Warfare in the Twentieth Century: The World Wars and the Cold War

Below is the course curriculm for War in the Twentieth Century, an elective history course at Pope John Paul II High School for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Students, parents, and staff can view the course objectives, activities, and requirements below. Over time, I will add links to course assignments, essay requirements, lesson plans, and relevant educational websites. Check back often as the school year progresses to see and use the additional links.

The 2009-2010 academic year marks my eleventh year teaching and I have incorporated changes and improvements to course design, schedule, and tasks, based on my earlier teaching experiences and student and staff feedback. While the topic of the course is warfare in the twentieth century, the course is skills-based and has a seminar design. Therefore, the overall focus of the course will be the development of written and oral communication skills, research skills, and analytical thinking. While the course does not have an official textbook, lectures will be augmented with numerous primary source readings and various pieces of literature and film.

Related Links

• Click here to view the essay requirements for this class.
• Click here to view a sample in-class debate format (this one is on the fairness of the Code of Hammurabi from the Ancient Legacies course).
• Click here to obtain links to useful search engines and related websites.
• Click here to return to my main webpage.

Course Objectives

1. To develop students� understanding of the social, political, economic, military, and intellectual history of the two World Wars and the Cold War and their relationship to the present period. Essay assignments and essay exams will be used to test student recall of key figures, events, and concepts and understanding of casual relationships.
2. To develop students� written communication skills in a cooperative and supportive environment. The course will include essay assignments, which will require students to write, peer edit, rewrite, present, and discuss their work. Exams will be essay-based, which will force students to recall key concepts, interpret arguments and source material, and present arguments in concise, well-supported, and logically-constructed essays. Each semester, students will take a semester exam, which will require them to demonstrate a grasp of the concepts taught during the semester.
3. To develop students� oral communication skills in a cooperative and supportive environment. The course will include discussions, debates, mock trials, and special presentations that will help students develop their oral communication skills.
4. To develop students� critical thinking skills, including analysis and interpretation skills. Students will learn about history through examination of primary and secondary source material from the textbook and other sources and through real-world exercises. In addition to normal assignments, students will refine their critical thinking skills through structured debates and class discussions. Course exams will include essay questions designed to specifically test students� critical thinking skills.
5. To encourage student creativity and participation through thought-provoking assignments, which relate historical concepts and ideas to the school community and the world at large. Assignments will encourage the use of emerging technology, including the Internet. Presentation projects will involve both library and Internet research, as well as Powerpoint and Word usage.
6. To write lesson plans that minimize lecturing and require students to learn through examination, discussion, and practice. Units will be divided into lesson plans designed to teach key concepts while varying activities to solicit student attention and interest.

Grading

Map Quizzes (1-3 per quarter)				20-35 points each
Debate Assignments (1-4 per quarter)			25 points each
Essay Assignments (2-3 per quarter)			25-50 points each
Research Project (1-2 per quarter)			50-100 points each
Tests (1-3 per quarter)					100 points each
Semester Exams (1 per semester)				150 points each

Basic Skill Objective (To be Incorporated into each unit)

1. Building vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation skills.
2. Develop critical thinking skills.
3. Gathering and analyzing information.
4. Forming and weighing arguments.
5. Reporting information in verbal or written form.
6. Brainstorming techniques.

Developing higher-level skills of analysis and interpretation to stimulate critical thinking

1. Understanding the significance and distinguishing the types of source material (primary vs. secondary, fact vs. opinion, etc.).
2. Being able to interpret source material. Detecting and analyzing bias and objectivity in source material.
3. Developing hypotheses and testing them against evidence.
4. Presenting an argument and being able to effectively use supporting material to defend the argument.

Objectives other than critical thinking

1. Learning to highlight pertinent information in textbooks, handouts, and source documents.
2. Students will take notes from printed materials, lectures, textbook readings, other reading assignments, movies, websites, and discussions.
3. Learning how to read and find locations on a map.
4. Students will express themselves orally and in writing with clarity and precision.
5. Students will learn to write effectively in times situations.
6. Students will learn to lead and participate in discussions. Students will learn to function in teams.
7. Students will understand the basic meaning of directive words and can answer questions as directed (i.e., analyze, define, discuss, evaluate, etc.).

Course Schedule

Unit One: German and Italian Unification to the Start of World War I
Sample topic: What events and movements led to the start of World War I?
Special Readings: Moltke, Garibaldi, Cavour, Bismarck, Kipling, Morel
Special Activity: Game of Risk
Time: Four weeks

Unit Two: World War I
Sample topic: How was World War I a war of failed expectations?
Special Readings: �Wilson�s Fourteen Points�
Special Movies: �Century of Warfare: Blood and Mud�
Time: Five weeks

 
Unit Three: Between the World Wars
Sample topic: How did the Fascists come to power in Germany and Italy?
Special Readings: �Mein Kampf�
Special Movies: �Animal Farm�
Time: Three weeks

Unit Four: World War II
Sample topic: How was World War II similar to and yet different from World War I?  How is our modern world a product of World War II
Special Movies: �Blunders of World War II�, �Pearl Harbor�, �Enemy at the Gates�, �Schindler�s List�
Time: Five weeks

Semester Exam

Unit Four: World War II continued
Sample topic: Compare and contrast Germany and Japan as aggressors and opponents in World War II.
Special Movies: �Saving Private Ryan�
Time: Two weeks

Unit Five: End of the Grand Alliance
Unit Topics: Start of the Cold War, a Divided Germany and Europe, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, Alliances, Atomic Politics,
Brinksmanship, the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis
Special Readings: �Truman Congressional Address�, �Vyshinsky Speech�, �Norikov Telegram�, �Castro Letter�
Special Movies: "Thirteen Days"
Unit Length: Five Weeks
 
Unit Six: The Cold War Throughout the World
Unit Topics: China under Communism, the French and Indochina, the United States and Vietnam, the Korean War, The Birth of Israel,
Wars and Conflicts in the Middle East 
Special Readings: �Truman�s Far Eastern Policy�, �MacArthur�s Don�t Scuttle the Pacific�, �Jihad versus McWorld�
 Length: Three Weeks

Unit Seven: The Vietnam War
Unit Topics: Vietnam under French, US Involvement under JFK and LBJ, South and North Vietnamese leadership, Tet Offensive,
Major Operations, Battles, and Bombing Campaigns, Anti-War Movement, Nixon and Withdrawal, End Results 
Special Movies: �We were Soldiers�, �Fog of War�
Unit Length: Four Weeks

Unit Eight: Communist China
Unit Topics: Mao Zedong, Great Leap Forward, Tibet, Little Red Book, Great Cultural Revolution, Visit by Richard Nixon,
Deng Xiaoping, Four Modernizations, Deng Reforms, 1980 Marriage Law, Beijing Spring, Tiananmen Square, New Issues, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
relations with Russia and with the US
Unit Length: Two Weeks

Unit Nine: The End of the Cold War
Unit Topics: Nikita Khruschev, De-Stalinization, Hungarian revolt, Leonid Brezhnev and Brezhnev Doctrine, Prague Spring
and Alexander Dubcek, Czechoslovakia Invasion, D�tente, Helsinki Accord, SALT II, Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Carter Doctrine,
Yuri Andropov, US President Ronald Reagan, START, Strategic Defense Initiative, Grenada, Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev, Glasnost,
Perestroika, Fall of Berlin Wall, Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, Attempted Coup against Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin,
reunification of Germany, dissolution of Soviet Union  
Special Movies: "Dr. Strangelove", �Fall of Berlin Wall�
Unit Length: Three Weeks

Final Exam