Grands débats historiographiques actuels :
Tout semble tourner en fait autour de « la Grande-Bretagne et la deuxième Guerre mondiale », au sens le plus large :

- Origines de la deuxième Guerre mondiale
(Appeasement une contrainte ou un choix ? un choix vraiment délétère comme on l’apprend dans tous les manuels ?
Cf. « l’iconoclaste » John Charmley depuis 1989, à la suite de A.J.P. Taylor.) Dernier recueil paru : Boyce, Robert & Maiolo, Joseph A. [Editors]. The Origins of World War Two : The Debate continues. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Détails : http://www.palgrave.com/catalogue/catalogue.asp?Title_Id=0333945263

- Relativisation du rôle réel de la Grande-Bretagne (Kursk [juillet 1943] plus important que le Débarquement ? Travaux de Richard Overy).
Comportement des Britanniques sur le front de l’intérieur (Home Front) [« Mythe du Blitz », Angus Calder, 1991].

Résultats et conséquences pour la Grande-Bretagne : place dans le monde, modernisation économique [débat sur le ‘declinism’ lancé par Correlli Barnett (tétralogie ‘The Pride and Fall’ : The Collapse of British Power, 1972 ; The Audit of War, 1986 ; The Lost Victory, 1995 ; The Verdict of Peace, 2001 – réfutée par Jim Tomlinson (2003) dans K.Burk. British Isles since 1945. Cf. infra)].

- Études liées sur le plan intérieur aux idéaux de « générosité sociale » de la guerre, à l’État-providence, au National Health Service (Beveridge, Bevan), au Plein emploi (keynésianisme) et au devenir de ces idéaux redistributeurs, 1940-2003, notamment au sein des deux grands partis (Cf. The Five Giants de Nicholas Timmins, 1995 [broché, 2001]).

- Études liées sur le plan extérieur à la ‘Special Relationship’ [Travaux constants : David Reynolds, John Dumbrell, Alan Dobson] et à la Guerre froide, notamment ses liens avec les problèmes associés, dans le cas de la Grande-Bretagne, à la décolonisation (Suez 1956 reste un sujet sur lequel on publie sans désemparer, notamment le grand journaliste Keith Kyle).
Réexamen constant du choix entre les « trois cercles » de Churchill : États-Unis, Commonwealth, Europe (notamment l’alliance avec la France).

Cf. le prince Charles et l’enseignement de l’histoire de l’empire britannique :
‘Prince’s plea to teach children about the Empire’.
By John Clare, Education Editor (Filed: 28/06/2003)

The Prince of Wales is launching a campaign to change the way English literature and history are taught in schools so that children learn more about "the best that has been known and thought". He wants pupils to study a wider range of classic English literature and learn more about the rise and fall of the British Empire - "one of the most significant events in modern world history".
http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F06%2F28%2Fnedu28.xml

- Rôle des ‘grands hommes’ :

= Lloyd George pour 1916-1919, dont la diplomatie britannique à Versailles et son évaluation [monumentale biographie de John Grigg en cours de parution, 1916-1918 sorti en 2002].

= Churchill pour 1931-1955 [succès considérable de la biographie de Roy Jenkins (grand public cultivé) et de celle du dix-huitiémiste Geoffrey Best (historiens). Les débats – continus – sur sa politique extérieure portent sur trois grandes phases schématisées par The Warmonger (le va-t-en-guerre, 1931-39), The Warrior ou Warlord (le chef de guerre, 1940-1945), The Cold Warrior (l’adepte de la Guerre froide, 1946-1955)].

= Margaret Thatcher pour 1979-1990 [« histoire immédiate » constamment réécrite, notamment par des spécialistes de science politique (Anthony Seldon) et par des journalistes « sérieux » (Hugo Young)]

- Thème inconnu ou presque il y a dix ans :
l'inaction britannique face à l'extermination des juifs.
Travaux sur les Holocaust Studies animés notamment par l’équipe de l’Université de Southampton (David Cesarani, Tony Kushner).  Création d’une impressionnante exposition permanente au Imperial War Museum :
http://www.iwm.org.uk/lambeth/holoc-ex1.htm

