by Dr. Russell Cowie

The Essential Collection are resource books for modern history containing some of  the essential primary sources - both text and pictorial - on the major events of the period covered in each volume.

Each volume also includes biographies, built up from primary sources, of many of the major individuals involved in the events. Each source is introduced with notes to place the source in its historical context and to explain the historical significance of the source.

Volume One provides material from the French Revolution to the outbreak of the First World War.

Volume Two covers the major events from the First World War to the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

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Essential Collection Volume 1 Contents

Introduction

History as enquiry

The nature of primary source evidence

The nature of secondary sources

Four levels of meaning in evidence

Writing paragraphs in historical studies

Glossary of historical terms

Part One:  The Rights of Humankind

Item 1 God Save the King (circa 1701)

Item 2 The Bill of Rights 1689

Item 3 The American Declaration of Independence 1776

Item 4 Biography One: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Item 5 Rousseau on the nature of society, 1760-91

Item 6 The fall of the Bastille (Paris) and the Abolition of feudalism, 1789

Item 7 The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, 1789

Item 8 Women in the French Revolution 1789

Item 9 Napoleon Bonaparte on the spreading of the French Revolution 1807

Item 10 Biography Two: Napoleon Bonaparte

Item 11 A conservative reaction to the French Revolution from Edmund Burke 1790

Item 12 A re-statement of the Rights of Man by Thomas Paine 1792

Part Two: Reaction, Repression and Revolution

Item 13 The Holy Alliance and the Congress System 1814-15

Item 14 The Carlsbad Decrees 1819

Item 15 Biography Three: Klemens Metternich

Item 16 Revolutions of 1848

Item 17 The failure to create a unified Germany, Frankfurt 1848

Item 18 The refusal by the king of Prussia to accept the Crown of a united Germany from the Frankfurt Assembly 1848

Part Three: Social and Economic Forces for Change: The Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions

Item 19 The effects of 'Laissez-Faire' policies, early nineteenth century

Item 20 A protest in poetry

Item 21 The spread of the Industrial Revolution

Item 22 The significance of the great inventions

Item 23 Biography Four: Henry Bessemer and Sydney Gilchrist Thomas

Item 24 Living conditions in industrial cities

Item 25 Trade unionism in the nineteenth century

Item 26 Trade unionism: the symbols

Item 27 Steam power and the railways

Item 28 Biography Five: Isambard Brunei

Item 29 Biography Six: Michael Faraday

Part Four:  Legislating for Human Freedoms and for Parliamentary Democracy

Item 30 Debate on the First Reform Bill (Britain)1832

Item 31 The abolition of slavery 1833

Item 32 The Poor Law of 1834

Item 33 The Ten Hours Act 1847

Item 34 The Public Health Act 1848

Item 35 The Chartist Movement and People's Charter 1848

Item 36 The secession of the southern states of the USA 1861

Item 37 The Gettysburg Address defines democracy 1863

Item 38 Emancipation of the slaves in the USA 1862, 1865

Item 39 Biography Seven: Abraham Lincoln

Item 40 The Second and Third Reform Acts in Britain, 1867 and 1884

Item 41 The People's Budget 1909

Item 42 The Parliament Act and the restriction of the power of the House

of Lords 1911

Item 43 Biography Eight: David Lloyd George

Item 44 Votes for women

Item 45 Biography Nine: Emmeline Pankhurst

Part Five:  Beliefs, Ideologies and Arguments

Item 46 Adam Smith argues for free enterprise 1776

Item 47 Key socialist principles: Jeremy Bentham, Robert Owen, and Pierre Proudhon

Item 48 The socialist claim for state intervention

Item 49 Marx and Engels prophesy the overthrow of capitalism

Item 50 Biography Ten: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Item 51 J.S. Mill, on the Nature of Liberty, 1859

Item 52 Opposition to liberal and democratic practices, 1853

Item 53 Fabian socialism: the reformist path to a welfare state, 1884

Item 54 Charles Darwin proclaims the theory of evolution of species, 1859

Item 55 Malthus on the threat of population growth, 1793

Item 56 The Romantic movement: early nineteenth century

Item 57 A Union soldier explains why he is willing to die for the cause

Item 58 Pope Pius IX denounces errors of the time, 1864

Item 59 The challenge of Islam

Part Six: Education and Individualism

Item 60 Opposition to education for the workers: 1807

Item 61 An assessment of the state of education in Britain in 1820

Item 62 John Locke advocates freedom of choice for learners 1693

Item 63 Lancaster and Bell promote the monitorial system of schooling,

early 19th century

Item 64 Robert Owen advocates purposeful education for working-class children 1820

