STEPS TO WRITING GOOD HISTORY ESSAYS

In 1919 the allies blamed Germany for starting World War One. Was this fair?

Step 1: Pick your topic

Step 2: Research – books, magazines, internet etc

Step 3: Underline the key words & decide where you stand on the topic – Yes/No/Maybe

Step 4: Use the key words as part of a brainstorm

Step 5: Prioritise the brainstorm Step 6: Start to write your supporting paragraphs using TEEL (Remember, great essays will repeat the evidence and explanation steps more than once – if you want to see how this is done look at the challenging level.)

T – Topic - States your main idea in response to the topic

E – Evidence – supports your main idea with facts, examples, expert quotes, statistics etc.

E - Explanation – explains why your evidence is important to your opinion / talks about the relationship between the evidence and the opinion

L – Linking – links you paragraph back to the topic

Step 7: Remember to keep track of the websites and books that you use, as you will need to include these in your footnotes and your bibliography. Please see the information pages on how to write a Bibliography and how to write and include footnotes for your quotes, statistics and paraphrasing.

Step 8: Conference a supporting paragraph with the teacher

[Topic] It was not fair for the allies to blame Germany for World War One when the alliance system was the problem. [Evidence] The website History on the Net says, “These [alliances] were important because they meant that some countries had no option but to declare war if one of their allies declared war first.”1 [Explanation] This shows us that if one country went to war all her allies also had to also go to war. Therefore, what may have been a small war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia ended up bringing a whole heap of other countries into the war. [Linking] This means that alliance system and every European country that was a part of this system was much more to blame than Germany ever was.

1 World War One - Causes | HistoryOnTheNet. 2014. World War One - Causes | HistoryOnTheNet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.historyonthenet.com/ww1/causes.htm. [Accessed 04 September 2014]. Step 9: Write your conclusion

A conclusion must be a logical and strongly worded summary of your contention and key ideas.

Note: Remember not to introduce any new information in your conclusion!

[Contention] It was unfair for the allies to blame Germany for starting World War One when

Germany was clearly not at fault. [Main Idea 1] Without the assassination of Franz

Ferdinand the world would not have plunged headlong into a four year conflict. [Main Idea

2] Austria-Hungary should carry more blame than Germany, for had she not been so unreasonable towards the Serbians war in all likelihood would again have been avoided.

[Main Idea 3] Thirdly, without the alliance system the World War which eventuated would have been a far smaller conflict between two countries. [Main Idea 4] Finally, the blame for

World War One also rests with countries irrational militarism, which made many of the great powers keen for power and the ability to put their large armies to the test.

Step 10: Write your introduction

A history introduction should give the reader the facts and information they need to get a relevant background to the essay topic/event you are talking about. You should also ensure that you include your contention.

[Background] On the 28th of June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by

Gavrilo Princip. Princip acted on behalf of the ‘Black Hand,’ a Serbian nationalist group.

Following the assassination of Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary pushed Serbia in the direction of war by demanding of her things she could not give. Austria-Hungary’s subsequent declaration of war on Serbia brought Serbia’s ally Russia into the war. Germany only responding to Russia’s armament eventually declared war on Russia and invaded France through Belgium. These events in turn activated a series of alliances that led to the First

World War. After four years of bloody fight and the defeat of Germany and her Central

Power allies, there needed to be someone to blame for the 16 million dead and the 21 million wounded. [Contention] While the allies attempted to blame Germany this was not fair and just plain wrong. [State main ideas] The blame lay more in Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, Austria-Hungary’s response to this, the alliance system and militarism.

Bibliography

World War One - Causes | HistoryOnTheNet. 2014. World War One - Causes | HistoryOnTheNet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.historyonthenet.com/ww1/causes.htm. [Accessed 04 September 2014].