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History: free practice, theory and problems
History is not only what happened, but how we know it. Historians use sources and assess them critically, and different historians can interpret the same sources differently.
Contents
- History and source criticism
- The Viking Age and the Middle Ages
- Reformation, Enlightenment and revolutions
- Norway 1814–1905
- The world wars
- The Cold War and the post-war era
- The Sami and national minorities
1. History and source criticism
What is it about?
History is not only what happened, but how we know it. Historians use sources and assess them critically, and different historians can interpret the same sources differently.
Concepts and formulas
- Primary source: from the time and event itself (letters, diaries, pictures, objects). Secondary source: written later about the event (textbooks, histories).
- Remnant: a source we use for what it reveals about the time it was made (for example a tool or an invoice). Account: a source that tells about something.
- Source criticism: Who made the source? When and why? Was the author present? What interests did they have?
- Causes: historians distinguish between long-term and immediate (triggering) causes.
- Uses of history: history is used in politics, advertising and identity building, for example on Constitution Day.
Example
The shots in Sarajevo in 1914 were the immediate cause of the First World War. Alliances, the arms race and nationalism were long-term causes.
2. The Viking Age and the Middle Ages
What is it about?
The Viking Age (about 793–1066) was a time of trade, raiding and settlement across much of Europe. In the Middle Ages Norway became a Christian kingdom, but was hit hard by the Black Death.
Concepts and formulas
- The Viking Age is often dated from the raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne in 793 to 1066.
- Unification: Harald Fairhair united much of Norway around the year 900.
- Christianisation: Olaf Haraldsson fell at Stiklestad in 1030 and was later canonised as Saint Olaf.
- The Black Death (plague) reached Norway in 1349 and killed perhaps half the population.
- The Kalmar Union (1397) united Denmark, Norway and Sweden under one monarch.
- Feudalism shaped much of Europe: king, nobility, clergy and peasants with duties and rights.
Example
After the Black Death many farms were abandoned, tax income fell, and Norway grew weaker relative to Denmark.
3. Reformation, Enlightenment and revolutions
What is it about?
From the 1500s to the 1800s Europe changed radically: the church split, new ideas about reason and freedom spread, and revolutions overturned old systems of power.
Concepts and formulas
- The Reformation: Martin Luther criticised the Catholic Church in 1517. Denmark-Norway became Lutheran in 1536–1537.
- The Enlightenment (1700s): reason, science and human rights. Locke (natural rights), Montesquieu (separation of powers), Rousseau (popular sovereignty).
- The American Revolution: the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
- The French Revolution (1789): "liberty, equality, fraternity". Absolute monarchy was abolished.
- The Industrial Revolution: began in Britain in the 1700s with steam engines and factories. People moved from countryside to towns.
Example
Montesquieu's idea of the separation of powers was used both in the US Constitution and in Norway's constitution of 1814.
Practise reformation, Enlightenment and revolutions in the app →
4. Norway 1814–1905
What is it about?
In 1814 Norway got its own constitution but entered a union with Sweden. During the 1800s democracy grew, and in 1905 Norway became a fully independent country.
Concepts and formulas
- The Treaty of Kiel (January 1814): Denmark had to give Norway to Sweden.
- The Constitution was adopted at Eidsvoll on 17 May 1814, based on Enlightenment ideas of the separation of powers and popular sovereignty.
- The union with Sweden (1814–1905): a shared king, but separate laws and a separate parliament.
- Parliamentarism was introduced in 1884: the government had to have Parliament's confidence.
- The vote: universal male suffrage in 1898, for women in 1913.
- The dissolution of the union on 7 June 1905: confirmed by referendum. The Danish Prince Carl became king as Haakon VII.
- National Romanticism: Ibsen, Bjornson, Grieg and the folk tale collection of Asbjornsen and Moe created a Norwegian identity.
Example
The 1814 constitution is today the oldest constitution in Europe still in use.
5. The world wars
What is it about?
Two world wars dominated the first half of the 1900s. Between them came an economic crisis and the rise of fascism and Nazism.
Concepts and formulas
- The First World War (1914–1918): trench warfare, about 17 million dead. Norway was neutral.
- The Treaty of Versailles (1919) put the blame on Germany and imposed large reparations.
- The Russian Revolution (1917): the communists seized power.
- The interwar years: the 1929 crash caused mass unemployment. Fascism (Mussolini, 1922) and Nazism (Hitler, 1933) rose.
- The Second World War (1939–1945): began when Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939.
- Norway: invaded 9 April 1940, occupied for five years. Quisling led the Nazi NS regime. The Home Front and Milorg resisted. Liberation on 8 May 1945.
- The Holocaust: the Nazis' systematic murder of about six million Jews, as well as Roma, disabled people and others. Over 700 Jews were deported from Norway, and nearly all were killed.
Example
The Treaty of Versailles created bitterness in Germany, and Hitler used it in his propaganda. Many historians therefore see a link between the two wars.
6. The Cold War and the post-war era
What is it about?
After 1945 the USA and the Soviet Union faced each other in a cold war: a conflict without direct war between the superpowers, but with an arms race and proxy wars. In Norway the welfare state was built.
Concepts and formulas
- East against West: NATO (1949) against the Warsaw Pact (1955). Capitalism and democracy against communism and one-party rule.
- The Iron Curtain divided Europe. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and fell in 1989.
- The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): the world was close to nuclear war.
- The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
- Norway after the war: reconstruction under the Labour Party and Einar Gerhardsen, NATO membership from 1949, the National Insurance Scheme in 1967.
- The oil age: Ekofisk was discovered in 1969 and gave Norway enormous income. The oil fund was created in 1990.
Example
Norway borders Russia in the north. During the Cold War Norway was therefore an important NATO country, while also pursuing a careful policy so as not to provoke the Soviet Union.
7. The Sami and national minorities
What is it about?
The Sami are Norway's indigenous people. For over a hundred years the state pursued a Norwegianisation policy meant to make the Sami and Kven "Norwegian". Today the Sami have their own rights and their own elected body.
Concepts and formulas
- Indigenous people: a people who lived in an area before today's state borders were drawn.
- The Norwegianisation policy (about 1850 to the 1960s): Sami and Kven languages were suppressed in school, and Norwegian was required to buy land.
- The Alta controversy (1979–1981): protests against damming the Alta river became a turning point for Sami rights.
- The Sami Parliament was established in 1989. Constitution Article 108 says the state shall enable Sami language, culture and community life.
- National minorities in Norway: Kvens/Norwegian Finns, Jews, Forest Finns, Roma and Romani people/Tater.
- The Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its report on Norwegianisation in 2023.
- 6 February is the Sami National Day.
Example
Many Sami who attended boarding school in the 1900s were not allowed to speak Sami. Several generations therefore lost the language.
Example problems with solutions
Here are some of the problems in history. In the app, calculation problems get new numbers every time, so you can practise until it sticks – and take a graded practice exam before the real one.
History and source criticism: What is a primary source?
Answer: A source from the time and event itself
For example letters, diaries and pictures.
The Viking Age and the Middle Ages: Which year is often taken as the start of the Viking Age?
Answer: 793
The raid on Lindisfarne in 793.
Reformation, Enlightenment and revolutions: Who started the Reformation in 1517?
Answer: Martin Luther
He criticised, among other things, the sale of indulgences.
Norway 1814–1905: Where was the Constitution adopted?
Answer: At Eidsvoll
17 May 1814.