History Stats in Textbook

[nat_1577]

Hi

I've noticed that there is quite a disparity with the statistics in some history topics across books. Like, for instance,I read in my school text book for the Russian Revolution, that the Battle of Tanneburg resulted in 130,000 deaths; in another, it said 70,000. I was wondering if this would become an issue on the exam, if there was such a difference between various stats?

[Vermilliona]

Our teacher always says to be conservative and use the textbook statistics if there's a discrepancy, since they're the ones that examiners would be familiar with.

[revsteacher]

Hi nat_1577,

Yes, this can be a problem. One strategy is to mention both figures and the discrepancy, e.g. "The Battle of Tannenberg resulted in between 70,000-130,000 deaths (figures vary)..." In reality though the assessors tend not to worry too much about the accuracy of statistics. Unless of course they are ridiculous, like claiming that 10,000 people died during the October Revolution.

R.