10th Grade World History
Lesson Overview
California Content Standards
10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
1. Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.
2. Understand the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United States prior to the outbreak of World War II.
3. Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors.
4. Describe the political, diplomatic, and military leaders during the war (e.g., Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower).
5. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.
6. Discuss the human costs of the war, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, Britain, the United States, China, and Japan.
10.8 Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
1. Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.
2. Understand the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United States prior to the outbreak of World War II.
3. Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors.
4. Describe the political, diplomatic, and military leaders during the war (e.g., Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower).
5. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.
6. Discuss the human costs of the war, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, Britain, the United States, China, and Japan.
Common Core Literacy Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.B
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.B
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Big Ideas
1. World War II was the result of a combination of social, economic, and political factors.
2. The defects of the Treaty of Versailles served the stage for the outbreak of World War II.
3. World War II had a devastating effect on civilian and military lives because of massive bombings and higher level of military technology.
4. Racist Nazi policies that aimed at a supposed racial purity resulted in large-scale genocide.
5. The end of World War II altered the balance of power in the world and brought about a new era where nuclear weapons were a viable threat.
Essential Historical Questions
1. Was the outbreak of World War II truly inevitable?
2. How was genocide able to occur in Nazi Germany?
3. What effect did World War II have on the development of economic, social, and political factors worldwide?
4. What roles did the political leaders of each combatant nation have before and during World War II?
5. In terms of ending the war, does the ends justify the means?
-How did appeasement play into the hands of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich?
-What were the causes for the rise of Fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan and what impact did these regimes have on society?
-How was Pearl Harbor viewed from the Japanese and American perspective?
-What was the impact of the major battles discussed in this lesson on the course of World War II?
-Was the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan justifiable?
Unit Goals
1. Students will understand the role that the Treaty of Versailles played in the development of the pre-World War II world.
2. Students will understand the various strategies employed by the Allies and Axis throughout World War II.
3. Students will understand the roles that major political leaders had during World War II.
4. Students will understand the event that led to the Holocaust and its impact on European Jews.
5. Students will comprehend the arguments for and against the use of the atomic bomb against Japan.
Goal: Students will understand the role that appeasement played in the pre-World War II world.
Goal: Students will understand the rise of Fascism in Europe and Japan’s search for an Empire.
Goal: Students will understand the sequence of events leading to and during the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as the role that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had in leading the United States’ entry into WWII.
Goal: Students will understand the role that major battles played in the course of World War II.
Goal: Students will understand the role that the atomic bomb played in forcing Japan’s surrender and ending World War II.
Unit Assessments
1. Graphic Organizer- Students will complete a graphic organizer that focuses on the causes for the outbreak of World War II.
2. Historical Flyer- Students will create a historical flyer that identifies and describes a combatant nation.
3. World War II Posters- Working in groups, students will create posters enticing American citizens to join the war effort.
4. Unit Exam- Multiple Choice questions, fill in the blank, 1 essay question.
1. World War II was the result of a combination of social, economic, and political factors.
2. The defects of the Treaty of Versailles served the stage for the outbreak of World War II.
3. World War II had a devastating effect on civilian and military lives because of massive bombings and higher level of military technology.
4. Racist Nazi policies that aimed at a supposed racial purity resulted in large-scale genocide.
5. The end of World War II altered the balance of power in the world and brought about a new era where nuclear weapons were a viable threat.
Essential Historical Questions
1. Was the outbreak of World War II truly inevitable?
2. How was genocide able to occur in Nazi Germany?
3. What effect did World War II have on the development of economic, social, and political factors worldwide?
4. What roles did the political leaders of each combatant nation have before and during World War II?
5. In terms of ending the war, does the ends justify the means?
-How did appeasement play into the hands of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich?
-What were the causes for the rise of Fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan and what impact did these regimes have on society?
-How was Pearl Harbor viewed from the Japanese and American perspective?
-What was the impact of the major battles discussed in this lesson on the course of World War II?
-Was the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan justifiable?
Unit Goals
1. Students will understand the role that the Treaty of Versailles played in the development of the pre-World War II world.
2. Students will understand the various strategies employed by the Allies and Axis throughout World War II.
3. Students will understand the roles that major political leaders had during World War II.
4. Students will understand the event that led to the Holocaust and its impact on European Jews.
5. Students will comprehend the arguments for and against the use of the atomic bomb against Japan.
Goal: Students will understand the role that appeasement played in the pre-World War II world.
Goal: Students will understand the rise of Fascism in Europe and Japan’s search for an Empire.
Goal: Students will understand the sequence of events leading to and during the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as the role that Franklin Delano Roosevelt had in leading the United States’ entry into WWII.
Goal: Students will understand the role that major battles played in the course of World War II.
Goal: Students will understand the role that the atomic bomb played in forcing Japan’s surrender and ending World War II.
Unit Assessments
1. Graphic Organizer- Students will complete a graphic organizer that focuses on the causes for the outbreak of World War II.
2. Historical Flyer- Students will create a historical flyer that identifies and describes a combatant nation.
3. World War II Posters- Working in groups, students will create posters enticing American citizens to join the war effort.
4. Unit Exam- Multiple Choice questions, fill in the blank, 1 essay question.