As 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, Aberdeen City Council presented a conference and pupil discussion featuring visiting guest speakers and pupils from Aberdeen’s twin cities in France, Germany and Belarus. Four pupils from S3 attended. On Thursday 27th March, Amber Thomson and Lewis Booth heard from WWI experts on topics such as The Gordon Highlanders, the role of women in the war in both Britain and Germany, what happened to conscientious objectors and how the war shaped Europe as it is today. On Friday 28th March, Sophie Robertson and Yamina Merrakech joined Lewis and Amber for a pupil discussion Pupils from Germany, France, Belarus and Aberdeen had the opportunity to voice their opinion about issues such as –
-Social media and propaganda-how has communication changed from WW1 to the present day?
-To what extent did women’s lives improve as a result of the war?
-In what ways did WW1 give people more of a say in their governments?
-How has Europe changed since WWI?
-Compare the reasons for war in modern day.
Use thefollowing link to see photos of the conference.