First thoughts on an event: what do they tell us?: preliminary findings from a project on the First World War

Abstract

This year marks the end of the centenary of the First World War (FWW/WWI from now on), an historic event that changed the course of history in significant ways. The centenary of the FWW has been marked by special events around the world. This paper focuses how respondents from around the world viewed the FWW before the centenary celebrations began; it examines the first thoughts that come to respondents’ minds when the they think of the FWW and whether these are related to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender) and others such as whether they had visited a FWW site, and their ties to FWW (e.g., emotional connections to the event).