World History 10

Lesson #14 - "Reports from the Front" Work Day

Mike Vergin

on February 3, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

Following the quiz, you will have the remainder of the block to prepare for the "Reports from the Front" presentations that will take place on Monday and Tuesday. Here are the six "fronts" from which we will be hearing over the next two class periods:

War in Europe
War in North Africa
The Russian Front
The Holocaust
War in the Pacific
The United States and the War

Each of these timelines can be found here. Barring multiple absences or something else strange, my plan is to hear from the first three groups Monday. (All groups should be prepared to go Monday if need be.)

Here's a reminder of the expectations:

Assume that you have a maximum of 20 minutes to walk us through the events of your timeline. (15 minutes would be a reasonable minimum.)

"Where in the World?" - Basically, be sure we understand the geographic context for your information.

Visuals - Seeing something visual to accompany several of your events seems like a reasonable expectation.

You need to make sure you are crediting the original sources, but Eyewitness to History - World War II might be useful to you.

You are certainly free to put your own spin on these requirements, but I think the basic requirements are pretty straight-forward. Obviously, you'll be expected to show the proper level of decorum for your particular events as well.

HOMEWORK for next session - Monday, February 6th

Continue reading in Chapter 32 with Section 3, "The Holocaust." (pp. 936 - 939) The quiz will be true/false.

The remaining groups should be ready for your "World War II Timeline Reports."

Your "Between the Wars" assignment is due today. (If you are doing the poem or letter(s), you should post those on Lesson #9's blog entry.)

Unit #7 Exam - Identifications and Essay Questions

Mike Vergin

on February 2, 2012 8:15 AM | Permalink

Unit #7 Identifications: On Friday, February 10th, you will write on your choice of 5 of the 8 identifications that appear on the Unit #7 exam chosen from the list below. You may bring 10 words of "notes" for each of the 15 possible identifications to the exam. (Printed out, not on your computer.) You will need to turn in these notes, and I reserve the right to count symbols, acronyms, etc. as one or more words. Each of the five identifications is worth 5 points.

A good identification is typically in the range of 4 to 6 sentences in length. (You do need to write in complete sentences.) You should demonstrate both an understanding of just who / what the ID "is" and place it in the appropriate historical context. In addition, you need to explain the significance of the ID. In other words, answer the "So what?" question.

Schlieffen Plan
League of Nations
Treaty of Versailles
March Revolution
Great Purge
Mao Zedong
Amritsar Massacre
Mustafa Kemal
Great Depression
Benito Mussolini
appeasement
Battle of Britain
"Final Solution"
Battle of Stalingrad
Nuremberg Trials

Unit #7 Essay Exam - Questions and Format - You'll write an essay as part of the Unit #7 Exam. This essay must be turned no later than your departure to Deep Portage on Tuesday, February 14th. I would welcome any earlier than that. (I prefer them printed out, but you could email them as an attachment if time constraints require.) Below you can find both the questions from which you will choose and the format for the essay portion on the Unit #7 Exam. The essay will be evaluated on the usual 30 point scale, and that score is doubled in PowerSchool.

Format: The actual essay will be written by hand or word-processed. You should prepare for a five-paragraph essay. That means that you should include an introduction (with a clear thesis statement), three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. (Note that the questions lend themselves to such a format. That is on purpose.)

Remember that the questions are not designed for you to tell us everything you have learned. Focus on what the question is requiring you to do.

A. Identify and explain the significance of your choices for the three most important outcomes or legacies of the First World War. Did the "end" of World War I make World War II inevitable? Why or why not?

B. Identify and explain what you believe were the three main causes of the Great Depression that affected the world in the early 1930s. Is the world headed for another depression? Why or why not?

C. At the end of World War II, the world faced a number of challenges and issues yet to be resolved. Identify and explain your choices for the three most important of these issues. Almost sixty-years later, do you believe our world is safer than it was at the end of 1945? Why or why not?

