Social Studies - World History
Lesson Plans

WH Strand 6: GLOBAL CONFLICTS

(Ca. 1914 C.E.-1989 C.E.)

Conditions introduced in earlier centuries led to total and industrialized war on a global scale in the 20th century. A global economic depression demonstrated the interconnectedness of nations and their colonies. Extremism led to genocides on an unprecedented scale. Intellectuals and artists attempted to make sense of the changing world. European colonies in Africa and Many African and Latin American nations struggled to free themselves from the legacies of imperialism within the context of the Cold War. The postwar era saw early shifts in power to two superpowers.

(Possible Guiding Questions to Consider:

• What economic forces contributed to 20th century global conflicts?
• How were independence movements of different eras similar or different?
• How can case studies or microhistories of specific genocides, epidemics, technological developments, population movements, or reform efforts help us understand global patterns?
• How are genocides justified and carried out?
• How did art and literary movements reflect reactions to global events and ideas?
• What struggles were experienced by nations that were late to industrialize?
• What factors determined how nations aligned themselves during the Cold War?

WH Standard 6.3:

Students will explain the political ideas at the heart of decolonization, independence movements, and the formation of new political systems, such as liberation theology, civil disobedience, autonomy, separatist movements, and pan-Africanism.

• American Diplomacy in World War II
  This four-lesson curriculum unit will examine the nature of what Winston Churchill called the "Grand Alliance" between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union in opposition to the aggression of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

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