Welcome!

Enter a player name to begin or load your saved progress.

Political history Wiki2Web Clarity Challenge

Study Hints Create Teach
Global Score: 0
Trophies: 0 🏆

‹ Back

Score: 0 / 100

Study Guide: The Evolution and Scope of Political History

Cheat Sheet:
The Evolution and Scope of Political History Study Guide

Foundations of Political History

The scope of political history is exclusively limited to the actions of national leaders and major political parties.

Answer: False

Explanation: The provided text indicates that political history encompasses a broader range of subjects, including political events, ideas, movements, government structures, voters, and parties, not solely national leaders and major parties.

Return to Game

The study of ideology is considered unimportant in political history, as it is posited not to drive historical change.

Answer: False

Explanation: The study of ideology is considered crucial in political history, as it is often viewed as a significant driver of historical change. Indeed, some assertions suggest that political history cannot truly exist without examining ideological differences.

Return to Game

Studies in political history typically focus on a global scale, extensively examining international relations.

Answer: False

Explanation: The typical focus of studies in political history, as indicated by the source material, is on a single nation and its political development over time, rather than exclusively on a global scale or extensive international relations.

Return to Game

Leopold von Ranke is credited with authoring the first "scientific" political history in 19th-century Germany.

Answer: True

Explanation: Leopold von Ranke is indeed recognized for writing the first "scientific" political history in 19th-century Germany, a contribution that significantly influenced historical methodologies and the critical examination of sources.

Return to Game

Political history is closely related to fields such as constitutional history and public history.

Answer: True

Explanation: The definition of political history explicitly states its close relationship with fields like constitutional history, public history, diplomatic history, and social history, indicating significant overlap and interdisciplinary connections.

Return to Game

The definition of political history includes the study of voters and political parties.

Answer: True

Explanation: The definition provided for political history explicitly includes the study of voters and political parties as integral components of its scope, alongside events, ideas, movements, and leaders.

Return to Game

According to the provided text, what constitutes the fundamental subject matter of political history?

Answer: The organization and operation of power within large societies.

Explanation: The text explicitly defines political history as the study of the organization and operation of power within large societies, encompassing political events, ideas, movements, government structures, voters, parties, and leaders.

Return to Game

Which historical figure is recognized for authoring the first "scientific" political history, thereby influencing critical source examination?

Answer: Leopold von Ranke

Explanation: Leopold von Ranke is credited with writing the first "scientific" political history in 19th-century Germany. His methodologies profoundly influenced the way historians critically examine sources, a concept further explored in historiography.

Return to Game

Regarding the study of government, what does the definition of political history encompass?

Answer: It includes the study of governmental organs.

Explanation: The definition of political history explicitly includes the study of 'organs of government,' indicating that its scope extends beyond specific types of regimes to encompass the structures and institutions through which power is exercised.

Return to Game

What level of analysis does political history typically employ, according to the text?

Answer: A single nation over time.

Explanation: The text indicates that studies in political history typically concentrate on a single nation, examining its political changes and development over a specific temporal span, rather than focusing exclusively on global relations or local communities.

Return to Game

What was the principal impact of Leopold von Ranke's scholarly contributions on the field of political history?

Answer: It influenced methodologies for the critical examination of sources.

Explanation: Leopold von Ranke's work, particularly his approach to writing 'scientific' history, profoundly influenced subsequent historical methodologies by emphasizing the critical examination and use of primary sources.

Return to Game

According to its definition, what does political history explicitly encompass the study of?

Answer: Political events, ideas, movements, and leaders.

Explanation: The definition of political history explicitly includes the study of political events, ideas, movements, and leaders, alongside government structures, voters, and parties, providing a comprehensive scope for the discipline.

Return to Game

According to the text, what is the nature of the relationship between political history and diplomatic history?

Answer: Political history is closely related to diplomatic history.

Explanation: The text explicitly states that political history is closely related to diplomatic history, indicating a significant degree of overlap and shared analytical concerns between these two subfields.

Return to Game

According to the text, what specific domain does the political history of the world examine?

Answer: The history of politics and government on a global scale, encompassing international relations.

Explanation: The political history of the world, as described in the text, specifically examines the history of politics and government on a global scale, with a particular emphasis on international relations and the history of political thinking.

Return to Game

Evolution of Historical Methodologies

Since the 1960s, the academic prominence of traditional political history has significantly increased.

Answer: False

Explanation: Contrary to this statement, the provided material indicates that since approximately the 1960s, traditional political history has experienced a decline in prominence within academic circles, largely due to the rise of competing subdisciplines like social and cultural history.

Return to Game

Social history and cultural history movements emerged in the 1950s, posing challenges to traditional political history.

Answer: False

Explanation: While social and cultural history movements did challenge traditional political history, their significant emergence and impact are more accurately placed in the 1960s and 1970s, rather than the 1950s.

Return to Game

Social historians in the 1960s and 1970s generally viewed political history as a relevant and central field of study.

Answer: False

Explanation: Social historians during the 1960s and 1970s often disdained traditional political history, frequently viewing it as elitist, shallow, and irrelevant to the experiences of ordinary people.

Return to Game

Paul Readman argued that British scholars readily embraced 20th-century history due to abundant primary sources.

Answer: False

Explanation: According to Paul Readman, British scholars initially overlooked 20th-century history due to factors such as temporal proximity, source unavailability, and potential for bias, rather than readily embracing it due to abundant sources.

Return to Game

Methodological shifts, including the use of oral history, have increased interest in 20th-century British history.

Answer: True

Explanation: The text supports the assertion that methodological shifts, such as the adoption of oral history, have indeed contributed to a heightened scholarly interest in 20th-century British history.

Return to Game

The shift from traditional political history to social history involved focusing more on elites and national decisions.

Answer: False

Explanation: The shift from traditional political history to social history involved a move away from focusing primarily on elites and national decisions towards examining the experiences and roles of ordinary people, marginalized groups, and broader societal structures.

Return to Game

After 1990, postmodern and cultural approaches largely replaced social history in academic prominence.

Answer: True

Explanation: The text indicates that following 1990, social history itself began to decline in prominence, being largely superseded by postmodern and cultural approaches that often challenged or rejected grand historical narratives.

Return to Game

Traditional political history in the US constituted less than 20% of scholarly output before 1950.

Answer: False

Explanation: Before 1950, traditional political history constituted approximately 25% of scholarly books and articles by American historians, a figure that rose to about 33% into the 1960s, contradicting the notion of it being less than 20%.

Return to Game

Which subdisciplines are identified as contributing factors to the decline in prominence of traditional political history since the mid-20th century?

Answer: Social history and cultural history

Explanation: The text identifies social history and cultural history as key subdisciplines that emerged and gained prominence, thereby challenging and contributing to the decline in the relative importance of traditional political history in academic discourse since the mid-20th century.

Return to Game

What was a prevalent criticism leveled against traditional political history by social historians during the 1960s and 1970s?

Answer: It was deemed elitist, shallow, and irrelevant.

Explanation: A common criticism voiced by social historians was that traditional political history was elitist, shallow, and irrelevant to understanding the lived experiences of the majority of people, contrasting sharply with their own focus on ordinary individuals and marginalized groups.

Return to Game

According to Paul Readman, what were the primary reasons British scholars initially overlooked 20th-century history?

Answer: Temporal proximity, source unavailability, and the potential for bias.

Explanation: Paul Readman posited that British scholars initially neglected 20th-century history due to its temporal proximity to the present, the challenges associated with primary source availability, and the inherent potential for bias when studying recent events.

Return to Game

According to the provided text, what significant shift occurred in the landscape of historical study subsequent to 1990?

Answer: Postmodern and cultural approaches began to supplant social history.

Explanation: The text indicates that after 1990, social history itself experienced a decline in its academic prominence, largely being replaced by postmodern and cultural approaches that frequently questioned or rejected grand historical narratives.

Return to Game

In what fundamental way did the focus of social history diverge from that of traditional political history?

Answer: Social history centered on ordinary people and marginalized groups, while traditional political history focused on leaders and national decisions.

Explanation: Social history shifted the focus from the traditional emphasis on political elites and national decisions to the experiences and roles of ordinary people, including marginalized groups, thereby offering a broader perspective on societal dynamics.

Return to Game

The "New Political History" in the US

The "new political history" in the United States emphasized the actions of politicians and leaders, rather than voter behavior.

Answer: False

Explanation: The "new political history" in the US, emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, shifted focus from solely politicians and leaders towards the behavior and motivations of voters, integrating quantitative methods and social themes.

Return to Game

The "new political history" in the United States integrated quantitative methods and focused on voter motivations.

Answer: True

Explanation: The "new political history" in the US integrated quantitative methods and placed significant emphasis on understanding voter motivations, often incorporating social themes into its analysis.

Return to Game

The "new political history" in the United States primarily focused on the historical analysis of political speeches.

Answer: False

Explanation: The "new political history" in the US shifted its focus from traditional analyses of politicians' actions to voter behavior, utilizing quantitative methods and integrating social themes, rather than concentrating solely on political speeches.

