What a (U.S.) World History Textbook Teaches About Napoleon & WWI

I ran across a 7th grade world history textbook the other day, and decided to see what it taught about Napoleon and WWI, since those are two major topics I've been learning about on my channel. As I've gone through the videos here on YouTube, I've been amazed at how little I know about these topics, so I was curious how much we learn about them in school here in the U.S. It brought up some interesting questions - like should we should we change how and what we teach in history? If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe!

00:00 - Intro
04:06 - Napoleon
10:28 - WWI
12:21 - Outro

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#History #Napoleon #WWI

[SoGal_YT]

What do you think about how history is taught in school? Like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video 👍🏻 Follow me on social media, and join my Discord & Patreon:

[vaudevillian]

One of the main things I studied at University (in the UK) was the Revolutionary War, the American students on the course really enjoyed it because it went into more nuance and was less biased (their words) than what they had studied at college in the US to that point at least. Which makes sense, for us it was another event in history and not part of our founding mythology (nor is it, as some Americans seem to believe, our great shame either). We don’t have the same emotional attachment to the redcoats as Americans do to the minutemen, for example.

[lilyliz]

I went to school in the early 60s, at primary school we got history from the Picts, angles etc up to WW2, our teacher had been in the war and his father in WW1 and he brought him in to speak to us, at secondary school we went into this and world history in more depth

[generaldreedle]

Having a good history teacher will benefit you better than any book. We never used books like that when I was at school anyway. It was the enthusiasm of the teacher which drew me to history. He was a top man.

[untruelie]

I read a few paragraphs at minute 11:00 and what really surprised me was the casual language of the text. Granted, it's a book for 12 or 13 year old children, but it still seems to be very... "unprofessional".
Thank you for this insight. :)

(Examples: "...some small countries placed a chip on their shoulders and dared the big powers to knock it off" or "...Britain claimed not did not [sic!] care who was boss in Europe.")

[untruelie]

I think the crucial lesson here is that school can only provide a general overview on all topics, especially history. Our time in school might be finite, but our search for more (and more detailed) knowledge never ends. And isn't it nice that were all are on this voyage together?

[carokat]

Australian here. I do not recall learning about Napoleon until Year 11, when I took History as one of my senior subjects. But I spent a whole term, about ten weeks on the French Rev, Napoleon and his legacy, so it was a very in-depth coverage.

[oliversherman]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!!

[mikelavoie]

That was an interesting overview. It's more or less the same in Canada, except that we probably cover a bit more of the British Empire history. Some years ago I picked up a world history textbook for a slightly older audience (probably 11th or 12th grade) and its coverage was similarly abbreviated, though it did go into a bit more depth.

I think that the teacher is expected to fill in the blanks depending on what the curriculum dictates. I remember my high school history doing exactly that with handouts, slides, lectures, etc. Like in the US, school boards here also set their own curriculum.

EDIT: I'd have to dig it out of my storage locker, but if you're interested I could send it to you. It might make for an interesting comparison. It was also published about 30 years ago so the last chapters covered the Paris student riots of 1968, the counterculture era, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and (I think) the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I think the problem with teaching history, now and in the past, is that too often the textbooks and teachers make it seem like an orderly series of public works projects broken up by the occasional war, natural disaster or epidemic. My mother experienced this firsthand and always said that she hates history because "it's just a bunch of dates", which I'm sure is how it was taught to her. I was lucky to have an excellent high school history teacher who encouraged my love of history.

[TheSimon]

In Sweden, we sort of have a saying that what you learn for the first 9 years are more about giving you the basics and helping you find what you find interesting.

[Waldorf]

There was no such entity as Belgium in 1815 when the battle of Waterloo took place. That area was called the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of modern day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Belgians revolted in 1830 and gained their independence, forming the Kingdom of Belgium. I know it's only a minor technicality, but the text book was imprecise calling Waterloo a Belgian village.

