Age of Global War: Causes and Effects of WWI, WWII, and Beyond — Skinny¶

Standard: WH.6_12.5 — Analyze causes and effects of global events using primary and/or secondary sources Era/Unit (if SS): Era 4 — Age of Global War and Globalization (~1900–present) ELA Crosswalk: 9-10.W.4 — Argument writing; 9-10.IR.1–5 — Research and source evaluation NDSBL Target: 3.0 score Estimated Time: 60–90 minutes Subject: World History + ELA crosswalk

Official proficiency scale — the source of truth for scoring

Scoring follows the official NDSBL World History Proficiency Scales — not the examples on this page. Proficient (3.0) for Era 4: Age of Global War and Globalization means:

Analyze the causes and global effects of the world wars.
Explain how political or social ideologies shaped the 20th century.
Explain the social, cultural, or economic changes influenced by globalization.

What You Need to Know (Score 2.0)¶

Era 4's wars and crises had causes that built up over decades — and effects that shaped the entire second half of the 20th century and continue today. Understanding Era 4 means tracing these chains, using primary sources to understand how events were perceived at the time vs. how historians now understand them.

Immediate vs. Underlying Causes (WWI): The immediate cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 28, 1914). The underlying causes: the alliance system (if one nation fought, all its allies had to), imperial competition, nationalism, military buildup ("the war everyone expected"). The assassination was the trigger; the underlying causes were the powder keg.
Versailles Treaty (1919): The peace settlement after WWI, which imposed massive reparations, territorial losses, and a "war guilt clause" on Germany. Historians debate whether Versailles caused WWII by creating the resentment that Hitler exploited — this is a primary cause-and-effect question.
The Holocaust as a Bureaucratic Process: The Holocaust was not just Hitler's decision — it was implemented through a bureaucratic chain of decisions, orders, and compliance. The Wannsee Conference (1942) documented senior Nazi officials' systematic planning of genocide. Understanding the Holocaust requires understanding how organizations implement decisions — not just who gave orders.
Nuclear Deterrence and the Cold War: After 1945, the logic of the Cold War was shaped by nuclear weapons: neither the U.S. nor USSR could directly attack each other without risking nuclear annihilation ("Mutually Assured Destruction"). This produced proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, and elsewhere — the superpowers fought each other through other nations' soldiers.
Primary Source Evaluation in Era 4: Abundant primary sources exist for Era 4: speeches, government documents, newspapers, photographs, film footage, personal letters, survivor testimony. Evaluating them requires: Who produced this? What was their purpose? Who was the intended audience? What do they have to gain from their framing? What do they omit?
Propaganda as Primary Source: Era 4 governments produced propaganda extensively — wartime posters, radio broadcasts, film. Propaganda is a primary source for what governments wanted people to believe, not for what was actually true. It must be evaluated accordingly.
Postwar Decolonization Causes: WWII undermined European powers' claim to "civilizational superiority" (they had just committed the Holocaust and total war), weakened their economies and military reach, and empowered anti-colonial movements with new ideology (Enlightenment natural rights, UN human rights framework).

Basic Processes: - [ ] Distinguish immediate from underlying causes for WWI or WWII. - [ ] Explain what the Versailles Treaty did and how historians debate its role in causing WWII. - [ ] Explain "Mutually Assured Destruction" and how it shaped Cold War military strategy. - [ ] Evaluate a WWII-era propaganda poster as a primary source — what does it reveal and conceal? - [ ] Explain why WWII accelerated decolonization.

A student who can score a 2.0: A student who can state that WWI was caused by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and that WWII was caused by Hitler — without yet analyzing the underlying causes that made a world war possible in both cases, or using primary sources to understand how people at the time understood these events.

The Standard (Score 3.0)¶

WH.6_12.5 — Analyze causes and effects of global events using primary and/or secondary sources (Era 4)

To meet this standard, you must trace multi-step causal chains using primary and secondary sources as evidence. In Era 4, the central analytical challenge is that the same causes (nationalism, imperial competition, economic crisis) recur — and historians debate whether these patterns were inevitable or contingent.

3.0 Example: A student achieves a 3.0 by analyzing the causes of WWII using primary source evidence. The student identifies: (1) Versailles Treaty resentment (evidence: Hitler's speeches citing the "stab in the back" myth and Versailles injustices — primary sources that show how the treaty was used politically, not just what it said); (2) global economic crisis of the 1930s Depression, which created unemployment and desperation that made extremist promises appealing (evidence: German unemployment statistics 1929–1933); (3) the failure of appeasement — British and French leaders' willingness to allow Hitler to annex Austria and the Sudetenland to avoid war (evidence: Chamberlain's "peace for our time" speech after Munich, 1938 — a primary source that shows appeasement's logic). The student uses sources to support each step in the causal chain, not just to narrate events.

The Difference: A 2.0 student knows Hitler and the Great Depression caused WWII. A 3.0 student analyzes multiple causes using primary sources as evidence and explains why each cause contributed.

Going Further (Score 4.0)¶

To reach a 4.0, you must evaluate competing interpretations of causation and assess what the historical evidence actually supports.

