Mahaffey 1 Story Telling Chart for Social Studies
COURSE:
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SETTING:
US History II 11 World War I (The Outbreak of War & US Entry into War) Bar in Europe (The Balkans) CONTENT
CHARACTERS
ACTIONS
Assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand Triple Alliance Triple Entente Militarism Alliances Nationalism Imperialism Stalemate Western Front Eastern Front Treaty of London Zimmerman Note Unrestricted Submarine Germany (The Hot Head) Austria-­‐Hungary (The Fleeting Empire) Italy (The Fickle One) Serbia (The Initiator) Belgium (The Victim) Great Britain (The Captain) France (The Regent) Russia (The Big Dude with Germany, Italy, and Austria-­‐Hungary are friends. Together they hit the gym and agree to back each other up if anything goes down (Triple Alliance). Great Britain, France, and Russia think it is weird that Germany, Austria-­‐Hungary, and Italy are always chumming around so they decide to form a little gang of their own and they call themselves the Triple Entente. There is popular bar in Europe that all of the major countries go to called “The Balkans.” One night at the bar a fight erupts because Serbia spilled a beer on Austria-­‐Hungary. Content: Imperialism, The Balkans as the powder keg of Europe. §
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Austria-­‐Hungary responds by throwing a punch at Serbia and because Germany has Austria-­‐Hungary’s back, Germany also starts beating on Serbia. Real Facts: Austria-­‐Hungary waited a month to strike down on Serbia. Austria-­‐Hungary tried to be flexible, but Serbia did not agree to Austria-­‐Hungary’s terms. Russia and Serbia go way back and Russia feels bad that Serbia is getting beat up on. Russia is a big dude and tells Germany and Austria-­‐Hungary that they need to cool it. However, before Russia even finishes speaking Germany hits Russia. §
In that moment Germany does not like the way that France is looking at him and he knows that France and Russia are boys. §
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EMOTIONS &
QUESTIONS
Alliance (Loyalty) Militarism Fear Why do the other countries need an alliance? What are the Balkans and why was this region important? Did Serbia do it on purpose? How should Austria-­‐Hungary respond? Was Austria-­‐Hungary justified? Why did Germany get involved? What should Serbia do? Why does Russia get involved? Who are Russia friends or allies? What did Germany do? Why is Germany unhappy with France? Warfare US Entry into WWI Treaty of Versailles Reparations Problems) The Ottoman Empire aka Turkey (The Shady Character) Mexico (The Bystander) The United States (The Bartender & Peace Keeper) Germany then declares that he is coming for France and in the process hits Belgium. When Belgium gets hit Great Britain jumps into the fray and comes to the defense of Belgium. Great Britain is also trying to hold back Germany from hitting France. To the amazement of Germany, Belgium and Great Britain actually put up a decent fight. §
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At this point, Italy who is friends with Germany throws his hands up in the air and tells Germany that he is not about the “drama” and walks away from the fight—not that he was doing anything in the first place. Real Facts: Mussolini was strongly against WWI and had declared the war to be a “great drama.” Eventually Germany makes his way to France and clocks him right in the face. France being weak after just getting hit surprisingly gets back up and continues fighting with the help of Great Britain. §
Germany is still raging at France when an acquaintance of his, Turkey, calls him away from the fight. Turkey and Germany go off to the corner of the bar and start whispering to one another. After a couple of minutes it is decided that Turkey is going to back up Germany and Austria-­‐Hungary—the three together call themselves the Central Powers. Real Facts: Bulgaria also joins the Central Powers. In terms of US History II I really don’t cover content related to the Ottoman Empire or Bulgaria; the focus is on Great Britain and France. After taking a little break Germany is ready to start fighting or at least ready to prepare to start fighting. Rather than immediately throwing down the men/country’s take time to calculate their plans of attack. Real Facts: Identify and explain the concept of a stalemate and the “Race to Sea” pertaining to trench warfare. Even though the bar is in Europe, shockingly the United States is the bartender. The US witnessed the start of the fight and clearly stated that he had to “remain neutral in fact as well as in name.” After all, the countries were regular customers and the US really did not want §
