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Students will gain background knowledge about World War I through whole class discussion. Students will apply their knowledge about significant events of World War I and use their creativity to make a poster describing an important event. Students will participate and cooperate with others in order to present their poster to the class with clarity.
Content Standards: 16.A.3a Describe how historians use models for organizing historical interpretation (e.g., biographies, political events, issues and conflicts). 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources. 16.B.3d (US) Describe ways in which the United States developed as a world political power. Materials/Resources/Technology:
Promethean board and computer Posterboard Markers, pens, scissors, glue Primary sources and textbooks
Teachers Goals:
All students in the class will learn about important historical events during World War I through their classmates posters and presentations. In presenting to the class, students will gain public speaking experience and learn how to work together in a presentation. Students will have an opportunity to express their creativity in creating the poster as well as using teamwork to complete the poster.
Time: 9:119:16 Start of Lesson: Show the students a map of Europe. Ask the students if they know who fought in World War I and who were allies. Show the students a map of Europe with the warring countries indicated. Explain to students who fought in the war and tell them who the Allies and the Central Powers were. Ask the student if they know what year the war started. Tell the students the war started in 1914. Ask them if they know who was president during the war. Tell the students that Woodrow Wilson was president from 1913 to 1921 and that the U.S.
joined the war on the side of the Allies in 1917. 9:169:21 Introduction of Lesson: Explain the project to the students. The students will be in five groups with threefour students in each group. Each group will be given an event that occurred during World War I. They will read a 1-2 page secondary source on the event and complete a worksheet. Ask the students: Do you remember what a primary source is? What do you think a secondary source is? Explain to the students that a primary source is a first-hand account, such as a photo or letter, while a secondary source is a secondhand account, written by someone who was not actually present at the event. They will then use primary sources provided to them along with their worksheet and secondary source to complete a poster. The poster will contain all the information that is on their worksheet. At the end of the class, they will present their poster in chronological order in order to show a timeline of important events during World War I. Lesson Instruction: The students will be given 20-25 minutes to complete their poster. Ms. Hancock and Ms. Rapson will help groups first read their secondary source and answer the questions on their worksheet. They will then use the primary sources and markers to decorate the poster as well as having all the information from the worksheet included in the poster. Checks for Understanding/Assessments: Ms. Hancock and Ms. Rapson will help students while they are working to make sure that they are on task and to answer any questions they might have as well as guiding their reading along with the worksheet. They will be assessed based on completion of their worksheet as well as their participation with their group and the class. They will also briefly present their poster at the end of class and this will help the teachers know that they completed their project as well as ensuring that they fully understand the event. 9:459:51 Wrap-up/Closure/Review: Students will present their posters in chronological order to the class. This will help all students gain knowledge about each of the events as well as allowing the teachers to assess their performance, participation, and completion of the project. If there is time left over, students will be free to provide feedback on their project and discuss what they learned and what they enjoyed or disliked about the lesson. Self-assessment: n/a
9:219:45
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914) Name: ____________________ Date: _________
Painting of assassination
The Sinking of the Lusitania and the U.S. Enters the War (19151917)
When war erupted in 1914, the United States attempted to remain neutral and was a proponent for the rights of neutral states. Isolationist foreign policy was encouraged by Congress's apprehensions about giving other countries a political door into US policies and the cultural melting pot of the United States' population. In spite of these factors, the United States did enter World War I, as a result of several events. In an attempt by both the allied and the central powers to involve the Americans, the US was heavily saturated with propaganda. Much of the material had a Pro-British slant which was aided by the connection to Britain as a "cultural brother" and the United States' concern with affairs in Western Europe. While propaganda sympathetic to Germany did also exist, it did not carry much weight with the American public. Germany was seen by most Americans as a dangerous monarchy with autocratic militarist thinking, including a hidden agenda to undermine democracy and US power. There were allegations of industrial sabotage, poisoning water supplies, kidnapping individuals, and engaging in espionage within American labor unions by Germans to keep the United States busy on the home front. These rumors, along with extensive submarine warfare, added to the distrust of the Germans. Prior to 1915, German subs had a policy of warning and allowing time to evacuate ships carrying passengers before they sank them. However, in 1915 the Lusitania was sunk without a warning, killing over 120 Americans. One year later, the Sussex was sunk by German U-boats and American citizens were outraged at these direct violations of their neutral rights at sea. At this point, a small percentage of Americans, including presidential hopeful Teddy Roosevelt, demanded "immediate warfare." In 1916 President Wilson took a stronger stance toward foreign affairs by increasing the size of the military and issuing a warning to the Germans: Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether (1). The Germans responded by temporally ceasing submarine warfare until 1917 when German Ambassador Berstorff announced the continuation of submarine warfare and ended diplomatic relations with the United States. However, military strategists predicted certain defeat for the Germans if America entered the war at this point. In an attempt to eliminate the threat of American involvement in Europe, Foreign Minister Alfred Zimmerman attempted to provoke Mexico and Japan into attacking the United States with the promise of German assistance after the European front was conquered. A message containing Zimmerman's intent was decoded by the British and sent to the US, further swaying Americans to action. Due primarily to submarine warfare and the Zimmerman note, President Wilson asked Congress for permission to go to war, and on April 6, 1917, congress officially declared it. President Wilson, along with many Americans, justified their involvement as "an act of high principle and idealism...[and]...as a crusade to make the world safe for democracy." While these are some of the main events, there are many other theories regarding why the US entered into World War I. Some propose that the US was never actually neutral, but had been
supporting the British; this thinking gives a different light on the events of submarine warfare with the Germans. The high infiltration of Pro-British propaganda as well as the considerable profits to the hurting economy led some to believe that it would have been impossible for the US to remain neutral and not engage in the war. Others propose that as German forces crept into the Atlantic and threatened to conquer Britain, the US felt that its defenses and the country's security were threatened, again justifying involvement in the war. In all practicality, it is impossible to pinpoint the entry of the United States to a number of certain events and it was most definitely a combination of many factors. The most important of these events are discussed above, explaining why the United States entered World War I.
The Sinking of the Lusitania (1915) and the U.S. Enters World War I (1917) Name: ____________________ Date: __________
3. How many Americans died on the Lusitania (paragraph three)? How many people died, according to the headline found on the news article?
4. What did President do in 1916 (paragraph three)? How did the Germans respond (paragraph five)?
6. What are the two reasons that the article says primarily caused President Wilson to ask Congress for permission to go to war (paragraph five)?
APRIL 1915
MAY 1915
APRIL 1917
The German Reaction to the Treaty of Versailles After agreeing to the Armistice in November 1918, the Germans had been convinced that they would be consulted by the Allies on the contents of the Treaty. This did not happen and the Germans were in no position to continue the war as their army had all but disintegrated. Though this lack of consultation angered them, there was nothing they could do about it. Therefore, the first time that the German representatives saw the terms of the Treaty was just weeks before they were due to sign it in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on June 28th 1919. Many in Germany did not want the Treaty signed, but the representatives there knew that they had no choice because Germany was incapable of restarting the war again. In one last gesture of defiance, the captured German naval force held at Scapa Flow (north of Scotland) deliberately sank itself Germany was then given two choices: 1) sign the Treaty or 2) be invaded by the Allies. They signed the Treaty because in reality they had no choice. The Consequences of the Treaty of Versailles The Treaty seemed to satisfy the Allies because in their eyes because: it kept Germany weak yet strong enough to stop the spread of communism; kept the French border with Germany safe from another German attack and created the organization, the League of Nations, that intended to prevent the outbreak of another world war. However, it left a mood of anger throughout Germany as it was felt that as a nation Germany had been unfairly treated. Above all else, Germany hated the clause blaming them for the cause of the war and the resultant financial penalties the treaty was bound to impose on Germany.
morning, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed it without ceremony at his residence in Washington. None of the leaders of the woman suffrage movement were present when the proclamation was signed, and no photographers or film cameras recorded the event. That afternoon, Carrie Chapman Catt, head of the National American Suffrage Association, was received at the White House by President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Wilson, the first lady.
Womens Suffrage and The 19th Amendment (1919-1920) Name: ____________________ Date: _________
3. What was the first state to grant women the right to vote? In what year?
5. What year was the 19th amendment signed by congress? What year was it ratified by the states?
7. Why does the woman with the poster call President Wilson Kaiser?
During World War I, women suffragists, demanding that President Wilson reverse his opposition to a federal amendment, protested at the White House and carried banners such as this one comparing the President to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. In the heated patriotic climate of wartime, such tactics met with hostility and sometimes violence and arrest. (Kaiser is the German word for emperor).
The League also had other weaknesses: 1. America, whose president, Woodrow Wilson, had dreamt up the idea of the League, refused to join it. As America was the worlds most powerful nation, this was a serious
blow to the prestige of the League. 2. Germany was not allowed to join the League in 1919. As Germany had started the war, according to the Treaty of Versailles, one of their punishments was that they were not considered to be a member of the international community and, therefore, was not invited to join. This was a great blow to Germany but it also meant that the League could not use whatever strength Germany had to support its campaign against aggressor nations. 3. Russia was also not allowed to join because in 1917, they had a communist government that generated fear in western Europe, and in 1918, the Russian royal family - the Romanovs were murdered. Such a country could not be allowed to take its place in the League. Therefore, three of the worlds most powerful nations played no part in supporting the League. The two most powerful members were Britain and France - both had suffered financially and militarily during the war - and neither was enthusiastic to get involved in disputes that did not affect Western Europe. 37 countries joined the league at the creation of it. Therefore, the League had a fine ideal - to end war for good. However, if an aggressor nation was determined enough to ignore the Leagues verbal warnings, all the League could do was enforce economic sanctions and hope that these worked as it had no chance or enforcing its decisions using military might. The social successes of the League of Nations At a social level the League did have success and most of this is easily forgotten with its failure at a political level. Many of the groups that work for the United Nations now, grew out of what was established by the League. The League gave way to the creation of the United Nations. Teams were sent to Third World countries to dig fresh water wells, and the Health Organization started a campaign to wipe out leprosy. This idea - of wiping out from the world a disease - was taken up by the United Nations with its smallpox campaign. Therefore, one success of the League was preventing the spread of diseases across countries. Work was done in the Third World to improve the status of women there and child slave labor was also targeted. Drug addiction and drug smuggling were also attacked. . The greatest success the League had involving these social issues, was simply informing the world at large that these problems did exist and that they should be tackled. No organization had done this before the League. These social problems may have continued but the fact that they were now being actively investigated by the League and were then taken onboard by the United Nations must be viewed as a success.
League of Nations (1919) Name: ______________________ 1. What did the League of Nations come out of? Date: _______
6. What three major countries did not join the League of Nations?
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States and author of the 14 Points Plan that included the creation of the League of Nations
Map of the countries that joined the league (Notice: America, Russia, and Germany are not