Item 65 Friedrich Froebel promotes education through the kindergarten 1820 - 1850s

Item 66 Robert Lowe comments on the need for educated voters 1867

Item 67 The Education Act 1870

Item 68 Maria Montessori claims that learning depends on activity 1912

Item 69 Free compulsory and secular education in Australia 1898-99

Item 70 Education for Women

Item 71 John Dewey relates education to democracy 1916

Part Seven: Devotion to Nationalism

Item 72 Mazzini appeals to the Italian nation to build a new world order 1871

Item 73 A prediction of the effects of nationalism 1862

Item 74 Biography Eleven: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Item 75 Admiration for the achievement of a united Italy 1860

Item 76 A belief that the unification of Italy would provide an example to others 1860

Item 77 William of Prussia accepts the title of Emperor of United Germany

Item 78 Newspaper comment on Bismarck's success in uniting Germany 1870

Item 79 The Nation State demands the total loyalty of the individual 1896

Item 80 An expression of national self-confidence circa 1877

Item 81 The essential self-interest of nationality

Part Eight: Nations and Imperialism

Item 82 Imperialism: a new word 1878

Item 83 A French argument for imperialism 1885

Item 84 A German opinion on the imperial impulse 1879

Item 85 Biography Twelve: Edward Gibbon Wakefield

Item 86 A British prime minister favours independence for colonies 1855

Item 87 The civilising task 1897

Item 88 The White Man's Burden 1899

Item 89 An American sense of mission 1900

Item 90 The Fashoda incident 1898

Item 91 Biography Thirteen: Cecil Rhodes

Item 92 The New Imperialism 1902

Item 93 Imperialism - the likely downfall of capitalism 1917

Part Nine: European Intrusions in Asia

Item 94 The Chinese emperor grants trade with Britain as a special favour 1793

Item 95 The British see themselves as having a responsibility in India

Item 96 The USA sends Commodore Perry to demand access to Japan 1853

Item 97 The Taiping Rebellion in China 1850-64

Item 98 The Meiji Constitution, Japan, 1889

Item 99 The Boxer Uprising in China 1895-1900

Item 100 European reaction to the Boxer Uprising Massacres 1900

Item 101 Biography Fourteen: Dowager Empress Cixi (Tzu Hsi)

Item 102 The 'Three Principles of the People', China, 1905-1924

Item 103 Biography Fifteen: Sun Yat Sen

Part Ten: Reaction and Revolution in Russia

Item 104 Serfdom in tsarist Russia in the 1850s

Item 105 A Frenchman observes tsarist Russia 1839

Item 106 The emancipation of the serfs of Russia 1861

Item 107 A great novelist writes a letter to Tsar Nicholas II  1902

Item 108 Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg 1905

Item 109 An observer sums up the crisis in tsarist Russia 1905

Item 110 A duma is permitted, then dissolved 1906

Item 111 Biography Sixteen: Tsar Nicholas II

Part Eleven: International Relations 1815-1914

Item 112 The Monroe Doctrine 1823

Item 113 The Treaty of London 1839

Item 114 The Dual Alliance 1879

Item 115 The Entente Cordiale (Anglo-French Agreement) 1904, and British

commitments to it, 1912

Item 116 Newspaper reports on the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis of 1908

