Perhaps someone should have bought Michael Gove a Blackadder box set for Christmas. The Education Secretary has attacked the show for portraying the First World War as “a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetuated by an out-of-touch elite” — a criticism the minister is probably all too used to hearing.
Gove would rather that children were taught that Britain fought a “just war” against German aggression — or, in other words, that it “all started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building,” to quote Hugh Laurie’s buffoonish character.
“I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich ‘cause he was hungry,” adds Baldrick helpfully. But it’s Blackadder himself who offers the succinct explanation many a history teacher or government minister might struggle to match: “In order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other’s deterrent. That way there could never be a war.” The only trouble was “there was a tiny flaw in the plan… it was bollocks”.
