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War Times Two

Brief Description
Students explore some of the important events of World War I and World War II, create a time line of those events, and complete work sheets about what they learned.

Objectives

Students understand the causes, events, and effects of the two world wars.

Keywords

World War I, World War II, time line

Materials Needed

• computer access to, or information reprinted from, The World Wars
• time lines of the two world wars, from print resources or from online resources such as

  The History Place World War II Timeline The Great War Interactive Timeline

• world wars Fill in the Blanks homework handouts 1, 2, 3, and 5 from Mr. Dowling's Download Page.

Lesson Plan

Encourage students to explore the World Wars, Alliances Led to a Great War, and America Enters World War II at Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport to The World Wars. As students read the information on those pages, ask them to locate the event associated with each of the following dates and write one or two sentences explaining the significance of the event: Students will have to explore beyond the Electronic Passport site to find all the information they need.

• June 28,1914 (Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand assassinated; World War I begins.)
• December 7, 1941 (Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, leading the United States into World War II.)
• June 28, 1919 (The Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I, is signed.)
• August 6, 1945 (The United States drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which leads to the end of World War II.)
• November 11, 1918 (Germany and the Allies sign an armistice ending World War I.)
• December 11, 1941 (Germany declares war on the United States.)
• May 7, 1915 (Germany sinks the Lusitania; the United States ends diplomatic relations with Germany and eventually enters World War I.)
• September 2, 1945 (V-J Day: Japan surrenders, ending World War II in the Pacific.)
• February 21, 1916 (The Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I, begins.)
• May 8, 1945 (V-E Day: Germany surrenders, ending World War II in Europe.)

After students have located the events associated with each date and determined their significance, have them place the events on a classroom time line. You might also encourage students to add a few additional dates to the time line and explain their significance.

Assessment

Evaluate students' Fill in the Blanks homework handouts 1, 2, 3, and 5 on The World Wars from Mr. Dowling's Download Page. (Download the pages to your computer and make any necessary changes, then print and distribute them.)

Lesson Plan Source

Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport

Submitted By

Linda Starr

National Standards

World History:
NSS-WH.5-12.8