This activity asks you to practice your claim- and counterclaim-making skills. This will help you evaluate your ability to make strong, evidence-backed claims, and give you an idea of how well you understand the three frames.

In this activity, you’ll write two claims and one counterclaim about the frame narratives you have studied throughout this course.

Take out the Making Claims – Frames worksheet. Working individually or in pairs, make two claims and one counterclaim about which frame has changed the most from the beginning of the course to this era.

For each claim, use course materials—and, if your teacher asks you to, the Internet—to find two pieces of supporting evidence. Once you’ve written your two claims and provided supporting evidence, write one counterclaim that relates to one of them. You should also provide two pieces of evidence to back up your counterclaim.

Be prepared to share your claims at the end of the class.

Historians don’t agree on one definitive cause of the First World War. There were a lot of different factors at play. This article explores three different approaches that historians have taken to explain how the world went to war in 1914. Perhaps the most common explanation was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. But other historians point to deeper, systemic factors that led the world to war, such as alliance systems, nationalism, and imperialism. And still other historians argue that the war was an accident of catastrophic proportions. Outdated diplomatic technology was unprepared to stop an industrial war.

This article provides three different causes to explain the same event. The evidence provided for each of the three causes will help you respond to the Era Problem. In addition, evaluating the pros and cons of each of these explanations for what caused World War I will help you understand how historians frame historical events from different perspectives. It will also will help you understand how this global conflict was the result of global connections. As you read, consider how global transformations in production and distribution, communities, and networks during the Long Nineteenth Century led the world to 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. Who killed Franz Ferdinand? Why did they kill him?
2. How did the European alliance system help start the war?
3. How did imperialism help start the war?
4. Why does the author argue that industrialization made the war inevitable once preparations were started?
5. How might the First World War have happened on accident?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. This article gives several examples of how transformations in the nineteenth century led to the war. Things like nationalism (communities frame), industrialization (production and distribution frame), and outdated diplomatic technology (networks frame) are blamed for the war. Can you think of any transformations during the nineteenth century that might have helped prevent war?

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Britain and its empire died in the fields of Flanders during World War I. Britain didn’t mean to go to war, but German naval ambition and the invasion of Belgium forced Britain to enter the war. The huge British navy, its experienced Guards Regiments, and its industrial wealth proved decisive in the conflict. Trench warfare and industrial weapons produced an incredibly deadly and miserable war that devastated British communities. In this video, Nick Dennis explores the impacts of the war on Britain through conversations with two experts on Britain’s naval and military history.

The First World War transformed the world. However, each nation that participated in the war experienced its impacts in different ways. This video will help you respond to the era problem by providing evidence at the national level for why Britain went to war and why the war was so transformative for the island nation. Britain also had a massive empire, and the effects of the war extended beyond London and Flanders. How does the story of World War I differ if told at a global level or told from the perspective of a small community in Britain?

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. Why did Britain have the world’s largest navy?
2. Why did Britain and Germany get into an arms race and why did Britain win?
3. What type of person served on the Guards Regiments?
4. How did Belgium pull Britain into the war?
5. Why is the poppy a symbol of the war?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. During World War I, how did Britain’s systems of production and distribution provide the nation with advantages, but also create vulnerabilities?
2. What do the two poems in this video tell you about the war, and its impact on Britain and on British soldiers?

During World War I, propaganda posters were used throughout the world to influence people during this time of great conflict. You will analyze examples of these posters to gain a better sense of why governments were trying to influence people, and how this could have impacted citizens of different countries. While the focus is World War I, the lessons learned here can help you decipher the messages you encounter today as part of modern political campaigns and advertisements, and on social media. The development of these skills can help you decide what to believe—not only historically, but in your everyday life.

Sourcing, comparison, claim testing
Each of the posters used in this activity is considered a primary source, and analysis of these sources pushes you to think about the historical context, audience, purpose, point of view, and significance of each of poster. This process expands your sourcing skills beyond those used to analyze text-based primary sources. Additionally, you will be comparing posters within particular categories, engaging in the practice of historical comparison using images. After comparing the posters, you’ll answer questions and make assertions, and you’ll use your claim testing skills to support your answers.

In this activity, you will examine a variety of posters from World War I as a way of trying to develop an understanding of propaganda, nationalism, total war, and gender and social class during World War I.

Take out the World War I Poster Analysis worksheet and pick two posters from each category and compare them. The categories are:

• Women, minorities, and colonial subjects
• Total War
• Nationalism

Answer the questions provided for each set of posters as best you can. You might not always have precise answers for each poster, but you should examine the images and try to infer meaning from them.

Once you’re done, be prepared to share your impressions with your class as well as discuss the following questions: How were different groups of people valued during this time period? How might these posters have encouraged people to support and participate in the war effort? What types of tactics did governments use to encourage citizens’ support of the war? Note that for this particular exercise, there are not necessarily “right” answers—however, you should use your claim-testing skills to provide evidence to support any claims you make.

To wrap up, think about the kinds of messages that governments from around the world have put out in more recent history. Do the more current messages qualify as propaganda or are they generally more informational? How do we as citizens of a country determine which is which? Remember that claim testing and sourcing are both great ways to try to discern the intent of different types of government-produced documents.

In this video, Trevor Getz interviews Heather Streets-Salter about how the First World War affected Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia was a complicated place in 1914. British, French, American, Dutch and Japanese empires claimed control of much of the region. The region was home to many Chinese people and Muslims, who had broad transnational interests. The centerpiece of this video is Singapore, where one captured German submarine crew helped spark an uprising against the British colonial government. The uprising had many transnational connections to India, Europe, and San Francisco.

This video provides you with evidence at the regional level to help you identify the global impacts and connections of the First World War. It will allow you to respond to the Era Problem and question whether the war was a threshold event. It will provide you evidence to support, extend, and challenge the communities and networks frame narratives by illustrating one complex transnational case study of revolt in Southeast Asia.

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.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Use these questions and prompts at the appropriate stopping points to check in with the students and ensure they are getting the key ideas covered in the video.

1. What was Southeast Asia like in 1914?
2. Why were people living in Southeast Asia interested in what was happening in the Middle East?
3. Why was the Russo-Japanese War important?
4. Why was Singapore a strategic city?
5. Why was the German submarine crew able to convince the Indian soldiers to revolt against the British?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Dr. Streets-Salter points out that, when we think about the First World War, we mostly think about trench warfare in Europe. But for most of the world, that’s not what the war was like. Clearly, the war was important for Southeast Asia. But do you think what happened in Southeast Asia was important to the war in Europe? How might you use one of the three frames to make your argument?

The end of the First World War redrew the borders of the Middle East, laying the foundations for many modern nation-states, as well as many of the conflicts that exist in the region today. Before the war, in 1914, the region was mostly divided between the Ottoman and British empires. These two powers found themselves on opposing sides of World War I. As the British looked for allies in the region, they found Sharif Hussein, who hoped to lead an independent Arab state after the war. Yet, the ambitions of British imperialists would frustrate his hopes.

This video provides further evidence to evaluate the impacts and experiences of the First World War, both on a regional and individual level. The video also introduces several important ideologies that would shape the Middle East in the second half of the twentieth century: nationalism, Arab nationalism, and Pan-Islam. These ideologies will provide you with further evidence to evaluate the communities frame narrative.

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 Middle East like in 1914?
2. According to Dr. Genell, what was the purpose of the Ottoman Declaration of Jihad?
3. Who was Sharif Hussein, and how did the British convince him to join the war?
4. Why did Sharif Hussein not get what he wanted after the war?
5. What were mandates?
6. What identities became important after the war? Why?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Looking at the three maps of the Middle East in this video—1914, 1923, and the twenty-first century—what do you think was the most important way that World War I changed the region in the past 100 years?

