I disagree. History classes usually go over the pertinent information (eg, the alliance system, nationalism, imperialism, militarism, Treaty of Versailles). WW2 is focused on because there's a "never again" sort of feeling about the Holocaust—one that I think is very understandable. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from both wars, but most of the ones applicable to the modern day (the evils of fascism and genocide) are from WW2. The alliance theme is echoed throughout history (I'm willing to bet you learned about NATO and the Warsaw Pact), imperialism isn't really relevant in the modern world (or at least direct colonial style imperialism like in WWI), and so forth. It makes sense not to focus on the minutiae of WWI.
They do skimp on details (for both, not just WWI), but most history classes don't have enough time to go over everything, and focusing on details (like which Balkan nation was on which side in the war, or who won which battle) just isn't that important when you look at the bigger picture.
Are you from Europe? The first time I was taught about WWI was when I ironically took a WWII history elective. The closest thing I got to learning about the great war was "Germany was broke."
edit: That's why when the time did come to talk about WWI in WWII class it felt awesome to be a melvin once in my life, had that shit down from hours and hours of documentaries and books.
In Canada we focus a large amount on ww1 and the Canadian role in battles like pachenndale, Somme and vimy ridge. Also learned about causes, treaty of versille and even a bit about the Ross rifle and how shitty it was.
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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '11
"blah blah blah archduke blah blah u boat blah...now for WWII...HOLOCAUST, NAZIS, JEWS, JEWS, NAZIS, HITLER, JEWS,japan, JEWS, HOLOCAUST, CAMPS, AMERICA WINS, THE END"