The grandsons of those who fought in the First World War went back to war only a few decades later, in an even more devastating and widespread conflict, and one in which great violence was aimed at civilian populations. How did this happen? Was it a result of fascism and authoritarianism—a turn away from the democratic values of the Long Nineteenth Century? Or was it due to the growth of nationalism and racism? Or because of the Great Depression? Or as a result of the uncertain results of the First World War?

The Unit 7 Problem asks you to consider the origins and causes of the Second World War, and also what problems it resolved, or failed to resolve. In this video, you will be introduced to some evidence and explanations that address these questions. Later readings, videos, and activities will allow you to evaluate these arguments using further evidence presented at a smaller scale or on a specific theme.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How does the scale of the First World War compare to that of the Second World War, according to the video?
2. What were some problems left by the First World War that contributed to the Second World War?
3. What kinds of intellectual ideas and economic situations helped to drive the rise of nationalism in this era?
4. What were some horrors of the Second World War that resulted from this extreme nationalism and from authoritarianism?
5. What does the data about the number of democracies in the world show for the period from 1930 to 1944?
6. What did the Nuremberg laws do?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. For much of the nineteenth century, we saw an expansion of democracy and citizen rights, at least in some places. But many of those same countries that were becoming more democratic, particularly in Europe, turned towards authoritarian and racist/nationalist policies in the 1930s. What are some reasons this might have happened?

The Second World War emerged from an era of economic instability and disillusionment with democracy. But it was also caused by people with an ideology that emphasized violence, blamed others for their problems, and were willing to kill and persecute others to achieve their goals. The eventual victory by the Allied powers may have addressed some of these problems, but did it resolve the underlying issues that had caused the war?

This overview introduces you to the main focus of the Unit Problem: the causes and origins of the World War II. But it is also meant to remind you that this war was caused by humans, and that by learning the history of the war, we can strive to avoid these horrors in the future.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were some atrocities and terrible events of the Second World War?
2. What does the author argue was the most dangerous impact of the First World War?
3. What were some events that the author points to as leading to the Second World War?
4. According to the author, what two countries emerged strongest from the war, and what was their relationship?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. The author of this article argues that is really hard to read about the atrocities of the Second World War. Why is it worth doing so, anyway?

The 1920s and 1930s were periods of highs and lows. Two big ideas about communities—nationalism and internationalism—vied for influence. Networks of scientists, diplomats, and doctors sought solutions to the world’s problems, but not always successfully. Meanwhile, global production and distribution faltered, creating enormous suffering. How can we use these frames to understand the origins of the conflict and the horrors it brought with it?

The purpose of this video is to help you to understand what you are learning about the era leading up to the Second World War, and the conflict itself, through the three frames of the course. Each frame should give you a sense of the origins of the war from a different angle. This information should also help you to evaluate the frame narratives for this era.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. What were the hopes of internationalists after the war?
2. What problems emerged in the two dominant economies in the world—capitalism and socialism?
3. What does the video suggest was the main cause of the Second World War?
4. What was the outcome of the Second World War?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Knowing what you know about the world we live in today, what do you think are some answers to the questions posed by the video? For example, did the Second World War result in international networks that avoided future wars? Also, is it possible to have nationalism without extremism?

Despite the claims of some optimistic authors and politicians, World War I did not “end all wars.” Just over a decade after the First World War had ended, the nations of the world were heading towards another global conflict. This second conflict would be deadlier and fought on more fronts than the first. In this mapping exercise you will annotate a blank map of the world in 1945 to make some guesses about who would be involved in the conflict and the cost—in territory and lives—of Axis conquests.

To begin this activity, you will use a blank map of the world in 1945—after the end of the war—to identify some of the main belligerent nations that fought in World War II. Next, you will further annotate and draw on your blank map, making predictions about alliances, casualties, and conquests during the war.

Step 1

Remember, this activity is intended to introduce you to geography in this unit. You aren’t expected to have all the answers.

With your teacher, brainstorm some of the ways that the outcomes of the First World War might have helped cause the Second World War.

Step 2

In small groups, use your blank map to label the 10 countries listed that participated in World War II, including a guess about which side they fought on (Allied or Axis).

Step 3

Using the blank map you just labelled, annotate the map further with two new categories of predictions:

• Mark the three countries you think had the highest casualties in the Second World War. Provide a 1-2 sentence annotation explaining why.
• Outline and fill in (using colored marker or shading) what you think was the greatest extent of the Axis conquests in Europe and Asia. What countries did the Axis powers succeed in conquering before the Allies turned them back?

This repeated activity should help you become familiar with a process for understanding unfamiliar words anytime you encounter them in the course.

Take out your vocab tracker and be sure to record new and unfamiliar words on it according to your teacher’s instructions.

Understanding vocabulary helps you access course content, become a better reader, and a better communicator. This word wall activity will help you begin to learn some of the key vocabulary from Unit 7.

In this activity, you’ll work with your class to create a word wall using the Unit 7 vocabulary.

Your teacher will assign a vocab card to each of you. Once you get yours, take a few minutes to look it up in the Unit 7 Vocab Guide and then examine the unit itself (click around and quickly skim the content) to see where in the unit your word might be most applicable. Then, add as many antonyms to your card for your word as possible. Your teacher will give you a limited amount of time to write antonyms. Then, the people with the most correct antonyms will put their words on the word wall first.

Your teacher may add some fun twists to this assignment, so be sure to listen closely for directions!

Each unit of the WHP course is guided by a Unit Problem. You’re learning a ton of stuff in this and every other unit, and it can be hard to keep track of what’s most important. It would be pretty easy to become obsessed with a detail that, although interesting and a great way to impress people at a party is relatively unimportant. This activity will help you stay focused! You’ll think about the Unit Problems, and then you’ll respond to them in writing. By keeping track of how your thinking changes throughout each unit, you’ll see how much you’re learning as you move through each section of the course.

Use the Unit 7 Problem Notebook Worksheet to respond to the prompts as best as you can. Be prepared to talk about your ideas with your class.

Open the following non-interactive charts in your internet browser:

• Chart 1 – Great Power War: https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/08/ourworldindata_percentage-of-years-in-which-the-great-powers-fought-one-another-1500%E2%80%932000.png
• Chart 2 – Global Deaths in Conflict: https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/6
• Chart 3 – Population Control, Marauder Style: https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/08/The-100-Worst-Atrocities-over-the-last-Millennia-New-York-Times-Data-from-Matthew-White0.png

The past was not peaceful. Human history is filled with violent conflict. But some people think that the world has gotten more violent in the recent past. The world wars of the twentieth century loom large in our memory today. But wars aren’t new, and some even argue that war has been getting less common and less deadly. The three charts in this article offer three different takes on this debate.

Data can be used in many ways, and not all charts tell the same story, even when they cover the same topic. In this third data exploration, we introduce three charts about war and conflict throughout human history. All three charts might cover this topic, but each of them tells a different story, and you might draw different conclusions from each. Which do you agree with? Which do you trust the most? How do you tell the difference? This data exploration will help you learn to compare and perhaps combine data from diverse charts to draw your own conclusions.

Your teacher will let you know if there is an overall question to hold in your mind as complete your three reads of the article.

Preview – What Do We Have?

Fill out the Read 1: Preview section of the Three Close Reads for Data worksheet as you complete your first close read. Remember—this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – What Do We Know?

For this read, your goal is to understand the “story” the chart is telling by identifying its arguments and evaluating its presentation of data. You will decide what claim or claims this chart is making and what evidence is being used to support those claims. Do you think the data is reliable? Is the chart misleading in any way? By the end of this read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How are Charts 1 and 2 different? How are they similar?
2. What does Chart 1 tell us about war in the last 500 years? Do you think measuring war between the great powers is a good way to understand war in general?
3. What does Chart 2 tell us about how the deadliness of conflict changed during the twentieth century?
4. According to Chart 3, what was the deadliest event in human history?
5. Charts 1 and 2 suggest that the frequency and deadliness of conflict might be declining, especially during the twentieth century. Why does Chart 3 show so many more conflicts in recent centuries than earlier in history?

Making Connections – What Does This Tell Us?

The third read is really about why the chart is important, what it can tell us about the past, and how it can help us think about the future. At the end of this read, respond to the following questions:

1. These four charts use similar data to tell slightly different stories. Which do you trust the most to tell us something important about deadly conflict? Why?
2. Using these three charts, make one prediction about the future of warfare and deadly conflict in your lifetime. What evidence from the charts supports your prediction? What evidence challenges it?

Access to the Our World in Data website: https://ourworldindata.org/

This activity will help you select the topic of your final presentation. This is a brainstorming activity that will help you identify your interests and where those interests intersect with the available charts on Our World in Data (OWID). Selecting the right topic can be tricky. You need to select a topic that’s meaningful to you and that has world-historical significance. You also need to be sure that there’s enough evidence available on your topic to sustain your final project. This activity gives you a chance to explore the OWID website and gather information about two possible topics of your choice.

In this activity, you’ll be picking your final project topic. Begin by exploring the OWID website to identify two topics that are meaningful to you. Next, you’ll fill out a worksheet in which you reflect on why these topics are important and record the resources available on the OWID site. Finally, you will select one of the two topics as the subject of your final presentation.

The first step in this this activity is to explore the OWID website. Spend about five minutes exploring the OWID website, clicking on links and images you find interesting. Once you’re familiar with the website, find the Articles by Topic menu and hover the cursor over it:

Notice that each topic (for example: Health, Demographic Change, Food and Agriculture) has several subtopics to choose from. For example, the Health topic includes Smallpox, Life Expectancy, and Vaccination among its subtopics. Take another five minutes to explore the topics and subtopics that are most interesting to you.

In addition to selecting a topic that is important to you, your topic also needs to be significant in a world-historical context. This means that the topic deeply affects lots of people over a long period of time. Once you’ve identified two subtopics that are meaningful to you and significant in a world-historical context, take out the Topic Selection worksheet and answer the questions for each of your two chosen subtopics.

Once you have completed the worksheet for both subtopics, review what you’ve written and choose the subtopic that you think is most meaningful and significant. Record your choice on the worksheet. Congratulations! You have a research topic.