In this video, John Green gives an explanation for why war erupted in Europe in 1914. World War I was a transformative conflict. The event that kicked it all off was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists. But there are deeper and more complex cause-and-effect relationships that caused such a huge, deadly, and transformative war to break out.

This video provides evidence at the global level to help you respond to the Era Problem: What are the virtues and challenges of trying to tell one human history as opposed to human histories? In particular, the video will help you understand how the war was a result of global transformations and local events.

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. Why did Princeps and his co-conspirators target Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
2. Why didn’t Franz Ferdinand’s uncle, the Austrian emperor, like him?
3. Why was Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia important? And why was it important that it took a month for Austria to issue it?
4. John Green lays out the chronology that led up to World War I. What action taken by a national government started the hostilities ?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Which of the three course frame narratives best explains the causes of World War I? Why?
2. John Green warns us that it’s really hard to understand the long-term consequences of our actions. Can you think of any historical choices that led to surprising or unfortunate results later on?

The First World War started in a relatively small place: Europe. Why did it get so big? This article examines how a European conflict became a war of global proportions. Many of the people who actually fought in the war weren’t from Europe. The main combatants in the war had colonies around the world, and they asked their colonized subjects to fight for them. And, the nations who started the war wanted more colonies, which was part of the reason they fought. Though the main battles of the war were in Europe, the war was fought all over the world.

This article provides evidence at a global level to respond the Era Problem. In particular, it examines how this global conflict was both a break with and a continuation of trends and conflicts from the previous centuries. The article provides evidence to evaluate the global impacts of the First World War. This article will help you assess the war’s impact on global communities and production and distribution. In particular, it highlights connections to industrialization and imperialism you encountered in Era 6.

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 the main alliances in the war?
2. What does the author assert were some of the European causes of the First World War?
3. What does the author argue were some global motivations for the war?
4. Where were most of the battles outside of Europe fought?
5. What are the main consequences of the war that this article mentions?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. Lots of people from lots of places died in World War I, which certainly had huge consequences for communities everywhere. Lots of goods and weapons had to be made for the war, which certainly transformed global production and distribution. But what about networks – can you think of any ways that the war changed global networks?

World War I was a total war, and it was the most devastating conflict the world had yet seen. Total war involves four things: large-scale mobilization for war, blurred lines between citizens and soldiers, a rejection of compromise, and the total control of society for the war effort. In many of the participant nations, citizens willingly contributed to the war effort. But the scale and devastation of the war left many soldiers and civilians disillusioned.

Now that you’ve explored the many explanations of what caused the First World War, this article provides you an overview of the effects of a total war. As a total war, World War I affected communities, networks, and production and distribution around the world. The article is intended to provide you with evidence to respond to the Era Problem and evaluate how the war shifted power balances around the globe.

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 does the author say are the four characteristics of total war?
2. How does the author argue that World War I was different from previous wars?
3. How did the war cause the spread of disease?
4. The nineteenth and early twentieth century saw attempts, such as the Hague Conventions, to put restrictions on warfare. What were some ways that these rules were violated in the First World War?
5. Other than wartime casualties, what were some ways that non-European societies were affected by the war?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. The author provides the four characteristics of total war, but asserts that no war has perfectly met all these criteria. In what ways does the author seem to think World War I was a total war, even though it did not meet those criteria?
2. The author argues that “total control of society” is an element of total war. What does she mean? Who did the controlling and who was controlled?

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 different faces of World War I: the propaganda at home, the experience of air bombing, the recruitment of soldiers in the colonies and imperial centers, how women, men, and children were affected, and the promises that were made and broken.

The primary source excerpts in this collection will help you assess how governments mobilized their populations for war. In turn, this will help you understand the continuities and changes that occurred from the First to Second World Wars and even in relation to conflicts today. 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.

