Gaza tunnels: Tunnel warfare is impractical and often ineffective; it's also terrifying. Photo by Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue Israel’s military operation in Gaza until Hamas’ tunnel network in Gaza is destroyed. While many of the airstrikes against Gaza and many of the civilian casualties in Gaza over the last few weeks seem to have little to do with tunnels, it’s clear that Hamas’ underground network—at least 23 tunnels with 66 access points have been uncovered so far—seems to weigh heavily on Israeli policymakers and has provided the main rationale for continuing the operation.
Joshua Keating is a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs and writes the World blog. In an excellent essay for the Washington Post, historian Gerard DeGroot looks at the history of tunnels in warfare, citing examples from the Roman Empire to World War I to Vietnam. “Tunnels offer succor to the insurgent ground down by the greater wealth and superior technology of his enemy,” he writes. History of soldiers' battle gear: Thom Atkinson photo project "Soldiers' Inventories" The Vault is Slate's history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here. U.K. photographer Thom Atkinson spent nine months working on this project, titled “Soldiers’ Inventories.” In it, he assembled 13 groups of artifacts: the weapons, clothing, and personal effects that British soldiers would have carried while fighting in conflicts from the Battle of Hastings (1066) to the present day.
Atkinson’s website contains an expanded portfolio of these images. The Telegraph ran a slideshow earlier this week that offers inventory lists for eight of the groups. Image courtesy Thom Atkinson/Gallery Stock. Mounted knight, 1244, Siege of Jerusalem. In July and August 1244, the Christian garrison in Jerusalem came under siege, attacked by an army from the emirate of Khwarazm.
Fighting archer, 1415, Battle of Agincourt The battle has long been celebrated, given the apparent long odds against the British. The 1931 Histomap: The entire history of the world distilled into a single map/chart. The Vault is Slate's history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here. This “Histomap,” created by John B. Sparks, was first printed by Rand McNally in 1931. (The David Rumsey Map Collection hosts a fully zoomable version here.) (Update: Click on the image below to arrive at a bigger version.) This giant, ambitious chart fit neatly with a trend in nonfiction book publishing of the 1920s and 1930s: the “outline,” in which large subjects (the history of the world! The 5-foot-long Histomap was sold for $1 and folded into a green cover, which featured endorsements from historians and reviewers. The actual picture of the march of civilization, from the mud huts of the ancients thru the monarchistic glamour of the middle ages to the living panorama of life in present day America.
This stunning geological map of Europe was produced in 1875 by Andre Dumont, a Belgian scientist and mapmaker. Gateway. Revolutionary War: Document shows orders for officers recruiting new soldiers for the Continental Army. The Vault is Slate's new history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr.
Find out more about what this space is all about here. This undated sheet, addressed to a “Col. Jackson,” issues instructions for enlistment of men in the Continental Army. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which holds the orders, believes that the addressee was Henry Jackson, who commanded various Massachusetts regiments between 1777 and 1784. The document shows how, in the absence of a central structure for recruitment, officers of individual regiments were in charge of enlisting new soldiers and enforcing recruitment policy determined by the Continental Congress. These orders begin by restricting enlistment by racial category: “Neither Negroes, Mulattoes, or Indians, shall be inlisted in the Service of the United States.”
6 Free Online Resources for Primary Source Documents. The Common Core Learning Standards describe the importance of teaching students how to comprehend informational text. They are asked to read closely, make inferences, cite evidence, analyze arguments and interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text. Primary source documents are artifacts created by individuals during a particular period in history. This could be a letter, speech, photograph or journal entry.
If you're looking to integrate social studies into your literacy block, try out one of these resources for primary source documents. 1. The National Archives is a fantastic resource. 2. Also run by the National Archives, DocsTeach is full of activities for educators. 3. Spartacus Educational is a great resource for global history. 4.
Fordham University is another good resource for global history. 5. Broken down by time period then listed in alphabetical order, the Avalon Project at Yale University also has primary sources for global history teachers. 6. Easy iPad Access. Invitation to World Literature. Greek, by Euripides, first performed in 405 BCE The passionate loves and longings, hopes and fears of every culture live on forever in their stories. Here is your invitation to literature from around the world and across time. Sumerian, 2600 BCE and older Turkish, by Orhan Pamuk, 2000 Greek, by Homer, ca. eighth century BCE Greek, by Euripides, first performed in 405 BCE Sanskrit, first century CE Japanese, by Murasaki Shikibu, ca. 1014 Chinese, by Wu Ch'êng-ên, ca. 1580 Quiché-Mayan, written in the Roman alphabet ca. 1550s French, by Voltaire, 1759 English, by Chinua Achebe, 1959 Spanish, by Gabriel García Márquez, 1967 English, by Arundhati Roy, 1998 Arabic, first collected ca. fourteenth century.
