United States History: 1877 to the Present

Turmoil and Change: 1890s to 1945

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Begin the unit about asking students about the major events and turning points of World War II and what the Holocaust was.
• Explain that despite initial Axis success in Europe and the Pacific, the Allies persevered and ultimately defeated Germany and Japan.
• Explain that the Holocaust is an example of prejudice and discrimination taken to the extreme.
• Discuss and outline the major events and turning points of World War II, including:
• Germany invaded Poland, setting off war in Europe. The Soviet Union also invaded Poland and the Baltic nations.
• Germany invaded France, capturing Paris.
• Germany bombed London and the Battle of Britain began.
• The United States gave Britain war supplies and old naval warships in return for military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean.
• Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
• After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States.
• The United States declared war on Japan and Germany.
• The United States was victorious over Japan in the Battle of Midway. This victory was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
• Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union defeated Germany at Stalingrad, marking the turning point of the war in Eastern Europe.
• American and Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on D-Day to begin the liberation of Western Europe.
• The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) in 1945, forcing Japan to surrender and ending World War II.
• Provide background information on the Holocaust, including:
• Anti-Semitism
• Aryan supremacy
• Systematic attempt to rid Europe of all Jews
• Explain the tactics that were used, such as:
• Boycott of Jewish stores
• Threats
• Segregation
• Imprisonment and killing of Jews and others in concentration camps
• Explain that the the Allied forces liberated Jews and others in concentration camps.
• Before beginning this activity, ask students to list significant events that are connected to World War II. The length of the list will depend on students' previous knowledge. List students' answers on the board.
• After completing the list, use the information to review some of the major economic and political conditions in Europe that made the rise of fascism possible. Students should understand the meaning of the word fascism and be familiar with the major fascist dictators of the period.
• Have students create an illustrated time line of the period, which includes significant events of World War II. Refer back to the list students created on the board. The timeline should include the following for each event:
• Event name: short event description
• Date(s)
• Small illustration or symbol.
• For example:
• Germany and the Soviet Union invade Poland. After Germany and the Soviet Union marched into Poland, Great Britain declared war on Germany.
• 1939
• (Small illustration of a German tank rolling over the outline of Poland.)
• Sample events to be included in the time line are:
• Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
• Germany and the Soviet Union invade Poland
• Germany invades France
• Battle of Britain
• Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
• Battle of Midway
• Battle of Stalingrad
• Battle of Normandy (D-Day)
• Two atomic bombs dropped by U.S.
• When students have completed their time lines, discuss what the United States and/or its allies might have done to prevent certain events that led to war from happening. Have students consider what the United States might have done earlier to help stop Hitler. How did the United States' isolationist policy help lead the world into war?
• Have students create maps of Europe and Asia that reflect the opposing sides in the war and the significant battle sites. Remind them to use color and to include a legend. Allow students to use their textbooks and an atlas as a reference. Be certain that students include the following, among others:
• On the Europe and North Africa map:
• Main Axis powers, 1942
• Areas of Axis control, 1942
• Neutral nations, 1942
• Allied territory, 1942
• Sites: Normandy beaches (D-Day), Blitzkrieg of Poland, Battle of Stalingrad
• On the Pacific map:
• Areas/countries under Japanese control, 1942
• Sites: Midway, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• After students have completed their maps, discuss and have students take notes on the following:
• What were some possible problems Germany might have faced after declaring war on the Soviet Union?
• What obstacles did Germany face when invading Great Britain?
• What were some possible strategies the U.S. could have used to regain control of the South Pacific? What were some possible obstacles?
• A sample grading rubric for this lesson is available. For the sample grading rubric of the World War II map, CLICK HERE.
• Before beginning the session, stress that the United States was reluctant to become involved in World War II, maintaining a policy of neutrality and isolationism. However, as the conflict escalated in Europe and Britain was increasingly threatened by Germany, the United States offered economic and material aid to her ally under the Lend-Lease Program. The Japanese directly involved the United States in the war when they attacked Pearl Harbor. With this provocation, the United States could no longer maintain a policy of isolationism. President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and its ally, Germany.
• Have the students read a firsthand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The New York Times of the Web Learning Network offers a related lesson titled "Daily Lesson Plan: 'I' Witness to History," together with a related article titled "Pearl Harbor Diary: A Calm Sunday Abruptly Shattered," at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/19981207monday.html?searchpv=learning_lessons. The article includes excerpts from the diary of Henry Lachenmayer, who was aboard the USS Pennsylvania that day. Use or adapt the lesson plan, which offers questions related to the article and asks students to analyze the details of Lachenmayer's diary entries.
• After students have completed the work above, refer students to other personal accounts related to Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor: Remembered at http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/mainmenu.html offers general information about the attack, battle maps, and a number of personal accounts (click on "Survivors' Remembrances").
• After students have read additional personal accounts, you may choose to have them create their own "You Are There" diary entries based on these personal accounts. The entries should include accurate historical information and depict the emotions and horror of the event as if the writer were there.
