Teaching World War I in the 21st Century 1 | Page 16

THE OTHER SIDE OF
THE TRENCHES:
WORLD WAR I FROM THE EUROPEAN
PERSPECTIVE
Brian Weaver, Central Bucks High School–West, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Most teachers know—and love telling—the stories that

With the current emphasis on skill-based assessments,

under the demands of the Treaty of Versailles; and the

Plan and France’s Plan XVII allow for compelling analysis of

start and end World War I: Gavrilo Princip somehow

succeeds in assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand

despite a terribly botched plan; Germany gets buried

stage is set for World War II. The battles are mostly the
same tune: lots of men go over the top; few come back.

Humans blast each other with artillery. The Western Front
stays put. Russia drops out. The United States comes in.

The war ends. Some teachers show pictures of trench foot,
depending on how close to lunch the class meets.

While it can be hard to find a unique approach to the
European war, this material has a number of layers

that allow for fresh approaches to the subject matter
to keep students engaged, and not just on the Allied

side. Germany and Austria-Hungary often get treated

as an enemy that remains faceless (save German Kaiser
Wilhelm II’s ranting). The geography of the continent,
the relationships between people and countries at

war and at home, and even the belligerent countries’

attempts to create subversion in their enemies’ camps
all offer fascinating sidelights that allow a teacher to
add depth to what can be a straightforward subject.

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Essays & Resources

one can find a great deal of material in the background of
the war. The naval arms race between Great Britain and

Germany has great statistics to study. Germany’s Schlieffen
how to conquer an enemy. It is a real-life game of Risk that
facilitates geography lessons: Where is the best place to

invade? Why? What problems would the army face under

your plan? Lessons involving preparedness allow students
to analyze data and can lead to discussion about the fact
that sometimes having the biggest army does not mean
having the best army. Just ask Russia in 1914.

A teacher can highlight feelings of extreme nationalism
or preexisting tensions between Germany and France,
or Serbia and Austria-Hungary, or Russia and the

Ottoman Empire, explaining how geopolitical events of
the last century all created storm fronts that collided
in 1914. These guys had been sharing a pretty small

continent for centuries, and they were getting awfully
tired of each other.

At the conflict’s start, many key European figures shared
complicated relationships with each other. Nothing

proves this more than the Willy-Nicky telegrams, the