Lesson Plans -- 1914-1919
Lessons One
-
Title: Ethnicity
-
Purpose: To establish and understand the definitions for the key terms central to the unit.
-
Bellringer:
Can anyone define ‘ethnic cleansing’? Can anyone tell me what “ethnic” means? Is it the same as ‘race’?
Realizing that they do not know the precise meaning of these words they regularly hear and use, the student will become engaged in the lesson that is about to begin.
-
Materials: Reading on Nationalism, Notes,
-
Duration: One 90 minute class
-
Method: Guided discussion based on readings, lecture & note taking
-
Objectives:
-
Student will define the following terms: ethnicity, ethnic group, race, culture, religion, language, nationalism, homeland, ethnic cleansing, ethnic mobilization, genocide, identity, self-determination, autonomy, irredentism, sovereignty, republic.
-
Students will know and identify the ethnic groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
-
Students will be able to explain what role ethnicity played in the nationalist struggles in The Balkans.
-
Activity:
-
Students will come to class prepared, having read pages 3-23 in Boyd Shaffer’s
Faces of Nationalism
the night before. The class will establish a working definition of nationalism based on the reading. Teacher will go through rest of the terms, one by one, with the class generating the accepted definition of each term. This will establish how the terms will be used for the remainder of the unit; it will also illustrate the importance of words.
-
Teacher will then introduce the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the context of multinational empire strife with ethnic and nationalist conflict. Teacher will proceed to give background notes on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
-
Check for Understanding: Teacher will randomly to call on students to state the definitions of selected terms, and to name a “who’s who” of ethnic groups within the empire.
-
Closure: Teacher will explain how the remainder of the unit and the course will revolve around the issues these terms are key to, such as the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, Apartheid and segregation in the American South, and, the conflict in the Middle East.
-
Assignment: Further reading from textbook p. 614, 744-746. This reading provides a background on The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nationalism, The Alliance System, and The Balkan Crisis.
Lesson Two
-
Title: The Balkans
-
Purpose: To analyze the role nationalism played in the Balkan Wars, and to examine Balkan Wars as a foreshadowing to the Great War.
-
Bellringer:
Who is Slobodan Milosovic? (The evil doer of the late ‘90s) Does anyone remember a war called ‘Kosovo’? Can anyone tell when it began?
After the class informs teacher that it began a few years ago, the teacher will tell them it actually began in 1389. The teacher will proceed to tell about the great battle on the Kosovo Polje, which means “The Field of Blackbirds” and
Milosovic’s speech given there in 1989 six hundred years later. The point of the story will be to illustrate the heavy weight of History that the South Slavs (Yugoslavs) carry to this day. Another set of historical events that greatly shaped the formation of Balkan and 20th century history were the pre-WWI Balkan Wars.
-
Materials: Historical Maps of the Balkans, Notes, Glenny passages
-
Duration: One 90 minute class
-
Method: Lecture & Discussion
-
Objectives:
-
Students will know who was allied with whom in the first and second Balkan Wars, and know what role the Great Powers played in the War.
-
Students will determine cause and affects of Balkan War
-
Students will use historical maps to understand boundaries and locations over the time period of 1908-1914.
-
Students will understand the horrors of war, and the hatred between ‘the South Slav’.
-
Students will be able to see the connection between the Balkan Wars and the Great War that soon followed.
-
Students will be introduced to The Black Hand and Young Bosnia, and compare them to modern terrorists.
-
Activity:
-
After reading material from their textbooks the previous night, the students should be able to explain to class what nationalism is, and what affect it’s growth was having on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
-
Teacher will provide chart on the ethnic groups of the Balkans and their characteristics, this should be complemented with current and historical maps of the region as well.
-
Teacher will give notes explaining the causes of The First Balkan War, addressing the running questions: what role does nationalism play, what role does ethnicity play, what role does history play?
-
Class will then read a graphic passage from Glenny (p. 230) detailing the aftermath of a Turk attack on a Bulgarian village.
-
This will be followed by notes explaining the Second Balkan War, The Bulgarian Catastrophe as Glenny calls it, and the outcome of The Balkan Wars as a whole.
-
Check for Understanding: Teacher will ask for opinions on the outcome of the Wars, and predictions of the future for the region.
-
Closure: The class will read any article from the 1990’s that further illustrates the long-standing hatred between these groups. It can be pointed out that the ‘history’ they just studied is now one of the major causes of the problems witnesses in the region during the 1990’s.
-
Assignment: Students will read few pages on the Black Hand, and write a one page paper comparing/contrasting them to modern terrorists.
Lesson Three
-
Title: Sarajevo: 1914
-
Purpose: To appreciate how a single, isolated event can trigger World War.