Lesson #13 - The Road to War

Mike Vergin

on February 2, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

We'll get Hitler into power today, and then you'll have some work time for the "Reports from the Front" that will occur next week.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler - From Unknown to Dictator of Germany

The History Place website does a good job working through key events in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. Today, we'll quickly run through the chapters each of you had from The Rise of Adolf Hitler website. Remember, you have a maximum of one minute, and you are responsible for conveying the important parts of your chapter. Please, talk to us. Don't read at us.

Here are the chapters:

Adolf Hitler is Born

Hitler's Boyhood

Hitler's Father Dies

Hitler Fails Art Exam

Hitler's Mother Dies

Hitler is Homeless in Vienna

Hitler in World War I

War Ends with German Defeat

Hitler Joins German Workers' Party

Nazi Party is Formed

Hitler Named Leader of Nazi Party

The Beer Hall Putsch

Hitler on Trial for Treason

Hitler's Book Mein Kampf

A New Beginning

The Quiet Years

Great Depression Begins

Germans Elect Nazis

Success and a Suicide

Hitler Runs for President

The Republic Collapses

Hitler Named Chancellor of Germany

The Reichstag Burns

Hitler Becomes Dictator of Germany

We'll cover it in other ways, but if you are interested in learning more about what comes "next," I'd recommend their next section: The Triumph of Hitler - Nazi Germany 1933 to 1939. The end of the story comes in the final section: The Defeat of Hitler - Quest for a Nazi Empire, 1939 - 1945.

If you've never done it, watching some video of a Hitler speech or rally is interesting. Even with the sound off, you can see how charismatic he is. (Seventy years later, much of his manner has been parodied and perhaps lost some of its edge. Imagine what it would have been like back in the 1930s.) YouTube has this excerpt of a Hitler speech from the propaganda film, "The Triumph of the Will."

I'm not, of course, endorsing any of it, but here's an online version of Mein Kampf.

THIS IS NO LONGER THE SITUATION, BUT I AM LEAVING IT UP SINCE I THINK THE STORY IS INTERESTING. Interested in a little controversy? (It's also a good lesson in being careful on the internet.) I wanted a link to a clearly formatted, easy to browse version of Mein Kampf so that you could get a feel for his writing if you want. The first link returned by Google is to The Hitler Historical Museum, and it's the one I [originally] used above. Since I'd never heard of the museum, I Googled that as well. It turns out that the museum itself doesn't really exist, and it is a front for a Neo-Nazi group headquartered in a Virginia strip mall. Here's an interesting article I found:

Do Historians Have a Responsibility to Warn the Public About Misleading Websites?

Do examples like this cause you to think any differently about research and/or the internet?

We'll obviously continue to look at events in which Hitler was involved, but we'll shift from looking at him as an individual to looking at the war itself.

World War II - "Reporting from the Fronts"

Here are the six "fronts" from which you will be "reporting" next Monday and Tuesday:

War in Europe
War in North Africa
The Russian Front
The Holocaust
War in the Pacific
The United States and the War

Each of these timelines can be found here. I simply edited down much longer timelines from "The History Place" and "sorted" the events by fronts.

Assume that you have a maximum of 20 minutes to walk us through the events of your timeline. (15 minutes would be a reasonable minimum.) Although the presentations will no doubt differ a bit due to their content, I'm expecting each group's presentation to include these items...

"Reporting Live..." - For at least three of your events, a group member should report "live" from the scene. Basically, I'm thinking you will give us a minute or so as if you were there, reporting on what is happening/what happened and why it is/was significant. You can decide how creative to be, but the basic task should be clear enough. (You can certainly do this for more than three events if you'd like.)

"Where in the World?" - I've got some pretty good maps you are welcome to use on the overhead. You also can use other maps on the computer projector. Basically, be sure we understand the geographic context for your information.

Visuals - As many of you have already noticed, we're covering an event that was well-recorded photographically and on film. Seeing something visual to accompany several of your events seems like a reasonable expectation.

You need to make sure you are crediting the original sources, but Eyewitness to History - World War II might be useful to you.

HOMEWORK for next session - Friday, February 3rd

Continue reading in Chapter 32 with Section 2, "Japan's Pacific Campaign." (pp. 931 - 935) The quiz will be fill-in-the-blank.

Your VIP Timeline component is due tomorrow.

Your "Between the Wars" assignment (introduced on Lesson #9) is due on Monday, February 6th.

Your "Reports from the Front" will take place on Monday and Tuesday. The plan is to do the European, North African and Russian fronts on Monday. (However, if enough people are absent, we might do another of the groups. Everyone should be ready for Monday.)

Lesson #12 - The Rise of Fascism

Mike Vergin

on February 1, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

Our look at World War II really begins today with our consideration of the rise of fascism. We'll do a couple quick things at the top here, and then we'll consider fascism directly.

Here's an article from the Boston Globe that you might find interesting based on our conversation from Friday: "Depression 2009: What would it look like?"

The rise of mass society - By the 1930s, many had come to believe that individualism (and classical liberalism) were being replaced by what came to be called "mass society." Because it's an important concept in the rise of fascism and other factors, we'll take a quick look at it today.

Initially, I'd like you to download and read through W.H. Auden's 1939 poem, "The Unknown Citizen." From this, let's see what you think "mass society" might represent.

Here are some of the key characteristics of mass society and mass culture:

Democracy had leveled the playing field for all.
The "mass man" emerged, and he "is satisfied in being identical to others."
Expanded suffrage and literacy made the "mass man" more common.
Mass culture became standardized and diffused
Mass culture was something to be purchased and passively consumed.
Developments like the movies, recorded music and the automobile contributed.
Linkages between people became "vertical," rather than "horizontal."

Did this mean that Western civilization was sowing the seeds of its own demise?

To what degree did this contribute to the rise of totalitarianism and fascism?

What is fascism? There are probably few political terms in recent world history that generate as much confusion as "fascism." Its etymology is clear enough - The Italian word fascismo comes from the Latin fasces, which was a bundle of sticks or rods fastened around an axe. This was a symbol of authority in ancient Rome.

Stanley Payne, the author of A History of Fascism, uses a three-part definition for this new belief that emerged as a rival to both communism and liberalism in the 20th century.

I. According to Payne, fascism's primary goal was the regeneration of the nation, a goal that was pursued through extreme forms of nationalism.

II. Payne emphasizes the "fascist negations," as many think it is easier to identify what socialists were against, as opposed to what they are for.

They were anti-liberal, believing the nation was the base of society, not the individual.
They were anti-communist.
They were anti-conservative. (Fascism is usually seen as a right-wing movement, but terms like "radical right" are often used.)

III. Finally, Payne focused on features of style and organization.

Fascists created a mass following via the tools and resources of mass society.
They used the mass media and public rituals to exalt a single leader and embrace militarism.
Mass rallies and demonstrations were used to unify the people.

Working with a definition of fascism: We'll give you a chance to try out another "definition" of fascism here. Download a copy of Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism by Dr. Laurence Britt. (There's apparently some controversy online as whether Britt is actually a "real" political scientist or whether he has a doctorate. Either way, the list is useful for our purposes.)

Using Britt's matrix and working in a small group, I'd like you to try to find examples of as many of the fourteen characteristics of fascism as you can from one (or more) of the following examples of fascism.

Hitler and Germany (obviously the easiest to use)
Mussolini and Italy (probably the next easiest)
Franco and Spain
Suharto and Indonesia
Pinochet and Chile

Use your text when applicable, as well as doing some internet research. We'll talk about what you've found in a while.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler - From Unknown to Dictator of Germany

The History Place is a website that does a pretty good job working through key events in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. You are each going to receive a slip with an event or period from Hitler's earlier years. They will correspond to a "chapter" from The History Place's site.

The Rise of Adolf Hitler - This link will take you to "your" chapter. Your job is simple. Tomorrow, we'll go through the events in chronological order. You will present a "Hitler minute" on your chapter. That means you have a maximum of one minute. No projectors, no visuals. You are responsible for conveying the important parts of your chapter.

Talk to us, don't read at us. Decide what is important and relevant to us.

