World War One and revisionism: In the focus of historiography and propaganda

Abstract

This year marks one hundred years since the assassination in Sarajevo and the outbreak of World War One, or the Great War, which has forever changed the geopolitical map of Europe and determined the fate of nations and countries of the old continent. Since, in such situations, when it comes to great jubilees, experiences are analyzed and lessons are drawn from the past, and the historical reviews are made, marking of this anniversary in the world has been, for more than a year, followed by many discussions about the causes, reason and blame, or responsibility for the war. Discussions on the World War One, however, are as old as time that separates us from this war. With the exception of their professional (scientific) and ideological background, we can not help feeling that today they are increasingly taking on a political and propaganda dimensions. Unlike previous anniversaries, this one is characterized by an attempt to reinterpret the role of the Balkans, Serbia in particular, in the key points related to the start of the war and remove, primarily, the responsibility of Germany for its outbreak. Many books that have emerged in the last couple of years in the Anglo-Saxon and German-speaking countries are a kind of revision of the history, which shifts the blame for the war on Russia and Serbia. The aim is to show that Russia and Serbia are permanent points of geopolitical instability in the world: Russia on a global scale, and Serbia in the Balkans. What will be said about that by domestic historians remains to be seen in this year of the great jubilee.

Keywords

• assassination
• war
• causes
• reason
• blame
• responsibility
• revisionism
• historiography