Ranke-rama
Quotable Quotes
Classical Corner
Tell me the Term
You've been schooled
100
Ranke wrote a thesis on this classical historian in his youth.
Who is Thucydides? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me why this might be significant!
100
This historian famously stated “Study the historian before you begin to study the facts.”
Who is E. H. Carr?
100
Herodotus claimed that this was the aim of his history.
What is to celebrate and commemorate the great deeds of men so that their reputations would never fade and die?
100
In Marxist terms, the means of labour (land, tools, raw materials, and workers themselves with their skills are referred to collectively as this.
What are the forces of production? BONUS POINTS if you can tell define relations of production.
100
This type of history does not explore what did happen, but what might have happened.
What is counterfactual history? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me a problem or a plus with this type of history.
200
It was in this work that Ranke famously stated that his history aimed to show what actually happened: wie es eigentlich gewesen.
What is the History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me what the alternative interpretation is.
200
This historian claimed that he would be content if his history would "be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future."
Who is Thucydides? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me which city Thucydides was from?
200
This historian has claimed that Thucydides was revisionist historians.
What is Kagan? BONUS POINTS if you can also give me the date of publication! BONUS POINTS if you can tell me WHY Kagan has asserted this view!
200
This term is used to describe the way in which economic (material) conditions shape everything significant in human society.
What is historical materialism?
200
British historians who tended to write history with their present day political beliefs very much in mind (particularly their enthusiasm for British parliamentary democracy).
What is Whig historians? BONUS POINTS if you can name the Whig historian who wrote The History of England (1855-61)?
300
In which work did Ranke claim that history was both a science and an art?
What is the History of France (1852-1861)? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me what Ranke meant by this?
300
It was in this work that Ranke claimed that he had attempted to “extinguish my own self, as it were, to let the things [primary sources] speak…”
What is English History, Principally in the 17th Century (1859)?
300
Herodotus claimed to have seen the bones of these creatures in Book Two of his history.
What are winged serpents (or sacred serpents)? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me how you might use this example in an exam!
300
This term is used to describe when all the visible aspects of society (culture, political & legal institutions, religious belief) are determined by this economic base
What is economic determinism? BONUS POINTS if you can provide an example of economic determinism in society.
300
Social theorist, Auguste Comte, is thought to be responsible for the rise of this influential idea in the 19th century.
What is positivism? BONUS POINTS if you can explain the concept of positivism OR its significance for historiography.
400
After critically evaluating primary sources, Ranke claimed that this was required by the historian.
What is intuition? BONUS POINTS if you can explain why this is significant.
400
This historian stated: "Ranke is the representative of the age that instituted the modern study of history. He taught it to be critical, to be colourless, and to be new. We meet him at every step, and he has done more for us than any other man."
Who is Lord Acton? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me where this quote comes from OR if you can evaluate what Lord Acton's meaning may have been.
400
This television documentary has some features in common with Herodotus' style of reporting history.
What is Michael Wood's In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great? BONUS POINTS if you can name the historian who suggested this connection AND where/ when they said it.
400
The term used to describe history that is written so that it is linear, future-directed and goal-directed; where the past is conceived of in terms of future events.
What is teleological? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me a type of history that tends to be teleological.
400
During the ‘long eighteenth century’ (1660-1830), history was generally viewed as a branch of this.
What is literature?
500
This historian asserted that Ranke's saying (wie es eigentlich gewesen) still needed to be ‘preached’ until it was fully accepted.
Who is J. B. Bury? BONUS POINTS if you can provide the context for this remark OR some detail about Bury.
500
This man stated that historians can not "ever rid ourselves entirely of the views of our own time and personality."
Who is Jacob Burckhardt? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me who his most famous teacher was.
500
This later Greek historian accused Herodotus of being philobarbaros (too fond of foreigners).
Who is Plutarch? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me the work in which Plutarch stated this opinion. BONUS POINTS if you can tell me Curthoys & Docker's view of Herodotus' approach in this matter.
500
The idea that there are competing forces in history which drive the progress of human history.
What is dialectic (dialectical materialism)? BONUS POINTS if you can name the philosopher who influenced Marx's thinking on this point.
500
This writer had a huge impact on the writing of history - but was not technically a historian himself.
Who is Marx? BONUS POINTS if you can tell me in which work Marx stated: “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle.”
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