I live in a European country that stayed neutral during WW1 and i have come to realise that my Education has painted the germans and austrians in somewhat of a unfair light. I was wondering if there is any «good» and «bad» side bias in countries like Germany and France that was a major part of the war?
Canadian here: as a Dominion of the British Empire, Canada sent 620,000 people to the war (the Western Front and the Atlantic Ocean), of whom 67,000 were killed and 173,000 were wounded.
The general perception of the war is that Canada, as part of the Empire, had a duty to aid Britain in the war. (Strictly speaking, we had no choice in the matter: the British Empire was at war, and that was that. Compare to WWII: Canada, having gained independence in foreign affairs due to the Statute of Westminster, 1931, waited a week after Britain to declare war on Germany so as to demonstrate our independence.)
Britain's enemies were generally seen as bad, by definition. Hence the war caused significant anti-German sentiment at home. For instance, the city of Berlin, Ontario (named for its significant German-Canadian population) was re-named by referendum in May 1916 to Kitchener, Ontario (after Field Marshall Lord Kitchener, a war casualty) .
While much is made of Canada's involvement in the war as "the birth of the nation" or as a tragic loss of life, almost nothing is said about the direct cause of the war (i.e. the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand). Case in point: in our famous WWI poem, "In Flanders Fields", the Central Powers are merely "the foe". This generic attitude towards the Central Powers is dominant in how the war is seen today.
In short, during the war, there was significant bias against the Germans; after the war, the emphasis was more on the veterans--after all, we won, and the fighting was far from the Home Front--and the Germans were merely seen as a generic enemy.
Tim Cook (2008). Shock Troops: Canadians fighting the Great War, 1917–1918. Toronto: Viking Press.
Norman Leach (2008). Passchendaele: Canada's Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of Flanders : an Illustrated History
John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields
Mary Nersessian April 9, 2007). Vimy battle marks birth of Canadian nationalism. CTV.ca