A new way of looking at history, inspired by the CiF section of the Guardian online this morning...
I have realized now that one of my A levels, all of my degree, and a great deal of my academic reading has actually been a total waste of time.
All those essays could have been boiled down as follows:
Any more? I am now feeling inspired by the press to really get started on this new common sense, voice of the people, version of history. I really don’t know why I wasted my time on all this total nonsense about reaction, and reform, and economic pressures and wider social change in the past, when I could have been focusing instead on a simple Manichean struggle (with extra pictures of pretty dresses) all along.
All those essays could have been boiled down as follows:
The French Revolution
Once again, we see how generations of soft touch monarchs spoilt the youth of France, meaning that a bunch of entitled young yobs had no respect for law and order. The Comte de Mirabeau should have felt ashamed of himself for trying to make excuses for these thugs. Clearly the best solution would have been to send in the Musketeers.
(Maybe with an extra side essay on Marie Antoinette’s fabulous 1789 wardrobe, with a quick debate on whether or not it was showing a little too much cleavage, and an appendix on ‘Great Cake Recipes of the 1780s’)
The Russian Revolution
Frankly, there is no need to explain or understand the mindset of that bunch of Bolshevik thugs. Lots of people have their brothers executed and don’t decide to start communist revolutions. The Cossacks were doing their best under very difficult circumstances and should have received a great deal more public support.
(I could have added some extra pictures on those lovely lace frocks that the Grand Duchesses used to wear to balls, and maybe a little bit more on the 1916 Fabergé collection. It was filled with Must Haves that year, and no mistake!)
The New York Draft Riots
There was no psychology at play here at all. Instead, we simply see a bunch of criminals doing what criminals do. Lincoln should have drafted them all into the army.
Any more? I am now feeling inspired by the press to really get started on this new common sense, voice of the people, version of history. I really don’t know why I wasted my time on all this total nonsense about reaction, and reform, and economic pressures and wider social change in the past, when I could have been focusing instead on a simple Manichean struggle (with extra pictures of pretty dresses) all along.