Unit 3-The Great War:
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Big Ideas
Organizing Principle
- From 1890 to 1919, the United States became increasingly active and aggressive in world affairs.
Essential Questions
Students will consider...
- How can a progressive nation support imperialism?
- How did the issue of imperialism become a political, economic and cultural debate?
- What factors combined to draw the world and ultimately the United States into World War I?
- What were the effects of the war on American social, economic, political and cultural institutions?
- Could Woodrow Wilson’s plans to “make the world safe for democracy” have changed the trajectory towards another world war?
Understandings
Students will understand how, why and/or to what extent...
- Industrialization and innovations can influence the global distribution of power and authority.
- Competition for political and military control over limited resources can lead to open conflict and war
- Cultural differences can lead to misguided beliefs about the inferiority and/or superiority of groups.
- Political and popular opinion for war can shift between government policies or thoughts of isolationism, neutrality and interventionism.
- Wars and their outcomes are often unsettling and have enduring political, economic and social consequences.
Knowledge
Students will know...
- The competitive desires of industrialized countries, such as England, Germany, Russia, Japan and the United States encouraged the growth of imperialism within American foreign policy at the turn of the 19th Century
- Economic, cultural and political aims led to United States involvement in the Spanish-American War; the outcome of the Spanish-American War enabled the United States to become an imperial power.
- American imperialists and anti-imperialists (e.g., Albert Beveridge, Josiah Strong, Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and the Anti-Imperialist League) used cultural, economic, militaristic, and political factors to defend each of their stances on the United States becoming a world power
- The use of commercial and political propaganda enabled American participation in both the Spanish American War and World War I.
- Economic, cultural and political interests guided the foreign policies of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.
- A variety of factors enabled the United States to end a policy of neutrality and join the Allied cause during World War I.; President Woodrow Wilson’s vision for U.S. participation was to make the “world safe for democracy.”
- Technological advancements of World War I had a devastating effect on the soldiers that fought in the war and society’s perceptions of war.
- The United States government mobilized a diverse group of Americans to assist Allied efforts and victory in World War I (i.e. conscription, AEF, War Industries Board, CPI, “meatless Mondays”, “victory gardens”, “Over There”, etc.)
- The American economy was greatly affected by a global need for goods, services, and supplies during and after World War I.
- Allied countries of World War I rejected the vast majority of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points in signing the Treaty of Versailles;
- American foreign policy became the central issue and concern of Americans in the years immediately following the war. Subsequently, the United States would reject the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson’s idea for a League of Nations.
- The United States’ participation in World War I had enduring social and cultural implications on the nation and its people. (i.e., the civil rights and liberties of various groups of Americans were restricted; an African American “Great Migration” took place to northern cities; American women would “earn” suffrage with ratification of the 19th Amendment; race riots occurred in northern and mid-western American cities, the Red Scare, etc.)
Skills
Students will be able to...
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to consider multiple perspectives of various peoples who either defended or rejected American imperialism.
- Use Historical Comprehension to determine how various Americans mobilized and sacrificed on behalf of Allied efforts during World War I.
- Use Historical Comprehension to determine how American foreign policy shifted between ideas of isolationism, neutrality, interventionism & internationalism.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of propaganda used during World War I in terms of historical context, audience, purpose and point of view.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to judge the relevance of late 19th century and early 20th century imperialist debates to contemporary events and their own lives through a variety of classroom settings such as debates and seminars.
- Use Historical Research to interpret historical data, construct reasoned arguments and draw conclusions about key turning points of Imperialism and War using historical evidence collected from a variety of sources
- Use Chronological Thinking to identify the historical narrative for Imperialism and War (1890-1919).