Return to Game

What methodological innovation distinguished the "new political history" that emerged in the United States?

Answer: A focus on voter behavior employing quantitative methods and integrating social themes.

Explanation: The "new political history" in the US marked a significant methodological shift by prioritizing the study of voter behavior and motivations, extensively utilizing quantitative methods and incorporating social themes, thereby broadening the analytical scope beyond the traditional focus on political elites.

Return to Game

What specific social themes were particularly emphasized by younger scholars involved in the "new political history" movement in the United States?

Answer: Ethnicity and religion.

Explanation: Younger scholars associated with the "new political history" in the US integrated social themes into their analyses, with a notable emphasis placed on ethnicity and religion, particularly in relation to voter behavior and motivations.

Return to Game

Which description most accurately characterizes the "new political history" approach prevalent in US academia?

Answer: An approach emphasizing voter behavior, quantitative methods, and social factors such as ethnicity.

Explanation: The "new political history" in the US is best described as an approach that emphasized voter behavior, employed quantitative methods, and integrated social factors like ethnicity and religion, moving beyond the traditional focus on political elites.

Return to Game

Historiographical Schools and Concepts

The "Primat der Innenpolitik" concept suggests that foreign policy decisions primarily drive domestic political changes.

Answer: False

Explanation: The "Primat der Innenpolitik" concept, originating in German historiography, posits the opposite: that domestic insecurities and policies are the primary drivers shaping a state's foreign policy decisions.

Return to Game

The French Annales School focused heavily on political events and diplomacy.

Answer: False

Explanation: The French Annales School, with its emphasis on the 'longue durée,' geography, and economics, tended to downplay political events and diplomacy in favor of broader, long-term societal and environmental trends.

Return to Game

Fernand Braudel's *The Mediterranean* primarily focused on the diplomatic policies of Philip II.

Answer: False

Explanation: While Fernand Braudel's *The Mediterranean* did include a section on Philip II's policies, its primary focus was on the 'longue durée'—broad, long-term cycles of history—with traditional diplomatic history constituting only a smaller part of the work.

Return to Game

The core idea of "Primat der Innenpolitik" is that foreign policy dictates domestic political agendas.

Answer: False

Explanation: The core idea of "Primat der Innenpolitik" is that domestic politics and insecurities are the primary drivers that shape and compel a nation's foreign policy decisions, reversing the direction suggested in the question.

Return to Game

The Annales School's focus on "longue durée" led it to prioritize political events over economic trends.

Answer: False

Explanation: The Annales School's emphasis on the "longue durée" led it to prioritize broader economic and environmental trends over political events and diplomacy.

Return to Game

The "Primat der Innenpolitik" concept originated from historians like Fernand Braudel.

Answer: False

Explanation: The "Primat der Innenpolitik" concept is associated with German historians such as Hans-Ulrich Wehler, not Fernand Braudel, who is primarily linked with the Annales School and the concept of 'longue durée'.

Return to Game

What does the concept of "Primat der Innenpolitik" propose regarding the relationship between domestic and foreign policy?

Answer: Domestic insecurities and policies are the principal drivers of a state's foreign policy.

Explanation: The concept of "Primat der Innenpolitik" suggests that domestic insecurities and policies serve as the primary drivers that shape and compel a state's foreign policy decisions, positing a strong causal link from the internal to the external.

Return to Game

In what manner did the French Annales School diverge from traditional political history in its approach to historical inquiry?

Answer: By emphasizing geography, economics, and long-term cycles ('longue durée') over political events.

Explanation: The French Annales School distinguished itself by emphasizing factors such as geography, economics, and long-term historical cycles (the 'longue durée'), often downplaying the significance of political events and diplomacy in favor of broader societal and environmental trends.

Return to Game

Which historical figure is prominently associated with the concept of the "longue durée" and a methodological shift away from traditional diplomatic history in his scholarship?

Answer: Fernand Braudel

Explanation: Fernand Braudel, a key figure of the Annales School, is strongly associated with the concept of the 'longue durée,' advocating for a focus on long-term historical processes and often de-emphasizing traditional diplomatic history in his influential works, such as *The Mediterranean*.

Return to Game

What analytical trend did the Annales School's emphasis on the 'longue durée' foster within historical scholarship?

Answer: A downplaying of politics in favor of broader economic and environmental trends.

Explanation: The Annales School's focus on the 'longue durée' encouraged a historical analysis that downplayed the significance of immediate political events and diplomacy, instead prioritizing the study of enduring economic, social, and environmental trends.

Return to Game