Much like the Our Interconnected World yarn activity that you completed earlier in this course to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the world in 1450, 1750, and today, this activity will simulate the extent to which pre-existing and newly emerging networks contributed to the global scale of World War I. You’ll use yarn to create a visual representation of direct and indirect regional involvement in the war, which will help you think about how nineteenth-century trends of industrialization, imperialism, and nationalism set the stage for global interactions in the twentieth century and even today.

Contextualization, causation
The narratives involved in this activity present some global context for the scale of World War I, and you’ll be using your causation skills as you consider the reasons for global involvement around the world from 1914 to 1918.

In this activity, you’ll use yarn, just as you did in the first Our Interconnected World activity to create a visual representation of the networks that existed during World War I. By using string to illustrate the connections between Allied and Central Powers, you’ll begin to see how global this war became in a relatively short time.

Part 1

1. As you enter the classroom, your teacher will give you a region card with your assigned nations on them. Be sure to sit in your assigned region. It may help to memorize your assigned region so you know to take the yarn when your country is called out in the narrative. Then, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Our Interconnected World – World War I worksheet.
2. Do you remember the last time the classroom was arranged in this way? And can you remember what the big idea of that activity was? In this activity, you’ll be taking another look at the world through our “networks” l.ens, but this time you’ll be examining the world of 1914.
3. Think about the top three major events or trends someone would need to know about to understand how the world changed from 1750 to 1914. Be prepared to share the trends you identified with the class.
4. Your teacher will either nominate a “runner” to carry a ball of yarn to the different locations around the room as the narrative is read, or will have you toss the yarn from one location to the next. When the yarn comes to you, you’ll hold onto the strand until you’ve heard the entire narrative.
5. Your teacher will project the narrative for the Networks of WW I on the board so you can follow along as they read aloud. Note that the blue portions of the narrative are the Allied Powers and the red portions are the Central Powers. Important locations are in green.

Part 2

Examine the web of yarn to see the alliances and networks of exchange that took place during the war. Then, either individually or in pairs, complete Part 2 of the worksheet. Remember that you can go back through the narrative to pull out pieces of evidence to support your answers. You should be looking for evidence that supports how the trends you identified at the start of this activity were contributing factors to the global scale of the war.

Be prepared to share your answers with the class.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, few realized how far-reaching the collapse would be. The global economy built in the long nineteenth century made the world interdependent. When economies started to collapse, they took the rest of the world down with them. Many Western nations responded to the crash by closing off their economies and falling into isolationism. European empires looked to their colonies for resources, exploiting colonial subjects in an attempt to help lift Europe from financial ruin. All over the world, the Great Depression helped make the state more powerful. In some places, authoritarians came to power.

The Great Depression was one of the defining events of the interwar period. This article provides you evidence to respond to the Era Problem and evaluate whether the economic crisis of the 1930s was a continuation of, or a break with trends and movements of the previous centuries. It will also allow you to examine how dramatic transformations in production and distribution can have serious consequences for human communities around the world.

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. Why did the Great Depression spread from the United States to so many other parts of the world so quickly?
2. How did governments react to the crisis?
3. Why was the crisis so devastating for Latin America and European colonies in Africa and Asia?
4. What are some ways that states grew more powerful during the crisis?
5. What ended the Great Depression?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. There has been a global economic crisis in your lifetime. The Great Recession of 2008 is now more than ten years behind us, and it was not as devastating as the Great Depression, but its effects still linger. Can you draw any comparison between our more recent economic crisis and the crisis in the 1930s?
2. The Great Depression was a collapse of international networks and global production and distribution. What are some ways that these collapses reshaped communities?

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful when responding to DBQs.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 5.1.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

This collection explores the changes to various economies as well as the global economy between the two world wars. These sources are largely visual images, such as posters and photographs, as well as some text sources. All concern the effects of these economic challenges and what governments did to meet them.

The primary source excerpts in this collection will help you assess how different nations responded to economic crises after 1900. In turn, this will help you understand the causes and effects of economic crises like the Great Depression and analyze similarities and differences between this economic crisis and ones that occur in our modern world. In addition, you’ll work on your sourcing skills using the Quick-Sourcing Tool.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

In this activity, you are going to analyze a political party platform. This will help you learn how to deconstruct and closely examine the messages that politicians, advertisers, and other influencers use.

You are going to look at a political party platform and try to interpret what its statements really mean. First, take out the Political Party Platform worksheet and look at all the statements. You’ll probably notice that they are difficult to interpret; therefore, your first task is to rewrite the statements to in your own words. Don’t worry—you don’t have to do them all; you’ll work in groups and split up the task. Your teacher will tell you which statements your group should rewrite to make them easier to understand.

Once all groups have finished their rewrites, you’ll discuss them as a class. Then, your teacher will mix up your groups, and you’ll be assigned different statements. For each of those, you’ll write a justification for how and why each one might be seen as desirable for a country. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

Now, your teacher will tell you more about the political party that put forth this platform, and you’ll dig into how and why seemingly positive statements can morph into something less positive.

Your teacher will end this activity in one of two ways. Either you’ll think about how this political party might be seen as similar to some of those that exist in the world today, or, as a class, you’ll construct a large causal map, starting with the Treaty of Versailles. This will help you see how sometimes historical events unfold over a long period of time, and how hard it can be to predict the consequences of something that might not seem like such a big deal in the moment.

This video examines fascism’s defining characteristics. Fascism rose most prominently in Italy and Germany between the two world wars. Benito Mussolini rose to power as a fascist in the 1920s. His movement violently seized power and defined the Italian nation in racial terms. This example was soon followed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, which seized power in Germany in the 1930s. Utilizing extreme forms of nationalism, these leaders pushed their citizens to expel or murder those deemed an enemy of the state. The video compares these examples with the KKK in the United States.

