Teaching World War I in the 21st Century 1 | Page 20

a superb opportunity to highlight not just the events
that led to the outbreak of war in 1914, but also

the technical skills involved in constructing a thesis
and arguing historically. Needless to say, discussing
arguments also leads beautifully into introducing

students to discussions on the nature of historical
interpretations.

Teaching Points: Arguments, Supporting
Evidence, Differing Interpretations, and
Communicating a Thesis

Inevitably, these points and counterpoints lead to
discussions of teaching. In particular, there now seems
to be a perception amongst the Great and the Good
(as I’m referring to politicians, I use those terms very
loosely) that teaching of World War I in British schools
has been dumbed down to the extent that the TV series
Blackadder Goes Forth is taught to kids as historical fact.
For those unfamiliar with this British comedy classic,
Blackadder covers the escapades of a cowardly officer
who attempts to escape from the clutches of clownishly
incompetent generals as he draws ever closer to the
inevitably final and fatal trip “over the top.” A clip of
Blackadder meeting the cartoonish General Melchett
(see end note for access information) gives you an idea
how British generals are portrayed in the show.
The point that seems to have been missed is that
a key part of high quality history teaching is not
just teaching “the facts” but, most important, how

British troops going over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the
Somme, 1916. (Image courtesy of Getty Images)

to think historically based on the evidence. In adept
hands, Blackadder leads to an extremely powerful and
memorable lesson on historical critical thinking and
historical interpretations when its representation of
the generals is contrasted with that of Professor Gary
Sheffield—who, though critical of the generals, gives
a much more balanced picture of their strengths and
innovative thinking. A simple way of implementing
this would be to concept check the idea of historical
interpretations with your students. Ask them to watch
the short clip and come up with a short list of the
impressions it creates of General Melchett. For your next
step, give out evidence cards based on Sheffield’s article.
Students then have to examine the evidence cards and
assess which points Sheffield agrees or disagrees with
in the Blackadder interpretation and why. The task of
examining the evidence naturally leads onto discussing
different types and purposes of historical interpretation.

Teaching Points: Critical Thinking Based
on Detailed Subject Knowledge; Types and
Purposes of Historical Interpretation

Postcard photo of Lance Corporal A. K. Croker of the Lancashire Hussars
in 1915 during World War I. (Image courtesy of The Archives Hub)

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Essays & Resources

Interestingly, the passionate disagreements about
interpretation that have resulted in angry newspaper
exchanges and Twitter storms in Britain have not
been reflected in Germany. This opens the door to a
close examination of how and why different societies
commemorate the same events in different ways. After