The Great War Fortnightly Focus
28th June 1914! The ‘Black Hand‘ strikes in Sarajevo!
Two shots from a Serbian nationalist kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to
the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Duchess Sophie.
The Duke was on a state visit to the Imperial province of Bosnia-Hercegovina
despite several warnings from nationalist extremists; he had been hoping to
strengthen links between the throne and the province.
What is the Black Hand?
Many thanks for your ideas for online learning and apologies for the
A secret
society which regards Austria as a tyrannical regime,
delay in responding. I've just got back from Edinburgh where
my past
and
the
Archduke
as a heartless oppressor. The motto of the
caught up with me. My last job before retirement was to head up the
is ‘Unity or death’, and their aim is to create a
national evaluation of Scotland's equivalent of Every Child organisation
Matters.
larger
independent
Serbia.
ECM seems to be lying dormant under Gove but our equivalent,
Getting it right
for every
childWhat
(GIRFEC)
is veryand
active
Scottish causing war across Europe?
The July
Crisis 1914;
has happened,
why and
is thisthe
assassination
Parliament is currently looking at legislation to ensure that the process
th Austria has been deciding how to punish Serbia for the assassination of its heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. On 28th July,
Since June
has28some
teeth. So I found myself "back in the box' supporting the civil
Austria tries to look fair by giving Serbia 48 hours to comply with Austria’s demands. It’s a sham! Everyone knows Austria wants to teach
servants who were giving evidence to a Parliamentary Committee
Serbia a lesson and to look tough in front of other rebel provinces. Germany has already promised to help Austria. Don’t they know Serbia
about the impact of GIRFEC on children's lives in Scotland. I was
has a big friend – Russia! It may be less industrialised than Germany, but it is huge. The countries are mobilising! Where are the voices for
burning the midnight oil for a couple of days and nights beforehand repeace?
reading all the reports our team had written between 2007 and 2010. It
Germany
hasinteresting
called upon but
Russia
to halt
army, and
requested
French
butand
the German Kaiser is being advised that a war could be
was
a bit
of aitsshock
to the
system
afterneutrality;
nearly two
good forhalf
Germany.
Britain
has
not
yet
committed
herself
and
is
appealing
for
peace.
Are
events moving too quickly for the diplomats?
years retirement.
Germany has declared war on Russia. Within two days Germany has invaded Luxembourg and has declared war on France, followed by an
are wondering
what on
has to
tohonour
do with
and she made to protect Belgium’s independence, and this
invasionIfofyou
Belgium.
Britain has decided
it isearth
in herthis
interests
thehistory
1839 Treaty
history
education
the answer
nothing.
Back in the '80s when I was
has brought
Britain
into the conflict.
What is
happens
now?
working at the Institute of Education in London and teaching modern
history at Birkbeck College I got involved with Bernard Crick (who was
also at Birkbeck) in developing what was then called political literacy the precursor to his work for Blunkett on civics. Then I was seconded
by HMI (John Slater, who was then the Senior HMI for history) to find
out how much political education was taking place in English and
Welsh schools and to evaluate it against the political literacy template.
After that three-year secondment I moved to NFER as a full-time
education policy evaluator. I actually lived in York in the late 80s when
I was seconded from NFER to the National Curriculum Council for its
first two years of operation to evaluate its implementation - you won't
be surprised to learn that the Dept of Education shelved the report In 1914 the assassination at Sarajevo triggered
the European military alliance system.
because it wasn't positive enough for Margaret Thatcher or the
incoming Secretary of State Ken Clarke. Then when I moved to
Scotland 10 years later I found myself running an inter-disciplinary “To try to avoid such a calamity as a European
centre that evaluated all kinds of policies and not just educational war, I beg you in the name of our old friendship
ones. The only way I could stay in touch with history, history
to do what you can to stop your allies from
education and civics was by also working as a part-time consultant for
going too far”
the Council of Europe and staying in touch with EUROCLIO and
Telegram from Tsar Nicholas ll of Russia to his
developments in history teaching up here in Scotland.
cousin Kaiser Wilhelm ll of Germany in July 1914
That's a long-winded explanation for why I have taken a while to
respond to your email. However, that background does have some
relevance to our discussion about online learning because during that
period I spent '000s of hours watching '00s of teachers and teacher
trainers adapt national curriculum initiatives to their local realities. It
was a time when the language of teaching changed dramatically:
learning objectives, learning outcomes, assessment tasks,
differentiated learning, etc and increasingly my work involved looking
Advisors in
Russia said that
a short war
would unite the
country!
The Great War Fortnightly Focus
Who is neutral?
Spain, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Denmark.
And President Wilson of USA urges American neutrality towards the European war.
“The lamps are going out all
over Europe. We shall not
see them lit again in our
lifetime”
Italy at this stage is neutral, though that may change...
Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign
Secretary, August 3rd 1914
Why did no one say STOP!?
Lots of people in Europe felt that a short war would sort out disputes in Europe. Some politicians thought that a short,
successful war would bring their country together. During the years before the war broke out, the major powers had been
rivals. Read our next issue to find out all about how nationalism, imperialism and militarism drove Europe into the tragedy
of World War One. Yikes, a culture of war existed in Europe in 1914!
“It’ll all be over by Christmas” – Oh no, it won’t!
This war will drag on for four years and the world will never be the same again!
Life for women in Britain!
The First World War became a Total War. That means all of
society was involved in some way or other. Women were
called upon to take on many roles. Some of them died
during the war.
After the war, a woman called Helen Little had a dream
about her dead sisters. She became inspired to raise money
to restore the ‘5 sisters’ window in York Minster as a
memorial to the women of the British Empire who had died
in the war. The Mount School will be finding out about these
women. Watch this space!
Quiz time!
Every fortnight there will be a small prize for the first student to get a set of correct answers to Mrs Ratcliffe!

How was Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany related to Queen Victoria?

When did Gavrilo Princip die?

When did Serbia become an independent country?

Why did Germany attack France before Russia?

Which of the Emperors of Russia, Austria and Germany kept their thrones after World War 1?
Find out more!
There are lots of book in the library that will help you. Watch out for
programmes on TV and great museum exhibitions. You can also
search these links:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/
document_packs/origins.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sarajevo_assassination_
1914.htm
1914.0rg – the website for centenary info