There was really a dearth of coverage for WWI when I was in school...

[WCGreen]

It marks a pivotal moment in world history that we are still dealing with almost 100 years later.

The reason I bring this up is because the Military Channel is running the detailed and graphic documentary The First World War.

I suggest anyone who hasn't really learned about the First World War should take a bit of time and try to understand what it was that was giving way and what was emerging.


A little snip from an Amazon Review...

Although the First World War gets less attention than its successor, it was really the watershed event of the 20th century. This conflict shaped the world that came after to this day. It was the catalyst for the rise of soviet communism in Russia, whose unraveling less than a decade and a half ago continues to affect worldwide diplomacy and economics. Germany's defeat provided the opportunity for fascism and Hitler to come to power there, causing the Second World War and its greater destruction. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and the diplomatic and political morass that followed was the precursor for the reconstitution of Israel and eventually brought the Middle East into center stage today.

This series is based upon the books and encyclopedic knowledge of Professor Hugh Strachan. It examines every aspect of the war, from its causes to the conduct of the war on and behind the front lines to its aftermath. In doing so, it covers the diplomatic, political, military and social aspects, each of which played a role in shaping what happened and why. It does not just present the summary facts but goes in depth in its explanations. For example, instead of simply depicting the spring 1918 German offensive on the western front, it gives detail about how they accomplished it, the attitudes of the troops on each side and the thought processes of the respective high commands.

http://www.amazon.com/The-First-World-War-Complete/dp/B0009S2K9C

[Cleita]

1. Not in my case. There was a lot of WWI in my classes and even military generals coming to my

school as guest teachers to give us the military angle. Maybe I got dropped into the right bubble.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. This looks to be as good as "The World at War."

Which was, as you probably know, the pivotal series on WWII.

I will have to see if we get the Military Channel or, barring that, I'll bet this series is available from Netflix.

Thanks for your post!

[RobinA]

3. I Think It Depends

on age. I was in grades 7 - 12 from 1969 - 1975. I had WWII, WWII and more WWII. A bit of WWI, not much. Archduke Ferdinand, Treaty of Versailles, it was taught as sort of a precursor to WWII, not really the hellfire it was. Post WWII was nothing. And we were 30 years post WWII when I was a Sr. I knew nothing about Eisenhower, Korea, Kennedy (except that he was assassinated), Johnson. I could have told you more about Kennedy's assassination than I could about his entire administration. I thought the Cuban Missle Crisis (which I vaguely remember) and the Bay of Pigs were the same thing until I was about 35. And I was interested in history!

I took a class on the Vietnam War at the local community college about 10 years ago to fill in that gap. That was current events when I was in school, so we didn't learn much about it.

[WCGreen]

4. Same years for me....

[Bucky]

5. In the US history class I teach, I may've covered it more than WW2

But keep in mind that the issues were a lot clearer in WW2 than WW1. I also gave more time to the Cold War than to either conflict (four weeks, give or take). I'm not sure the amount of time spent directly correllates to how much attention a given student directs at a topic. For instance, this past year, my department lead screwed up on the calendar and we have a new system that kind of hamstrings each teacher to following the same teaching schedule, more or less. So we ended up stretching Civil Rights out so far that I barely taught anything about Watergate or the Reagan Revolution.

Each year we try to get it right, but each year something new comes bounding down the bureaucracy trail to fuck up our timing. At best, high school history can only be a survey course; the best teachers try and pique their students' interests about history in general and encourage them to explore it further on their own. Me, I'm just hanging on till I can collect my pension.