You do need to know dates at close to that granularity if you’re trying to build a detailed model of an event like a war or revolution. Knowing that the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Hong Kong both happened in 1941 tells you something; knowing that the former happened on 7 December 1941 and the latter started on 8 December tells you quite a bit more.
On the other hand, the details of wars and revolutions are probably the least useful part of history as a discipline. Motivations, schools of thought, technology, and the details of everyday life in a period will all get you further, unless you’re specifically studying military strategy, and relatively few of us are.
A particularly stark example may be the exact dates of bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and official surrender. Helps deal with theories such as “they had to drop a bomb on Nagasaki because Japan didn’t surrender”.
Be careful. That sounds reasonable until you also learn that the Japanese war leadership didn’t even debate Hiroshima or Nagasaki for more than a brief status update after they happened, yet talk of surrender and the actual declaration immediately folowed declaration of war by the Soviets and landing of troops in Mancheria and the Sakhalin islands. Japan, it seems, wanted to avoid the German post-war fate of a divided people.
The general problem with causation in history is that you often don’t know what you don’t know. (It’s a tangential point, I know.)
I’m not necessarily saying this is wrong, but I don’t think it can be shown to be significantly more accurate than the “bomb ended the war” theory by looking at dates alone. The Soviet declaration of war happened on 8 August, two days after Hiroshima. Their invasion of Manchuria started on 9 August, hours before the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, and most sources say that the upper echelons of the Japanese government decided to surrender within a day of those events. However, their surrender wasn’t broadcast until 15 August, and by then the Soviets had opened several more fronts. (That is, that’s when Emperor Hirohito publicized his acceptance of the Allies’ surrender terms. It wasn’t formalized until 2 September, after Allied occupation had begun.)
Dates aside, though, it’s fascinating to read about the exact role the Soviets played in the end of the Pacific War. Stalin seems to have gotten away with some spectacularly Machiavellian moves.
You do need to know dates at close to that granularity if you’re trying to build a detailed model of an event like a war or revolution. Knowing that the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Hong Kong both happened in 1941 tells you something; knowing that the former happened on 7 December 1941 and the latter started on 8 December tells you quite a bit more.
On the other hand, the details of wars and revolutions are probably the least useful part of history as a discipline. Motivations, schools of thought, technology, and the details of everyday life in a period will all get you further, unless you’re specifically studying military strategy, and relatively few of us are.
A particularly stark example may be the exact dates of bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and official surrender. Helps deal with theories such as “they had to drop a bomb on Nagasaki because Japan didn’t surrender”.
Be careful. That sounds reasonable until you also learn that the Japanese war leadership didn’t even debate Hiroshima or Nagasaki for more than a brief status update after they happened, yet talk of surrender and the actual declaration immediately folowed declaration of war by the Soviets and landing of troops in Mancheria and the Sakhalin islands. Japan, it seems, wanted to avoid the German post-war fate of a divided people.
The general problem with causation in history is that you often don’t know what you don’t know. (It’s a tangential point, I know.)
I’m not necessarily saying this is wrong, but I don’t think it can be shown to be significantly more accurate than the “bomb ended the war” theory by looking at dates alone. The Soviet declaration of war happened on 8 August, two days after Hiroshima. Their invasion of Manchuria started on 9 August, hours before the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, and most sources say that the upper echelons of the Japanese government decided to surrender within a day of those events. However, their surrender wasn’t broadcast until 15 August, and by then the Soviets had opened several more fronts. (That is, that’s when Emperor Hirohito publicized his acceptance of the Allies’ surrender terms. It wasn’t formalized until 2 September, after Allied occupation had begun.)
Dates aside, though, it’s fascinating to read about the exact role the Soviets played in the end of the Pacific War. Stalin seems to have gotten away with some spectacularly Machiavellian moves.
That was my point. It can be shown to be significantly more accurate, but not by looking at the dates alone.