HOW+DO+WARS+BECOME+WORLD+WARS?

The Relationship between Diplomacy and War
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**What is diplomacy?**
“Diplomacy is the art of conducting international relations.” It is one tool in a state’s foreign policy toolbox when it comes to dealing with other nations. Diplomacy relies heavily on dialogue and negotiations to determine common interests and conflicts between nations. Many people think of diplomacy as negotiations over political interests or territorial conflict. However, diplomacy has also included business, economic, and religious purposes. As globalization has spread and communication technology has enhanced, diplomacy now encompasses everything from the colonization of space to human cloning.

Experts refer to diplomacy as an art because many techniques may be used by states to protect their interests and maximize their gains. At times, diplomacy may appear more like a chess match or poker game than a negotiation. Players may bluff, cheat, backstab, threaten, or refuse to meet in order to get what they want. In the recent negotiations over the disputed elections in Kenya, the two rival political factions argued for days about who would sit where before the negotiations even began. Likewise, negotiations take place in many different ways. Participants may sit across from each other or around a table; these sessions may be open or closed-door depending on their sensitivity. Other negotiations happen via phone, letter, through representatives or third parties, and even through the press. Obviously, this means language and culture play a huge role in negotiations. With the advent of modern technology, the art of diplomacy will become even more complicated and interesting as the years progress.

Diplomacy is essential to establish and uphold rules and procedures within the international community to preserve peace and nations’ sovereignty. It provides a framework for international law and organizations as well as a common system through which independent states can connect, collaborate and communicate with each other. Until another method is developed, diplomacy will dictate international relations and foreign policy for the foreseeable future.

Inspired by the following articles: [] [] The Future of Diplomacy Notes

**What is an alliance?**
Another tool that is used in international relations in addition to diplomacy is an alliance treaty. An alliance consists of an agreement between two or more countries to stand up for and protect each other when threatened by another country or countries. When countries agree to advocate for each other, this is an offensive alliance; to protect each other, a defensive alliance. In theory, alliances help doubly ensure a balance of power exists between nations, but it comes with great risks also. As tensions escalate between countries over conflicts of interest, they both must think twice before using military force because they may actually be declaring war on more than one nation and jeopardize themselves in the process. In addition, partner nations may use the alliance system to try and gain advantage over other nations but risk dragging unwilling partners into war simultaneously.

Inspired by: "Alliances before and during World War I" []

Upon reading these two descriptions, you may think to yourself that diplomacy and alliances are only used on the world stage. However, if you consider them more locally, you will realize that these are two basic units of human relations. How do you use diplomacy and alliances to obtain and protect your interests? How do you see others around you using diplomacy and alliances to obtain and protect their interests? Think of specific examples to share with your team and with the class.

Now back to a global perspective, think about diplomacy and alliances as follows and provide specific examples in your teams:


 * Why do you think most nations have a diplomatic corps devoted to foreign policy?
 * What do you think the life of a diplomat is like? Do you think diplomacy is easy or difficult? Why or why not?
 * Could you ever see yourself as a diplomat? Why or why not?
 * How effectively can you negotiate? What tactics would you use?
 * When do you see diplomacy and alliances coming into play internationally today? What benefits and risks do you see in these scenarios?



News Bulletin July 28, 1918

Simulation Reflection
Thinking back to the simulation, reflect on the following questions:

1. Was it easy being a diplomat when first creating alliances? 2. How did your alliances change (either for the better or the worse)? 3. What types of strategies did you use to achieve your goals? 4. Did you ever have to break promises or were you always true to your word?

As the idea of sovereign nation states started to gain hold of the European continent, it became clear that a balance of power needed to be established. There was significant instability in Europe with the differing political ideologies, competition for imperialized land, a race to become more industrialized, and distrust amongst the major powers of the region. Times were changing and even though diplomacy had been around for thousands of years, alliance strategy was of the utmost importance. Europe learned this the hard way with the outbreak of The Crimean War in 1853. Turkey knew that if it provoked a war with Russia, Great Britain and France would come to Turkey's aid based on the alliance treaties in place, even though Great Britain and France wanted nothing to do with this conflict. In an industrialized age, the potential consequences of war were so dire.

