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Military History: Just A Game? The Historical Accuracy & Controversies Of Battlefield I & V With Dr Alan Malpass From Bishop Grosseteste University
14th July 2021 @ 17:00 - 18:00
This session provides an accessible introduction to military history themed wargames and encourages students to critically engage with video games as a primary source.
A brief overview of the history of wargaming and war themed video games will be delivered. The session will then focus on the Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V video games with students discussing issues of historical accuracy and what the criticism/discussion of them can reveal about the collective memory of the two world wars.
Students will be encouraged to share their thoughts/arguments and contribute to polls to facilitate a discussion concerning the value and significance of video games as a historical source.
Objectives/Benefits
- Familiarise students with a university style lecture/seminar
- Encourage students to think critically about videos games as a primary source/educational tool.
- Provide students with an opportunity to share ideas/views on the value of historical war-themed video games.
- Inspire students by highlighting the contemporary popularity of military history and the value of contemporary value of studying the history of war and conflict.
Speaker Profile (Please click): Dr Alan Malpass
Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.
As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.
Suitable for: Year 12 and 13 students (and equivalent) studying, or interested in studying, History, Military History, and related subjects. We also welcome interested students from other disciplines.
Preparation/Pre-Reading:
To facilitate discussion students will be asked to watch the release trailers of the two video games and read short articles concerning them.
Battlefield 1 release trailer
Battlefield V release trailer
- Alex Hern (2016) ‘Battlefield 1: is it wrong to set a war game in the trenches of the first world war?’ Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/battlefield-war-game-first-world-war
- Simon Parkin (2016) ‘Battlefield 1: from trenches to Twitter storm’, Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/06/battlefield-1-game-first-world-war-twitter-controversy-ea-poppy-ban
- Keza MacDonald (2018). ‘Beyond the frontlines: how Battlefield V found fresh WWII battles to fight’ Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/nov/22/beyond-the-frontlines-how-battlefield-v-found-fresh-wwii-battles-to-fight
- Megan Farokhmanesh (2018). ‘Battlefield V fans who failed history are mad that the game has women in it’. https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/24/17388414/battlefield-v-fans-game-women-world-war-2-history
Students may also wish to consider questions they have about the topic and/or about studying this discipline at university.
The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.
Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: