Lesson 1 - Causes of WWII in Europe
For the causes of the European conflict, refer mainly to our Paper 1 lessons and material. This section will contain supplementary material and Paper 2-style activities.
Lesson 1 Task: Was Hitler a gambler or a planner? The functionalist / intentionalist debate
Lesson Objectives:
- To reinforce learning about some of the main schools of History
- To be able to discuss at least two different arguments related to German foreign policy in the 1930s and the outbreak of war.
Lesson Tasks:
- Read the preface to A.J.P. Taylor's Origins of the Second World War.
- Read the Hossbach Memorandum and prepare to discuss the attached questions in class.
- Read the SWW Origins historiography handout. There are different depth levels to suit your own exploration. Do not feel limited by what is on the page, there is plenty of information available through a simple search. This is, of course, probably one of the most widely debated topics in history.
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WWII - Events and Practices
Lesson 2A - Establishing Narrative
Lesson Objectives:
Lesson Tasks:
2. How does Bell characterize what he calls the three stages of the war? 3. According to Bell, "what did it mean to win or lose a war of such an appalling scale and nature?”
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Watch this on YouTube and you can access the other five episodes of Apocalypse. We watched episodes 2 & 3 in class.
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Here is the classic 1974 BBC documentary series World At War. You can access the other episodes on YouTube. Most episodes focus on one specific battle which can make it very useful.
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Lesson 2B - Evaluating Strategy
Lesson Objectives:
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Lesson Tasks:
- To prepare for your Socratic: keep a running word document with notes on the significance of different aspects of each battle. Make sure you are covering the terms and concepts in the "Evaluating Strategies" handout.
- Use the series of links below to help with your research.
- View clips from a variety of WWII movies in class.
General WWII Resources
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Battle of Britain
- www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/07/world-war-ii-the-battle-of-britain/100102/
- www.spitfireperformance.com/spit1vrs109e.html
- www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/history-of-the-battle-of-britain/radar-the-battle-winner.aspx
- www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-air-defence-network-that-helped-britain-win-the-battle-of-britain
Operation Barbarossa
Battle of the Atlantic
Bombing of Germany
D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy
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Stalingrad
An interesting lecture by Antony Beevor on researching Stalingrad. A great resource for discussing TOK and evaluating source material. This is essentially a giant reflection session on an IA! |
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Extra Resources:
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Lesson 2C - Evaluating the role of technology
Lesson Objectives:
- Evaluate the role of technology in determining the outcome of Second World War battles.
Lesson Tasks:
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Tanks
- armedforcesmuseum.com/top-ten-tanks-of-wwii/
- cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/fighting-vehicles/tanks.htm
- archives.library.illinois.edu/blog/poor-defense-sherman-tanks-ww2/
- https://warisboring.com/the-sherman-was-america-s-best-worst-tank/
- www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/Panzer-V_Panther.php
- www.militaryfactory.com/armor/ww2-tanks.asp
Lesson 2 Task: Socratic Seminar
Which was more important for achieving victory in the Second World War: strategy, technological superiority, human resources, industrial capacity or ideology?
Objectives:
- Discuss how the concept of “total war” was necessary for victory in the Second World War
- Compare the strategies of the major belligerents in World War Two, with particular focus on the factors in the above guiding question
- Be able to discuss multiple points of view, including historiography, on the above factors as they applied to specific battles, overall campaigns, and specific nations.
Tasks:
- Review the WWII - Europe Historiography handout. Which arguments do you most agree with?
- Prepare for and successfully participate in a class Socratic Seminar on the guiding question for this unit.
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Lesson 3 - WWII as Guerilla Warfare
Lesson Objectives:
- Identify and describe characteristics of guerilla warfare
- Describe and justify the Belorussian partisans, Jewish partisans, and Yugoslav partisans as examples of guerilla warfare in the European theatre of WWII
Lesson Tasks:
2. How did Germany react to the partisan threat? What does counter-partisan warfare look like? 3. "The unquestioned losers of the partisan conflict were the peasants who lived and worked in the contested areas" (28). Describe how this was the case. |
Gladwell, Malcolm. "How David Beats Goliath": www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/11/how-david-beats-goliath
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