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World War II: Causes

Teacher Resources

Driving Question: What were the causes of the Second World War?

Why did another world war break out just two decades after the first? Unpack the complex causes behind the most destructive war in history. This is a story of failed diplomacy and strategic alliances in the face of global conflict.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Use evidence to understand how and why diplomacy failed to prevent a second world war.
  2. Use the historical thinking practice of causation to analyze global factors that led to the Second World War.
STEP 1

Opener: World War II: Causes

You have questions about the questions! We have answers! You’ll revisit the Question Parsing Tool to help figure out what prompts are asking you to do.

STEP 2

The Road to Ruin

Teaching Tools

The scenario: Students role-play Neville Chamberlain as he made five crucial decisions about how to respond to Hitler in the lead-up to World War II:

  • Anschluss (annexation of Austria), March 1938
  • Munich Agreement, September 1938
  • Occupation of Czechoslovakia, March 1939
  • Anglo-Polish Guarantee, March 1939
  • Invasion of Poland, September 1939

Prompt AI to provide students with a list of what Chamberlain knew at each step (military strength, public opinion, alliances, and Hitler’s demands). Using answers to these questions—and carefully fact-checking—students then generate arguments for and against appeasement, defending their decisions in a class discussion.

Why this is genius: By stepping into the shoes of a historical actor, students practice historical empathy. AI supports their research, but students must determine what evidence mattered most at the time.

As fascist leaders rose to power, democratic nations faced difficult choices. Discover how efforts to keep peace through compromise ultimately shaped the path to another war.

STEP 3

Axis vs. Allies

World War II was a massive and complicated conflict. In this step of the lesson, you'll trace the war’s key turning points, economic demands, and global alliances while also working to untangle the many causes that led to war in the first place.