Item 117 A British response to the Agadir Crisis 1911

Item 118 Defence spending by the Great Powers 1870-1914

Item 119 An Australian newspaper comments on the arms race 1914

Item 120 The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand at

Sarajevo, 28 June 1914

Item 121 The German 'Blank Cheque' to Austria-Hungary July 1914

Item 122 Biography Seventeen: Kaiser Wilhelm II

Item 123 The German Chancellor tries to ensure British neutrality, July 1914

Item 124 The British decline to bind themselves to neutrality July 1914

Item 125 Australian comment on Britain's obligations, August 1914

Item 126 The outbreak of the Great War, August 1914

Essential Collection Volume 2 Contents

Introduction

The nature and use of historical evidence

History as enquiry

The nature of primary source evidence

The nature of secondary sources

Four levels of meaning in evidence

Writing paragraphs in historical studies

Glossary of historical terms

Part One :  Retribution and Self-Determination

Item 1 The war aims of Wilhelmine Germany, 1914

Item 2 The war aims of Great Britain, 1914

Item 3 Opposition to involvement in the Great War of 1914-18

Item 4 War Aims of the United States of America, 1917-19

Item 5 War in the trenches

Item 6 The 'Fourteen Points' as a plan for peace, 1918

Item 7 Assessments of the 'Fruits of Victory' in the Great War, 1918

Item 8 Extracts from the Treaty of Versailles, 1919

Item 9 Reactions to the Treaty of Versailles, 1919

Item 10 Biography One: Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)

Item 11 An analysis of the reasons for the severity of the Treaty of Versailles

Item 12 A judgement on the Peace Treaty, 1919

Item 13 J.M. Keynes comments on the likely economic consequences of the

peace settlements, 1920

Item 14 The failure to recognise the interdependence of nations, 1921

Part Two: The League of Nations Experiment

Item 15 General Smuts argues for the formation of a league of nations, 1918

Item 16 The Covenant of the League of Nations, 1919

Item 17 A British cartoonist sees obstacles to the success of the League of Nations, 1920

Item 18 A balance sheet on the League of Nations, 1930

Item 19 An expression of misgivings about the League of Nations, 1933

Part Three: Building a New Socialist Society

Item 20 V.I. Lenin promises the people of Russia peace, bread and land, 1917

Item 21 The socialisation of land in Russia, 1917

Item 22 Lenin advocates the 'New Economic Policy', 1921

Item 23 Biography Two: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Item 24 Stalin proclaims the aim of building 'socialism in one country', 1926

Item 25 The purpose of the 'Five-Year' plans in the USSR

Item 26 The Soviet collectivisation policy, 1930s

Item 27 Biography Three: Josef Stalin

Item 28 A British clergyman expresses admiration for the 'Soviet experiment', 1939

Item 29 The British Labour Party predicts a new social order, 1918

Item 30 Biography Four: Sidney and Beatrice Webb

Part Four: Boom and Bust: The Capitalist Experiment

Item 31 The boom period of the 1920s in the USA

Item 32 A warning that attempts to punish Germany would bring on ruin, 1921

Item 33 The 'General Strike' in Britain, 1926

Item 34 The 'Wall Street Crash', 1929 and a defence of the 'American system'

of free enterprise, 1932

Item 35 F .D. Roosevelt promises the American people a 'New Deal', 1932

Item 36 Biography Five: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Item 37 Effects of the Depression in northern England, 1934

Item 38 The Depression in Australia, 1932

Part Five:  Ideology and Power: Fascism and Nazism

Item 39 The doctrine of fascism, 1932

Item 40 Fascist youth organisations, 1930s

Item 41 The symbols of fascism and Nazism

Item 42 The success of Hitler in reviving German pride, 1934

Item 43 The nature of Hitler's 'National Socialism', 1930s

Item 44 Adolf Hitler's domestic policies proclaimed in his book

Mein Kampf (My Struggle), 1925

Item 45 The Enabling Act in Nazi Germany, 1933

Item 46 The 'Burning of Books', Berlin, 1933

Item 47 The power of the mass meeting in Nazi Germany, 1934

Item 48 The nature of the 'Hitler Youth' organisations, the 1930s

Item 49 Biography Six: Adolf Hitler

Part Six: Aggression and Appeasement

Item 50 The Kellogg-Briand Pact: a high peak of idealism, 1928

Item 51 The Manchurian crisis as a test of the League of Nations, 1931

Item 52 The Italian invasion of Ethiopia, 1935

Item 53 German rearmament and the reoccupation of the Rhineland, 1936

Item 54 Re-emergence of the force of nationalism, 1935

Item 55 Expansionist policies in fascist and Nazi ideologies, 1937-39

Item 56 Mussolini announces the Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936

Item 57 The Anschluss (union) of Germany and Austria, 1938

Item 58 The Sudeten land crisis and the Munich Agreement, 1938

Item 59 Chamberlain's agreement with Germany, 1938

Item 60 Misgivings expressed about the likely effects of the Munich Agreement, 1938

