A local professor shared his insight with Shippensburg University students and faculty last Tuesday as to why World War I is taught incorrectly in classrooms.

Michael S. Neiberg, professor of history at the United States Army War College at the Carlisle barracks, explained to the audience gathered in Old Main Chapel that historians have done a bad job studying World War I, and have not given the war enough scholarly attention. When World War I is taught, former President Woodrow Wilson is often the focal point, Neiberg said.

Instead of focusing on Wilson, Neiberg examines the war from the bottom up and takes the focus away from the president to view the situation from the eyes of American citizens.

The American people followed the war intently from the moment it began, and continued to watch it unfold, Neiberg said.

While there was a desire to stay neutral, a majority of America blamed Germany’s government for the war. This neutrality, however, resulted in the U.S. becoming more dangerous. Eventually, Americans agreed the U.S. needed to enter the war, according to Neiberg.

Neiberg emphasized how it is important to recognize the complexity of the decision to enter the war, and that it was more than a president making a decision.

“I think this is so important to understand what the American people actually thought they were fighting for,” Neiberg said.

The lecture allowed students to view historical events from different angles that may have not been taught in the classroom.

“I realized how complicated history is,” SU freshman Luke Ashberry said. “I wanted to learn more because it is an important part of American history.”

When educating students about World War I, Neiberg said there is a 15-minute method to educating students about the war in a semester-long class. He admitted even he taught the war the 15-minute way.

“You can’t get into the complexity that you would like to get into,” Neiberg said. “The first world war is such a complex topic that we’ve been much happier to just reduce.”

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