Coverage

Why are primary sources important?

History as it was written

“To deal with sometimes extreme shortages, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing.

To buy most rationed items, each person had to register at chosen shops, and was provided with a ration book containing coupons. The shopkeeper was provided with enough food for registered customers.

Purchasers had to take ration books with them when shopping, so the relevant coupon or coupons could be cancelled.”

Engaging Students

Encourage Critical Thinking

The Times, Monday, Mar 20, 1933 The Times, Tuesday, Mar 21, 1933

How can they be used in the classroom?

• Visual aid to introduce a lesson

• Handouts for critical analysis

• Research assignments and case studies

Subjects Supported

• History• English Literature• English Language• Media Studies• Sociology

• Drama and Theatre Studies

• Religious Studies• Government and

Politics• Business Studies

1. The “Blackadder” view of the war

"The English Generals are wanting in strategy. We should have no chance if they possessed as much science as their officers and men had of courage and bravery. They are lions led by donkeys.”

(attributed to German HQ)

Lord Kitchener – Secretary of State for War

"The Tragedy of the Shells." Daily Mail 21 May 1915

"Lord Northcliffe's Attack on Lord Kitchener."

Sunday Times 23 May 1915

"Death Of Lord Kitchener." Times 7 June 1916

Defending Kitchener

2. The Accidental War?

Early Warnings…

Punch, 6 October 1912

The Great Powers of Europe - Britain, Russia, Germany, Austria and France(?) - try to keep the lid on the troubles in the Balkans…

…all of which would explode two years later in 1914 when a young Serbian assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

…With Long Roots

"The German Navy." Daily Mail  29 Sept. 1902

"[Many British people] cannot forget that since the beginning of the Boer War, a large part of German public opinion has been steadily, violently, and blindly anti-British. "Is not the increase of the German Navy," they ask, "directed against us?"

3. The War Poets

If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gurgling form the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as cudOf vile, incurable sores on the innocent tongues,-My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen(1893-1918)

G K Chesterton(1874-1936)

“Read the letters or listen to the talk of the poor fellow who have been where the German guns do aim and the German shells do hit, and you will find their letters and their talk full of an incessant jesting, which should make any man ashamed of being solemn about the blundering Zeppelin or the indiscriminate bomb...

The soldiers are still claiming, and we will continue to claim, the right to say not only "St George for England," but "St George for Merry England".

A Patriotic War?

What did the soldiers think?

"Soldiers' Letters." Daily Mail 1 Sept. 1914 "Letters from the Front." 

Daily Mail  28 Oct. 1914

"Football Results in the Trenches." Daily Mail 26 Oct. 1914