Date: March 12, 2000

Grade Level(s): 11

Subject(s):

• Social Studies/World History

Description: This lesson can be used to introduce study of World War II. The lesson introduces topics of cost, scope, and human casualties.

Goals: Students will be able to recognize the pattern and inductively arrive at generalizations about the immense geographic scope and the human and monetary costs of World War II. This will provide insight into which countries bore the brunt of the fighting. The huge civilian losses will demonstrate that civilians were targeted as combatants. The second chart will further demonstrate that civilians were targeted by the warring parties and will introduce the Holocaust by showing that the Germans essentially destroyed the European Jewish population.

Objectives: Presented with information in two matrices, students will:
1. Describe, compare, and search for patterns among the data.
2. Explain the similarities and differences among the data.
3. Hypothesize outcomes for different conditions, based on evidence from the data.
4. Generalize to form broad relationships and summarize the content.

Materials:

• Two matrices listing casualties and expenditures.
• Data showing figures of Jewish population prior to war and Jewish casualties of war

Introduction:

1. The teacher will check the prior knowledge of the students by asking questions about World War II Question:

a. What do you know about World War II?
b. What do you know about the Holocaust?

Main Activity # 1 - I. Describe, Compare and Search for Patterns

1. The teacher will present an overhead of a matrix (Military/Civilian Casualties/Expenditures) and distribute hand-outs of the same matrix.
2. The teacher will begin analysis of the matrix information by explaining that the countries in the matrix are organized by their membership in either the Axis or Allied Powers.

Questions:
a. Can anyone explain who were the Axis Powers and who were the Allied Powers?

Possible Responses:
a. Allied Powers were the countries defending Europe.
b. The Axis powers were the aggressors.
c. The Axis powers were Germany, Italy, Japan, Finland, and Romania.
d. The Allied powers were those countries aligned against Hitler and Japan.

3. Questioning will continue by directing student attention to the categories of relationships among the countries and the number of casualties sustained.
 
 

Question:	Possible Responses:
a. Which countries sustained the greatest loss in battle?	a. Soviet Union, China
Which countries sustained the greatest civilian losses?	a. Germany b. Poland c. Soviet Union d. China e. Yugoslavia
a. Which countries bore the greatest burden financially?	a. Germany b. United States c. Great Britain
a. Which side (Allied or Axis) had the most countries/people?	a. Allied Powers had greater number of countries and people.
a. How do civilian losses compare to battle losses?	a. Civilian losses were approximately 1½ times that of battle casualties for the Allies, but battle casualties were higher for the Axis.

Main Activity #2 - II. Explain Similarities and Differences

1. The teacher will ask for student responses about the similarities among the casualty numbers for east European countries. Student responses will be written on the overhead.

Question:
a. Are there any similarities among the civilian casualties for any of the nations?
Possible Responses:
a. Countries to the east of Germany had high civilian casualties.
b. Western hemisphere countries and Far East countries had no civilian casualties.
c. Scandinavian countries had no civilian casualties.
d. Allied Powers had greater number of countries and people.

Question:
a. Are there any similarities among the battle casualties for any of the nations?
Possible Responses:
a. The Axis powers of Germany and Japan had the highest battle casualties.
b. The Allied powers of Norway and Denmark had the fewest battle casualties.
c. The Allied countries of China, and the Soviet Union had the greatest number of battle casualties.
2. The teacher will ask for student responses about the differences in the casualty numbers among the countries.

Question:
a. Why does the United States have no civilian casualties?
Possible Responses:
a. The war was fought in Europe not in the United States.
b. No U.S. citizens were involved in the fighting

Question:
a. Why does China, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Germany have very high civilian casualties?
Possible Responses:
a. The countries with higher causalities were invaded by Germany and so more battles were fought there.
b. The cities of these countries were bombed which led to higher civilian casualties.
3. The teacher will ask students to suggest hypotheses to explain the patterns they observe relative to high civilian and military casualties in Russia, China, Germany, and Japan. Student responses will be written on the board.

Questions:
a. If the Soviets largely fought the Germans, why did they have so many more casualties than Germany?
Possible Responses:
a. The Germans tried to dispose the of the Communists in Russia
b. The countries with higher civilian casualties had cities bombed.
4. The teacher will present an overhead and handout of the second matrix (Jewish population and casualties), and ask students to describe relationships and patterns they observe about the casualty numbers in Russia, Germany, and Poland.

Question
a. How are the casualty numbers in the Soviet Union, Germany, and Poland similar?
Possible Responses
a. The casualties in these countries are higher than in other countries.
5. The teacher will ask the students to compare the information from the second matrix to the first, directing their attention to the high casualty rate among Jewish civilians. Student responses will be written on the board.

Question:
a. In what way does the civilian casualty rates from the first matrix compare to the casualty rate among the Jewish populations from the second matrix?
Possible Responses:
a. The Jewish population suffered a significant portion of the civilian casualties in the European countries.
b. The Jews were singled out for extermination by the Germans.

Question:
a. How does the percentage of Jewish casualties compare with the overall percentage rate of Pre-War population casualties?
Possible Responses:
a. Romanian Jews accounted for the greatest number of civilian casualties in that country.
6. The teacher will ask the students to suggest hypotheses to explain the high number of casualties in East European countries. Student responses will be written on the board.

Questions:
a. Why did so many Soviet citizens die?

Possible Responses:
a. Soviet military leadership was not as careful with the lives of its troops. When asked why he suffered needless casualties by advancing through a minefield without first taking time to clear it, he noted, in effect, that if the Germans had defended the area with troops instead of mines he would have taken losses anyway.
b. Germans transported many Soviets back to Germany for use as slave laborers. Many were worked or starved to death.
c. The Nazis considered the Soviet peoples to be sub-human, only slightly superior to the Jews, and fit only for slave labor. Consequently, they used captured Soviet POWs as slave labors and worked them to death
d. Systematic extermination of Jews, intelligentsia and Communist party leaders by special squads of Germans that moved in to each area of the Soviet Union over run by the Army. Germans considered Soviets to be sub-human. Germans were looking for living space for their own people, so the elimination native, “sub-human population” was a desirable goal.
e. Murder of civilians was used to punish resistance in occupied territories by both the Germans and the Japanese.
7. The teacher will ask the students to suggest hypotheses to explain the high war expenditures by the United States. Student responses will be written on the board.

Question:
a. Why did the United States have higher war expenditures than any other country?

Possible Responses:
a. The United States supplied other countries with equipment to fight World War II.
b. The United States supplies cost more than in other countries.
c. The United States spend more money perfecting the Atomic Bomb.
d. The United States paid workers more money so equipment and personnel cost more than in other countries.

III. Hypothesize Outcomes for Different Conditions

1. The teacher will ask students to suggest hypotheses to explain how the high civilian casualties could have been avoided.

Possible Responses:
a. The Germans could have been stopped before they invaded other countries.
b. The Allies should have avoided dropping bombs on cities.
2. The teacher will ask students to suggest hypotheses to explain how the Allies could have prevented the Axis from killing so many Jewish citizens.
Possible Responses:
a. The Allies could have bombed the concentration and death camps.
b. The Allies could have bombed the concentration and death camps.

IV. Generalize to Form Broad Relationships

1. The teacher will ask the students to suggest hypotheses that account for the high civilian casualties in the European Nations.

Possible Responses:
a. Civilian populations were targeted the same as military forces during World War II.
b. Countries invaded by the Axis powers suffered higher civilian losses than did countries not invaded.
2. The teacher will ask each group to write a justification for the Hypothesis(es) that they agree with or support, or generate and justify an original hypothesis(es) bases on evidence from the data.