World War One (WWI), or The Great War, would change world history forever. The consequences of the war were so massive it not only impacted Europe but about every corner of the world. It was so devastating that the time after WWI is known to historians as the "Broken World." We will study this in the upcoming weeks. With that being said, let us now focus on what caused WWI. For analytical purposes, it would be great if WWI was caused by a couple of events, but this simply is not the case. The causes of WWI are many and in some cases quite complicated. Today, we will go ahead and start exploring what the world looked like just before WWI and discover the reason why WWI took place.

[| http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm] [| http://www.pvhs.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/great_war/causes.htm]
 * Homework:** Please read the articles below and complete The Great War Cause and Effect Worksheet attached below.



Think-Pair-Share Causes of WWI
At the beginning of class today you will be broken up into groups of 2-3. You will compare and contrast your "Cause of WWI Worksheet" with the others in your group. While you are comparing notes, discuss what you have learned. Your goal is to come up with the most "interesting" or most important cause of WWI and justify to your group why you believe so. Remember that when you are discussing your ideas, make sure to develop higher thinking questions for each other. Again, we want you to think as deeply as possible.

Prioritizing Causes of WWI
As a team, you will then pick three potential causes after your discussion. You must rank your causes 1-3, one being the highest, based on your group's discussion. The criteria for ranking can be either most interesting or most important. Your teacher will come around and assign each group one of the discussed causes of WWI.

Discussing the Outbreak of World War I
What was the most important cause in the outbreak of World War I? When discussing this complex question, I challenge you to defend other causes than the one you worked on over the weekend based on what you learned from your reading and the timeline gallery. I look forward to a fruitful discussion.

Living World War I--A Jigsaw Project
As always, we need to examine the course of World War I. With any military conflict, there is a conglomeration of strategy, troops, weapons, and mayhem. The following animation will let you see geographically how the war progressed and some of the major battles that took place on the Western Front.

[|Western Front Animation]

Now that you have the geography down, let's take a look at footage from the time period. You will be able to see the mobilization of troops and the impact technology had on this "modern" war. What do you think about the images you see?



Let's get a sense of what it must have been like to live this war firsthand using a strategy that I have used successfully with other classes. Your group will be given a topic, and you will be challenged to lead the class on some type of experiential activity that will allow them to see firsthand what it was like to experience that aspect of World War I. I challenge you to be as creative as possible when planning these experiences. Here are the ground rules:

1. Everyone in your group must contribute to your captivation station. 2. Your captivation station cannot last longer than 10 minutes. 3. Students must be actively involved in your captivation station.

If you meet all those requirements and effectively engage the class, you will be successful. Good luck! I look forward to experiencing your work!


 * Topics:**

[|Life in the Trenches] (scroll down to "The Trenches")

Total War and the Strategy behind World War I

Technology and Weapons of Warfare [|Weapons of War.doc] [|A New Weapon.ppt]

[|World War I Art]

[|World War I Poetry]

[|World War I Propaganda]

The following references may continue to be useful to you as you work on this project:


 * Your Textbook
 * ABC-CLIO
 * Websites:
 * [| http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/]
 * [| http://www.firstworldwar.com/]
 * [| http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/w1frm.htm]
 * [| http://www.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lect15.htm]
 * []
 * Or any others that you find interesting, but please make sure that they are credible. Ask your teachers if you are unsure about any source.



__Make-up Assignment for French Trip Participants__
You will complete a writing assignment (see below) as a captivation for our class on Monday. It must be a quality piece of work that will be assessed under Criterion D: Organization and Presentation. You must follow the directions carefully and have the work ready to share with me at the beginning of class on Monday. If you need it printed out, you must ask me to do so before school or during break.
 * Directions:**

1. Read the packet that I have given you about the role imperialism played in World War I.

2. During the next step, you will create what is known as a RAFT. "What is a RAFT you ask?," well it will be a lot like the "Ant Farm Diaries" that we used during the French Revolution but not quite as complex. The term RAFT is an acronym that stands for:


 * R= Role of the writer:** What is the writer's role? Examples: reporter, observer, victim, eyewitness, etc.
 * A= Audience:** Who will be reading this writing? Examples: yourself, foreign leader, parents, friends, the community, the enemy, etc.
 * F= Format:** What is the best way to present this writing? Examples: diary entry, letter, peom (I know you love that one!), a report, etc.
 * T= Topic:** Who or what is the subject matter of this writing? Hmmm, let's think of something good. How about WWI and non-European countries?

