Topic: World War 2
World War II (1939-1945)
Think about how the causes and effects of this event can be connected to other events and developments that we have studied.
Support these connections with evidence from the readings. This should be written as one continuous essay, with well-written paragraphs.
Answer the following questions:
What do you think is the most important short-term cause of your event, and why?
(the cause should no more than 5 years before the event happened)
(use and cite multiple examples from our class readings)
(clearly explain a connection between your event and the cause)
What do you think is the most important long-term cause of your event, and why?
(the cause should be more than 5 years before the event happened, and relate to a lesson before your event)
(use and cite multiple examples from our class readings)
(clearly explain a connection between your event and the cause)
What do you think is the most important effect of your event, and why?
(the effect should relate to a lesson after your event)
(use and cite multiple examples from our class readings)
(clearly explain a connection between your event and the effect)
How can you see different causes working together to cause the event that you are writing about?
Thinking about contingency, how would removing or adding one or more causes change the event?
Some of the different causes that you can think about are political, religious, economic, cultural, social, and economic factors that can influence history.
Write at least 1 full page for this section.
You should also include a clear explanation of another effect or long-term cause, supported by multiple examples from our class readings.
It will also have a concluding paragraph describing what we can learn about our world from considering the causation and contingency of the event that you wrote about.
Primary Sources:
Sources for Western Society: Documents 27-5, 27-7
Survival in Auschwitz: pages 1-55
Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace” (the “Iron Curtain” speech)
Stalin, interview in Pravda responding to Churchill’s speech
The Truman Doctrine speech
The Marshall Plan speech
Excerpt from Vyshinsky’s speech to the United Nations
