Sunday, January 5, 2014

Historians Debate Origins of WWI on Twitter


Who started World War I?  Three respected historians, Simon SchamaTom Holland, and Gary Sheffield tweet their views.

It all started earlier this month when British Education Secretary, Michel Gove, argued that the war was started by Germany and that it was a just and noble war for England.  Gove also attacked liberals, specifically the movie, "Oh! What a Lovely War," and "The Monocled Mutineer and Blackadder" as "a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite."

Russell Tarr, a history teacher who developed the site, Active History, sent out a tweet which started a discussion about the origins of World War I with  the three  historians. 

Tarr developed an awesome worksheet for his students  using the tweets from the historians. The worksheet contains all the tweets along with links to a BBC 4 Radio appearance by the three historians as well links to Secretary Gove's original remarks.

Students read the tweets and the articles and then discuss and debate the different views.

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