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Thursday, February 2nd

Start your reading in Chapter 32 with Section 1, "Hitler's Lightning War." (pp. 925 - 930) The quiz will be multiple choice.

Be ready with your "Hitler minute" for our look at "The Rise of Adolf Hitler" tomorrow.

Your VIP Timeline component is due on Friday.

Your "Between the Wars" assignment (introduced on Lesson #9) is due on Monday, February 6th.

Lesson #11 - 1933 (and 2012) World Economic Conference

Mike Vergin

on January 31, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

Today, we'll hold our simulated "World Economic Conference" with two objectives. First, we'll try to determine the major causes of the Great Depression. Second, we'll turn our attention to our present economic situation and try to figure out whether we are headed for another depression. You'll play a key role in both of these conversations.

Causes of the Great Depression - You were assigned to one of five groups, depending on the color handout you received. Today, we'll hear your group presentations. Remember that it is your responsibility to make the argument that "your" cause was the most significant cause of the Great Depression.

Here are the causes:

reparation payments and war debts
overproduction in agriculture
stock market crash
inequitable income distribution
protectionism

Following the presentations, we'll attempt to come to a consensus as to which of these causes were most responsible for the Great Depression. After our open discussion, we'll put you in groups and have a vote. Here's how this will work. Each group will have ten "points," and you can assign them however you would like. (For example, you could give 4 points to what you feel is the major cause and 3 each to two others you deem most significant.) We'll see how this comes out.

What do you think of this quote?

Historian John Garraty - "The Great Depression of the 1930s was a worldwide phenomenon composed of an infinite number of separate but related events."

Are we headed for another depression? - Unfortunately, this is a timely issue, as you probably have all heard the news reports the last few years calling economic conditions, "the worst since the Great Depression" and things like that. You were asked to read the article you received, and you should be ready to discuss its main points. As a big group, we'll try to get a handle on some key issues affecting the future direction of the world's economy.

Here are the titles of the articles:

"Echoes of the Great Depression"
"A new Great Depression? It's different this time"
"Is today's economic crisis another Great Depression?"

Let's start with these questions:

How would you describe the overall tone of your article?
What current trends and/or conditions are similar to those leading up to the Great Depression?
What current trends and/or conditions are significantly different than those preceding the Great Depression?
Realistically, what is the best case scenario for the world economy?
What do you feel is the worst case scenario for the world economy?

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Wednesday, February 1st

Complete your reading in Chapter 31 with Section 4, "Aggressors Invade Nations." (pp. 915 - 919) The quiz will be matching.

Your VIP Timeline is due on Friday.

Your "Between the Wars" assignment is due on Monday, February 6th. (That's the poem, artwork or letter described on Friday's blog entry.)

Lesson #10 - The Great Depression

Mike Vergin

on January 30, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

You'll take an extended look at the Great Depression next year in Modern US History, but we'll also consider the global economic slowdown from a worldwide perspective today and tomorrow. After that, World War II will take us through the rest of the unit.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 - Ultimately, 61 nations joined this treaty which claimed to outlaw war as a means of settling disputes. The actual language pledged that each nation would "renounce war as an instrument of national policy." Kellogg and Briand were the representatives of the US and French governments, and the treaty is also often called the Pact of Paris.

In your opinion, was this treaty ever "worth the paper it was printed on?" Why or why not?
What do you think motivated nations to join the pact?
Is such a pact a realistic option in today's world? Why or why not?

Hyperinflation - Weimar Germany - Not much here to tell you, except that this chart is really pretty amazing. It shows how many German marks were equivalent in value to one US dollar.

July 1914 - 4.2 marks to the dollar
January 1919 - 8.9
July 1919 - 14.0
January 1920 - 64.8
July 1920 - 39.5
January 1921 - 64.9
July 1921 - 76.7
January 1922 - 1919.8
July 1922 - 493.2
January 1923 - 17,972
July 1923 - 353,412
August 1923 - 4,620,455
September 1923 - 98,860,000
October 1923 - 25,260,208,000
November 15, 1923 - 4,200,000,000,000 (yes, trillion)

[Source: Gordon Craig, "Germany 1866-1945"]

By late 1923, the German government required 1,783 printing presses, running around the clock, to print money.