-Autre thème « nouveau », en partie lié au précédent :
 le « négationnisme » [Holocaust Denial en anglais], thème notamment répandu à la suite du « procès Irving » (2000). Dernière parution en date :  Jacobson, Dan. ‘David Irving and Holocaust Denial’. In Louis, William Roger [Editor]. Still more Adventures with Britannia : Personalities, Politics and Culture in Britain, 2003.
Dénonciations militantes du « négationnisme » en Grande-Bretagne dans le magazine antifasciste Searchlight :
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/default.asp

Voir également :
‘ “Hannibal the cannibal” to star as Irving the Holocaust denier’
By Catherine Milner and Chris Hastings (Filed: 29/06/2003)

The trial of David Irving, the British historian branded a Holocaust denier by a High Court judge, is to be turned into a £10 million drama, expected to star Sir Anthony Hopkins.
http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F06%2F29%2Fnfilm29.xml
 

Sources et Ressources apportées ou signalées :

- Bibliographie de la Royal Historical Society : livre + site désormais en ligne gratis :
 http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/

- Quelques ouvrages (notamment biographiques et 'encyclopédiques') récents.

=Ramsden (Companion) http://www.cercles.com/review/r6/ramsden.html

=Leventhal (Dictionary) http://www.cercles.com/review/r10/leventhal.html

= Biographies de Churchill citées plus haut.
+ Cédric Michon. Winston Churchill. Figures de l’histoire. Paris : Hatier, 2002. 96 p.
+ Voir également la remarquable monographie de l’historien allemand Klaus Larres : Churchill’s Cold War: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy, 2002.
Compte-rendu dans Cercles :
http://www.cercles.com/review/r7/larres.html

= Harold Macmillan. The Macmillan Diaries: The Cabinet Years, 1950-1957. Edited by Peter Catterall.
Compte-rendu de The Independent (30 juin 2003) sur :
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/story.jsp?story=419610

= Kandiah et al. Cold War Britain. Compte-rendu dans Cercles :
 http://www.cercles.com/review/r9/hopkins.html

= Kathleen Burk. The British Isles since 1945. Compte-rendu dans Cercles :
 http://www.cercles.com/review/r9/burk.html

- Les derniers numéros des deux grandes revues sur la Grande-Bretagne au XXe siècle,
Twentieth Century British History et Contemporary British History
+ English Historical Review
+ Past & Present

- Revue française de civilisation britannique : ‘Special Relationship’ (2002)  et Emploi (2003).

- Actes du colloque de Rouen (novembre 2002) : ‘Special Relationship’ .

Sites utiles pour les mises à jour sur la Grande-Bretagne :

- Site CRECIB :
http://www.univ-pau.fr/crecib/

- Site Cercles/Sources tenu à jour par Philippe Rouyer,  conservateur à la bibliothèque universitaire de Rouen :
Documents primaires sur les pays anglophones en libre accès sur le Web :
http://www.cercles.com/sources/intro.htm

- Site Bertrand Lemonnier :
http://grande-bretagne.net/
 

- Catalogues
 

- Liens :

- Churchill’s Fulton Speech, 1946 : ‘The Sinews of Peace’ (intégral : son + texte) :
http://www.hpol.org/transcript.asp?id=3

- Amazon UK :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765804980/qid%3D945443651/sr%3D1-2/026-6001169-7585220

- Bibliothèques :

- COPAC (dont British Library) :
 http://copac.ac.uk/copac/wzgw?f=f&form=A%2FT&id=1731577
Library of Congress, Washington :
 http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=hbSearch
Karlsruhe :
http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib/en/kvk.html
JADE (Journals) :
http://jas.bib.rwth-aachen.de/netahtml/jadezs/jadezsfs.htm
Livres épuisés :
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch
http://www.abebooks.fr/

- Liste de diffusion en histoire politique (1920-1950) :
vingtcinquante@cines.fr  [Annonce très souvent des colloques, conférences et parutions et publie des bibliographies sur la Grande-Bretagne (en sommeil l’été)]
dont Bibliographie de Vincent Le Dreau, Anticommunisme en Grande Bretagne (1920-1950)
http://grande-bretagne.net/biblio4.htm

- H-Albion, messagerie des historiens (américains pour la plupart) spécialistes de la Grande-Bretagne :
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~albion/

Article sur l’enseignement de l’histoire en Grande-Bretagne

Children learning more about Nazis than our own history, claims Education Secretary
By Julie Henry and David Harrison. (Filed: 15/06/2003)
http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F06%2F15%2Fnhist15.xml
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.

