Unit 5: The War Years (1940-1953)
Unit Overview:
This unit spans the years 1940 to 1953. Important events/themes covered in the unit:
US Entrance into WWII
Total War on the battlefield and on the American Homefront
"The Big Three" and the Defeat of the Axis
The Iron Curtain and expansion of Soviet Russia
The Marshall Plan and creation of NATO
The 2nd Red Scare and McCarthyism
The Korean War
Unit Essay: Total War
In order to get credit for this project, you must write a well-developed essay on the following topic:
Total War
World War II is easily the most destructive war in human history, with most accounts agreeing that somewhere between 40-60 million people died. One of the major reasons that WWII was so destructive was because it was a total war, that is a war where the warring parties devote their total resources to the war effort. Now that you have studied WWII, pick three aspects of this war and write an essay of no less than 600 words that analyzes why this war was the most destructive in human history.
Helpful links:
European Theater and Asian Theater of war
Short Videos:
American Isolationism in 1930's (2:40)
American WWII Effort "Manpower" (8:33)
American Homefront pt 2 (8:36)
Hollywood Canteen Tribute (2:54)
Rosie the Riveters of WWII (6:21)
WWII Celebrity Bond Tour Newsreel (9:20)
Saturday Evening Post, the War Years (2:52)
Unit Lectures:
Total War Essay Class
Unit Primary Sources:
US Recon A Unit 5 Key Terms
For this project you must define the terms listed below and explain each term's significance to the unit/era being studied. Your definition should be 2-3 sentences long and may be copied and pasted from a source like Wikipedia, but the significance of the term must be in your own words and based on your own understanding. To fill out a term's significance, ask yourself, "Why is this item included in my study of this unit? Why is this term in a history book?" The answer to this question is your term's significance.
Unit 5 Key Terms:
1. Benito Mussolini/fascism
2. totalitarianism
3. Joseph Stalin
4. The Third Reich
5. Japanese invasion of Manchuria
6. appeasement
7. lend-lease
8. Export Control Act of 1940
9. Selective Training and Service Act of 1940
10. total war
11. Manhattan Project
12. Holocaust
13. United Nations
14. Iron Curtain
15. Marshall Plan
16. Eastern Bloc
17. Containment Policy
18. Truman Doctrine
19. Chinese Civil War
20. Korean War
Below is an example of a key term done with the proper format:
William the Conqueror: William I (c. 1028[2] – 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant), was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II. Before his conquest of England, he was known as William the Bastard because of the illegitimacy of his birth.To press his claim to the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, and Frenchmen (from Paris andÎle-de-France) to victory over the English forces of King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.[3] (I copied and pasted this definition from Wikipedia)
Significance: William the Conqueror is significant because his conquest of England created the first nation state in Europe. His rearrangement of English feudal territories to give himself dramatically more power than the the barons and nobles around him caused him to be the most powerful monarch in Europe and eventually led to the rise of other nation states over the next few centuries. (These are my words based on my knowledge of English and European history.)
