Critical and Reflective Thinking

Is history the story told by the ‘winners’?

Yes, history was more told by the winners in the past but in more modern times we get both sides. It can be seen with the end of WW1 with the Treaty of Versailles as well in the Russian Revolution with the Tsar and Bolsheviks. The question is saying whoever wins the war or battle will write the history books making their win glorified and bias towards them. In regard to who writes history now in modern time history is told by both the winning and losing sides. This can be seen in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. Everyone has an opinion, even great leaders in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles is well known for drawing up the terms to end WW1. But, not everyone had a say in what the terms were. Germany for example was punished the hardest from this treaty but the country had no say in what was on the treaty. The terms were negotiated without Germany and the country was eventually forced to sign the treaty causing one reason for WW2 to start 20 years later. But to the allies opinion they made a good treaty and a fair one since Germany caused a lot of damage and death. But we do hear Germany’s side with their resentment for the treaty especially the war guilt cause as they weren’t the country to solely start the war. Seeing this example supports that both sides were heard and recorded. In the Russian Revolution we can see this in the change of government from the Tsar to the Bolsheviks. The Tsar had all the power in earlier Russia with an autocracy government but the Russia Revolution changed that. We can see the change in power with opinions on both. The Tsar didn’t want to give up his power but he was ultimately forced to by the out of control strike in Petrograd. While the Bolsheviks had their time forming their party and showing their want for change with the constant push for it over the years. Again both sides were heard and shown in history books.

I can analyze evidence to form my own judgements

In history specifically I feel like you do this all the time. Because you are always reading about a battle, revolution, someone or something. I believe you are constantly forming judgements and opinions. An example of when I did this would be when we had to analyze and come up with our own example of how a Henry Ford quote relates to modern day. I used this competency for that whole activity and could not complete the task without it.