• Explain to students that President Franklin D. Roosevelt's War Address before Congress is one of the most significant speeches in American history.
Have the students read, and if possible listen to, the speech. Ask, "What are the important points the President makes in his speech? Do you think the speech is convincing?" The National Archives and Records Administration's Digital Classroom Web site offers a lesson that provides an opportunity for students to examine this speech closely: "Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan: 'A Date Which Will Live in Infamy' -- The First Typed Draft of Franklin D. Roosevelt's War Address" at http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/day_of_infamy. The lesson provides a Written Document Analysis Worksheet, a Sound Recording Analysis Worksheet, and an opportunity to hear a portion of the speech. The text and audio of the speech can be found at the History Matters Web site http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5166/. Have the students use one or both of the two worksheets to evaluate the speech.
• Ask students what similarities, if any, they see between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the attack on September 11, 2001, of the Twin Towers in New York City. Explain to students that political leaders and the media discussed many similarities between the two events.
• Provide students with some historical background on the ending of World War II. Explain that the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan effectively ended the war.
• Have students read the handout, Atomic Bomb Decision. For the handout, CLICK HERE.Alternatively, paraphrase and discuss this handout with students. After students have absorbed this information, have them consider what options were available to President Truman and what possible pressures and concerns he had to consider. Have students work in small groups, or hold a whole-class discussion on this topic. Have students use a graphic organizer to assist in the process then share their work with the class.
• Have students compose diary entries expressing reactions to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Various points of view should be used, such as the following:
• An American GI preparing to invade Japan
• A Japanese civilian
• A scientist who worked on creating the bomb
• An American student at the time
• To provide students with a better understanding of these perspectives, have students read personal accounts of atomic bomb survivors. A selection of accounts can be found in the book World War II, A Historical Reader in the Nextext series published by McDougal Littell. (See http://www.nextext.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=books.view for information about this text.) Other accounts can be found at http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/, A-Bomb WWW Museum. This site also has historical information and photographs regarding the atomic bomb.
• Note: To prepare students for the sensitive and complex nature of the Holocaust history, be careful to use lessons and materials that are age appropriate. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Web site has a downloadable teacher's resource guide called Teaching about the Holocaust: A Resource Book for Educators at http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/. This 133-page book offers historical background on the Holocaust, guidelines for teaching, and an extensive bibliography of books and videos about the topic. The Web site also offers a helpful online workshop for teachers and sample lessons.
• Before discussion of the Holocaust, review definitions of terms that are most commonly used with this topic:
• Holocaust: the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Other victims of the Holocaust were Gypsies, the handicapped, and those who disagreed with Hitler's politics. The Hebrew word for Holocaust is Shoah, which means "destruction by fire."
• genocide: the systematic killing of a nation or race of people.
• Final Solution: the Nazi term for their plan to murder every Jew in Europe.
• concentration camp: a prison in which "enemies of the German nation" were concentrated. Before the end of WWII, more than 100 such camps had been set up.
• ghetto: the part of a city in which Jews were forced to live.
• anti-Semitism: prejudice against Jews.
• Students can readily understand the physical effects that the Holocaust had on people, but the purpose of this session is to help them understand the gradual emotional and psychological effects that occurred through the Nazi dehumanization of individuals during the Holocaust. This lesson is adapted from an Educator's Reference Desk lesson: "Human Needs Analysis: An Introductory Activity to the Holocaust" at http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons. Have students write brief personal responses to the following questions:
• What do you need to live?
• What do you need to live happily?
• Ask for student responses, and write them on the board to make a master list of the essentials for all people. Have students rank these needs, starting with the most important or most basic to survive, and continue from there.
• Distribute a handout to students asking them to consider their rights and freedoms. A copy of this handout can be found at the Web site listed above. You may chose to update the handout with more contemporary examples, such as the right to own a Playstation 2, DVD player, or cell phone. After students have completed their handouts, have them share their answers with the class, discussing their reasons for their choices.
• Display and discuss with students the laws passed by the Nazis that revoked many of the rights of individuals. A chronology is included with the online lesson mentioned above. A more detailed chronology, published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, can be found online at http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/resource/chronology.pdf. Discuss with students how these laws slowly dehumanized Jews and others over time. Expand this discussion by considering how concentration camps furthered this process of dehumanization.

WEB SITES

http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
World War II provided by PBS

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook45.html
Resources on World War II

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/ww2guide/
Resources on World War II in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/
Achievements of General Douglas MacArthur

http://my.execpc.com/~dschaaf/mainmenu.html
Attack on Pearl Harbor

http://www.jmu.edu/madison/center/main_pages/teacher
Unit on World War II

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/wwii.htm
World War II Documents

http://holocaustcenter.org/
Holocaust Museum

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html
Holocaust Timeline

Copyright ©2008 Prince William Network/Virginia Department of Education