World War 1

Students investigate forces and ideas that shaped the modern world through a study of key events and developments and the meaning of modernity. The Historical concepts and skills content is to be integrated as appropriate.

Content Focus

• Students investigate developments of World War I and its role in the shaping of the modern world. The Historical concepts and skills content is to be integrated as appropriate.

Content

Students investigate:

The historical context, including:

• the influence of nationalism, imperialism, militarism and alliances on Great Power rivalry by the end of the 19th century

The nature of World War I, including:

• the outbreak of war in 1914, the Western and Eastern fronts, and why it became the world’s first global conflict

• the varying experiences of soldiers in key battles, eg Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele, Tannenberg, Beersheba

• the changing nature of war to 1918: scientific and industrial developments in weaponry, the mechanisation of modern warfare, advances in medicine and communications

• the impact of the war on civilians, including women’s lives and the changing role of women(ACHMH064)

• the scale of recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda in World War I

• an overview of the reasons for the Allied victory

• the effects of World War I in giving rise to the Russian Revolution

• the idea of ‘total war’, the end of ‘empire’, and World War I as ‘the war to end all wars’

The nature and legacy of World War I and its influence on modernity