1. Learn to describe people

Topic: Leaders in the war--Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Qin Shi Huang, Chairman Mao Zedong, etc.

2. Learn to describe a sequence of events

Topic: Battle of Gallipoli, World War I, World War II, Battle of Waterloo, The American Civil War, Gettysburg Campaign, etc.

3. Learn to introduce an organization

Topic: ANZAC, Women’s Land Army, WAAF, NATO, etc.

4. Learn to introduce a book or movie 

Topic: Hero, Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

Developing Critical Thinking

1. What do commemoration services mean to the veterans, to the families of those who died in the war, or to other people?

2. How do you think a child’s experience of war might differ from that of adults?

3. Is it easy to write about personal experiences? Why or Why not?

4. What is the easiest part about writing about war? What is the most difficult part about writing about war?

5. How do people change after experiencing a war?

6. If women were more involved in the decision-making process about going to war, what do you think might happen?

7. Do you think women should be allowed to fight in wars?

8. How do wars affect the role of women in society?

Holding a debate

Task 1    Work in pairs. Read the statement below and discuss the questions.

War is always bad and peace is always good.

1. In what ways are wars “bad” or “good”?

2. Can you give examples of wars that have been “good”?

3. Why is peace good and desirable?

4. Can you think of examples of peace between countries where the “peace” did not end the war or did not last?

   
   

   
   

Tips: These questions are important to help you to prepare for the debate. Allow reasonable time for yourself to think, you may find that these questions are not really simple yes/no questions. What is the standard for “bad” or “good”? Are there some grey area between black and white? Is it easy to define “peace” and “war”?

Task 2    Work in pairs and discuss the proposal:

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

       ––Benjamin Franklin, American Statesman and scientist (1706-1790)

• Decide if you agree or disagree with the proposal.

• Decide who will speak in favour of / against the proposal.

• Make notes about your opinions in favour of / against the proposal.

For the motion:

First, we need to define “war” and “peace”. I will define “war” as a legal situation resulting from a declaration of war between states – the exception to this is civil war, which is between groups within a country. “Peace” seems to me to be more than the absence of war, so I define it as a stable situation over a period of time when there is no war or violence and people agree that there is peace. In this definition “armed conflict” is not peace, but is something between war and peace. 

When people talk about “good” wars in the past, they usually refer to the reasons for going to war, say, to defend the homeland from aggression, although many wars may have mixed reasons, including some bad ones. My main point is that, even in cases of wars for good reasons, the process and result of the war include bad things to an extent that the war cannot be reasonably described as good, even if it has good aspects. We must recognize that war brings the 3 Ds of Death, Damage and Destruction for many people. This is true both for winners and losers. Was there ever a war without the 3 Ds in the process and result for some or many people on both sides? Logically and historically, the answer is NO. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, you must support the motion: No war is purely good, all wars have the 3 Ds, and hence there was never a good war. My teammate, *** will speak about a bad peace later.

Against the motion:

My teammate has spoken eloquently about the nature of war and peace and about how we might think of a good war and a bad peace. To reject the motion, as we must, let us now turn to the word “never”. “Never” means at no time in the past (or future), so to reject the motion we simply have to find an example – one will be enough – of a good war or a bad peace. Whatever the other speakers have said – and they made interesting points – for this debate and this motion, we reject it if we find a single example of a good war or a bad peace, and this must be logically true whatever our general feelings and beliefs about war or peace are.

“Never” means at no time... so we must consider the time, situation and circumstances of a war. We have to consider the views of the people at that time. Think of the example of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and elsewhere in China in 1937. At that time, given the Japanese atrocities against Chinese women and children, from the Chinese point of view, a war against Japan was a good thing, to resist aggression, defend our people, and free our country. This justifiable defensive war outweighs the 3 Ds mentioned by the former speaker. Even though the Chinese people knew there would be sacrifices, hardship and suffering, we also knew that not to resist through war would be much worse. So it was a good war for Chinese people.

