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Who was to blame for causing the First World War?

Activities Resources
This lesson revisits the very first lesson of the course. This time however the activity and (hopefully) your level of understanding are much more sophisticated. 

This will be a full class, video debate. Six teams are chosen to represent Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain, France and Serbia. Depending on numbers, a small group of students may wish to take responsibility for digital filming and video editing. (see Resources opposite)

Teams prepare for the debate by (i) planning a number of questions to be put to the other 5 countries and (ii) planning a defence of your own country against accusations that you were responsible for starting the war. 

Each country takes a turn in the 'dock', attempting to defend themselves against the rest of the class. Merits awarded for best performances. 

Alan Farmer - Modern European History (58-61) 

The debate in 2002 (videos) Thanks to Tom and Olivier for filming and editing the videos for the website in 2002.

Germany - isdn or 56k
Austria - isdn or 56k
Russia - isdn or 56k
Britain - isdn or 56k
France - isdn or 56k
Serbia - isdn or 56k

The complete video debate. This is nearly 10 minutes long and more than 7mb. Save and watch it later by right-clicking and 'save target as'.

Teams for 2005
Germany - Melissa, Maddie, Hee jin
Austria - Adrian, Galen, Laura
Russia - Jack, Nitin
Britain - Charlotte, Josh
France - Paul, Jacob, 
Serbia - Dan, Nacho, Tom