This page introduces the project led by Professor Julie V. Gottlieb (University of Sheffield), which rethinks the teaching of appeasement through lenses such as gender history, emotional history, and history from below. It includes collaboration with schools and draws on sources like the Mass Observation Archive and F.L. Lucas’s journal.

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"Triumphs Show: Year 9 explore what permacrisis might have felt like in 1938" (TH 196)

https://www.history.org.uk/publications/resource/10997/triumphs-show-year-9-explore-what-permacrisis-mig

• Had a better sense of what historians do

• Understood the importance of collaboration and of history

• Appreciated exploring micronarratives and archival silences

• Found the lens of history from within beneficial to their own emotional literacy development

• Needed more time to understand the events of 1938, substantive and fingertip knowledge were less developed

The enquiry allow students to ‘Think like an historian’ and curates, rather than narrates, the process that Gottlieb has undertaken, developing their procedural knowledge of source work [Principle 2]. Videos from Prof. Gottlieb that directly address and pose questions to the students, in a similar way to the use of videos by Dr. Yasmin Khan as outlined by Hibbert and Patel in TH 177, play a key role in this process [Principle 7]. The enquiry includes FL Lucas’ journal, Mass Observation Archive extracts and Nicola Baldwin’s play The Nervous State, to enrich student appreciation of different experiences of the ‘permacrisis’ of 1938 and the importance of reconstructing hidden voices from the past [Principle 6].

We used diverse sources to challenge dominant narratives and maintain academic integrity, ensuring students understood that while historians may use imagination, they do so with expertise to avoid distortion—something we were careful not to compromise in developing students’ procedural knowledge [Principles 2, 5].

The enquiry also foregrounded the collaborative process of knowledge exchange, drawing on the work of Prof. Gottlieb and her team. By involving students in this process, we helped them understand how history is constructed and shared beyond academia [Principle 5]. These exchanges—between researchers, creatives, and educators—enriched the learning experience and modelled the value of interdisciplinary collaboration [Principle 1], making the study of history both meaningful and enjoyable for students [Principle 7].

• 1938 was full of political and international tension that heightened nerves. People experienced events in different ways but were connected by the shared experience of ‘permacrisis’.

Substantive Knowledge Objectives

• 1938 was a moment of heightened tensions in international relations due to Hitler breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the failure of appeasement.

• Historians traditionally viewed 1938 through High Politics, but using lenses like history from below and history from within reveals broader experiences.

• "Permacrisis" refers to a prolonged period of difficulty, confusion, or suffering.

• The Munich Agreement was reached in 1938 but ultimately failed to prevent war.

• Key sources for this period include the Chamberlain Papers, FL Lucas’ journal, and Mass Observation materials.

Disciplinary & Procedural Knowledge Objectives

• Students should understand that people in the past experienced the same events differently.

• Historians can reconstruct hidden experiences through knowledge exchange, helping us understand a wider range of perspectives.

• Historians use diverse sources (e.g., newspapers, cartoons, diaries, statistics) to investigate the past.

• Students should learn to make tentative claims and avoid overgeneralisation when interpreting sources.

• Phrases like “Some people might have felt…” help students express nuanced understanding of historical experiences.

Enquiry: How did Gottlieb explore what permacrisis might have felt like in 1938? / New approaches to teaching the History of Appeasement in the classroom / Historical Association

We have included a detailed enquiry plan as part of the published materials in order to make our thinking really explicit to teachers. There are also additional notes and references to help teachers in the notes section of each PowerPoint slide that give guidance on timings and the logistics of each activity.

