okay.. just because ive had enough stuyding.. and im feeling very generous and i was studying taht stuff just an hour ago..
I think if you havent learnt it now dont really go cramming in stuff that dont fit.. but hey? if your willing to prove me wrong and take on the challenge go ahead!!!
Karl Marx 1818-83
influenced by: He was journalist NOT typical historian. was not apart of the upper class. agreed with communist ideologies. influenced by the fighting between france and germany at the time, conflict between countries around him.... seeking solutions to this world problems..
main work:
presented in his work 1848 'the communist manifesto' which he wrote with Engels, yet Marx did not live long enough to explain exactly what his ideas meant.. they were a little ambiguous.. so Engels explained to the world waht he 'thought' Marx ideas were.. (really impressing many of his own ideas instead of marx's..)
main idea of the book: that history is based around class conflict which is based on economic production (basically that money has created all problems in the world.. )
marx's presented his opinion of the world since the ancients.. and then what the future might hold ... future ie communism taht the lower class would over throw the capitalist and basically every one would live in harmony together in a utopia.
okay.. so the effect of karl marx??
1.) basis of communist countries ideology (ie stalin.. Mao china.. Korea and vietnam..) these countries took only the parts of the marx ideology that they preferred.. and left the rest.. ie history can be manipulated to suit interests (just like evidence is up to interpretation of the historian.)
2.) communist historians from non communist countries used the ideas ... i dont have any examples of this!!!
3.) Non communist historians from non communist countries employed the ideology.. for example feminists yet they took the angle taht not only were there class conflicts due to economic production but also gender conflicts due to similar/diverse reasons.. eg Sheil Rowbottham..
so basically, in conclusion.. rather than the typical historian who looks at the ruling class as essential to history... marx looked at the ruling class as being detrimental to society which was fostered by societies obsession with economy and production... this led historians to analyse history in a different light and led to the annales school..
annales school.. im really too tired to write about that ... but check out your text book.. its pretty straight forward and leads off from marx's stuff....
so it is a lil more complex than first expected.. good luck! itl be a good challenge eh?