Here are a couple of "then" and "now" images of hyperinflation. Germany v. Zimbabwe

The Great Depression - A Global Experience - Although we often use the term in reference to the United States, it is important to remember that this economic collapse of the late 1920s-1930s was truly a global phenomenon.

This iconic image was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936 near Santa Barbara, California.

Across the world in India, people were also suffering from the Great Depression's effects.

What ideas and images come to mind when you hear the phrase, the "Great Depression?"

Let's take a look at some numbers. We'll have some of you graph on the board the changes in GDP per capita for a number of countries while the rest of us try to answer some questions. (You'll receive a handout for this.)

Perhaps the next logical question is, "How did this all happen?" We'll turn our attention here next.

World Economic Conference - Causes of the Great Depression

Tomorrow, we'll hold a simulated "World Economic Conference" with two objectives. First, we'll try to determine the major causes of the Great Depression. Second, we'll turn our attention to our present economic situation and try to figure out whether we are headed for another depression. You'll play a key role in both of these conversations.

Causes of the Great Depression - You are going to be assigned to one of five groups, depending on the color handout you receive. Each handout explains one of the major causes of the economic slowdown. It gives you very specific information about what your group is expected to present at tomorrow's conference. I'd expect each group's presentation to be a minimum of five minutes. (I'd prefer not to use the projector if we can avoid that.)

Here are the causes:

reparation payments and war debts
overproduction in agriculture
stock market crash
inequitable income distribution
protectionism

Following the presentations, we'll attempt to come to a consensus as to which of these causes were most responsible for the Great Depression.

Are we headed for another depression? - For many of you, this might be a more important issue. A number of recent articles have raised this issue, and we'll take a look at it during tomorrow's World Economic Conference. You need to read the article you receive, and you should be ready to discuss its main points tomorrow in class. As a big group, we'll return to this overall issue of the future direction of the world's economy.

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Tuesday, January 31st

Continue your reading in Chapter 31 with Section 3, "Fascism Rises in Europe." (pp. 910 - 914) The quiz will be true / false.

Be ready for both parts of tomorrow's World Economic Conference.

Your VIP Preliminary Bibliography is due today. The Timeline component is due on Friday. Remember that I linked a digital copy of the guidelines for both to the blog last lesson. (You also received a hard copy in class.)

Your "Between the Wars" assignment is due on Monday, February 6th. (That's the poem, artwork or letter described on yesterday's blog entry.)

Lesson #9 - Between the Wars

Mike Vergin

on January 27, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

We'll cover a variety of topics today and focus on the Great Depression from a worldwide perspective next time. After that, most of our attention for the rest of the unit will be focused on the causes leading up to World War II and the war itself.

Here's a digital copy of the handout for the VIP Preliminary Bibliography and Timeline assignments that are coming up. Lesson #10 is the due date for the Preliminary Bibliography, and Lesson #14 is when the "Timeline" is due.

Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia - You read about these events for the quiz. Basically, the section centered around nationalist and independence movements that led to the creation of four modern nations: India, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Let's touch base on the India story, which won't actually be finished for a couple chapters...

Indian National Congress (Congress Party)
Rowlatt Acts

Amritsar Massacre (1919)

Mohandas Gandhi

civil disobedience
satyagraha
Salt March (1930)

Government of India Act (1935)

Next, we'll look at the cases of Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. You'll be asked to choose one of these three "stories." Take a couple minutes and review the information from your textbook. (I'll list specifics below that you should be sure to cover.) Then, think about answers to the questions below.

Turkey - Mustafa Kemal, Ataturk
Iran - Persia, Riza Shah Pahlavi
Saudi Arabia - Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud

Questions:

In your opinion, was this an example of successful nationalism? Why or why not?
How important did an individual personality seem in your situation?
What role did religion play in either the old or new society?
Looking back, was this a positive transition for the nation? Why or why not?
From the United States perspective of today, how should we view these events?