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Mahaffey 2 Why does Germany hit Belgium? Consider war strategy How do other countries respond to Belgium getting hit? How does France feel at this moment? Why don’t the Italians uphold the alliance? Why does Germany want to attack France so badly? Why does Great Britain come to France’s aid? What do you think the countries involved at doing at this point? Why does Turkey enter the war? Are the Central Powers good guys or bad guys? Why was there a temporary break in the fighting? How would the countries prepare to fight? Why do you think the bartender did not get involved? What does it mean to be to take sides. Real Facts: World War I officially started in 1914 and American sentiment was not to get involved with a war going on in Europe. During the election of 1916 Wilson ran on the political platform that he “kept us out of war.” Even though the bartender did not want to take sides, the US was getting a little pissed that Germany was breaking things in the bar, but the US was willing to let it go if Germany promised to be a little more considerate and Germany agreed. Content: Lusitania, unrestricted submarine warfare, and the Sussex Pledge Germany must have been doing some serious training at the gym because at one point he was beating up Russia with one arm and France and Great Britain with the other arm. Content: Western Front, Eastern Front, Schlielffen Plan The fight hasn’t even been going on that long, but Germany is basically kicking ass. Then Great Britain has a secret side conversation with Italy and requests that Italy join the fight to defend France and the other Allied Powers (Russia and Great Britain). Italy ponders, but he thinks the Allied powers are ultimately going to win the fight so he joins them. Great Britain really did not have that much faith in Italy, but figured it would serve as a good distraction for the Central Powers. Sure enough Italy ends up hitting Austria and Austria responds by knocking Italy around pretty good. Ultimately, Italy is successful in beating up Austria but Italy is left with some permanent scars. The bartender (the US) tells everyone that they need to chill and they need to stop fighting. Great Britain yells at the US to get involved, but the bartender responds with “there is such a thing as being too proud to fight.” Then Great Britain approaches the bartender with a note that he found on the ground—he just thought the bartender should see it. The note is to the US’s friend Mexico and it states that Mexico should punch the US right in the face. The US approaches Mexico and is like “what hell…I thought we were cool?” Mexico responds by §
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Mahaffey 3 neutral? Was the United States really neutral? Did Germany want the US to get involved in the fight? How could Germany harm the US? How should the US respond to German unrestricted submarine warfare? §
Can Germany effectively beat up both countries? §
How is World War I different from previous wars? Why did Italy agree to become an Allied Power? §
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Why does the US want to remain neutral? Do you think the US is biased toward one particular side? Conspiracy Betrayal How do you think the US should respond to Germany note to Mexico? saying, “we are cool, Germany is just trying to start problems.” Now that bartender is getting a little riled up and is not happy with Germany at all. Even without the bartenders help France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia are doing a pretty good job at beating up on the Central Powers, but it is not like they couldn’t use an extra hand. Germany is being completely reckless and breaks a couple more things in the bar, which causes the bartender to loose it. The US jumps over the bar and starts pounding on Germany. Nonetheless Germany is still putting up a good fight. Russia actually gets knocked out and wakes up with a completely new personality and says that there is no way it can keep fighting. Just because Russia stopped fighting did not mean that Great Britain, France, or the US were going to stop fighting. Eventually Germany lost his will to fight and got knocked out by the Allied Powers. With Germany lying on the ground the US states argued, “only a peace between equals would last.” However, France and Great Britain really did not care what the US had to say because let’s be real the US only jumped into the fight at the very end. Mahaffey §
Can the US really remain neutral? §
Why does the US enter World War I? (It’s not the Zimmerman Note—it is unrestricted submarine warfare.) What happened to Russia? Why does Russia pull out of the war? Monarchy à Communism Why/how did Germany lose his will to fight? §
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While Germany is still unconscious France, Great Britain, and the US §
decide that the fight was Germany’s fault. The US, France, and Great §
Britain then proceed to go through Germany’s pockets, steal his wallet, and charge him for all of the damages in the bar and then use his credit card to buy drinks for all of their friends. Needless to say it takes Germany a really long time to recover, but §
when he finally does he is pissed off all over again. What does the US think the countries should do with Germany? How do France and Great Britain feel about Germany? What are war reparations? Is Germany being treated fairly? How does the end of WWI lead to WWII? TAKE-AWAYS
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Alliances contributed to the start of World War I. Militarism contributed to the start of World War I. Nationalism contributed to the start of World War I. Imperialism contributed to the start of World War I. §
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4 The United States initially tried to avoid entering the conflict. The United States entered World War I because of German unrestricted submarine warfare. The Treaty of Versailles was essentially a failure because it set the stage for World War II.