This video is intended to provide you with evidence to understand the long history that led to the global conflicts and radicalized actions against groups during the twentieth century. The video also addresses the KKK and recent trends in fascism, so it should also help you consider the global implications of when states turn against democratic institutions.

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. Where does the word “fascism” comes from?
2. Why does the video argue that defining fascism as a form of political behavior is an important distinction?
3. What are some of the methods that fascists use to gain power?
4. Why was internationalism a threat to the fascist agenda?
5. Why is total war the only kind of war for fascists?
6. How are authoritarianism and populism different from fascism?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. This video provides a comprehensive definition and three examples of fascism. Do you think you have encountered any examples earlier in this course which have anything in common with fascism?
2. How does the system of imperialism compare to fascist methods?

This article explores some of the theories that explain the rise of twentieth-century fascism. Nationalism and Social Darwinism rose to importance during the late nineteenth century, which laid the foundations for the racist and exclusionary policies of fascism. Fascism’s rise is rooted in the political and economic developments after World War I. The Treaty of Versailles disappointed both Italy and Japan and crippled the German economy. The Great Depression was one of many such social and economic disruptions that helped open doors for fascist control in some places.

This article is intended to provide you with the theoretical underpinnings of fascism. Where did fascists get their ideas from? By addressing this question, this article provides evidence to respond to the Era Problem. Fascism arose in specific communities, but it was part of larger global transformations. It will help you understand how fascist ideology and behavior made possible the horrific crimes committed during the Second World War.

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 time period do scholars consider when thinking about the rise of global fascist movements?
2. What is the theory of Social Darwinism?
3. How did some nineteenth-century thinkers use science to promote racist beliefs?
4. How does the author say that fascism and socialism are both similar and very different?
5. How did fascists use the Great Depression to their benefit ?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. How did imperialism help create some of the ideological trends that this article mentions?
2. Do fascist histories challenge the communities frame narrative of this course? Why or why not?

This article examines the policies and actions of the fascists that came to power in the twentieth century. Those who rose to power experimented with new methods of repression and control. This article explores some of those actions in Italian East Africa and German expansion in Central Europe, as well as methods used by Stalin in the Soviet Union and Japan. Similarities and differences among these case studies are discussed.

This article introduces you to some of the behaviors and methods that authoritarians and fascists experimented with in the years leading up to the Second World War. It should help you assess how different forms of authoritarianism were connected and how they were different from each other.

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. In what ways did Mussolini pursue an aggressive foreign policy?
2. How were German and Italian justifications for expansion similar?
3. How was Stalin similar to and different from Hitler and Mussolini?
4. How did Japanese leaders justify Japan’s imperial expansion?
5. How were the Italian, German, Japanese, and Soviet authoritarian efforts in the 1920s and 1930s similar?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. Why do you think so many people in Italy, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union embraced fascist or authoritarian ideologies and actions, even those that were violent and repressive?

Communism and fascism are two ideologies that are often used in discussions, but sometimes incorrectly. This activity will help you dig into the small details of each ideology to help you avoid the common misunderstanding that these theories are interchangeable. There are still communist states in the world today, so it’s important that you understand the differences between the two political ideologies.

Comparison
You will be comparing two ideologies as part of this activity.

In this activity, you will look at a list of statements to decide if they describe communism, fascism, neither, or both. This will help you better understand each ideology.

Start by quickly reviewing the differences between communism and fascism with your class. At this point in the course, you’ve learned quite a bit about each ideology; use what you’ve already learned to contribute to this discussion. You can also use the table in Step 1 of the worksheet to go over the differences.

Once you’ve reviewed each system, answer the questions in Steps 2 and 3 of the worksheet. Then, be prepared to share your answers with your class. This will help you get a sense of how well you have a handle on each of these ideologies!

During the 1920s, politicians, scientists, veterans, activists, and every-day citizens made attempts to increase international connections with the goal of ending war. The League of Nations, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, scientific conferences, trade unions, and Interpol were just some of these. This video overviews these changes, as well as the long history of internationalism before the twentieth century. But the internationalism of the 1920s quickly fell apart during the 1930s as the League of Nations failed to curb increasing nationalism and authoritarianism.

This video provides evidence at the global level to respond to the Era Problem. It should also help you evaluate why so many people in so many different places during the interwar period turned away from internationalism and liberal democracy, which is an important cause of the Second World War. The video should help you analyze how nations attempted to build networks and connect communities across borders, which should help deepen your understanding of the network and communities frames.

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 was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
2. What were some attempts at internationalism during the 1920s?
3. What are some examples of internationalism before the twentieth century?
4. According to the video, why did the League of Nations fail?
5. What does this video suggest is the legacy of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. How does the failure of internationalism challenge or support the networks frame narrative?
2. Can you think of any current examples of internationalism succeeding or failing?

In this activity, you’ll begin to explore some of the characteristics that make up your identity, that define you and make you unique. This will allow you to see that you are a member of multiple communities and that people no longer have singular identities or communities, but rather multiple ones that are interconnected. This activity will challenge the idea of a single narrative that tells the story of your life or (on a larger or more global scale) that of history.

Contextualization, scale
You’ll assess your roles or identities in a variety of the communities of which you are a part. You’ll begin to contextualize your identities within different communities and your role in a broader or more global framework. In addition, you’ll engage in some scale switching as you view your identity on a local, regional, national, and then global scale.

In this activity, you’ll start with a discussion about identity and list the different identities you have (for example, at school, home, on sports teams). Then, you’ll draw representations of how these identities fit into different spatial scales using the Who Am I? Worksheet. Finally, you’ll wrap up the activity with a discussion about similarities and differences that can be seen when comparing each of your drawings.