The irony is that in his dumb world, it was all about why. One of my sons has just spent several years on GCSE and A-level history, getting good grades in exams he is now told were not fit for purpose. Not the most important question in any historical study: why? Hardly a flying start for the education upgrade.Ĭhildren will go to the battlefields, but will learn only when, what, where and how. His work is controversial, yes, but still the most authoritative on the subject - to all but our Government, who wish World War I to be remembered, but not well. Ritter claimed Fischer was 'anti-German' and his views 'a national tragedy'. Ritter successfully lobbied the West German foreign ministry to cancel travel funds allocated to Fischer for a trip to America. It was almost as if they were making a career out of it. Germany took the rap for World War II, sure, but two in one century? Other German historians, including Gerhard Ritter, attempted to refute his views. His publisher's office in Hamburg was firebombed. Fischer's work did not go down well in his homeland. The ambition was the creation of a German-dominated Europe: Mitteleuropa. In announcing the centennial of World War One Culture Secretary Maria Miller's mission was to avoid judgment and strike the right tone It took a chance that Britain would stay out. The German government used the crisis caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to act on plans for a war with France and Russia. He argued, using much documented evidence, that Germany instigated the Great War in an attempt to become a world power.
An arms race, lust for power and complex treaties involving all of the major nations meant it needed only a spark and the Continent would explode.įischer contended that the match was tossed intentionally by Germany. Europe was a barrel of dynamite waiting to be set off. Don't let them shelter you.įischer was the first historian to examine the entire archives of the Imperial German government and, for this reason, his 1961 work Germany's Aims In The First World War rendered just about every other book on the subject obsolete.īefore Fischer, the powder keg theory held sway. Fritz Fischer is the name you should know, kids. Not the most important question in any historical study: why?Īnd he reckons GCSEs were dumbed down.
Education: When it comes to history children learn only when, what, where and how.
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