The German-French History Textbook Description about the First World War : Comparison with the German History Textbooks

Abstract

This article is to analyse the contents and description in the German-French history textbook, ‘Histoire/Geschichte(2008)’, about the First World War. To value the textbook, I took a look at the German history textbooks. I asked, whether in the Histoire/Geschichte(2008) the reconciliation of history between the two countries is pursued, and whether it has limitations. The Histoire/Geschichte(2008) has more detailed explanations on the First World War than the other textbooks. The textbook tells us the violences in the homefront as well as the battlefront, especially the unknown violences and genocide in occupied territories. And the textbook shows us the varied materials. It is remarkable that materials of different perspectives about the war are presented. This presentation-method gives the way to avoid the distorted view, and it can get to the historical truth. In my opinion, the Histoire/Geschichte(2008) overcomes the nationalistic viewpoint, and contributes to reconciliation of history between two countries. However it has some limitations. Many materials of the textbook are based on viewpoints of the great powers. The viewpoints of small nations and colonies are needed.