Children spend so much time learning about the Nazis at school that they are ignorant of British history, Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, believes. As a result, he has ordered a review of the history curriculum. In recent years pupils have tended to repeat the same periods of history - particularly the Second World War or Soviet Russia - at each stage of their education, to such an extent that it has been called the "Hitlerisation of history". Mr Clarke considers the trend "a serious criticism that we have to address". He wants children to have a sense of the broader sweep of history and the context of particular events. It is the first time that the Government has acknowledged concerns that the history curriculum is leaving children with little or no sense of the history of their own country. The Prince of Wales and prominent historians such as Dr David Starkey are among those who have criticised the way that history is taught.

Thomas Matussek, the German ambassador to Britain, recently blamed history lessons in British schools for perpetuating anti-German feelings because they concentrated on Adolf Hitler and ignored recent German history. He said: "There are incidents of physical and verbal abuse on German visitors and students in Britain, with young people calling them Nazis: that leads us to question why. History teachers tell us that students are choosing to study that period and along with the media, we see an emphasis on those 12 years of German history and relatively less on contemporary Germany or pre-1933 Germany.
"Some of the backward-looking perceptions of our country have to do with these history lessons, so we do appreciate anything that will look at what can be done."

Schools could now be put under pressure to return to traditional history teaching, with more time spent on key events and characters in British history. In an interview with BBC History magazine to be published on Tuesday, Mr Clarke, who took history A-level, was asked if students' excessive concentration on a few topics such as the Nazis was failing to develop their broader sense of history.
He responded: "A lot of people - people I respect - say that there is not enough of a sense of a timeline in history, so that pupils have too much detailed study of particular eras and not enough of a sense of context for what happened. That's not simply an appeal to go back to dates and kings and queens and that sort of thing but it is saying that by the time they are 14, children should have a pretty good appreciation of the history of this country, of Europe, and the context within which things happened. I will ask the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to look at these matters."

Unlike every other country in Europe, history is only compulsory in British schools until the age of 14. Children are supposed to cover British history from the Middle Ages to the 20th century in addition to key events and figures in European and world history. About 220,000 candidates take history GCSE every year out of 600,000. Fewer than 40,000 students continue to A-level. There are dozens of syllabuses to choose from but, according to the Office for Standards in Education annual report, Hitler's Germany dominated most teaching. The report said schools were failing to develop pupils' lasting knowledge of the subject and a sense of chronology of events.

In a recent survey, 30 per cent of 11 to 18-year-olds thought that Oliver Cromwell fought at the Battle of Hastings and a similar number could not name the century for the First World War. Fewer than half of the 200 children questioned knew that Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar was the Victory.

Teachers blame the Government for putting pressure on schools to improve examination results, forcing them to choose the "safe option" and study the periods pupils are already familiar with. They claim that attempts to cover more history have been frustrated by the cost of replacing textbooks and time constraints.

Harry Dickinson, a professor of British history at Edinburgh University and the vice-president of the Royal Historical Society, said: "We are in danger of losing thousands of years of history and that is a terrible prospect. A child might go from ancient Egypt to the Tudors to the Second World War without having a clue about what happened in between." The obsession with modern history is spreading to universities, too, he believes. "There are so many PhD students wanting to study 20th-century history and some new universities do not study anything before 1800," he said.

Christine Counsell, a lecturer in education at Cambridge University and the deputy president of the Historical Association, welcomed Mr Clarke's announcement but said that schools were being forced to reduce the history timetable because of government policy. She said: "No history teacher, however talented, can gallop through a huge amount of content in just one hour a week.

"Schools are being encouraged to start pupils on GCSE courses at a younger age. This could mean that some pupils only have two years of compulsory history at secondary school. That would be a scandal."
A spokesman for the Department of Education and Skills said: "The key issue is that by the time children are 14, they should have a good understanding of the history of this country and how events followed on from each other. It is important that we have the right balance between knowledge of this country's history and of Europe and the wider world."
Earlier this year, Mr Clarke angered historians when he appeared to question the validity of studying medieval history. He later denied the news reports, describing them as "ludicrous".

* Antoine Capet
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Professeur de civilisation britannique
'Britain since 1914' Editor,
Royal Historical Society Annual Bibliography
Université de Rouen
76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan
antoine.capet@univ-rouen.fr
antoine.capet@laposte.net