contents, some narratives, in order to get through an academic course, does not mean that they have appropriated them. It has become clear that for the students analyzed there are certain events of greater historical significance than others.

Nevertheless, we have also detected a worrying shortfall in reasons for choosing some events over others. These students memorized, but they did not reflect, they did not think historically. And for that, we need some in-depth studies of the issue. This research does not allow us, as other studies do, to reflect on the degree of understanding or explanation of significance in History of the participants, since the narratives jumble up what is historically determining with the curious, the strange and the anecdotic.

We can, however, outline the reflections and considerations our students today possess about this category and the future of the History of Humanity or of Spain. Later, narratively more extensive, studies could give more precise information about the different levels of understanding of historical significance. In our case, the brevity of the texts means that we can only state that a fair number of students considered that certain events were worth recalling and others were not, milestones in their opinion and therefore historically determining.

The conclusion is that this research has revealed which historical events are held to be of certain significance by the future Spanish Primary school teachers. Thanks to this knowledge, we should be able to establish guidelines in the future to improve the history teaching and understanding process. The advantages of incorporating into the classroom strategies and activities that work with what is historically significant and aid in their understanding will, in the long term, be highly beneficial.

Teaching historical significance. Issues in history teaching. London; New York: Routledge, From horror to history: teaching pupils to reflect on significance. Debates in history teaching. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, Letters, diaries, speeches, and photographs are examples of primary sources. Artifacts such as tools are also primary sources. Other tools that historians use are secondary sources. They are written after a historical event by people who did not see the event.

Historical sources include documents, artifacts, archaeological sites, features. Even ancient relics and ruins, broadly speaking, are historical sources.

Historians search for clues about the past using both primary and secondary sources. Letters, diaries, or government records are primary sources. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Essay How do you describe a historical event? Ben Davis May 11, How do you describe a historical event? How do you write a historical event? What makes a historical event important? For example:. The Gallipoli Campaign is considered to be a significant event in Australian history because it has been commemorated as an important event in the formation of Australia's national identity.

Finally, things are frequently considered to be significant because a lot of people have been affected by them. The effects caused by a person or event can either be immediate, or continue to impact more people over the days, months, years, decades, or even centuries afterwards.

Typically, the more people affected, either for better or for worse, the more significant it is considered to be. If you have been given a research task that is asking you to assess the significance of someone or something, you need to carefully decide which of the four criteria you'll use to build your sub-questions around. Here are some preliminary questions which might help you in your research process :. What did people in the past think was important about the person, event or idea?

In what ways is this person, event or idea similar to contemporary concerns? What single element of this person, event or idea has been the focus of commemorations? In what ways have people been affected by this person, event or idea? What changed as a direct result of this person, event or idea? No personal information is collected as part of this quiz. Only the selected responses to the questions are recorded.

Contact via email. Key Question 2. Background Research 3. Sub-questions 4. Source Research 5. Organise Quotes 6. Topic Sentences 7.

Hypothesis 8. Draft Writing 9. Historical Knowledge Significance. Historical Significance. Public Domain.

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