William Wicken, Associate Professor of History, York University
York University’s History Department has released seven YouTube videos regarding various aspects of the First World War. In each video, members of the Department discuss the war and its legacies. Each video is about about six minutes long. The videos are divided into seven different topics. These subjects include war’s origins, Canada’s participation, French-Canada’s view of the conflict, the role of women, new technologies, and how the war reshaped countries and empires. Original newsreels, documents, maps, and songs, are used to provide students and the general public with an engaging and thoughtful overview of the war. We hope that students and the general public will use these videos to gain a quick and concise understanding of the war. Six of the videos are in English and one in French.
The videos can be accessed at http://www.yorku.ca/laps/ww1/, as well as below:
Episode 1: The World at War, Professors Deborah Neill, Stephen Brooke, William Wicken, Molly Ladd-Taylor and Jennifer Stephen discuss the origins of the war.
Episode 2: Canada at War, Professors William Wicken, Marcel Martel, Jennifer Stephen, William Jenkins and Craig Heron discuss how Canada got involved in WW1.
Episode 3: Women at War, Professors Kathryn McPherson, Molly Ladd-Taylor and Jennifer Stephen examine the role women played in WW1.
Episode 4: Empires at War, Professors Deborah Neill, Stephen Brooke, Joan Judge and Thabit Abdullah discuss how various Empires approached the war.
Episode 5: Technologies at War, Professors Deborah Neill and Craig Heron discuss the new advances in technologies that were developed during WW1.
Episode 6: The Spoils of War, Professors Stephen Brooke, Joan Judge, Kalman Weiser, Thabit Abdullah, Jennifer Stephen and William Wicken and the aftermath of WW1.
Episode 7 : Les Canadiens français et la Première Guerre mondiale, Professors Marcel Martel, Colin Coates and Roberto Perin discuss the war from the perspective of French Canadians.