-
Bellringer: Class will being by viewing pictures of Sarajevo in all its splendor during the 1992 Olympics, the photos will show the diverse and prosperous state place that it was. Then pictures of Sarajevo, in all its chaos and destruction during the Croat and Serb onslaughts immediately following the Games, will be shown. The teacher will point out to students that this wasn’t the first time the city of Sarajevo was the center of a major historical event.
What role did this city play in the origins of WWI?
(Students will have read material on the assassin Princip the night before for homework)
-
Materials: Photos of Sarajevo, testimony from Princip explaining motives, Background notes on ‘road to war’, reading from Hobsbawm 321-323, outline of alliances
-
Duration: One 90 minute class
-
Method: Taking a stance, Lecture/Notes, Journalism
-
Objectives:
-
Students will take a stance on an issue, voice it publicly, and defend it.
-
Students will understand the history of the use of terror18
-
Students will connect past use of terror to the present use of terror.
-
Students will understand the causes of WWI.
-
Students will explain the causes and the events of “Sarajevo 1914” in the form of a newspaper article.
-
-
Activity:
-
After bellringer activity, class will begin with a reading of the account of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination accompanied by photographs of the famous event.
-
Based on what they read the night before and on the notes and readings from class, the students will have a writing assignment: Would you or would you not support the Black Hand or the Young Bosnians? They will need to explain the motivations with facts. Explain why terror is never the answer; explain why it is the only answer. Take a stance and defend it! Make connections to today’s use of terror
-
Class will then read testimony taken from Princip after the assassination, comparing his motives to theirs.
-
Class will take notes detailing chronology of the road to the Great War, and who fell in alliance with whom. Class should be able to participate, taking a logical guess what the alliances might look like.
-
Check for Understanding: Class will be called on randomly to answer questions such as: why did the Russians come to the aid of the Serbs, why did the Bulgars fight on the opposite side of their Orthodox brothers, etc
-
Closure: This is called the “shot heard around the world”, why?
-
Assignment: Based on readings from text, supplemental reading from Eric Hobsbawm’s Age of Empire (pages 321-323), and assassination narrative the student will to write a newspaper article covering the Archduke’s infamous trip to Bosnia. The article will give the necessary background on the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Bosnia, the Archduke, the Sarajevo trip, and the Black Hand. It will also provide an account of the events of June 28, 1914. For extra credit they can use newspaper formatting and clip art from a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or Claris Works.
WWI
Many lessons should be inserted here to cover the topics that are out side the scope of this particular unit. Some suggestions for lessons: rise of militarism, the ‘justness’ of the Great War; African American soldiers; the affect the Great War had on US women; the attempts to avoid The War entirely; the military history of the war (battles, innovations like gas, trenches, tanks, various weapons, leaders, etc); The Russian Revolution, the War’s affect on art, etc.
Lesson Four
-
Title: Armenian Genocide
-
Purpose: To define, understand, and humanize the act of genocide by reading about through the poems of the victims.
-
Bellringer: Class will begin with the reading of the Brecht poem mentioned above.
-
Materials: Text book, copies of poems from Against Forgetting (or other applicable source), notes, Bell-Fialkoff chart on the degrees of population removal19
-
Duration: One 90 minute class
-
Method: Discussion, use of poetry, notes
-
Objectives:
-
Student will define, understand, and humanize the act of genocide.
-
Student will appreciate the role of the poet during the ‘dark times’.
-
Students will develop of the skills necessary to come to an initial understanding of a poem’s meaning.
-
Students will apply definitions of genocide and population removal to the Armenian case.
-
Students will use poetry as historical source.Activity:
-
Students will come to class having read background material on the Armenian genocide from their textbook, a student will be called on to summarize the events leading up to and during the genocide.
-
Then, the role of the poet will be introduced by reading the above-mentioned Brecht poem. Then class will silently read two other Armenian poems about their genocide, recording their thoughts and emotions in an open, free-writing assignment. After enough time has been allowed, students will offer their thoughts on the poems and on the horrors that humanity has brought on itself.
-
Lastly, class will address the following: was this a population removal or genocide? Is there a difference? For this will use the above-mentioned definitions. Figure 1 from Ethnic Cleansing can be handed out here to illustrate the degrees of population removal.
-
Check for Understanding: Was it genocide? Why/Why not?
-
Closure: Teacher will read latter Brecht poem (above), and ask the question: If writing about it and telling the world isn’t enough? What is??
-
Assignment: In a couple paragraphs, students will explain why the Turks hated the Armenians to the point of totally annihilating them. OR Students can take home any N.Y. Times article that discusses the modern ‘Armenian question’, that of the Armenians in Karabakh (Azerbaijan) and compare these grievances to those of the beginning of the century between that Armenians and the Turks.
