I have been doing a Mooc about WW1 : " Changing Faces of Heroism " run by https://www.futurelearn.com.I chose to do it to learn more about this sad war which reshaped " Europe" but also had events that also led to the rise of Nazism in Germany.
As a teacher of English I have also written a short blog online where I have kept files and documents which are in relationship with this interesting topic. Much has been written and said but we still cannot understand it and what values were shared by many soldiers who loved their countries and were ready to accept war and also death.
The focus of the course was on heroism and on how it changed. I must admit that I could reflect on what ideas of heroism we have today and how different it is today from the past.
By reading the poems by Ungaretti in Italy I have the idea that the war had a deep impact on the mind of the men who went to war. The course focussed on Britain, France and Germany but I know that also Italy had its heroes.There were many voices against this war that marked the beginning of a new nation with new territories for Italy. In England many poets criticized it , but we also have voices of poets like R.Brooke who were supporting the war. Who were heroes? I think that many soldiers who lost their lives were heroes but also their women and wives who worked in factories and helped their families to continue living. Some soldiers came back home and never lived a life which was worth living. They had lost their identities, they had seen so many atrocities. Books and films have been reviewed in this course and in particular I liked the critical voices of many who thought that making war was the best way to solve problems.
What I liked was the idea of sharing a padlet about WW1 Memorials and presenting a review about a film or a book that dealt with the topic presented.Many voices and also many opinions.
As a child my primary school teacher used to talk about the values of WW1 : Italy was a nation with the new territories like Udine and Trento/Trieste. Her father had been to war and he had to suffer because he had been hurt at war. Then there was the second worl war and again there were new values: people and civilians fought against the Nazis and maybe most of the Italian people forgot the many soldiers who had died in the First World War.
This poem by Ungaretti is a good summary of what soldiers had to see and how they suffered:
SAN MARTINO DEL CARSO
Valloncello dell’Albero Isolato il 27 agosto 1916
Di queste case
non e’ rimasto
che qualche
brandello di muro
Di tanti
che mi corrispondevano
non e’ rimasto
neppure tanto
Ma nel cuore
nessuna croce manca
E’ il mio cuore
il paese piu’ straziato
This video shows us how Italian soldiers suffered but also how people celebrated the end of the war in November 1918. It is an old document but it shows the cruelty of wars and the poor soldiers who suffered and also died to have a united nation- Italy.
Dio segnò i confini d'Italia (Sezione Cinematografica del Regio Esercito Italiano) from
Cineteca MNC on
Vimeo.
This is the padlet where you can see many interesting pictures/photos about memorials. Also in my country we have places that remind us of those who died at war. This could be an interesting idea for teachers who want to work on memorials and would like their students to carry out their researches.
I have also done other Moocs about WW1 and they all described many interesting issues about this event that changed the lives of millions of people.
