1914-1995

Benchmark D: Connect developments related to World War I with the onset of World War II.

Grade Nine

20th Century Conflict

7. Analyze the causes and effects of World War I with emphasis on:

a. Militarism, imperialism, nationalism, and alliances;

b. The global scope, outcomes and human costs of the war;

c. The role of new technologies and practices including the use of poison gas, trench warfare, machine guns, airplanes, submarines and tanks;

d. The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.

World War I was triggered by the archduke and archduchess of Austria-Hungry. The assassination triggered alliances and declarations of war between European nations. The mix of militarism (which meant that the European countries were cocky because of so many new weapons and technological advances and thought they could not lose), Nationalism (which is extreme pride in a group's country), Imperialism (when countries wanted to expand there power), and Alliances (agreements between countries saying that they have there back). The main fighting happened at the western front and the eastern front. The western front consisted of France, Belgium, and Netherlands. The Eastern front consisted of Prussia, Poland, and Russia. There has been numbers suggesting that there were as much as 8 million military deaths and 6.6 million civilian deaths. The approximate cost in today's money is about $2.8 trillion. As I mentioned in the beginning the new technology and tactics made countries cocky, these new weapons and tactics also hurt countries too. A perfect example is trench warfare. Trench warfare caused many people to die because of the many dieses that were consumed by the soldiers from being in them for so long. The machines guns were newly created and many did not understand the workings of such weapons. There were allies and central powers, the allies consisted of Britain, France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, and the U.S. The Central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire/Turkey. On November 11, 1918 the Treaty of Versailles was signed and ended the war. The Treaty of Versailles caused many penalties on the central powers, which in part would help lead to World War II.

8. Analyze the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution including:

a. The lack of economic, political and social reforms under the tsars;

b. The impact of World War 1;

c. The emergence of Lenin, Stalin and the Bolsheviks;

d. The rise of communism in Russia.

In 1917 Russia had a revolution that changed the relations that Russia and the U.S. had. When WWI began the king of Russia, Nicholas the II put lots of money into the war. The Russian economy began to fall apart. That is when Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led the "Bolsheviks" to a revolution against the Russian government to change it into communist. The communist signed a deal with Germany and left WWI in 1917. When Russia left WWI Germany was able to relax a little because Russia was the main person keeping Germany busy on the Eastern front. The former king of Russia was executed in 1918, Lenin was the new communist Russia leader. Lenin died in 1924, and Joseph Stalin took over the communist Russia. Both of these men gave communism a bad name and ruled by killing there own citizens.

9. Assess the global impact of post-World War I economic, social and political turmoil including:

a. Disarmament;

b. Worldwide depression;

c. Colonial rebellion;

d. Rise of militarist and totalitarian states in Europe and Asia.

When the Treaty of Versailles was created Germany was supposed to disarm so since they were disarmed Germany used the period of 1918-1939 to rebuild there army to threaten Europe. The cost of the war made the European economics go down and the other industrialized countries fell in to a depression in the beginning of 1929.

10. Analyze the causes of World War II including:

a. Appeasement;

b. Axis expansion;

c. The role of the Allies.

By 1936 Hitler moved the German Army to Austria and made a union between Germany and Austria. Hitler was taking over lots and lots of land so in order for to keep the land that he was taking over he was required to stop his trend of taking land. This was known as appeasement, which failed because Hitler began to take more land. The axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allies consisted of France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. When Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France pledged to defend. The United States stayed neutral in the beginning and supplied military aid to the allies but by 1941 they were beginning to get more involved because they had ships patrolling the seas in Europe.

Grade Ten

20th Century Conflict

6. Trace the development of the United States as a world power with emphasis on:

a. The decision to enter into World War I;

b. President Wilson's Fourteen Points;

c. The Treaty of Versailles;

d. The decision of the United States not to participate in the League of Nations.

The United States began to know in 1914 that they would be entering World War I but President Woodrow wanted to be sure that they were neutral and wanted to stay out as long as possible. America did lots and lots of business with both the Allies and the Central Powers but the United States favored the allies because they better profit with them. Germany did many things to aggravate the U.S. including sinking ships and trying to make a secret deal with Mexico against the U.S. So the U.S. declared war on Germany in April of 1917. Since the U.S. declared war on Germany it went in the favor of the allies. Soon after the U.S. declared war, about two years afterward Germany wanted to negotiate a peace agreement. After the Allies