Cold War Soap Opera
TENSION! DRAMA! HEARTACHE! CONFLICT!
TENSION! DRAMA! HEARTACHE! CONFLICT!
The end of the Second World War was supposed to bring cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union and allow former colonies to become free nation-states with self-determined governments. Unfortunately, the world was immediately met with new struggles and conflicts. Your goal is to dramatize one of the major events of the Cold War and the process of decolonization by performing an informal 2-5 minute skit or reader’s theater performance. In your skit, you will make sure your entire group actively participates in the presentation, includes one instance of audience participation, and accurately portrays your assigned topic.
1 - Communist China
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Mao Zedong
Nationalist (Guomindang) Party
Chinese Civil War
Great Leap Forward
Cultural Revolution
Deng Xiaoping
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.652-657, 683-687, 695-696, 708-709
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
2 - Korean War
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Kim Il-Sung
Singman Rhee
United Nations Security Council
Douglas MacArthur
Chinese intervention
Demilitarized Zone
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.561, 652, 690
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
3 - Vietnam War
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Ho Chi Minh
Dienbienphu
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Tet Offensive
Laos and Cambodia
Paris Peace Accords of 1973
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.561, 652-653, 690
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
4 - Cuba
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Fulgencio Batista
Fidel Castro
Bay of Pigs
Nuclear missiles
John F. Kennedy
Nikita Khrushchev
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.472, 690-694
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
5 - Algeria
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Colons
Vineyards, oil, and gas
Front de Liberation National (FLN)
Guy Mollet
Charles DeGaulle
Ahmad Ben Bella
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.458, 701, 703
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
6 - Eastern Europe
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Imre Nagy
Leonid Brezhnev
Prague Spring 1968
Alexander Dubček
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.652, 694-695
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
7 - Congo
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
Belgians expatriates
Patrice Lumumba
Joseph Kasaubu
Mobutu Sese Seko
Katanga Region
American CIA/Soviet KGB
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.597, 693
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
8 - South Africa
REQUIRED EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
African National Congress (ANC)
Apartheid
Nelson Mandela
Winnie Mandela
Sharpsville Massacre
U.S. relationship with South Africa
RESEARCH RESOURCES
WW: p.458, 693, 703
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart - Excerpts
Encyclopedia Britannica - search for the required events/characters
GROUPING: Find groups of 4-8. You will be randomly assigned to a topic.
RESEARCH: Open the individual research document provided in Google Classroom or in this link here. For homework, complete the assignment by researching and taking notes on the "Required Events and Characters" listed under your topic and create a short chronological sequence of your topic.
SKIT PREPARATION: One student in your group will open the Group Script document provided in Google Classroom or in this link here and share the document with the rest of the group. Review the grading rubric below and write your script for the skit. Props, use of music or sound, use of background visuals are all optional and no additional score is earned through the use of these extra items.
SKIT PRESENTATION: Skits will be presented in numerical order. After your presentation, submit your script.