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Commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War
The War to End All Wars
Rightly or wrongly, History is often defi ned as events with which we no longer have a living connection. The death of Harry Patch (‘The Last Fighting Tommy’) in 2009 made the Great War a truly historical event by this measure. Since then, countries, governments and History teachers have been exploring ways to mark the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities in July and August 1914. Unsurprisingly, everyone it seems has their own view. ‘No Glory in War’ is an internet based pressure group which believes that the confl ict should be remembered as a military disaster and a human catastrophe. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, has argued that the commemoration is an opportunity to raise the national spirit and should be on a par with the Diamond Jubilee of 2012. Then there is a debate about what to remember. This year of commemoration had barely started when the Education Secretary Michael Gove sparked a debate by complaining that school history has too long been dominated by the Blackadder ‘lions led by donkeys’ interpretation of WW1. Finally, expert historians have been locked in debate with Niall Ferguson repeating his claim that the British government was to blame for the escalation of war in 1914, as opposed to Max Hastings who sticks to the oftquoted view about German militarism being the main cause of the war.
Into the midst of this academic debate, the Girls’ Division Senior School has attempted to mark the centenary in an
appropriate way. In the summer term, Year 9 girls conducted their own research in the library, and, in particular, focused on the Imperial War Museum’s commemorative project ‘Lives of the First World War’. Girls in years 9, 10 and 12 attended a lecture by Professor Martin Alexander on the causes of the war, and Mr Owen recently led an assembly on the 98th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme (the bloodiest day in the British Army’s history). Finally, those girls who will be visiting the battlefi elds of Ypres and the Somme in October have been refl ecting on their upcoming visit, in particular those who have a personal connection to the confl ict.
Next term’s newsletter will include a full report. In short, however we choose to remember the Great War, we have a duty to understand it.
As Harry Patch himself said:
For countless Year 10 pupils who have wrestled with this question at the beginning of their GCSE course, Harry’s words provide ample incentive.
Mr C Owen, Head of History and Politics