You have been learning about the impact of the First World War on both soldiers and civilians. In this activity, you will use your knowledge of the war from the texts, images, and videos you have analyzed to create a fictional letter from the perspective a soldier or civilian writing to their loved ones. This will help you exercise your historical empathy and creativity skills as you demonstrate your knowledge of events associated with the First World War. This should give you a better feeling about what it was like to be a part of World War I, and perhaps will also give you a sense of what it might be like for soldiers and civilians who are in war torn areas around the world today.

Contextualization, sourcing
In this activity, you are asked to think about the viewpoint of your letter’s writer from a historical perspective, rather than from today’s perspective. As part of this, it’s necessary to consider context. Being aware of and engaging in historical empathy is key to understanding how people thought, felt, and acted in the past.

In this activity, you will first hear about WWI from the perspective of a solider, then you will be asked to craft a fictional letter from a soldier or civilian writing to their loved ones. While you have learned a lot about World War I so far in the course, you haven’t really gotten the perspective of a soldier fighting in the trenches.

Your teacher will read the following excerpt to you, feel free to follow along. The excerpts in this primary source document are from the diary of Private Walter Hutchinson, a British soldier from Yorkshire who participated in the first days of the Battle of the Somme, the deadliest battle in the history of World War I.

“On Saturday July 1st we set off for the trenches about 10 o'clock. As soon as we got on the road we saw an awful sight for there was wounded men by hundreds coming from the line. When we was going across the marsh, German shells was dropping all round but none of us was hit. We then landed to a communication trench. But before we had time to get in it Fritz [German troops] sent us a tear shell. That was our first taste of gas…

We hadn't gone far up the trench before we came across three of our own lads lying dead. Their heads been badly damaged by a shell. Their names were Voice and Webster Brothers.

We had to go scrambling over the poor fellows—in and out, in and out. It was one of the awful sights I had ever witnessed and at this point our own lads was coming out wounded as we was following them in. Then the order came down dump everything and fix bayonets you have got to fight for it lads.

We obeyed the order like men…

I was talking to these three men some 10 yards away and a shell dropped and killed all the three of them. It was an awful sight. I then went and reported the matter to the officers and they came at once to the scene. We then got the poor fellows buried which was a very difficult task for shells was dropping all round us.”

Source: Hutchinson, Walter. “Extended extracts: Diary from the Somme,” The Telegraph, February 21, 2007.

What do you think it might have felt like to be Private Walter Hutchinson?

In this activity, it is your job to take on the role of either a soldier or a civilian in World War I who is writing to loved ones during the war. The process of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes from the past and seeing things from their perspective is often referred to as historical empathy.

If you choose the role of the soldier, you will be writing home to your family. As part of the letter, you should describe the conditions in the battlefield such as trench warfare and the impact of the new weapons introduced in this war. Additionally, you cannot just re-use or restate the information in Hutchinson’s diary. Instead, you might need to do a little research to find out what things were like for your particular soldier. This may change depending upon if you choose a soldier from the Allied or Central Powers and may also change depending upon when the letter was written during the war.

If you choose the role of a civilian, you are writing to a family member who is serving in the war. You should describe the sacrifices made at home to support the war effort. Again, details will depend upon where the family is located, who they are writing to, where the soldier is located, and the time in which the letter was written.

Whether you choose soldier or civilian, you should also explain the emotional toll of war and include the feelings one might have on a battlefield or at home. Also be sure to include the reason your country is at war and why the fighting is necessary. Finally, include a short bio of your soldier or civilian, including their age, date of birth, gender, country of origin, geographic location, side on which they’re fighting/supporting, whether they are a citizen or colonial subject being forced to fight in the war (conscript) or someone who joined willingly, and so on. The bio does not need to be extensive but enough to provide some context.

You may want to do some research to find out more about people’s experiences during this time period so that your letter is as authentic as possible. If your teacher requires extra research, make sure to cite any sources used.

Once you’re done, consider sharing your letter with the class. As you listen to other letters, can you guess the bio (location, Allied or Central Powers, time period, etc.) of those people using the context clues provided in the letter?