The Mandate System in the Middle East - Next, we'll take a look at a specific agreement that affected the development of the map of the Middle East - the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This was an example of the "mandate" system, where Britain and France were given the authority to "oversee" the development of lands in the former Ottoman Empire after the war.

You'll get a copy of several documents, and they'll help you consider the following questions:

Here's a map of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Who wrote each document?
What was the purpose of each document?
Which documents were not meant to be public? Why?
Why was the release of the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the public by the Bolsheviks an embarrassment to Britain and France?
Was the agreement consistent with the Fourteen Points? Why or why not?
What would President Wilson have thought of the Sykes-Picot Agreement? What would he have thought of the Mandate System in Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations?
How would the agreement have been viewed by those living in the "zones" shown on the map?

Between the Wars - As you can probably imagine, there was a good deal of uncertainty and confusion in Europe, and much of the rest of the world, at the completion of World War I. Nations lay in ruins, an entire generation had been "lost," and very little of it made sense. The "Enlightenment Project," which is a term used to describe the European view that reason, liberalism and objective truth would guide the world under their leadership, was in shambles. This uneasiness was expressed in a variety or literary and artistic forms. Let's take a quick look at some of them.

First, take a second and remember what you read about the contributions of people like Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche, each of whom had challenged that pre-war view of man's rationality and reason.

The poem, "The Second Coming," by William Butler Yeats (1919) is an effective summary of much of this uncertainty and fear. We'll have you take a look at the poem and see what you think of it.

Here are some representative examples of emerging art forms during this period. Look at the examples and consider how they represent the feelings of the inter-war period.

expressionism -

Wassily Kandinsky - In Grey
Wassily Kandinsky - On White
Franz Marc - Fighting Forms

dadaism -

Marcel Duchamp - L.H.O.O.Q.
Hannah Hoch - Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany

cubism -

Pablo Picasso - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Georges Braque - Violin and Candlestick
Pablo Picasso - Three Musicians

surrealism -

Max Ernst - The Elephant Celebes
Max Ernst - L'Ange du Foyeur
Salvador Dali - The Persistence of Memory

"Between the Wars" Assignment - You get some choices here. Whatever you choose, I should get this from you by Monday, February 6th. Basically, I want you to take a crack at expressing some of these feelings that you think were being felt between the wars. Clearly, rising nationalism, the coming of fascism and totalitarianism, the spread of communism and economic troubles made for an unsettling time.

You can choose from among these options:

In the spirit of Yeats' "The Second Coming," compose a poem that you feel is representative of the times. (There should be a minimum of twelve lines.) You should post your poem here.
Draw (or sketch or paint or whatever) a picture that you feel is representative of the time and one of the schools of art we looked at.
Assume that it is ten years after the end of World War I. You need to "create" a person and write a "letter" (400 or more words) from their perspective. It should look back both at their role in the World War I years (as a soldier, peasant, wife, child, whatever) and some major events since then. You can be from wherever you'd like: Europe, Russia, China, India, the United States or another location. You'd post the letter here as a comment.

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Monday, February 30th

If you haven't yet, please be prepared to turn in the take-how quiz for reading in Chapter 31, Section 1, "Postwar Uncertainty." (pp. 897 - 901)

Please continue your reading in Chapter 31 with Section 2, "A Worldwide Depression." (pp. 904 - 909) The quiz will be fill-in-the-blank. This is another of those topics that you will spend much more time with next year in Modern US History.

Your VIP Preliminary Bibliography is due to me on Monday, January 30th. (At least five sources, correctly formatted (NoodleBib). No more than one source can be Wikipedia, and at least one source should be from one of the MPA Library databases.)

Your "Between the Wars" activity is due on Monday, February 6th.

Lesson #8 - The End of Imperial China

Mike Vergin

on January 26, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

Our attention shifts from Russia to China today. As in Russia, the imperial era will come to an end. From there, however, the two nations follow different paths. It will be almost four decades before communism rules over China under Mao Zedong. Today, we'll consider the end of imperialism and the struggle between the Nationalists and Communists. (You don't get to learn the end of the story until after World War II, as the two sides form an uneasy alliance to fight against the Japanese beginning in 1937.)

