Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Used to inform the British Council’s publication on the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, 'Remember the World as Well as the War', the Knowledge and Perceptions of the First World War study contains the results of a survey carried out online in September 2013 by YouGov on behalf of the British Council. The survey covered Egypt, France, Germany, India, Russia, Turkey and the UK, and the data also include aggregate figures for all seven countries combined.

Capturing a general adult population sample of over 1,000 individuals per country, the survey explored questions about people's knowledge of historical facts of the First World War and their perceptions of the conflict's contemporary significance - in both cases, these questions capture local and global implications of the conflict. The results show, for example that perceptions of the UK in other countries 100 years after the First World War are still coloured by Britain's role in that conflict. They also show that knowledge of individual facts is limited in general and attribution of significance varies between countries.

Main Topics:

Levels of historical knowledge and perceptions of contemporary relevance of the First World War at the time of the centenary.