MINI DBQ: THE 1914 CHRISTMAS TRUCE

On the hundreth anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce on the Western Front during WWI, Sainsbury’s, a UK based grocery chain, released an advertisement commemorating the unexpected moment of humanity and kindess between English and German soldiers. 26 million views later, their compelling account remains for many, the iconic retelling of the event; In most minds, 1914 was when soldiers on the Western Front put down their arms, and picked up a football, and battled on a makeshift soccer pitch.

But just how much evidence do we have for this picture?

In the Document Based Question linked below, students serve as fact-checkers for a school newspaper. Due to some miscommunications within the Social Studies department, the newspaper received two submissions about the Christmas Truce for its teacher-run history column. Through their explorations of provided evidence students  will reflect on key aspects of historical reasoning and argumentation: avoiding  overclaiming, qualifying conclusions, and evaluating the scope of evidence.