(a) For the first step of this assignment, you must decide on each part of the RAFT. Your character must be from the reading that you have just completed. Write down your ideas for the RAFT (example below), and present it to your teacher. He will either approve it or tell you to go back to the drawing board. Examples would look like:

R= Ottoman Empire Soldier A= Australian Soldier F= Letter in a Bottle T= The Holy Land and what it means to me! at the Battle of Gallipoli

(b) When you submit your RAFT on Monday, leave out the RAFT descriptions. I want students to have to guess the RAFT when they read your work. You will then reveal the RAFT to us all at the end of the activity.

Guiding Questions
Before we get to the actual events of World War II, we will start off by looking at what caused it. As we have just studied, the world was in a state of shock from 1900 to 1940. The Great Depression suffocated economies around the world. Many injustices such as the British occupation of India were being challenged by the world. Other countries such as Turkey were simply trying to find their identity. To name the early 20th century "the broken world" is all too fitting and led to people looking for **new** answers to old questions. One of the first questions was how were countries going to stabilize themselves?

First, look at what was happening with the major powers of the time period. It was proving that capitalism was failing in places like the U.S., Great Britain, and France. This was mainly due to the recession and eventually depression that comes along with capitalism. The Communist state of Russia was appearing to be more of a threat than an answer (at least to the powerful Western European countries). You have to remember that the social structure of Europe had just went through a huge metamorphosis and those that had gained power through capitalist means were not willing to give up their wealth. Since the majority of the population in Europe was extremely poor, there was a reason why they now would look to Communism as an answer. Therefore, Communists were viewed as a threat by the democratic leaders in most societies, but they carried great sway with rural and working class populations. As the old saying goes, as one door closes another one opens. To balance the tug-of-war between democracy and communism, a new door would open leading to the political theories of //Fascism//.

To begin the unit, we will first explore the ideas of Fascism. Below is a list of questions that we want you to think about while exploring the issue. So here we go!

1. What is Fascism? 2. Why was Germany and Italy the perfect place for Fascism to grow and thrive? 3. In your opinion do you see how a Fascist government would be appealing to the masses? Why or why not? 4. What are some of the major characteristic of Fascism?

Before we begin let us look at how Fascist you are! Click in this link for a [|Fascist personality test!]

14 Characteristics of Fascism
Today during class, you will first look at the list that examines the characteristics of Fascism created by Dr. Britt. For more information about the sources, look at the end of the article*.

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.


 * Information above was taken directly from an article that was produced by Dr. Lawrence Britt in //Free Inquiry// magazine, //Volume 23, Number 2.//** Or click on the link provided[| here] for more information.


 * Your Question:** Why did Fascism become such a powerful philosophy in Germany, Italy, Spain and in some ways, Japan?

We will start on a simulation that will we will call **"//A League of their Own: What would you do?//"** Follow the steps below: 1. You will be assigned a country. 2. Read the following documents in the perspective of your assigned country. Make sure and answer the questions at the bottom of each of the readings. The readings are below the country assignments. 3. Next class we will act out the League of Nations and go through each scenario using a Socratic Seminar format. Check out the following links to review how to actively participate in a Socratic Seminar.


 * Country Assignments:**
 * United States (Note: The U.S. never joined the League of Nations due to domestic opposition, but they did play an international role.)
 * France
 * Italy
 * Great Britain
 * Russia (Note: In reality you were kicked out of the league of nations in 1939, but for this simulation we will keep you in.)
 * Germany
 * Japan (Note: Withdrew in 1933, but again for this simulation we will have you represent Japan.)
 * Czechoslovakia
 * Poland
 * Ethiopia
 * Austria
 * Spain

[|Pre-WWII Situation 1 Revised.doc]

[|Pre-WWII Situation 2 Revised.doc]

[|Pre-WWII Siuation 3.doc]

[|Pre-WWII Situation 4 Revised.doc]


 * Homework:** Prepare Simulation Readings for League of Nations Simulation

How the Allies Won Breakout
A brilliant professor at the University of Exeter, Dr. Richard Overy, wrote a fascinating analysis where he explored the guiding question we just asked you: "[|How the Allies Won]." While it is recommended that you read his analysis, today you will become an expert on one of his main thesis points and learn about his other points from your classmates in a jigsaw breakout session. Counting off in threes, you will divide into three large groups examining one of his points. Together, you will read through it and take notes on his main ideas in a summary format. After 10 minutes, you will be asked to team up with two experts on the other topics and share your summaries with each other in 10 minutes or less. Teams should become experts on the following texts as follows:

1. [|Soviet Transformation]

2. [|American Power]

3. [|German Errors]

There will be two groups for this project: Captivators and RAFTers. If you captivated during WWI, you are now a RAFTer and vice-versa.


 * Captivation Station Directions**

You will complete a writing assignment (see below) as a captivation for our class on Thursday. It must be a quality piece of work that will be assessed under Criterion D: Organization and Presentation. You must follow the directions carefully and have the work ready to share with me at the beginning of class on Monday. If you need it printed out, you must ask me to do so before school or during break.
 * RAFT Directions:**

1. Read your assigned article about WWII. [|ABC-CLIO] Username: KIS Password: Welcome Click on Eras --> World at War --> "Blitzkrieg in Europe" or "Japan at War"

2. During the next step, you will create what is known as a RAFT. "What is a RAFT you ask?," well it will be a lot like the "Ant Farm Diaries" that we used during the French Revolution but not quite as complex. The term RAFT is an acronym that stands for:


 * R= Role of the writer:** What is the writer's role? Examples: reporter, observer, victim, eyewitness, etc.
 * A= Audience:** Who will be reading this writing? Examples: yourself, foreign leader, parents, friends, the community, the enemy, etc.
 * F= Format:** What is the best way to present this writing? Examples: diary entry, letter, peom (I know you love that one!), a report, etc.
 * T= Topic:** Who or what is the subject matter of this writing? Hmmm, let's think of something good. How about WWI and non-European countries?

(a) For the first step of this assignment, you must decide on each part of the RAFT. Your character must be from the reading that you have just completed. Write down your ideas for the RAFT (example below), and present it to your teacher. He will either approve it or tell you to go back to the drawing board. Examples would look like:

R= Japanese Military Officer A= Son F= Letter describing his experience in the war T= The Attack at Nanjing

(b) When you submit your RAFT on Monday, leave out the RAFT descriptions. I want students to have to guess the RAFT when they read your work. You will then reveal the RAFT to us all at the end of the activity.

Some Final Numbers
**Jews Killed Under Nazi Rule**
 * || **Original Jewish Pop.** || **Jews Killed** || **Percent Surviving** ||
 * **Poland** || 3,300,000 || 3,000,000 || 10% ||
 * **Soviet Union** || 2,850,000 || 1,252,000 || 56% ||
 * **Hungary** || 650,000 || 450,000 || 30% ||
 * **Romania** || 600,000 || 300,000 || 50% ||
 * **Germany/Austria** || 240,000 || 200,000 || 16.3% ||

**Costs of World War II: Allies and Axis** (in billions)** || **Military Killed/Missing** || **Civilians Killed** ||
 * || **Direct War Costs
 * **USA** || $288 || 292,131 ||  ||
 * **Great Britain** || $117 || 271,311 || 60,595 ||
 * **France** || $111.3 || 205,707 || 173,260 ||
 * **USSR** || $93 || 13,600,00 || 7,720,000 ||
 * **Germany** || $212.3 || 3,300,000 || 2,893,000 ||
 * **Japan** || $41.3 || 1,140,429 || 953,000 ||