The End of Imperial China: When we last left the Qing, their empire was weakened due to both internal rebellion and foreign intervention. Here are some of the key events in the years that follow... Key terms and people are in bold.

1911 - Pu Yi, the last Qing Emperor is overthrown. (Here's the movie link. It won 9 Oscars!)

1912 - Sun Yixian is made president of the new Republic of China.

Sun calls for "Three Principles of the People"
nationalism - end to foreign control
people's rights - democracy
people's livelihood - economic security

His party is the Kuomintang, also known as the Nationalist Party. Sun passes power to General Yuan Shikai, and he basically tries to take over everything and sparks civil war. Warlords ruled various lands in China for the next few years.

1919 - May Fourth Movement - Mass demonstrations showed China's anger over the unfavorable terms of the Treaty of Versailles, particularly that German territory considered to be Chinese was turned over to the Japanese. Many see this as the birth of modern nationalism in China.

1921 - Chinese Communist Party is organized by Mao Zedong and others in Shanghai.

1925 - Jiang Jieshi assumes leadership of the Nationalists after Sun dies. His Kuomintang forces launch raids and attacks against the Communists over the next few years, particularly 1927.

1934 - Communist forces begin the Long March, a 6000-mile journey lasting more than a year.

1937 - Japan invades China, and the struggle between Nationalists and Communists is temporarily set aside to face a common enemy.

The Long March - We'll wrap up today with a little "field trip." (Before the building expanded, we used to take a whole block and do this outside, regardless of weather. I've gotten old and soft since then.) We'll stay inside and take our own very small version of the march today...

I know nothing about the authors of the website, but you can read about the exploits of some individuals who took the Long March (Mao, Deng Xiaoping and others) here.
Here's a pretty specific version of the map of the Long March.
Here's an animated version of the map of the Long March.
I can't say that I'd recommend recreating this map.

By the way, there's been a good deal of recent scholarship questioning some of the claims of the Long March. Rather than worrying about exactly how many miles it was, instead focus on its symbolic value for the Chinese Communists in terms of rallying support and glorifying their past. (Maybe you can think of similar events in US history. Valley Forge?)

HOMEWORK for next session - Friday, January 27th

Finish up your reading in Chapter 30 with Section 4, "Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia." (pp. 887 - 891)

Your VIP - Preliminary Bibliography will be due on Lesson #10 - Monday, January 30th. More information will follow, but you'll basically be asked to show evidence of having begun your research. (I'm thinking a minimum of five sources (no more than one can be Wikipedia), and at least one source should come from one of the library's databases.) You will turn in a formal bibliography at Lesson #30, so I'd definitely recommend doing this in NoodleBib from the beginning.

Lesson #7 - Stalin's Russia

Mike Vergin

on January 25, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We'll continue examining the changes that take place in Russia (by now the Soviet Union) during the rule of Joseph Stalin. Tomorrow, we'll shift our attention to China in the years between the World Wars.

After Lenin: If you didn't get enough on him yesterday, consult the Lenin Internet Archive. After having been shot and later suffering a series of strokes, Lenin died in 1924. The leading candidates to replace Lenin as leader of the Communist Party were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Despite Lenin's "Testament" and caution that Stalin "has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution," Stalin gained total command of the Communist Party by 1928.

Communism in Russia: We'll have you more closely examine some of the ideas that Lenin and the Bolsheviks put into place in Russia. Considering this Introduction to Communism and your reading, as well as your own background knowledge, try your hand at answering these questions.

In your opinion, what made communism a good match for Russia? What made it a bad fit?
How did the communism Lenin put in place differ from the vision of Marx?
What, if anything, could have been done to make communism more successful in Russia?

Stalin's Russia: We'll consider a number of aspects of Stalin's rule today. As a backdrop, keep in mind that this is perhaps the best example of a totalitarian state in the 20th century.

Here are the key traits of totalitarianism as listed in the text:

Dynamic Leader
Ideology
State Control of Individuals
Methods of Enforcement
Modern Technology
State Control of Society
Dictatorship and One-Party Rule

Think about how Stalin uses these various traits in creating and sustaining his rule.