Transfer Tasks: 1. Did Versailles cause WWII? This is one of history's most debated counterfactuals. Research the arguments on both sides (Keynes's critique of Versailles vs. revisionist arguments that Versailles was actually lenient by historical standards). Evaluate: does the evidence support the claim that Versailles caused WWII? 2. Bystander nations and the Holocaust: The Holocaust required bystanders — nations and individuals who knew it was happening and did not act. Research what information was available to Allied governments about the Holocaust by 1942 and what actions were taken or not taken. Evaluate: what does bystander behavior reveal about the causes of the Holocaust's scale? 3. Postwar world order: The UN, World Bank, IMF, and NATO were all created in the period 1944–1949 as responses to WWII and the Depression. Evaluate: Did they solve the problems they were created to solve? Use specific evidence about their effects on global stability, poverty, and war prevention.

4.0 Example: A student argues that the conventional causal narrative of WWI (alliance system + assassination) is incomplete without including the racial ideology of imperialism. European powers had spent decades using racial hierarchy to justify mass violence against colonized peoples — the same governments that were "shocked" by WWI's brutality had just conducted genocides in Namibia (Germany, 1904–1908) and Congo (Belgium, 1885–1908). The student argues that Europe's tolerance for industrial-scale violence against non-white peoples normalized the methods that were then turned inward during WWI. This argument uses primary sources from both colonial violence and WWI to support the causal connection.

CrashCourse Connection¶

Video: World War I — CrashCourse WH #38 · Episode in reading library Also: WWII Part 1 — CrashCourse WH #40 · Episode in reading library Also: WWII Part 2 — CrashCourse WH #41 · Episode in reading library Also: China's Revolutions — CrashCourse WH #39 · Episode in reading library Also: The Cold War — CrashCourse WH #42 · Episode in reading library Watch Prompt (general): For any Era 4 event described, classify its causes: immediate or underlying? Local or global? Economic, political, or ideological? Classify its effects: short-term or long-term? Expected or unintended? Track which primary sources the presenter uses — and which they don't.

Reading Library Connection¶

Night — Elie Wiesel — Use Night as a primary source for understanding the Holocaust's effects on individuals. What does Wiesel's memoir reveal about the causal chain — the sequence of decisions and dehumanizations that led from 1933 Nazi rise to 1944 Auschwitz? What does it leave unexplained that requires secondary sources to fill in?
MLK — Letter from Birmingham Jail — Use as a source for understanding the causes and effects of the civil rights movement in the U.S. context. What were the immediate vs. underlying causes of the movement MLK describes? What effects did he predict from nonviolent direct action?

Demonstration of Learning — Choose One¶

How will you show you know this standard? Pick one mode.

#	Mode	What You Do for This Specific Standard
1	Written Assessment	Choose ONE Era 4 major event (WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, the Cold War, or decolonization). Write a 3-paragraph analysis: (1) immediate and underlying causes, (2) effects across multiple nations, (3) use of at least one primary source as evidence.
2	Extended Writing	Write a 400–600 word essay arguing which underlying cause of WWI or WWII was most significant. Support your argument with at least two primary or secondary sources. Address the strongest counterargument to your claim.
3	Verbal Conversation	Record a 3-minute analysis: (1) Name an Era 4 event and explain its immediate and underlying causes. (2) Evaluate a primary source related to the event: what does it reveal, and what might it conceal? (3) Trace one long-term effect that is still visible today.
4	Visual/Creative	Create a "Causal Chain Web" for one Era 4 event. Show immediate and underlying causes, short- and long-term effects across multiple nations. Annotate at least two connections with specific evidence from a primary or secondary source.
5	Multimedia/Performance	Create a 2–3 minute "History Detectives" video. Pick an Era 4 event and investigate the hidden or under-analyzed causes. Challenge the most common explanation and offer your evidence-based alternative.
6	Portfolio Annotation	Select a previous project about Era 4. Write a 200-word reflection: What primary sources did you use? What were their limitations? What would a fuller causal analysis have required?

Deliverable Ideas (Your Studio Product)¶

These are NOT the demonstration of learning. These are PBL artifact ideas.

"Did Versailles Cause WWII?" — Research this question using at least two secondary sources with different interpretations. Evaluate the evidence and write a 1-page argument defending your position. What does each interpretation's evidence actually support?
Holocaust: A Bureaucratic Analysis — Research the Wannsee Conference (1942) and the bureaucratic chain of decision-making that produced the "Final Solution." Write a 1-page analysis: what does the bureaucratic nature of the Holocaust reveal about how organizations implement decisions, and what does this tell us about the conditions necessary for genocide?
Cold War Proxy Wars: A Cause-and-Effect Map — Research one Cold War proxy conflict (Korea, Vietnam, Angola, or Nicaragua). Create an annotated causal map showing: U.S. and Soviet interests, local political conditions, immediate triggers, and long-term effects on the nation where the war was fought. Include one primary source analysis.

Scale Tasks¶

[ ] 2.0 task: Choose one Era 4 event. List: one immediate cause, two underlying causes, one short-term effect, one long-term effect. Identify whether each source you used was primary or secondary.
[ ] 3.0 task: Write a paragraph tracing a multi-step causal chain for one Era 4 event. Use at least one primary or secondary source as evidence for at least one link in the chain.
[ ] 4.0 task: Write a 200-word evaluation of a competing historical interpretation. What evidence supports it? What evidence challenges it? Which interpretation do you find more convincing and why?