Historiography is the study of how history is developed and how historians have viewed history. It helps develop the ability to view events from multiple perspectives and reveals how others might view events in multiple perspectives. The **historical method** outlines the process of making history from start to finish:
- **Questions are asked** about any of the following:
- major/minor long-/short-term **causes** of an event
- the **nature** of an event — the purpose of the event, the status of the event
- the immediate/long-term/short-term **impacts** of an event
- the **ethics** of an event
- a hypothetical **counterfactual** version of an event
- **Data is collected** to help answer the questions
- **Data is analysed** to identify patterns and trends via statistics, make judgements using OPCVL, and make comparisons of the main message (content) and PERMS (political, economical, religious, military, social)
- **Arguments are created** with a thesis and critical analyses per argument
- and the **findings are communicated** via any means, including essays, opinion paragraphs, debates, presentations, music, etc.
There are seven main schools of thought historians usually fall under that attempt to explain why history happens.
- The **great people** lens states that individually great people create changes — without those individuals history would be drastically altered. This school focuses on their individual motivations, relationships, etc.
- The **decisionist** lens states that the decisions of people change history.
- The **Marxist** lens states that class conflict creates history. This school focuses on the exploiter and the exploitee and how their conflicts create history.
- The **Toynbee** lens states that the response of people to crisis creates history.
- The **post-modern** lens states that history reflects the time period it was written in and the intent of the author. This school asserts that there is no historical truth and focuses on how history is shaped and manipulated to serve the agendas and needs of various civilisations.
- The **feminist** lens states that history should reflect the experience of both genders equally. This school particularly focuses on the treatment of and lives of women.
The abundance of **diverse** data allows for greater perspectives to be gleaned and thus more solutions to a problem. Data and their sources can fall under one of three categories:
- **Primary** data is from an original source with no sources under it — e.g., newspapers, memoirs, photographs, diaries, etc.
- **Secondary** data is an interpretation of a primary source(s) with its own argument — e.g., articles, thesises, documentaries, etc.
- **Tertiary** data compiles secondary sources and should only be used for context — e.g., wikis, textbooks, encyclopedias, etc.
- **Logic** is the study of rules of inference and the analysis of arguments.
- A **conclusion** is a proposition that follows all others.
- An **inference** is a connection that acts as a logical leap between a premise and a conclusion.
- **Logically consistent** statements follow the three laws of thought and do not contradict.
- **Logically contradicting** statements do not follow the three laws of thought.
- The **validity** of a statement is its correctness of reasoning via the laws of thought.
- A **sound** argument is of valid form and has a true premise.
- An **argument** is a simple statement or disagreement that attempts to reach a conclusion by proving something true with evidence. Good arguments are sound, valid, clear, and avoids hasty conclusions.
**Deductive** arguments connect a general statement to a more specific statement based on laws, rules, and/or widely accepted principles.
!!! example
As monkeys like bananas and Lucy is a monkey, Lucy must like bananas.
**Inductive** arguments connect a specific statement to a more general statement based on **empiric** data.
!!! example
As three of the eight billion humans on Earth are mortal, all humans must be mortal.
### Logical fallacies
- An **ad hominem** argument attacks the arguer or anything else instead of the argument.
- e.g., *"You're a Nintendo fanboy; of course you think that."*
- Arguments that **appeal to authority** use the opinion of an authority on a topic is used as evidence to support an argument.
- e.g., *"The President of the United States said that we should inject disinfectant into ourselves, so it must be a good idea!"*
- Arguments that **appeal to emotion** manipulate the recipient's emotions typically via loaded language to win an argument.
- e.g., *"Those island devils have robbed us of our sleep at night — they must be eradicated!"*
- Arguments that **appeal to force** use threats to win an argument.
- e.g., *"I'm right, aren't I?" said the jock, flexing her biceps threateningly.*
- Arguments that **appeal to ignorance** assert a proposition is true because it has not been proven false.
- e.g., *"My laptop must secretly have chips in it that no one can detect from aliens because we don't know if there* aren't *undetectable chips in there."*
- **Bandwagoning or herding** arguments assert that a conclusion is true because it is accepted by most people. This is a result of confirmation bias.
- e.g., *"Ma, everyone else is jumping off that bridge, so why shouldn't I?"*
- A fallacy of **accident** wrongly applies a general rule to a specific exception.
- e.g., *Since surgeons cut people with knives and cutting people with knives is a crime, surgeons are criminals.*
- An argument that **begs the question** has circular reasoning by having premises that assume its conclusion.
- A **no true Scotsman** (appeal to purity) fallacy takes a generalisation and doubles down to protect it by excluding counterexamples typically via emotionally charged language.
- e.g., *"Although your father is a Scotsman and dances, no* true *Scotsman would dance."*
- Arguments with **recency bias** put greater importance on recent data over historic data.
- e.g., *As GameStop's stock has risen over the past few days dramatically, it will continue to do so.*
- **Red herrings** change the issue of subject away from the original question.
- e.g., *You should support the new housing bill. We can't continue to see people living in the streets; we must have cheaper housing.*
- A **straw man** argument misrepresents the opposing position by making their arguments sound more extreme.
- e.g., *"We should relax laws on immigration." "The instant we let millions of people through our border is when our country falls."*
In the Qing dynasty, from 1861 to 1908, Empress **Cixi** ruled China as an autocrat. Corruption was rampant in Beijing and officials could not control warlords in remote regions. Under Cixi, China became weak and was easily influenced by foreign powers.
The influence of foreign powers increased outrage among citizens at the inability of the government to do things and led to greater internal dissent.
The **opium wars** starting from 1839 were two armed conflicts in China between Western powers and the Qing dynasty. Both were won easily by the West due to their superior, more modern military technology. This resulted in China signing a series of what came to be known as "**unfair treaties**" starting with the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, which ended the First Opium War and gave Hong Kong to Britain "in perpetuity" among other trading concessions.
The **First Sino-Japanese War** (also known as the War or Jiawu) in 1894–1895 also resulted in Japan's easy victory due to obsolete Chinese military technology.
!!! example
During the First Sino-Japanese War, Cixi took military money and spent it on palace renovations, demonstrating the corruption in and ineffectiveness of the regime.
### Outdated agricultural practices and limited industrial development
**— Long-term structural economic**
!!! context
In 1900, Japan and the United States were major industrial powers and both were steadily modernising.
China's rulers believed that Westerners were barbarians and that nothing could be learned from industrialisation. This contributed to their weak military strength as they fell further behind other countries.
!!! example
By 1914, only ~6 000 km of rail was laid in China while the US had laid ~225 000 km.
Additionally, the population boom meant that demand for food increased, but outdated agricultural practices and technologies could not keep up, resulting in famine.
China operated under a **patriarchy** and had traditions and practices which were thought to be even at the time to be cruel and outdated especially for women.
!!! example
The life expectancy of a city in China (Shenyang, Daoyi) from 1792 to 1867 was less than 40 years for men and about 30 for women.
**Submission to the Qing dynasty** was traditional as well — the Chinese could not marry Manchus nor live in Manchuria.
!!! example
Men were required to wear a queue (a long pigtail behind a shaven forehead) to show subservience to the Manchu Empire.
The **class structure** in China did not change for hundreds of years and old traditions and practices persisted into the 1900s.
- The land peasants worked on belonged to local landlords.
- 80% of the population remained peasants.
- Landlords took a large amount of crops as rent and the government also took a large portion as taxes.
- The burdens from landlords and the government were compounded with natural disasters such as floods and droughts, resulting in famine.
- Landlords could taken peasant women as they wished, force peasants to perform extra duties, and beat them if they were questioned.
The **Taiping Civil War** from 1850 to 1864 was one of the bloodiest wars ever and the largest conflict of the 19th century. Anti-Manchurian sentiment was high as the people did not like that the Qing dynasty was ruled not by themselves. At the time, they could not marry Manchus, could not settle in Manchuria, and men were required to wear queues as a reminder of submission to Qing rule.
The **Boxer Rebellion** from 1899 to 1901 was caused by an organisation known as the Boxers (due to many of their members practising Chinese martial arts) desiring an end to foreign control in China. To do so, they violenced across northern China targeting foreign property, Christian missionaries, and Chinese Christians. Although initially supported by Cixi, support was split in the country and eventually she accepted help from foreign armies to end the rebellion.
