Unit 9: World War II: The Crisis Deepens Content Area: Social Studies Course(s): Modern World History Honors Time Period: May Length: 5 weeks Status: Published Transfer Skills World War II was a major global military conflict involving most of the world's nations enventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis Powers. It was marked by significant events involving mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust, and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare. Enduring Understandings Big Idea: The World at War, Again: WWII and Its impact There Are No More King s Men The use of appeasement to try and stem the aggression of the Axis powers led to a philosophical change about how modern countries deal with aggressive nations today. There had been a climate of hatred against Jews in Europe and Russia for centuries. Various instances of genocide occurred throughout the twentieth century. The allied powers put aside their differences in political views to defeat a common enemy (Germany). The use of the atomic bomb on Japan would forever shape the escalation of warfare. The genocides during the first half of the 20th century force people to address the problem of man s inhumanity to man Both the Axis and the Allied powers were dependent on the resources of their empires in waging and winning battles and both utilized the merits of propaganda to stress nationalism and the needed participation of all for victory. The era of the world wars resulted in the shattering of some cultural norms and numerous social changes, including the role of women in the workforce, racial discrimination and the use of art as a means of control of public opinion. Essential Questions Why was the world plunged into a second global conflict after WWI? How did technology affect the fighting and destruction in World War II?
How did totalitarian regimes carry out their goals during the war? How did World War II change the balance of world power? Why did the Holocaust occur? What are other examples of genocide in the twentieth century? In what ways did the geography of the front lines and access to the imperialistic nations natural resources affect the strategies and turning points of the war and what role did the imperialized nations play in the final outcome of WWII and the growth of nationalism afterwards? What were the long-term social and cultural changes within the world following the world wars? What postwar developments have helped or hindered the spread of democracy? How does the gap between the rich and poor nations affect the world? How has the global interdependence affected the world and its environment? How has modernization and westernization brought about rapid social and culture change? What has the world done to address mass killings across the planet and how successful has mankind been in combating this epidemic of tragedy? How did the post war allies plan for the liberation of imperialized nation and continued political stability and in what ways did these plans affect the developing the nations in Africa and Asia? Content Vocab: Great Depression; Maginot Line; New Deal; disarmament; Black Shirts; Third Reich; Gestapo; Nuremberg Laws; Kristallnacht; Fascism; Nazi; Authoritarian; Dictator; Persecute; concentration camps; concentration camps;holocaust; genocide; Nuremberg Trials; Israel; appeasement; Nazi-Soviet Pact; Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis; Anschluss; sanction; blitzkrieg; lebensraum; genocide; Holocaust; reparations; collaborator; Kamikaze; Island-hopping Significant People/Events: Benito Mussolini; Neville Chamberlain; Pearl Harbor, Adolf Hitler; Dunkirk; Battle of Britain; Operation Barbarossa; Battle of Stalingrad; D-Day; Battle of the Bulge; V-E Day, Harry Truman Skills Evaluate different political ideologies using a two columned chart. Debate the positives and negatives of communism, fascism, and democracy. Analyze the pros, cons and effects of Non-Violent Civil Disobedience. Assess the overall impact of Japan s expansion into China. Map Skills World boundaries redrawn before World War II. Compare how countries with similar social, political and economic problems had a variety of different solutions.
Evaluate which political ideology is best for the people. Evaluate the significance of the founding of Israel. Analyze the lasting impact of the Nuremberg Trials. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Fascism and Communism Cause and Effect : Division of Germany Time Line the events of the Cold War. Interpret of Political Cartoons from the post WWII period. Identify the World Map depicting spheres of influence for free and Soviet dominated countries. Provide Independent Research: Is the United Nations an effective organization Photo Interpretation Analyzing newspaper/current events Resources THOUGHT/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR PRIMARY SOURCES (BOXED DOCUMENTS) 1. Propaganda and Mass Meetings in Nazi Germany What do these excerpts reveal about Hitler s view of humanity and his knowledge of human needs and emotions? What developments since the early1920s had made people feel small and insecure? Which people might particularly succumb to Hitler s oratory? Did he carry out a mass bonding experience at Nuremberg? Would he find an audience in present-day Germany or in the United States? (p. 728) 2. The Formation of Collective Farms According to the passage, why did the peasants initially oppose collectivization? What ultimately caused them to accept it? Was agricultural collectivization a recreation or restoration of pre-emancipation serfdom? Why or why not? What advantages did collectivization provide to the government? Did the peasants gain anything at all from collectivization? If so, what? What did they lose? (p. 732) 3. Opposing Viewpoints The Munich Conference From the perspective of October 1938, is Neville Chamberlain s defense of the Munich agreement convincing? Why or why not? What disaster is Winston Churchill warning about? What were the several possible factors that led to Parliament s support