Mrs Glanville brought a special map into class recently — a detailed Map of Europe following the Congress of Vienna, spanning the period 1815–1914. The map, which usually hangs in her lounge at home, has a lovely story behind it. She found it in a second-hand shop about 20 years ago, written on the back was the name of the school where she had her first ever teaching job and her husband crafted the wooden hangers that now frame it beautifully. 

The map offers students a powerful visual of the empires that dominated Europe during the 19th century, before the outbreak of World War I. Sandra uses it to explain how many of the causes of WWI stemmed from the lack of independence for ethnic groups living within large empires like Austria-Hungary — such as the Slovaks, Hungarians and Poles — who were denied self-rule. 

Sandra says the map gives students a much better understanding than anything they could find online. Its size and detail help bring history to life, and it's become a favourite resource in her teaching of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles.