AP Euro Unit 8: World Wars & Dictators. Digital: DBQ, Lecture, Exam & Activities

This unit covers the complex but fascinating topics of 20th Century Global Conflicts, including World War I, Russian Revolution, Rise of Totalitarianism, the Global Depression, and World War II. It includes everything you need to teach the class, including bonus assignments only available in the bundle: 75 question multiple choice assessment (with stimulus-based questions), timelines, review sheets, and writing practice -- 1 DBQ, 5 SAQs, and 9 LEQs.

Reduce stress and planning time with this Complete Unit Pack. Teach skills & content simultaneously! This unit is designed to supplement all the major AP® Euro textbooks. TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26 - 28; Kagan CH 25 - 28; Spielvogel CH 25 - 27

All assignments are easily modifiable in Google Slides form and can be printed or assigned digitally through Google Classroom or any other LMS. These lessons will help engage students and guide them through UNIT 8: Global Conflicts of the 20th Century.

NOTE: AP® is a trademark owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product/site

THIS UNIT BUNDLE IS...

• student-centered
• no-prep
• digital or printable
• fully editable
• requires no textbook or outside resources other than computer access

Check out each assignment in the PREVIEWS!

LEARNING TARGETS COVERED:

1. I can analyze the major causes of World War I, including the conflicts of the early 20th century and changes in the Alliance system.
2. I can explain the military strategies of World War I and how civilian populations supported the war effort.
3. I can describe the reasons for the Allied victory in World War I.
4. I can compare and contrast the 14 Points and Treaty of Versailles.
5. I can describe the effects of World War I on culture, literature, and art, including the impact on groups such as the “Lost Generation.”
6. I can explain the causes and effects of the Russian Revolution.
7. I can compare and contrast the economic and political policies of Lenin and Stalin and evaluate the extent to which they maintained Marxist principles. 
8. I can evaluate the causes of the global economic crisis and analyze the effects, including attempts to address the issues by various governments.
9. I can explain the causes of instability in the Weimar Republic and evaluate the reasons for the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s.
10. I can compare and contrast Fascism and Communism as they existed in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s.
11. I can describe the policy of appeasement, including why it was appealing and why it ultimately failed.
12. I can describe the early Axis successes in World War II.
13. I can analyze how the Allies ultimately won World War II by explaining both battles and civilian contributions.
14. I can explain how the Nazis escalated their persecution of the Jews and reflect on the roles and responsibilities of individuals and nations when confronting genocidal acts.

UNIT PLAN:

1. Outbreak of World War I (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.2 [corresponds to the College Board Course Exam Description]

TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

This digital interactive notebook covers the Outbreak of WWI and will allow students to understand the shifting perspective of war. Students will examine an image and song that show the excitement for war but will then learn how the Schlieffen Plan failed and trench warfare commenced with the battle of the Marne. Students will explore life in the trenches and ultimately "bring it together" by answering: How was WWI different than people anticipated at the outbreak of the war? Why did it turn out differently than people had anticipated?

2. World War I Home Front Gallery Walk (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.2 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

This digital Gallery Walk or Digital Stations activity will allow students to explore and discuss the Home Front experiences of Britain, German, and Russia during World War I. By reading a one page summary and investigating propaganda posters, charts, and images, students will develop an understanding of the home front experience in each country and then draw parallels between the three countries.

Students will define & explain with examples the following terms/concepts:

• total war
• war of attrition
• propaganda
• war bonds
• rationing
• war production
• women's roles

3. End of WWI & the Treaty of Versailles Digital NB (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.4 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

This digital interactive notebook is also Pear Deck compatible to interactively teach World History students about the End of WWI, the 14 Points & the Treaty of Versailles. Students will watch video clips, annotate reading, create symbols, drag & drop, and more as they learn about the events that brought about a "resolution" to World War I.

4. World War I Children’s Book Project (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.2 & 8.4 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

This digital or printable project can be used as a summative assessment or a fun way to recap and remember World War I. Students will use the colorful templates provided to write their own short rhymes about WWI. All instructions, rubrics, and templates are fully editable, so you can remove rhyming requirements. However, I find the search for rhymes causes students to think more deeply about the term. This book is patterned after the 1899 British children's book on Imperialism "ABC for Baby Patriots" & a link to the book is provided for students to get inspiration. 

5. PPT: WORLD WAR I (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.2 & 8.4 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Background & Context to WWI
• Detailed evolution on the Alliance System under Bismarck & after his dismissal
• MAIN causes: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism & Nationalism
• Outbreak of War: Assassination, Ultimatum & the Blank Check
• Schlieffen Plan
• Changing perspectives on war: "Are We Downhearted" song to "Dulce et Decorum Est" poem
• Major battles: Marne, Tannenberg, Gallipoli, Verdun & the Somme
• Propaganda & Total War
• The Tide of War turns: Lusitania, Zimmerman Telegram, Spring Offensive, American involvement...
• Armistice & Treaty of Versailles
• Effects discussion

6. Russian Revolution Digital NB (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.3 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 25; Spielvogel CH 25

Students will analyze charts, images, and primary sources as well as watch videos and visit curated web resources to deepen their understanding of the Russian Revolution that toppled the tsar and created a Communist state: the USSR. Also includes a full answer key that can be used to check student work and/or review in class.

7. Lenin & the NEP Digital NB (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.3 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 25

This digital interactive notebook allows students to investigate the effects of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) on the USSR through a series of documents, charts, videos, and images. Students will learn about the effects of War Communism, plans for the NEP, agricultural and industrial effects, effects on women, and critiques of the policies. Also includes a full answer key that can be used to check student work and/or review in class.

8. PPT: Russian Revolution & Lenin’s Russia (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.3 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 26; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 25

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Background & Context:
• The Romanovs, Emancipation of the Serfs, Sergei Witte, Alexander II, Bloody Sunday
• Communism Gains popularity
• Image analysis: similarities to French Revolution'
• February/March Revolution
• October/November Revolution
• Civil War
• Lenin's NEP primary source & industrial/agricultural policies
• Effects of NEP
• Comparing Marx & Lenin discussion

9. GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS SAQ Gallery Walk Activity (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.5 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 27; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

Cover content and skills while you facilitate meaningful discussion between your AP European History students on the topics of the Depression in Europe: Global Economic Crisis of the 1920s & 1930s. (Key Concept 8.5) These SAQs are designed to reflect all 3 of the SAQ question types on the AP Exam: a document-based question; TWO image-based questions; and a choice of 2 traditional (non-stimulus) questions. 

INSTRUCTIONS:

• PREFERRED LESSON METHODOLOGY: Group Discussion: Have students work in groups to discuss each question and then debrief as a class. Give no more than 15 minutes per question (13.5 minutes are allotted per question on the AP Exam)
•  OPTION 2: Rotation stations - place the SAQ prompts around the room. Have students rotate in groups and brainstorm 1-2 answers to each question. Then groups rotate to the next station and add on to what the previous group(s) wrote. Depending on the size of your class, you may want 2 stations for each question to keep the groups small. This is a great way to both review the topics and to push students to go deeper.
• OPTION 3: Just write the SAQ - You can have students write on the SAQ paper provided if you wish--(this is designed to be digital paper too: students can type directly onto the slide as a text box has been added)

10. PPT: THE 1920s & 1930s AGE OF ANXIETY (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.7 & 8.10 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 27; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• All Quiet on the Western Front excerpt
• Modern Art: Cubism, Expressionism, Dadaism & Surrealism
• The Lost Generation: TS Eliot, F Scott Fitzgerald & Ernest Hemingway
• Britain: John Maynard Keynes, Labour Party, Ramsay MacDonald, National Coalition
• France: Hoover Moratorium, Stavisky Affair & Right wing threats, Bloc National & Raymond Poincare, Leon Blum
• Eastern Europe after WWI: Austria, Hungary, Poland & Czechoslovakia
• Rise of Mass Media & totalitarianism

11. Stalin & Totalitarianism EdPuzzle + Digital NB (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.6 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

Students will watch videos, read excerpts from primary/secondary sources, analyze images/propaganda, etc. to build their understanding of totalitarianism and how it was used by Stalin. They will watch an Edpuzzle (link provided) to gain an overview of Stalin's regime before delving into his policies in more detail. This is a 2 day assignment. Full key included

Topics covered:

• Totalitarianism
• Propaganda & indoctrination
• NKVD & Great Purge
• Gulags
• Collectivization & 5 Year Plans

12. Weimar Republic Document Analysis (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.6 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

Students will investigate the weaknesses of and threats to the Weimar Republic through a series of documents, charts, and images. Students will learn about the effects of WWI, economic issues (like hyperinflation), and political threats from the Right (Nazis) and Left (Communists). Also includes a full answer key that can be used to check student work and/or review in class.

13. Hitler & Nazi Ideology (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.6 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 27; Spielvogel CH 26

This digital interactive notebook for World History & AP Euro allows students to investigate the rise of Hitler and development of Nazi Ideology. Students will analyze timelines of his incremental consolidation of power, read and annotate an excerpt from Mein Kampf, watch videos, and visit other curated web resources. 

They will ultimately answer the big questions:

• “How could this happen?”
• “Why would a nation of people follow such a leader?” 
• “How did these leaders get and maintain power?”

14. PPT: TOTALITARIANISM (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.6 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Context: Treaty of Versailles
• Italy: Rise of Mussolini & policies
• Excerpt from "What is Fascism" by Mussolini
• Germany: Weimar Republic: hyperinflation & Ruhr occupation
• The Rise of Hitler
• Nazi ideology & "Education for Death" video
• Stalin: rise to power, 5 year plans, methods of enforcement -- purges, NKVD & propaganda
• Compare & Contrast discussion

15. ESCAPE ROOM: Totalitarianism (approx time: 60 minutes)

KC 8.6 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 26; Spielvogel CH 26

NOTE: this escape room has links to 3 YouTube videos. Please check this is compatible with your school’s firewall settings. Links to videos below...

Ted Ed: Hitler's Rise

Intro to Fascism

Propaganda & Censorship in Nazi Germany

Topics:

• Conditions in the 1920s & 1930s
• Chronology
• Hitler’s Rise to Power (Ted Ed)
• Secret Police
• Fascism with Mussolini Quotes
• Influencing the Youth
• Propaganda & Censorship
• Final reflection: how and why did dictators come to power?  how do they keep power once they have it?

16. UNIT 8 DBQ: To what extent did the outcome of WWI create the conditions that caused World War II?

17. [BONUS FILE] TIMELINE ACTIVITY: WORLD WAR II (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.8 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 28; Spielvogel CH 27

Students can fill out this graphic organizer individually or as a jigsaw where each group creates a slide about  their assigned battle and presents it to the class. This is an efficient way for students to review key battles that shaped the outcome of World War II.

You will need to make a copy of the document to make changes and to share with your class.

I do have other digital notebooks for World History that go more in depth on WWII, but by this time of year, time is so short that I tend to zoom through the war itself. If you do see any other digital notebooks in my shoppe for WWII that you're interested in, send me an email at yeoldeUShistoryshoppe@gmail.com and I can share them with you. 

18. The End of WWII Time Capsule + Lecture  (approx time: 60 minutes)

This lecture (Google Slides) covers the End of WWII. Take your PPT to the next level by guiding students through major events like D-Day, V-E Day, Island Hopping, The Atomic bomb, and more... but that isn't all. Students will need to think deeply and apply what they learned by choosing images of material items ("artifacts") to put in a time capsule representing each event. They will explain the items and why they were chosen to represent each event. Each slide of the lecture includes detailed information and embedded videos to engage students and bring the topic alive.

Topics include

• The Surrender of Italy (sample time capsule completed)
• D-Day
• The path to V-E Day
• Island Hopping in the Pacific
• The Atomic Bomb
• Surrender of Japan (V-J Day)
• Major conferences: Casablanca, Tehran, Yalta & Potsdam

SUGGESTED HOMEWORK/EXTENSION WWII Crash Course EdPuzzle + Doodle Notes

Students will answer the questions on EdPuzzle & illustrate their answer for each question on binder paper. Make a copy of the EdPuzzle to assign to your class.

19. PPT: WORLD WAR II (approx time: 90 minutes)

KC 8.8 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 28; Spielvogel CH 27

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Context: The world before WWII
• Spanish Civil War
• Appeasement & the dictators' aggression
• Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact & Invasion of Poland
• Major Battles: Blitzkrieg & the Fall of France, Battle of Britain, Leningrad, Stalingrad, El-Alamein, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, etc.
• War in the Pacific: Rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, Midway, Iwo Jima & Okinawa, incendiary bombs and the atomic bomb
• The human cost: Holocaust, medical experiments & Nuremberg Trials and chart analysis of costs

20. The Holocaust Investigation Stations (approx time: 2 days)

KC 8.9 - TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT: McKay CH 28; Kagan CH 28; Spielvogel CH 27

This digital "Investigation Stations" activity allows students to dive deeper into important aspects of the Holocaust. They will analyze primary sources, secondary sources, images, and charts to learn about the escalation of persecution, ghettos & camps, resistance, medical experiments & the Nuremberg Trials.

This resource includes 28 pages of information and a 4 page digital or printable worksheet. Answer Key included.

5 STATIONS:

1. Escalation of Persecution: Mein Kampf, Nuremberg & other laws, Kristallnacht (a 13-year-old's account) & the Wannsee Conference.
2. Camps & Ghettos: images & a secondary source on the conditions in the ghettos; a first-hand account of life in Auschwitz
3. Resistance: The Warsaw Uprising, the White Rose & spiritual resistance
4. Medical Experiments: Dr. Mengele, twin studies, list of medical experiments, images, Unit 731 (Japan)
5. Responsibility & Blame: overview of the Nuremberg Trials. List of defendants and excerpts from their testimonies, excerpt from Ordinary Men about cowardice.

Reflection questions:

1. How did the Nazis intensify their persecution of the Jews as time went on? Give at least 3 examples.
2. How did the Nazis dehumanize the Jews? Why was this dehumanization necessary to carry out their plans?
3. Where should the line between following orders and taking responsibility be drawn? Why did so few people resist Hitler’s plans/policies?

TEACHER TIPS:

This assignment is best done over 2 days. Students should spend around 15 minutes on each “station.” The worksheet can be done digitally or printed and filled out by hand. Stations: In person, you can print the handouts & put the info in file folders for students to pass around the room as they complete each station rotation. Pre, COVID,  I printed everything on off-white cardstock to give it more of an aged look & cut out the images. The students passed around manila folders with the info and analyzed as a group. You can also post the info digitally, but having a hard copy (I laminated it so I could re-use them) does add to the overall effect of doing the “investigation.”

SUGGESTED HOMEWORK/EXTENSION:

THE PATH TO NAZI GENOCIDE EdPuzzle (38 minutes)

You will need to make a copy and assign to your class through EdPuzzle -- do not post this link or you won’t be able to see students’ results!

21. Unit 8 Timeline Review [BONUS RESOURCE] -- This one is pretty lengthy, so it’s a good idea to assign at the beginning of the unit or maybe break it into chunks

Assignment LINKED (you will need to make a copy). This can be distributed as a reference for students or you can require students to fill it in as a study guide for the unit.

Why do timelines matter? As an AP Exam Reader, I learned that many students lose out on points because they do not have a chronological understanding and use evidence from outside the time of the question. By having students review timelines (not to memorize dates but to understand the flow of events), they maximize their chances of picking relevant examples on free response questions and can make better inferences on multiple choice questions. 

22. Review Challenge

This activity covers main ideas from the unit and allows students to develop critical thinking skills that can be helpful on the exam. Question types include chronology of events (to practice deducing and reviewing the flow of events), T or F, fill in the blank, and quote identification. It is suggested you allow no more than 30 minutes for students to complete, working in groups. Then, exchange papers and have students peer grade. I like to give prizes to the team(s) with the most correct answers!

ASSESSMENT: 

MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAM - 75 questions (click the link to access the exam. You will need to make a copy to modify the questions)

NOTE: This exam (and unit) can be broken into chunks. The question breakdown is as follows:

→ # 1 - 20: World War I

→ #21 - 31: Russian Revolution, Lenin & Stalin

→ # 32 - 57: 1920s & 1930s Politics & Culture (including the rise of Totalitarianism)

→ # 58 - 75: World War II

LEQs: 3 sets of questions with 3 questions each (9 total) addressing all historical thinking skills

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Looking for extra AP Euro DBQs? I have a set of 9 original DBQs. Check out all my AP European History Resources HERE.

I am posting a full year of AP Euro Curriculum this Summer. Please follow my store to get notifications when new resources are released.

Please let me know if you have questions. You can email me at yeoldeushistoryshoppe@gmail.com and I am happy to help.

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