AP European History / IB History SL/HL:

The Second World War and Hitlers Holocaust (1936 - 1945 AD)
Were Germanys successes early in the Second World War really owed mostly to appeasement, or had the Germans simply developed a superior
military capability in terms of technology, planning, tactics, strategy, command, and fighting spirit?
First take:

What do I need to know in order to validate this first take?

What do I need to be able to do in order to validate this first take?

Second take, based on preliminary reading / research (HEMW Ch. 21, pages 843 - 861 The Western-Soviet Victory):

Evidence in support of my second take:

Learning Target
1. I can define appeasement, explain
the circumstances that contributed to this
policy, and evaluate its success.

2. I can describe and evaluate the success

of blitzkrieg as a tactical and strategic
system for making war.

Essential concepts and events

Appeasement
Locarno Pact
pacifism
disarmament
rearmament
remilitarization of the Rhineland
Siegfried Line
Anschluss
Plebiscite
Munich Conference /
Rape of Munich
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Anglo-French guarantee of Poland
invasion of Poland
sitzkrieg
blitzkrieg
Luftwaffe
tactical bombing
airborne assault / paratroops
armored assault
mechanized infantry
collaborationist
Maginot Line
Miracle of Dunkirk
Vichy France

Essential people and their works

Aristide Briand
Adolf Hitler
Winston Churchill
Kurt von Schuschnigg
Neville Chamberlain
Joseph Stalin

Essential locations
Austria
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Poland
Russia (USSR)
United Kingdom
Rhineland
Sudetenland
Gdansk
Munich
Warsaw

Adolf Hitler
Vidkun Quisling
Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Philippe Ptain

Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Alsace-Lorraine
Paris

Final take:

Evidence in support of my final take:

History questions (in preparation for writing my essay):
What happened? In light of the big question above, how/why did these
events happen?

Historiography question sources (in preparation for writing my

essay): What evidence exists that these events happened as you claim they
did?

Were the Allied successes that turned the tide of and ultimately won the Second World War owed to German strategic blunders, or had the
Allies simply developed a superior military capability in terms of technology, planning, tactics, strategy, command, and fighting spirit?
First take:

What do I need to know in order to validate this first take?

What do I need to be able to do in order to validate this first take?

Second take, based on preliminary reading / research (HEMW Ch. 21, pages 861 The Western-Soviet Victory - 875):

Evidence in support of my second take:

Learning Target
3. I can explain the failure of Hitlers
plan to invade the United Kingdom.

4. I can evaluate the performance of Axis

forces in their invasions of North Africa
and the Balkans.

5. I can evaluate the performance of the

Soviet Union during the opening two
years of the war and Hitlers decisionmaking in his invasion of the Soviet
Union.

6. I can assess to what extent the Allied

victory in Europe can be attributed to the
efforts of the Soviet Red Army and
civilian population.

7. I can describe the nature of the

relationship between the Allies.

Essential concepts and events

Operation Sea Lion
Battle of Britain
Royal Air Force (RAF)
RADAR
strategic vs. terror bombing
The Blitz
Afrika Korps
Sherman tank
Battle of el Alamein
Operation Torch

Essential people and their works

Adolf Hitler
Erwin Rommel
Bernard Montgomery

Winter War
occupation of the Baltic States
Operation Barbarossa
Army Group North
Army Group Center
Army Group South
strategy of the Scorched Earth
Battle of Khalkin Gol
Siege of Leningrad
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Kursk

Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin
Georgy Zhukov
Friedrich Paulus

Lend-Lease Act
U. S.-British convoy system
Atlantic Charter
shoot-on-sight order
Second Front debate
Soft Underbelly of Europe

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Joseph Stalin

Essential locations
Germany
United Kingdom
English Channel
London

Croatia
Germany
Greece
Italy
Serbia
United Kingdom
Mediterranean Sea
Balkan Peninsula
Estonia (USSR)
Finland
Germany
Latvia (USSR)
Lithuania (USSR)
Russia (USSR)
Ukraine (USSR)
Baltic Sea
Gulf of Finland
Lake Ladoga
Volga River
Kiev
Leningrad (St. Petersburg)
Moscow
Stalingrad (now Volgograd)
Germany
Italy
Russia (USSR)
United Kingdom

8. I can assess to what extent the Allied

victory in Europe can be attributed to the
efforts of the western Allies especially
the United States and United Kingdom.

Operation Husky
Italian Campaign
strategic bombing campaign
Operation Overlord
Battle of Normandy
hedgerows
Operation Cobra
liberation of Paris

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Benito Mussolini
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bernard Montgomery
Erwin Rommel
Adolf Hitler
George Patton

9. I can describe the events that

completed the Allied victory and assess to
what extent they set the stage for the
Cold War.

Soviet occupation of Eastern

Europe
Ardennes Offensive
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of Berlin
Volkssturm
meeting at the Elbe
V-E Day

Adolf Hitler
Anthony MacAuliffe
George Patton

France
Italy
United Kingdom
Normandy
Cotentin Peninsula
Sicily
Apennines
Naples
Paris
Rome
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Estonia (USSR)
France
Germany
Hungary
Latvia (USSR)
Lithuania (USSR)
Poland
Romania
Serbia (Yugoslavia)
Slovakia
Ardennes
Elbe River
Berlin

Final take:

Evidence in support of my final take:

History questions (in preparation for writing my essay):
What happened? In light of the big question above, how/why did these
events happen?

Historiography question sources (in preparation for writing my

essay): What evidence exists that these events happened as you claim they
did?

To what extent should the general population of Germany (beyond the Nazi hierarchy) be blamed for the Holocaust?
First take:

What do I need to know in order to validate this first take?

What do I need to be able to do in order to validate this first take?

Second take, based on preliminary reading / research (HEMW Ch. 20, pages 831 The Nazi State - 840 The Spread of Dictatorship; Ch. 21, pages
872 - 873 The Last Phase of the War in the Pacific):

Evidence in support of my second take:

Learning Target
10. I can state the reasons why the
victims of the Holocaust were targeted by
Adolf Hitler and explain how they were
denied citizenship rights within Germany.

11. I can describe the process by which

Adolf Hitler attempted to eliminate those
whom he targeted during the Holocaust.

Essential concepts and events

untermenschen
Aryan race / master race
pure blood
eugenics / euthanasia
Action T4
Gypsies an unwanted nation
conspirators against the state
Nuremburg Laws on Reich
Citizenship
Nuremburg Laws for Protection of
German Blood & German Honor
Kristallnacht
Occupation of Poland
Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Final Solution
labor camps
Einsatzgruppen / death squads
Babi Yar massacre
extermination camps
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Treblinka
Nuremburg Tribunals

Essential people and their works

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

Essential locations
Germany

Germany
Poland
Ukraine
Warsaw

Final take:

Evidence in support of my final take:

History questions (in preparation for writing my essay):
What happened? In light of the big question above, how/why did these
events happen?

Historiography question sources (in preparation for writing my

essay): What evidence exists that these events happened as you claim they
did?

Reflective history questions:

Based upon your understanding of these events, to what extent do they
suggest continuity and/or change?

What do these events reveal about us as humans?

Reflective historiography question interpretations & theories:

In light of your responses to the other questions, what historical theories
seem to be at work?