Item 61 The Molotov-Ribbentrop (Soviet-German) Pact, 1939

Item 62 A British playwright comments on Hitler's seizure of Poland, 1939

Item 63 British and Australian declarations of war, 1939

Part Seven: World War II: Ideals and Objectives

Item 64 Prime Minister Churchill states the war policy of the British Government, 1940

Item 65 Winston Churchill exudes defiance of nazism, 1940

Item 66 Through the policy of 'Lend-Lease', the USA becomes the 'arsenal of democracy'

Item 67 The Atlantic Charter, 1941

Item 68 The German invasion of the USSR, 1941

Item 69 Stalin calls on the citizens of the USSR to resist Nazi invasion, 1941

Item 70 Biography Seven: Winston Churchill

Item 71 Roosevelt asks congress to declare war, 1941

Item 72 Churchill speaks of the alliance with the USA and the entry of Japan

into the war, 1942

Item 73 Japan's war aims in the Pacific, 1941

Item 74 The prime minister of Australia 'looks to America', 1941

Item 75 The Nazi policy of persecuting the Jewish people, 1933-45

Item 76 The 'Big Three' conclude the Yalta Agreement, 1945

Item 77 The use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, 1945

Part Eight: The United Nations and Decolonisation

Item 78 The Yalta Agreement makes provision for the post-war formation, of a world

organisation, February 1945

Item 79 The Charter of the United Nations Organisation, 1945

Item 80 The purpose and principles of the United Nations Organisation, 1945

Item 81 The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1948

Item 82 The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 1947

Item 83 The trusteeship function of the United Nations Organisation, 1945

Item 84 Criticism of the effectiveness of the United Nations Organisation, 1970

Part Nine: New Nations and Neo-imperialism

Item 85 The British Government promises the gradual development of self-governing institutions in India, 1917

Item 86 Mohandas Gandhi advocates civil disobedience as a means of rejecting

British rule in India, and asserts the superiority of Indian civilisation, 1919 and 1946

Item 87 Biography Eight: 'Mahatma' Gandhi

Item 88 Sukarno argues for independence for a free Indonesia, 1930

Item 89 Ho Chi Minh claims the right of self-government for the Vietnamese people, 1945

Item 90 Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China, 1949

Item 91 Mao Zedong's objectives for a Great Proletarian Revolution, 1949-69

Item 92 Biography Nine: Mao Zedong

Item 93 Neo-imperialism, 1955-64

Item 94 Aid as imperialism, 1961-71

Part Ten: The Cold War and the 'New World Order'

Item 95 The 'Iron Curtain' is established, 1946

Item 96 Fear of international communism results in the USA adopting the policy of 'containment', 1946-47

Item 97 The Truman Doctrine, 1947

Item 98 The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, 1949

Item 99 The Warsaw Pact, 1955

Item 100 The 'domino theory' and the policy of 'massive retaliation', 1954-56

Item 101 A Western cartoonist's view of 'the Cold War', 1954

Item 102 President Kennedy and the Cuban crisis, 1962

Item 103 The Brezhnev Doctrine, 1968

Item 104 Reasons for American and Australian involvement in the Vietnam War

Item 105 America's involvement in the Vietnam War labelled as 'imperialist', 1971

Item 106 The Guam or Nixon Doctrine: a change in Cold War tactics, 1973

Item 107 A claim that the American and Australian involvement in Vietnam was justified, 1989

Item 108 A criticism of President Reagan's role in the Cold War, 1986

Item 109 Gorbachev's plans for 'perestroika' - reconstructing the USSR, 1987

Item 110 Biography Ten: Mikhail Gorbachev

Item 111 The United Nations acts to expel Iraq from the occupied territory of Kuwait, 1990

Item 112 The complexity of the United Nations' actions in Bosnia, 1993

Part Eleven: Education, Human Rights and 'the Global Village’

Item 113 Jerome Bruner defines the process of education, 1960

Item 114 Laurence Stenhouse argues for a 'process' rather than an

'objectives' emphasis in education, 1975

Item 115 Germaine Greer speaks for women's rights in The Female Eunuch, 1970

Item 116 The case for women's history, 1982

Item 117 Martin Luther King asks that Black Americans should be 'free at last', 1963

Item 118 Biography Eleven: Sigmund Freud

Item 119 The 'population bomb' and sustainable development, 1992

Item 120 The pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 1989

Item 121 The 'global village', 1989

Index