of Chamberlain against Churchill? Is appeasement always a doomed policy? Why or why not? (p. 735) 4. Japan s Justification for Expansion How did Japan justify its plan to expand? When Japan was criticized by the world powers for excessively violent actions, how did Hashimoto Kingoro respond? How does he compare and contrast Japan s moral actions to those of the white race? Based on anti-japanese immigration policies of other countries and their lack of advance into world markets by tariff barriers, should the world powers have been surprised at the Japanese response? Why or why not? (p. 737) 5. A German Soldier at Stalingrad What did Hitler understand about using propaganda at home and at the front? Give examples. Why did the German soldier believe so strongly in the Führer for so long? When did the soldier realize that he wouldn t see his family again until the next world? Why do you think the Germans could not defeat the Russians at Stalingrad? (p. 742) 6. Hitler s Plans for a New Order in the East To whom were Hitler s nightly monologues directed? Do you think these talks fit into Hitler s propaganda scheme? Why or why not? Who recorded these monologues? Do you think the Führer knew his views were being recorded? Why or why not? What did Hitler see as his
most critical challenge for Germanizing the Ukraine? But we don t hate them. That sentiment is unknown to us. We are guided only by reason Do you believe the Führer believed his own words? Give an example. (p. 745) 7. Heinrich Himmler: We Had the Moral Right Who was Heinrich Himmler? How did Himmler justify the Holocaust to the Nazi leaders? Did the Nazi leaders speak openly about their attempted destruction of the Jews of Europe? Why or why not? (p. 747) 8. Japan s Plan for Asia Is the excerpt about the duty of Japan as the leader of the East Asiatic Union at all similar to the justifications of Western imperialism as put forth by Rudyard Kipling and others? Why or why not? Does Japan s plan for Asia differ from Hitler s vision of a New Order in the Russian east? If so, how? (p. 748) 9. Comparative Essay: Paths to Modernization What were the three major paths to modernization in the first half of the twentieth century, and why did they lead to conflict? (p. 750) WEBSITES http://www.state.nj.us/education/holocaust/curriculum/ http://www.state.nj.us/education/holocaust/resources/ POSSIBLE CLASS LECTURE/DISCUSSION TOPICS 1. Trace the rise of lesser authoritarian states in Europe and elsewhere as background for an analysis of the actions and ideologies of the regimes in Italy, Germany, Japan, and the USSR. 2. Examine the similarities and differences among the major fascist-militarist and communist powers after 1930, assessing links between personalities, ideologies, and actions up to 1939. 3. Explore the similarities and the differences between communism, fascism, and liberalism in theory and practice. Discuss the number of victims who suffered and died under totalitarian regimes throughout the twentieth century. 4. Discuss the various interpretations of fascism as to whether it was uniquely a movement of early twentiethcentury industrial societies or whether its philosophy and characteristics are potentially more universal in time and place. 5. Explore the appeal that authoritarianism had in industrialized societies during the 1920s and 1930s. 6. Trace and analyze the ideas and conditions explaining the responses of the democracies to the rise of totalitarians during the interwar period and link them to the totalitarian initiatives accounted for above. 7. Discuss the onset of organized hatred of the Jews throughout Europe. Identify the specific events that alienated the German Jews from their own society. 8. As an alternative and perhaps corrective to the traditional concentration upon the events of Western Europe during World War II, trace the course of the war as mainly a struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.
9. Examine the aftermath of the war and the ways that it created, or revealed, a new, bipolar world and its implications for Europe and the world. 10. Assess the advent of the Cold War, the unexpected prominence of the new superpowers, and the new and continuing elements comprising the ideological, diplomatic, military, and economic milieu of the mid- and late 1940s. Standards SOC.6.2.12.A.4.d SOC.6.2.12.D.4.e SOC.6.2.12.C.4.c SOC.6.2.12.B.4.b SOC.6.2.12.D.4.f SOC.6.2.12.C.4.a SOC.6.2.12.B.4.d SOC.6.2.12.D.4.i SOC.6.2.12.D.4.k SOC.6.2.12.D.4.g SOC.6.2.12.C.4.b Assess government responses to incidents of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Compare how Allied countries responded to the expansionist actions of Germany and Italy. Assess the short- and long-term demographic, social, economic, and environmental consequences of the violence and destruction of the two World Wars. Determine how geography impacted military strategies and major turning points during World War II. Explain the role of colonial peoples in the war efforts of the Allies and the Central/Axis Powers in both World Wars. Analyze government responses to the Great Depression and their consequences, including the growth of fascist, socialist, and communist movements and the effects on capitalist economic theory and practice. Explain the intended and unintended consequences of new national boundaries established by the treaties that ended World War II. Compare and contrast the actions of individuals as perpetrators, bystanders, and rescuers during events of persecution or genocide, and describe the long-term consequences of genocide for all involved. Assess the cultural impact of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II by analyzing the values and social ideas in the arts. Analyze the role of racial bias, nationalism, and propaganda in mobilizing civilian populations in support of total war. Compare and contrast World Wars I and II in terms of technological innovations (i.e., industrial production, scientific research, war tactics) and social impact (i.e., national mobilization, loss of life, and destruction of property).