Lesson Five
-
Title: The Desert War & Arab Nationalism (Teaching ‘Lawrence of Arabia’)
-
Purpose: To demonstrate how the Great Powers used nationalism to destabilize and defeat their enemies in the First World War
-
Bellringer: At the front of the classroom will be the movie poster from the film Lawrence of Arabia. The original 1962 poster20 has a Christ-like Peter O’Toole standing on a hill with the sun setting behind him (there is another poster out there that contains a much more mysterious and shadowy Lawrence). The students will take a minute to examine the poster, and then will be asked: What words would you use to describe what kind of person T.E. Lawrence was? How does the poster convey that to you? What do you think the director’s opinion of Lawrence is? What might you be able to predict about the movie? Teacher will inform the class that because of his adventures during the Great War, Lawrence became a larger than life figure and attracted a cult following. Paradoxically, he died rather plainly; in a motorcycle accident on a rainy day in England.
-
Materials: “Lawrence of Arabia” (Film), Background Notes
-
Duration: Four 90 minute classes
-
Method: Film & Guided Discussion
-
Objectives:
-
Students will learn history through viewing films
-
Students will be able to identify bias, misinformation, abuse of history in film
-
Students will know how Arab nationalism was used by the British in the Great War
-
Student will determine the policies towards ethnic groups and nationalities in the multiethnic British and Ottoman empires
-
Students will predict the effects the Great War had on the Ottoman Empire
-
Activity:
-
After bellringer activity, student will take a brief set of notes on the background of Ottoman Empire in Arab lands, European interests in Arab lands, and Arab Nationalism.
-
Class will then review historical maps of region that detail the political boundaries, physical setting, and WWI in the Middle East.
-
Teacher will put WWI timeline on the board, outlining key events of the War especially in relation to Middle East and Ottoman Empire.
-
Teacher will introduce the film Lawrence of Arabia, possible fact about the movie to mention are: the director used a technology that was able to capture more colors of the desert, and images more deep and vast; the movie won seven Academy Awards (including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Music Score, and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay).
-
The class will then view the film, stopping periodically for questions and discussions. Throughout the viewing of the film, students will be required to keep a film journal. The journal will contain their thoughts and opinions on the film, and also they will address running questions for the film. Examples of such questions are:
-
Describe how the film portrays the Arabs that Lawrence is liberating, and give an example.
-
When Lawrence reaches Suez someone asks, “Who are you?” But Lawrence cannot answer. Was he an English Officer or an Arab nationalist? The movie raises the question. What do you think?
-
Explain why, on two occasions, Lawrence has to kill a friend of his, was this the right thing to do? What else could have been done? Was it OK because it was during a war?
-
When Lawrence found out that the British and French intended to betray the Arabs, what should he have done?
-
The film journals will be collected and reviewed at the end of the viewing of the film.
-
Check for Understanding: Who was Lawrence? Predict the problems that might arise after the war?
-
Closure: How does this connect to today’s problems in the Middle East? Does it at all?
-
Assignment: Last film journal assignment, what did you learn from the film? What don’t you understand?
Lesson Six
-
Title: The Old Order Dies
-
Purpose: To know what impact The Great War had on the multinational empires of Europe.
-
Bellringer: Teacher will list some the many countries that came into existence after The War on the board, and then inform the students that they were all born of WWI.
-
Materials: Historical Maps, passage from Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, notes, copy of Sykes-Picot Agreement
-
Duration: One 90 minute class
-
Method: Discussion, lecture, geography skill-builder
-
Objectives:
-
Student will analyze a primary document.
-
Students will compare historical maps, and reinforce map-skills.
-
Students will identify winners and losers of The Great War.
-
Students will analyze literature as history.
-
Students will appreciate problems that will plague Yugoslavia in the future.
-
Activity:
-
The class will begin with a copy of the Sykes-Picot Agreement handed out and read together, the question will be raised and discussed: how is does this differ from what we saw in the movie? The students will then analyze the political geographic changes to the region.
-
Students will be provided two maps, one of pre-1914 Europe and one of Europe in 1920. Their task will be to list the new nations found in the 1920 map, and identify from what empire they emerged. The students will take a close look at one of the regions we discussed in the unit: The Balkans.
-
The students will be given a brief introduction to Dame Rebecca West. Class will then read passage from West, “Zagreb IV” (p. 83-88), which captures a conversation between a Croat and Serb in the 1930’s. They are having the debate about Serbian dominance of Yugoslavia. Students should be able to deduce what the future might hold for the region based on this passage.
-
Teacher will then explain the unit exam.
-
Check for Understanding: Who were the ultimate winners of The Great War? Who came out the worse??
-
Closure: Read to class Glenny quote regarding the “bitter struggle which eventually consigned Yugoslavia to ashes” and show pictures Jansenovac21, Srebrenica, Vukovar, and Kosovo22.
-
Assignment: See final assessment below.
