The Past is wonderful. And history is more than 'States and Dates'. It's people

I have no wish to blow my own trumpet but I was a remarkable historian in my early twenties. My historical mind was as sharp as any others and sharper than most. That leading edge is perhaps a little blunter through lack of continual use. But that is not the point, the passion for history is the point. That is still and will always be there; that inability to douse the fires for knowledge gathering will never go out. 

Many people assume history is 'states and dates'. The present government seems to think so. But it isn't to me. Of course, they are part of the framing structure of history and always will. It is however, and always has been, the people involved that piques my interest, the squiggy bits of flesh and blood that have so impacted our world through sheer force of personality and opportunity to be able to change the streams of nationhood and the very world we live in. Some, mostly now ancient people even somehow managed to alter the course of the very world; The Greek generals at Marathon/Plataea, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Saladdin, Genghis Khan, hitler, et al. All in good ways and bad ways altered those streams and making descendants live in worlds remarkably different to the worlds they lived in.

Yet, it's not always just the great figures, the statesmen. They have formed so much history up until the last 100 years because they tended to be the ones with the education to write and record their achievements. History has been changed by the education of the masses in the last hundred years and the change in technology that means we can now record and have an interest in 'social' history, as opposed to the domination of 'political history'.

Recently, a very close relative died. She was 91 years of age. I have been thinking, from a historical point of view; from 1922 she has been a part of a country that has seen, arguably a time of the most dramatic changes in nationhood. born into an Imperial state, now a middle ranking european power with delusions of lost glory, some find difficult to let go. She was born in a year of a coalition government in British politics and she died under a coalition government which is some coincidence. She was born in a time of economic catastrophy (where hyperinflation devastated post war Germany to such an extent the German state even now, remains wary of inflation) and dies in a time called the 'age of austerity'. These seem to be the over arching metathemes proving history often repeats itself. 

However I also started pondering two things; what was a baby born into post war Nottingham, to pretty much a form of abject poverty that if seen today would result in a free concert and Bob Geldof knocking on your door. A time before insulation, hot and cold running water on tap, electric gadget's that have given us so much leisure time and a time still of big families to ensure the family surviving to adulthood. A time when only the elite went to University; the rest out of school and into back breaking work at 14. A hard time, and a way for us to all count our blessings to how soft our life truly is. What was happening in the world, in 1922?

The second was what happened during those 91 years of time?


In 1922, here are some key world events.

• The year begins with the British Empire at its largest extent, covering a quarter of the world and ruling over one in four people on earth. - (Nannar was born into a country that as far as history has so far progressed can still lay claim to being the largest ever land empire in history)
• The British release the last prisoners from the Irish war of independence
• The British declare the Independence of Egypt from the British protectorate it established in 1914.
• Mohandas Gandhi is arrested for sedition by British forces in British India and sentenced to six years in prison.
• Joseph Stalin is appointed the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
• The Russian Civil War finally ends with the victory of the Reds (Bolsheviks)
• The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is formed. The great enemy of the west (& USA) led by Stalin until the 50's until it is finally defeated in 1991. (Nannar outlived the USSR by 21 years). Think about enormity of that in an historical term, it's mindblowing.
• The Americans start building the Yankee's Stadium, in New York.
• They also dedicate, in this year, the Lincoln Monument.
• The Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded (she outlived that too)
• The Irish Civil War begins and this year sees the Battle of Dublin & the death of Michael Collins.
• The Greek-Turkish war ends (1919-1922)
• The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is founded.
• In Italy, Benito Mussolini, Fascist co
• mes to power after his march on Rome.
• The Ottoman Empire is abolished (founded in 1299) it lasts 623 years and was founded in the time when the English King was, Edward II.
• In this year also, finally we have the discovery and entry to the tomb of the Egyptian Pharoah, Tutankhamun

As you can see, 1922 was quite some year, looking back historically.


From question 1 we move onto question 2; What was lived through. This is fairly subjective and not exhaustive but here goes;

• 1924 Lenin dies. Stalin becomes leader of the USSR (2)
• 1926 John Logie Baird demonstrates the mechanical television device (4)
• 1926 The British General Strike begins (4)
• 1929 The Wall street Crash ushers in a world depression (7)
• 1933 Hitler appointed German Chancellor (11)
• 1939-1945 Second World War (17-23)
• 1950-1953 Korean War (28-31)
• 1958 EEC (European Economic Community) founded (36)
• 1962 Beatles release their first Single (40)
• 1964 Cassius Clay becomes Heavyweight Champion of the world (42)
• 1966 England win the world cup (44)
• 1970 The National Westminster Bank begins trading in the UK (48)
• 1972 The sales of the Volkswagon Beetle exceeds that of the Model T ford (over 15m) (50)
• 1975 Microsoft is founded (53)
• 1975 Vietnam War ends (53)
• 1976 Apple Corp is founded (54)
• 1980 Pac Man is released in Japan (58)
• 1982 The Falklands War begins (60)
• 1985 Coca Cola change their formula and launch 'New Coke'. It bombs and is changed back after 3 months (63)
• 1985 Microsoft release their first version of Windows, called originally, 1.0 (63)
• 1988 the Iran-Iraq war ends with the loss of over 1 million people (66)
• 1989 the first GPS Satellites are placed in orbit (67)
• 1989 Tim Berners-Lee explains the concept of the world wide web (67)
• 1992 The Cold war is formally declared to be over (70)
• 1995 World Trade Organisation is founded (73)
• 1995 America Online offers public access to the world wide web (73)
• 1998 The second Congo war begins, ending in 2003 it kills 3.9m people the bloodiest war since WW2 (76)
• 1998 Google is founded (76)
• 2001 Taliban begin the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas (79)
• 2004 Facebook Launches (82)
• 2007 Apple launch the first iphone (85)
• 2008 Fidel Castro resigns as president of Cuba (86)
• 2010 Spain win the football world cup (88)
• 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elisabeth II (90)
• 2013 Benedict resigns as Pope. There are now two living popes (91)

And there we go. A lifetime summed in events. From the Age of Post War Britain to Post Financial Collapse Britain and all in between. A lifetime in events, now ended. Nannar will see no more history being formed around her. I face this prospect too, as does my children and it scares me to death. Just thinking about it brings such a terrible depression. 

We are, essentially, living time capsules, passing history on once, orally, then literary and now technologically. All the while, it is still 'personal', as good history should be.