Unorthodox Professors: World War One in Videogames and on YouTube

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the videogames Battlefield 1 and Victoria II  and the YouTube channels  Crash Course World History  and  The Great War in order to show how these forms of media represent the First World War. Given the centennial of the First World War in 2014 and the end of the centennial occurring in 2018, there has been increased attention brought to the First World War, and therefore more representations of the war have been occurring in these media. Specifically, these representations affect how younger audiences view the war and will impact their knowledge of it.  Although there has been scholarship in game studies, historians should engage more often with videogames and YouTube in order to ensure the wider public is receiving adequate historical representations from these media.