History 1040
The Great War

The Silent Sentinels
Langemarck German Cemetery - Belgium
September 29:
Today's class will build off the work done in the Video Podcast and begin to deal with the development of Total War in the 20th Century.
Highly Recommended for Thursday:
Ernst Junger - This is an interesting site in that, like Hitler, Junger saw the Great War as the defining point of his life and, in effect, he never really left the trenches.
Go to, listen to and view:
Images and newsreel - Real Audio from the BBC and the Imperial War Museum - Very moving video.
Archive radio interviews - "There was nothing but brown earth, shell holes and death"
October 1:
Today we will deal with 1916 - 1917 and in particular the slaughter that takes place on both the Eastern and Western Fronts.
Readings for next Tuesday as we begin The Front Experience:
94-107 in Fero
Download PowerPoint from Courseweb - "The Front Line Experience and the Artistic Response." You don't need this for class, but it is a helpful tool with images and the last few slides which set up the artistic response to the slaughter of the period we are studying.
Recommended - These will help you in your research on the Front Line Experience
For help on the Front Line assignment:
Going "Over the Top" on the Somme
Personal Stories of the
Somme From the BBC
Go to
BBC History
Website to view Short Videos capturing live testimony, video and poetry
dealing with the different periods of the war. A WARNING-SOME OF THESE WILL
BE VERY DISTURBING.
Access to diaries and memoirs from the Great War.
172 Page Memoir from a survivor of the Great War taken directly from his letters.
Watch:
Go to YouTube and type in "The Battle of the Somme" and watch through some of the videos there.