In 1910, Porfirio Diaz won his eighth reelection as president of Mexico. But his stranglehold on power had started to look a lot like a dictatorship. He allowed foreign investors to control a large portion of Mexico’s land and failed to give his own people a say in government. He was finally challenged by Francisco Madero, a liberal reformer who called for revolution and quickly defeated Diaz. But the next two decades would hold much more conflict for Mexico, as the forces of counter-revolution tried to take things back to the way they had been and revolutionaries disagreed on what systems should replace Diaz’s dictatorship.

This article tells a complex story, but that’s because it deals with the contradictions and challenges of the revolutions that emerged from the long nineteenth century. As both a social/economic and a political revolution, the Mexican Revolution provides evidence to evaluate how the transformations of the long nineteenth century helped set the stage for conflict in the twentieth century. As you read, ask yourself what ideologies that you’ve encountered so far match up best with each of the figures in the Mexican Revolution.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming 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’s the difference between a social revolution and political revolution, according to the author?
2. Who was Porfirio Diaz and why did some think of him as a dictator?
3. Why did Madero’s presidency fail?
4. What role did the United States play in the Mexican Revolution?
5. Who were the two sides of the revolution after 1913 and what each side want?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. Which of the leaders in the Mexican Revolution do you think was the most effective leader, and why?
2. First, write a list of the causes of the Mexican Revolution. Second, rank those causes from most important to least important. Finally, identify whether each cause was a “political” cause or a “social” cause. Based on your list, do you think the Mexican Revolution was more of a political revolution or more of a social revolution?

The First World War devastated Russia. Social and economic conditions led to the fall of the Russian tsar and the rise of a new political leader, Vladimir Lenin, and his Bolshevik party. Mismanagement and political unrest destabilized the country. Russia suffered more casualties in World War I than any other nation, and the winter of 1916-1917 was particularly harsh. In response to all these tensions, factory workers began to strike and people took to the streets. In the events that followed, the Bolsheviks took control of the government. But, Russia’s problems were far from over.

The Russian Revolution was one of the most transformative events of the twentieth century, and it was a direct result of the First World War. This article gives you evidence at a national level to respond to the Era Problem and assess the global impact of the war on a single nation.

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 does the author suggest that Russian peasants would have been excited upon hearing about the Russian Revolution?
2. How were the tsar’s actions one of the causes of the revolution?
3. Why did Russia have a different experience with nationalist fervor than its European neighbors?
4. After the tsar stepped down, why did the Provisional Committee eventually lose power to the Bolsheviks?
5. How did the Bolsheviks change both production and distribution as well as communities in Russia?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. At the end of the last era, you learned about socialist responses to the changes of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism. Based on your reading of this article, do you think World War I would have been different if Russia and other nations had embraced communist systems before 1914?
2. What evidence from this article supports or challenges the idea that World War I was a total war?

For centuries, the Ottoman Empire had operated with many different ethnicities within its borders. These different ethnicities, or “millets”, had some autonomy and maintained their own religions and languages. During the First World War, a new government in Istanbul carried out attacks on Armenian communities, claiming that they were a threat to national security. The Ottomans forced Armenians to flee their homes and into labor camps, and systematically massacred their communities. The atrocities provoked international outrage. From 1915 to 1917, over one million Armenians died.

This article examines one of the most tragic consequences of the war. It provides another example to help you respond to the Era Problem and to assess how the genocide was in part a result of trends and movements of the previous centuries.

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 this video define genocide?
2. What were millets?
3. Why did the Ottoman rulers begin to view Armenians as a threat?
4. Why did tension between Armenians and the state increase with the establishment of the new Young Turk government?
5. How did the international community respond to the genocide?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. To what extent did World War I cause the Armenian Genocide? What evidence would you need to answer this question?
2. Could any of the transformations you encountered in the previous era have led to these atrocities, even without the war?