Textbook Files - Ms. Aunet's Social Studies Website. World History Teachers Blog. Wow! If teenagers today think they have a rough life with high school and college, they should be thankful that they did not live in the Middle Ages. That's because almost all teenagers in medieval times, rich and poor, were bound over to work in someone else's home for seven or eight years! According to this interesting story in BBC News Magazine,"many parents of all classes sent their children away from home to work as servants or apprentices - only a small minority went into the church or to university. " Why did the system develop? The children had to behave. This might be worth giving to my freshmen as an extra-credit project. Thanks to David Walp (@davidwalp) for tweeting the link. Europe after the French Revolution: Restoration and the revolution... World History~~Fr Rev & Napoleonic Era - Miss Hammond's Classes.
Europe after the French Revolution: Restoration and the revolution... World History: Patterns of Interaction - Free Textbook Handouts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt & HISTORY® Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and HISTORY® have formed an exclusive partnership to create social studies curriculum that connects students to history through virtual experiences that are energizing, inspiring, and memorable. Combining the exceptional scholarship of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with the experiential multimedia assets of HISTORY®, we’ve created a new arena in the classroom. Together, we invite you to be a part of history.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt & HISTORY® in your classroom Social studies curriculum infuses HISTORY® assets, connecting students to content iBooks® Textbooks bring social studies to life with anytime, anywhere mobile access Motivating product resources enhance classroom instruction and inspire students Learn more about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt & HISTORY® HISTORY® and related logos are the property of A&E Television Networks (AETN). iBooks® is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Thirty Years War 1618-1648. The Thirty Years' Wars Most textbooks refer to two different series of events as the "Thirty Years' War. One occurs in the first half of the 17th century and the other in the middle of the 18th century.
You must be certain that you do not confuse these two events. Following is a summary of both wars. Use this page to help keep the ideas and events straight. The Thirty Years' Wars 1618-1648 The Origins of the Conflict The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had brought a temporary truce in the religious connict in the German states. The Bohemian Period (1618-1625) In 1617, the Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand of Styria as king of Bohemia. Ferdinand's election alarmed Bohemian Calvinists, who feared the loss of their religious rights. Emperor Ferdinand II won the support of Maximilian I (1573-1651) of Bavaria, the leader of Catholic League.
Emperor Ferdinand II regained the Bohemian throne, Maximilian of Bavaria acquired the Palatinate. The Danish Period (1625-1629) The Swedish Period (1630-1635) 1. 3. History - British History in depth: Black Death. Medieval - Essay | Imaging Japanese History. Medieval Japan: An Introductory Essay by Ethan Segal, Michigan State University Introduction Medieval Japan may call to mind honorable sword-wielding samurai and stealthy ninja assassins. These figures, often seen in popular movies and games about pre-modern Japan, are only loosely based on reality. In fact, many different types of people helped shape the medieval period. Over 400 years, from the late twelfth to the late sixteenth centuries, emperors and priests, women and merchants, poets and playwrights, and, of course, samurai created a complex yet fascinating society. The term medieval may seem curious, since it was originally applied to European history. The Genpei War As late as the 1170s, no one could have guessed that warriors led by the Minamoto clan were about to establish an independent government.
By 1179, Kiyomori had made himself a virtual dictator. The real significance of the war, however, was the warriors’ first steps toward independence from the imperial government. Millennium - The Fifteenth Century.
Medieval. Ten Beautiful Medieval Maps. Our list of the best medieval maps – ten maps created between the sixth and sixteenth centuries, which offer unique views into how medieval people saw their world. These maps are arranged chronologically, which helps to reveal some of the changes that took place during the Middle Ages in how people created maps. Madaba Mosaic Map In 542 AD, a Byzantine church was built at Madaba, Jordan. When it was built, or in the first thirty years after, a large mosaic was laid which depicted the Holy Land with Jerusalem.
An earthquake struck Madaba in 746 and the town was abandoned. Only part of the mosaic survives, but it reveals much about the Holy Land. The T-O Map of Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636) was one of the leading scholars of the Early Middle Ages. The mass of solid land is called round after the roundness of a circle, because it is like a wheel [...] This type of map, which historians refer to as a T-O map, became the basis for many medieval maps. Tabula Rogeriana. FC88. World History.