Labour has accused the government of using the centenary of the start of the first world war to "sow political division" after the education secretary, Michael Gove, tore into "leftwing academics" for peddling unpatriotic "myths" about the role of British soldiers and generals in the conflict.

Writing in the Observer, Tristram Hunt, Labour's shadow education spokesman and a historian, accuses Gove of a "shocking" attempt to score political points ahead of the events to mark the war, which began in August 1914 and led to the deaths of 16 million.

Responding to an article in which the education secretary attacked what he sees as an unpatriotic, leftwing version of history that portrays 1914-18 as "a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite", Hunt says such "ugly" and politically motivated interventions diminish what should be a time of national reflection.

"There was always a fear that the timing of the anniversary alongside the May 2014 European parliament elections and the rise of Ukip could undermine a dignified response to the events of 1914-18," he writes. "Yet few imagined the Conservatives would be this crass."

In his article, Gove said dramas such as Oh! What a Lovely War and satirical programmes such as Blackadder, combined with leftwing interpretations of the war, had allowed deeply unpatriotic myths to take hold, and had led some to denigrate the "patriotism, honour and courage" of those who served and died.

Departing from the government's line that the commemorations should not seek to attribute blame, Gove argued that the "pitiless" and "aggressive expansionism" of the German leaders should not be forgotten as it "more than justified" the British military response.

Even the Battle of the Somme, in which 20,000 British soldiers died on the first day in 1916, Gove said, had been reassessed by good historians and "recast as a precursor of allied victory", challenging the traditional views that it was one of the biggest military catastrophes of modern times.

In a poll conducted by the British Future thinktank, to be published in full next week, 59% of respondents said the centenary should be an occasion for "remembrance of loss of life and national reflection", while 22% preferred a commemoration of victory over Germany.

Hunt says that using the anniversary to crow over British triumph is inappropriate given what was to follow. "Whether you agree or disagree, after the death of 15 million people during the war, attempting to position 1918 as a simplistic, nationalistic triumph seems equally foolhardy – not least because the very same tensions re-emerged to such deadly effect in 1939."

The historian Margaret MacMillan, warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, whose views of the war were, according to the Daily Mail, supported by Gove, also took issue with much of the education secretary's approach.

"You take your fans where you get them, I guess," she said. "I agree with some of what Mr Gove says, but he is mistaking myths for rival interpretations of history. I did not say, as Mr Gove suggests, that British soldiers in the first world war were consciously fighting for western liberal order. They were just defending their homeland and fighting what they saw as German militarism."

She added: "I wish we could see understanding the first world war as a European issue, or even a global one, and not a nationalistic one."

Gove's comments are likely to cause consternation in Germany, where politicians are keen to stress the lessons learned from two world wars and the role that European integration has played in promoting peace.

The president of the European parliament, the German Social Democrat Martin Schulz, declined to be drawn on Gove's intervention, but, in terms that are likely to anger some on the Tory right, he said that the way to ensure future peace in Europe was to promote a more closely integrated EU.

"One essential difference between 1914 and 2014 is that we have the EU to ensure that democratic values cannot and will not be undermined," he said. "European integration is the answer to the catastrophe of the first half of the 20th century, where our continent was facing wars, the Shoah [the Holocaust], totalitarianism, poverty and injustice.

"With the EU we have established a unique peace project which is a key factor in regaining peace, wealth and social justice. The project of European integration is admired worldwide and was recognised with the awarding of the Nobel peace prize in 2012.

"The lesson learned from this is that we should keep the spirit of European integration but make the EU better and more effective."

• This article was amended on 5 January 2014 to correct polling figures quoted by British Future.