2.Documentary – The Nervous State: Searching the Archive for a History from Within of Appeasement
A 15-minute exploration of the archival research behind the project, focusing on how personal narratives shape our understanding of political crises.
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3.Documentary – The Nervous State: A History from Within
A 13-minute video delving into the emotional and psychological dimensions of the Munich Crisis, and how these were dramatized.
🔗 Watch here

4.Documentary – The Nervous State: Collaboration, Performances and Impact
A 15-minute feature on the collaborative process between historians, dramatists, and educators, and the broader educational and emotional impact of the project.
🔗 Watch here

Now out & open access: Gottlieb, J.V. (2024)

‘An Epidemic of Nervous Breakdowns and Crisis Suicides in Britain’s War of Nerves, 1938–1940’, The Historical Journal, pp. 1–24. doi:10.1017/S0018246X24000529. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/an-epidemic-of-nervous-breakdowns-and-crisis-suicides-in-britains-war-of-nerves-19381940/42D505DE26FE8275E1A10B01B650CE6F

Writing and teaching this enquiry has been intellectually rich and emotionally resonant. It has required deep reflection, and at times, vulnerability—from both students and staff. We have wrestled with the weight of responsibility: the fear of getting it wrong, of causing unintended harm, or of missing the opportunity to make a meaningful impact. This wrestling reflects our commitment to doing justice to the past while safeguarding the present.

The principles underpinning this enquiry were shaped not only through classroom practice but also through collaborative spaces like the Ideas Laboratory led by Professor Julie V. Gottlieb at the Stockport Garrick Theatre on 5th July 2025. This event brought together educators, academics, healthcare professionals, creatives, and heritage practitioners to explore how history can support emotional understanding and civic growth.

Drawing on insights from psychology, especially positive and critical psychology, we’ve come to see that history education can do more than inform—it can connect students to the past and allow them to articulate how they feel about the present. By creating safe, reflective spaces in which students can engage with emotionally complex material, we help them build resilience, empathy, and a sense of belonging. These principles are not confined to 1938 or to this enquiry—they are adaptable across time periods and contexts.

We are deeply grateful to all who contributed at the Ideas Lab, particularly Gabor Ciskos, and those at the SHP Summer Conference 2025- their insights have sharpened our thinking immensely!

In 2019, Gottlieb met playwright Nicola Baldwin after a performance of We the Young Strong, leading to a collaboration to dramatise Lucas’s journal. This project aimed to recover overlooked voices, including Lucas’s wife Prudence, and to explore the internalisation of crisis. The resulting play, The Nervous State, was supported by the University of Sheffield’s Covid Recovery Fund and premiered in June 2022, followed by a panel discussion with mental health professionals.

The play resonated with contemporary audiences, drawing parallels between the Munich Crisis and modern challenges like extremism, the pandemic, and war. It was performed at multiple venues and featured in The Times, Yorkshire Post, and BBC Radio Sheffield. Audiences included students, educators, and descendants of the Lucases.

Gottlieb also collaborated with the Historical Association and teacher-educator Andrew Wrenn to develop curriculum materials that use the Munich Crisis to teach empathy, resilience, and mental health awareness. Events included immersive workshops and performances for schools, with careful attention to ethics and safeguarding.

The project has continued to expand since the film-adaptation was released. Gottlieb and her team and visited more schools and recently facilitated an ideas lab with practitioners from a range of professions to discuss how to use The Nervous State film and associated resources to improve mental health provision and emotional literacy in education and health care.

During the first teaching of this enquiry, we let students explore the sources and their provenance alone. We found that this turned into quite a dry 'source work' exercise, rather than a rich exploration of emotion history.

On second teaching, we taught students the stories of the people first. This meant that students then cared about their feelings and transformed their understanding of the substantive, disciplinary and procedural knowledge that we were trying to explore.

F.L. Lucas is a fascinating character! A biography of him and the others used in the source pack can be found within the lesson resources linked above.

What is history from within? 

An historical lens that prioritises studying the internal perspectives and subjective experiences of people in the past with a view to understanding how people made sense of their world.

What is emotional literacy?
The ability to recognise, understand, express, and manage emotions—both your own and those of others. It’s a foundational skill for emotional intelligence and plays a key role in personal well-being, relationships, and social interactions.

Teaching this enquiry revealed to us that using the lens of history from within, helped students to articulate their own feelings about the world we live in. This was an unintended, but important outcome that has influenced how we now approach teaching different areas of the curriculum. The development of the explicit teaching of emotional literacy in our subject needs careful consideration and we've begun to explore this as a team. I have been sure to include any ethical and safeguarding considerations we've undertaken in the information provided and will continue to do so as we move forwards in applying this to other time periods and areas of study.