Learning Intention

• Students will understand the link between point of view and interpretation and be able to identify different historical interpretations

• Contribute to your group analysis
• Identify the different interpretations of why WWI began

Success Criteria

In history, there is never just one version of events that is 100% accurate… instead there are many different interpretations �

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An interpretation is one historian’s view of the past based on the evidence they have chosen to use

What historians do…

Historical debate

• Your job as historians (and for your assessment) is to analyse sources and determine their meaning and identify the point of view from which they were made

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• A person’s point of view might be influenced by their beliefs, their experiences, their job, or what information they have access to.

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• When an event is open to interpretation… it can create a historical debate

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

How to understand a historical debate

To understand a historical debate we need to recognise how a new interpretation challenges an earlier argument. To do this we follow these steps:

1. Identify the main argument of the earlier interpretation.

2. Identify the main argument of the later interpretation and how it differs from the earlier interpretation.

3. Explain the details used to support the argument of the later interpretation.

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Understanding the debate about the causes of WWI

• There is disagreement among historians about why WWI started
• As a group we will read two possible interpretations and answer the following questions

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1. Interpretation one argues that WWI started because…
2. Interpretation two argues that WWI started because…
3. Which interpretation do you most agree with?
4. Why do you think historians can have such different views of the past?

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Each group will be given a different interpretation of the causes of WWI.

You will complete the following table for your interpretation only��But first let’s define each of the different schools of historians

Reflection

1. Has this changed your view of the nature of history?

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2. Which of the following definitions of history do you most agree with?

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‘History is …

• written by the winners’
• written for the time in which it is produced’
• like looking back through tinted glasses’
• the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon’.

Instructions

• Divide students into groups and provide one interpretation each
• To make smaller groups two of each source can be printed
• Some interpretations are more complex than others – consider this in your group choice
• Students work in their books, with access to dictionaries and teacher
• Students then contribute to the whole class table of the results