Let's get started with an overview of Stalin's rule with a quick DBQ activity - "Stalin: Evaluation of His Leadership."

In addition, here are a few things we need to be sure we touch on:

rise to power - feud with Trotsky
Industrialization - Five-Year Plans
Collectivization - kulaks
Great Purge - the "Great Terror"
Cult of Personality

I'll show you some images from the book, The Commissar Vanishes as well. Here is a website that shows you some images from the book.

Here are those other links from yesterday's blog entry:

Interviewing the Russians: If time permits, we'll try to close with one more activity. I'll give you a card with an identity and some key points on it. You'll pair up with another "person" and interview each other. Each of you should, in character, ask questions of the other character. (I'd recommend swapping cards while doing this to help you think of questions.)

Here are the roles:

Nicholas II
Soldier at the front in 1916
Alexander Kerensky
Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov (Lenin)
Priest of the Orthodox Church
Worker of the Petrograd Soviet
Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Trotsky)
Joseph Dzhugashvili (Stalin)

Note that the dates next to their names on the cards are NOT their life spans. It typically is referring to their time in power.

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Thursday, January 26th

Continue your reading in Chapter 30 with Section 3, "Imperial China Collapses." (pp. 882 - 886).

Your VIP - Preliminary Bibliography will be due on Lesson #10 - Monday, January 30th. More information will follow, but you'll basically be asked to show evidence of having begun your research. (I'm thinking a minimum of five sources (no more than one can be Wikipedia), and at least one source should come from one of the library's databases.) You will turn in a formal bibliography at Lesson #30, so I'd definitely recommend doing this in NoodleBib from the beginning.

Lesson #6 - Russia: From Czar to Communism

Mike Vergin

on January 24, 2012 8:00 AM | Permalink

Here's the World War I "Specifics You Should Know" Guide from yesterday.
Here's an article that's pretty relevant given the discussion of the Armenian Genocide yesterday.

Our main goal for today will be to make sense of Russia's transition from the Romanov Dynasty to a totalitarian, communist state known as the Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

As I've mentioned, I've taught this material in a couple different classes over the years. I'll share some of my own notes with you so that you can look more in depth at the issues if you would like. We'll also use a series of clips from Nicholas and Alexandra.

Russia: From Czar to Communism - Initially, let's back it up to the pre-WWI period in Russia. For most of the 19th century, Russia was ruled by czars named Alexander and Nicholas... Here is a set of notes on The Last Czars. Take a look at these for a minute to get a feel for the challenges and issues facing Russia at the time. We can talk about those.

Czar Nicholas II is the last of the Romanovs to rule Russia. Let's take a look at my Nicholas II - Notes and see some of the ways in which he is accused of weakening Russia. Be sure you understand "Bloody Sunday" and the role of Rasputin here.

As you certainly have seen by now, 1917 is the key year for Russia. It is here that Russia undergoes a pair of revolutions. Let's take a closer look at the The Russian Revolutions of 1917. Following these revolutions, Russia (as you read) fights a brutal civil war which ends with the Bolsheviks and Lenin in charge.

In your opinion, what made communism a good match for Russia? What made it a bad fit?
How did the communism Lenin put in place differ from the vision of Marx?
What, if anything, could have been done to make communism more successful in Russia?

Tomorrow, we'll turn our attention to the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. In preparation for that, you might take a look at some of these resources.

Homework for tomorrow - Wednesday, January 25th

Continue your reading in Chapter 30 with Section 2, "Totalitarianism." (pp. 874 - 879).

Be sure to post your comment on the WWI poems on yesterday's blog entry. That should be done before tomorrow's class time.

Your VIP - Preliminary Bibliography will be due on Lesson #10 - Monday, January 30th. More information will follow, but you'll basically be asked to show evidence of having begun your research. (I'm thinking a minimum of five sources (no more than one can be Wikipedia), and at least one source should come from one of the library's databases.) You will turn in a formal bibliography at Lesson #30, so I'd definitely recommend doing this in NoodleBib from the beginning.