Current Events Lesson Plan: November 5-11, 2015
Current Event: The World Remembers
On Nov. 11, 2015, millions of people around the world stopped what they were doing and observed two minutes of silence to remember those killed in global conflicts. November 11 is a holiday known as Veterans Day in the United States and Armistice or Remembrance Day in many other countries. The day marks the end of World War I in 1918, what was then the most destructive war in world history. In the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth nations, the two-minute silence of Remembrance Day is punctuated by the playing of the “Last Post,” the bugle call that symbolizes the final rest of those killed in battle. In the United States, the bugle call of “Taps” is played at military funerals and memorial services.
Objective:
World War I, sometimes called the Great War, involved more countries than any other war up to its time. The war was fought between the Allies, which included France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; and the Central Powers, which included Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire. World War I was more destructive than any previous conflict. Tens of millions of soldiers were killed or wounded. Including the flu epidemic that began at the end of the war, tens of millions of civilians died of disease, starvation, and other war-related causes. The economic chaos caused by the war helped lead to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The “war to end all wars” failed to live up to that promise as just 21 years later, World War II (1939-1945) began. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the people and battles of World War I.
Words to know:
- Great Depression
- Remembrance Day
- Spanish flu
- Treaty of Versailles
- Veterans Day
- World War I
- World War II
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to name some famous wars throughout history. (Students might say American Civil War, American Revolution, Crimean War, Hundred Years’ War, Korean War, Napoleonic Wars, Punic Wars, Vietnam War, Wars of the Roses, World War I, World War II.)
2. Have your students review World Book’s World War I article. Ask your students to name military and political leaders of World War I. (They might name Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George, Paul von Hindenburg, T. E. Lawrence [Lawrence of Arabia], Nicholas II, John J. Pershing, Baron Manfred von Richthofen [the Red Baron], Wilhelm II, Woodrow Wilson.)
3. Ask your students to debate, “Four years of history should be mandatory for all high school students.”
4. During World War I, all warring nations used chemical weapons. The effects of the weapons on soldiers were gruesome. After the war, nations sought to ban the use of chemical weapons. In 1925, the Geneva Protocol limited the use of chemical weapons in war. Have your students debate the topic, “All is fair in war.”
5. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the World War I timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s World War I article for help.)