Syllabuses for Upper Secondary Humanities subjects

Secondary 3 and 4 students taking Pure History, you can refer to the syllabus here.

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Pure Geography Syllabus here:

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Secondary 3 and 4 students: This is the syllabus for Social Studies, Elective Geography, and Elective History. Do check it out.

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5 things you did not know about the Cold War

Sec 4 Pure and Elective History students should be fairly familiar with the topic on the Cold War. I stumbled on this article "5 things you did not know about the Cold War". Here's a summary of the article:

1) It was predicted by Hitler - "... there will remain in the world only two Great Powers capable of confronting each other — the United States and Soviet Russia"
2) The 1st Cold War casualty was a Christian missionary

3) US had more communists on its side than the USSR (reason: US-Sino rapprochement - China and US moved closer to each other)

4) It cost the US about $8 trillion (By the way, the US is spending about $8 billion per month on the war in Iraq, so the amount spent on the Cold War could fund the Iraq operation for another 80 years)

5) It ended in part because of Apple (the computer; NOT the fruit!)

Treaty of Versailles Game

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Mile of London Tunnel for Sale!

A vast tunne complex in central London is up for sale. Yes. They are really selling a tunnel for $7.4 million. How cool is this? It's like a piece of history for sale. If I am filthy rich, I would purchase it because of its history. Sadly, I am not rich, let alone filthy rich.

For sale: a vast tunnel complex in central London. Former tenants include Britain’s secret service, the famous hot line between America and the Soviet Union during the cold war and 400 tons of government documents. The asking price is $7.4 million.

Appearing more like the set of a James Bond movie than prime real estate, the complex still has a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies.

The tunnels were built during World War II as bomb shelters for about 8,000 people and were designed to allow them to survive for five weeks shut off from the outside world.

During the cold war, the British government instructed its telephone department, which later became BT, to set up a secret communications system based on the latest technology that would be able to survive a nuclear attack... In 1963, the hot line established between Moscow and Washington after the Cuban missile crisis ran through the London tunnels. -via the New York Times

Duck and Cover Video

I was talking to Sec 3H about the nuclear arms race and how the US government tried to prepare the American citizens for a possible nuclear attack on American soil. The 'Duck and Cover' was a suggested method of protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation. You guys really have watch the entire video clip and see how they 'trained' children to be ready for a nuclear attack. Of course, we know that 'Duck and Cover' wouldn't shield them from the effects of a nuclear attack but it was a way to tell the people that they have to be prepared for such an eventuality.

Today in History

On this day in 1925, Volume One of Adolf Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, was published.

Today in History

This day in 1945, the Potsdam Conference took place. The Sec 3 History students should find this familiar. For the rest of you, in case you are wondering...

The Potsdam Conference was held towards the end of WW2 by the Big 3 (US, Soviet Union, Britain). They were supposed to discuss what to do in postwar Europe and how to deal with the ongoing war against Japan. By that time, the Soviet army which was fighting the Germans had occupied most of Eastern Europe. Such strong Soviet influence over Eastern Europe worried US and Britain - they were worried that the Soviets would not let go of its influence in Eastern Europe after the war. Suspicions permeated the meeting. By the time the conference ended on 2 August 1945, matters stood much where they had before the meeting.

Today in History

All you Modern World History students should know that the communists overthrew Tsar Nicholas II in 1917 and established the 1st communist government. What happened to the Tsar?

On this day in 1918, Russia's Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks (communists).

Today in History

All the Modern World History students out there, you probably remember how the US did not want to recognize the Chinese communist government formed in 1949. Relations had been bad for years.

However, this day in 1971, US President Richard Nixon announced he would visit the People's Republic of China to seek a 'normalization of relations' - this was to be the start of a thaw in Sino-US relaions.

Today in History

On 14 June 1933, all German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed. This effectively placed Germany under a one-man rule.