[sopwithpuppy]

Very little known fact about Napoleon...There was an "exploration voyage" (read French spy mission) to visit the new colony in Australia. It arrived a few weeks after Captain Arthur Phillip's first fleet arrived in Australia to set up the colony. They exchanged letters etc, and the French expedition departed and was never seen again. When they were selecting the crew members for this voyage, they visited the Military Academy, and took two teachers, and they could not decide which student to take. Eventually they selected the student who was better at astral navigation. The student they failed to select was a 16 year old Napoleon Bonaparte. Had he been selected, the world would have been a VERY different place than it is today.

[reviewgodusa]

I graduated a couple years ago. I remember we talked about napoleon freshman year. He was mentioned when we talked about the war of 1812 and the Louisiana purchase. He is viewed neutrally here in the states. Our teacher also made an off topic comment about how napoleon was defeated when he invaded Russia.

[oliversherman]

When I studied history in school (UK) I was mainly taught stuff like Medieval England, the Renaissance era, medicine through time, Victorian Britain, WW1, Nazi Germany, WW2 and the Cold War

[peterjackson]

At secondary school in the 70s we started with prehistory, early mesopotamian civilizations, and egypt in the first term, ancient greece in the second term and the romans in the third. The following year we covered anglo-saxon and medieval british history. Then I dropped history. I liked it, but could not remember dates and names so did poorly in the exams. I was given a book on history which covered a number of topics as a present and learnt a lot from that, e.g. about the development of voting in Britain, and WW1.

[havel]

The Wars of Napoleon changed the Maps and Law s in Europe and was the Basic for further wars. Iam blessed that i had the Chance to Talk with a Veteran of WW1 the elder Brother of my grandfather born 1895. He passed away with 96 After 4 years in WW1 Battlefields. He also was fighting in Spartacus Riot After the War and his Grandfather was fighting against the french 1870 in Sedan. It seems my family was always in Stress with the french. Interesting is my family lived Close to Alsace and some Cousins of them was fighting in both wars for the french.

[chrisigoeb]

School in the US: We won the war all on our own!
Which war?
US: EVERY WAR.
Thats what Europeans expect

[mignonthon]

French here im 38 and american revolution and civil war is way more than a foot note in our history books, i remember we also had to learn all the US states. But its never too late to learn and you proove it.

[alansmithee]

Hello SoGal and Roger. I am not sure what UK kids learn now. The only time Napoleon came up in my school history was when I did a presentation on 1812 Russian campaign in middle school (my city used to have them) and then did a project on Waterloo at 13 to get my grades to go on to do history to 16, after which I dropped it as I was doing science to go on to do a science degree.
I did UK social and economic history for my exams at 16. The Napoleonic wars were only brought up in how they influenced the industrial revolution, the effect of redundant soldiers after Waterloo and the influence on Chartism and the Peterloo Massacre that I keep asking you about taking a look at.
I know in 1970s English Literature in schools had WW1 poetry as a subject, but by the time I did that the only reference of these subjects was the Romantic poets' being influenced by the French Revolution.
9:00 the book had the poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" which I mentioned in previous comments. I have heard it said it was a form of Victorian spin to cover the army's failings that led to reforms and the "professional" army referred to in the Great War videos.
SoGal I would have loved to know if the book covered the "Yellow Press" and the potential war with the British Empire and the Spanish US War that happened sort of instead.
Lastly my teachers were big on academic references, especially in science, but I first learnt it in history lessons as I had to do a project like I mentioned above. I had said before that the main subject in history aged thirteen was AWI, but the teacher was unimpressed with Waterloo as he said it was unoriginal. WW1 hardly got a mention at school as kids' grandads and great grandads were in it and there were still shell shock victims around, so it was thought best forgotten. WW2 veterans taught me to play bowls, so it was hardly thought of as history.

[petersone]

When I was 12 my history lessons covered about 2, 000 years from the decline of the Greek empire and rise of the Roman Empire. More recent history was covered in greater depth as I got older.