Why and how should the First World War be tackled in the European countries’ secondary schools?
Is it worth asking this question which is not obsolete, even 90 after the outbreak of the conflict?
The 14-18 war appears nowadays as being a key element, a decisive breach in the history of Europe in the 20th and 21 centuries.
The study of the First World War, both in its unfolding (a long war involving numerous countries, that involves civilians as well as fighters and provokes the mobilization of all the human and material resources) but also in its immediate and long-dated consequences seems essential to meet the very goal of the history lesson that aims at understanding the present day society through the past.

The First World War was treated with a national or nationalistic view for years. This is why we have chosen to apply to this major event the methodology of the “crossing view” to go beyond the narrow-mindedness of those national views and offer a European reading to this part of our common history, integrating in the teaching of this conflict the contribution of the recent trends of the research which precisely goes to the direction of a multiple and compared history.

The goal of this project is neither to enter a theoretical reflection on the topic nor the methodology but to confront and compare the different experiences, the practices and the conceptions of the different partners so as to build pedagogical tools and a module of initial training for teachers.