While the causes and motivations for the war are debatable, most people agree that the financial burden and economic impacts were tremendous. In the leadup to war, many prominent businesspeople and business publications were publicly against the war, worrying that it might disrupt financial stability. But these same businesses made a lot of money providing weapons and goods to the fighters during the war. After the war, some nations like Germany were proof that war destabilizes markets. Other countries like the United States, emerged from the war richer and more powerful than when it started.

This article is intended to provide another frame through which to view the causes and impacts of World War I. Focusing on production and distribution, this article examines the debate surrounding whether capitalists wanted war and provides new evidence to help you respond to the Era Problem as you assess the impact of the war globally and in individual nations and communities.

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 are some economic arguments made against the war?
2. What is one reason that capitalists might have wanted a war?
3. This war cost more than any war in history. What measures did governments take to help cover the cost of the war?
4. Who was the economic “winner” of the war and why?
5. What countries suffered as a result of the war?

Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. Capitalism and industrialization weren’t new in 1914, but are often touted as some of the causes of the First World War. Why do you think it took almost 150 years from the start of the Industrial Revolution for there to be this kind of war?

In this activity, you will look at various plans for peace after the First World War and weigh the merits (advantages) of each according to diverse international interests. The simulation approach allows for deeper reflection on the human and material costs of “total war,” and helps you see firsthand how countries’ different wartime experiences played into the peace talks of 1919 that followed Germany’s surrender. Ultimately, this will lay the groundwork for considering how treaties, although written in the name of peace and prosperity, can contribute to future problems.

Causation, contextualization
During this simulation, you will practice causal reasoning as you explore the effects of the first world war from primary and secondary sources, and as you consider the implications of the actual peace process of 1919. You will also use historical empathy as you try to draft treaty terms from one country’s postwar point of view.

In this activity, you’re going to take part in a simulation that mimics the peace talks that occurred toward the end of World War I.

Step 1 – Simulation Prep

First, complete the information sheet about the costs of the first world war by country. Once you have completed this sheet, your teacher will assign you to one of the following country groups: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, South Africa, and the United States. You will be taking on the role of one of the delegates for that country as you deliberate possible terms to include in the World War Peace Treaty.

Once you are in your group, take some time to compare the data you found on your assigned country, and analyze the social, political, and economic effects of those numbers on your country.

Step 2 – Simulation

Your teacher will moderate this world summit, which is of utmost importance. Over the course of the simulation, the delegates (you!) will examine five different issues and determine which terms best address each issue. You will be given one issue at a time for deliberation as well as three possible terms to be included in the treaty regarding that issue.

Take out the World War I Terms Worksheet and pick one student in your group to record notes. You are about to take part in five rounds of deciding the terms for each issue brought on by the war. At the end of the five rounds, you will have the terms for your peace treaty.

Your teacher will read the issues to you one by one, and once you’ve had a chance to discuss the terms with your group, you will have to make a choice as to which is best. Then, you’ll record your reasoning on your worksheet, and take turns posting your country’s choice on the front board with a brief explanation/defense of your reasoning.

After all the countries have posted, the winning choice (the term that appears the most) gets to stay up on the board, and the others get taken down. Do this for each of the five rounds, leaving the “winning” terms on the board after each round. What will emerge is a list of terms that sound a lot like the actual World War I peace treaty.

Step 3 – Responses to the Treaty’s Terms

To wrap up the simulation, draft a brief statement (one or two paragraphs) from your assigned country’s perspective, in response to the Treaty’s terms. Then, your teacher will debrief you about the actual peace conference and the terms that came out of it. Are you surprised by any of the terms?

To wrap up, discuss the following questions with your class.

• The preparation worksheet you filled out included more nations than those included in the simulation. How might the end result have changed had these nations been included in the peace talks?
• What are the advantages of punishment versus reconciliation and how do you balance these two things during conflict resolution?
• How do you think Germany responded to the treaty?