Now, an example of a bad peace. We do not have to look far. Just look at the Arab countries and Israel. There were wars in 1956, 1967 and 1973, and so-called peace in between and later, but as we know, this “peace” has included invasions, occupations, attacks with missiles, bombings, shootings, lots of fighting, lots of refugees, and so on. This is not war because as the former speaker said, war is a legal matter. Yet this situation continues when peace agreements have been signed, so it is not war. Yet no one can say this is “peace”. But you can say it is “a bad peace”, because there are a lot of bad feelings, a lot of insecurity, a lot of disagreements, and a lack of trust, love and kindness... and we commonly see the 3 Ds in this “bad peace”. So, this is an example of a bad peace, and with one example, ladies and gentlemen, you must reject the motion.

Task 3    Find another pair who disagree with your opinions and discuss the proposal.

Task 4    Work with the whole class and hold a debate.

Prepare a presentation about a war

Task 1    Work in groups of three or four. Choose a war and prepare a presentation about it.

• Decide which war you want to talk about.

• Decide who will present the different parts of the presentation.

• Find pictures / photos or statistics / graphs that illustrate your main points in a dramatic way.

Task 2    Make notes on the main points you want to talk about:

• the historical background and causes of the war

• the leaders on either side

• the main events of the war

• which side won the war and why

• the consequences or influences of the war

Task 3    Give your presentation to the class

Sample:

    We’re going to present some aspect of the First World War, which took place between 1914 and 1918 and is known as the Great War. Some people at the time thought it was “the war to end all wars”, but of course it wasn’t – in fact, it probably led to more wars. This is a huge topic, so we’re just going to present some main points, and you are welcome to ask us questions or give your comments later.

    This war started in Europe and involved other countries around the world later. These pictures [shows PPT slides here] give a brief idea of life in Europe at that time... and to understand what happened to change all this, we need to think of three background factors. First, militarism. Governments were building up armies and navies and thought of war as part of their foreign policy. Unlike today, no one thought at the time about going to war for the right reason – they just wanted to go to war and win, to get more power and territory. Next, alliances. Look at this map. Germany made alliances with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy (they were known as the Triple Alliance)and, in competition, Britain made alliances with France and Russia (known as the Entente Cordiale, which means “friendly understanding”). You can see why Germany thought it was surrounded. The point of these alliances was that if one country went to war, the other allied countries needed to go to war too. Finally, imperialism. Britain, France and Belgium were all getting colonies in Africa, and Germany wanted to do the same.

    These four factors all became causes of the war when the Archduke Ferdinand (a potential heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) was assassinated in Serbia in 1914. Within a few weeks, because of the alliances, like a house of cards falling down all over Europe, everyone declared war, in this order: Austro-Hungary on Serbia, Germany on Russia, then on France, Britain on Germany, Austro-Hungary on Russia, France on Austro-Hungary, Japan on Germany, Russia on Turkey, and Britain and France on Turkey. Later, the US joined in.

    The leaders of these countries don’t seem to have been very competent. Many of them were kings and emperors, and look at this! The King of Britain was a cousin of the Kaiser (emperor) of Germany and of the Tsar of Russia – most of the royal families were related to each other – it was a family war!

    Here’s a chart of the main events, but for millions of soldiers, the main events were months of living in trenches in terrible conditions before incompetent officers sent them to attack across the mud, when it was certain that most of them would die.

    The countries “mobilized” millions of men, that is, they called up lots of reserve soldiers and trained others to build up huge armies. 

    It is estimated that two out of three soldiers ended up dead or injured!

    As to result, in the East, Germany defeated Russia – but remember Russia was in chaos just after the 1917 Revolution. In the West, there was an armistice, which just means that all sides agreed to stop fighting, but at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 it was clear that Germany had lost the war.

    The  “peace” treaty is recognized now as a failure, because it left a lot of bitterness and resentment. Germany was blamed for starting the war and was made to pay huge amounts for reparations for all the damage... so Germany felt named and shamed – the Kaiser (emperor) abdicated and Germany was left with a shaky democracy. Germany lost territory and the economy suffered with the war debts. Colonies around the world were not given independence, although some new nations were set up in Central Europe. The League of Nations was set up – it was supposed to solve international problems and prevent wars, but it didn’t, and the US did not join it.

    The First World War was a tragedy. Not only did it lead to millions of ruined lives, but it also created the basic conditions which led to the rise of Hitler and the Second World War. Worse still, it could have been avoided if the leaders had taken different action in 1914 or earlier.