The Rise of Totalitarian Regimes in the 20^th Century

Project Save

Frederick Douglass Academy

Mr. Devery

pdevery@schools.nyc.gov

The Twentieth Century saw the rise of Totalitarian regimes in all corners of the world. From the development of Fascism, to the birth and death of Communism, Totalitarian regimes dominated Twentieth Century politics in ways never seen before. Leaders such as Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot ruled as absolute leaders. They crushed opposition, committed human and civil rights violations, and largely were unscathed. How is it that regimes like this were able to come to power and implement such ruthless policies that to us seem inhumane and undemocratic? It is this question that you will attempt to answer.

The principal has decided that there should be a special ceremony on Memorial Day this year. To this end, he has asked that students in your class make presentations to all the students in school concerning the reason why American servicemen and women gave their lives in combat.

Your group has been assigned to make a presentation concerning the dangers America faced from totalitarian governments during the 20^th century. It was the threat from these regimes that caused the U.S. to enter many of the wars it became involved with during the past century. Your group will build a PowerPoint presentation that will explain this threat to world peace and how successful the world community was in meeting the challenges posed.

First you will be partnered off in groups of five. Each group will be assigned a different regime to study and each group member will have to contribute equally to earn any credit whatsoever. Every group will have to contribute a PowerPoint presentation as if they were making pitch to the United Nations Security Council.

Each of you will have a role to play within your group:

TWO RESEARCHERS-These students will access the resource sites, take notes and complete the GHPPA worksheets. These worksheets will then be given to the Power point creator. All group members may take part in research but the researcher will coordinate completion of the worksheets. These students must be good internet researchers and have an in-depth understanding of the different causes led to the rise of totalitarian governments.

ONE- POWER POINT CREATOR-This student will complete the power point slides using the data from the GHPPA worksheets and from the input of the two researchers. This student will also be TIME KEEPER and make sure the group is on task and on deadline. The power point must include an appropriate number of steps from the GHPPA with a focus on step # 4.

TWO ORAL PRESENTERS & ORGANIZERS-These students will coordinate the oral presentation, create a script and construct props along with acquiring detailed knowledge of the power point slides. These students may delegate responsibilities to other group members for completion of the 10 minute presentation. The group presenters MUST use all the completed steps in the GHPPA accompanied by citations as necessary – check this item with the teacher.

Your PowerPoint presentation to the Security Council should be a minimum of 8 slides using the Global Public Policy analyst that explains the following:

· Identify the social problems faced by the country you are reporting on before the rise of the totalitarian government

· Describe how the government tried to deal with these issues

· Analyze how effective the totalitarian regime was in dealing with these issues- positive and negative considerations should be listed.

In order to fully prepare yourself for the Security Council presentation you must complete the 5-step Global History Public Policy Analyst to address the issues outline above. Complete the four worksheets for each of the steps.

· Identify the problem –What problems did the nation face?

· Gather the Evidence-You research the problem(s) faced by the country and gather proof that the problem really did exist- you may find that there really wasn’t a serious problem, but that the leaders made it seem serious to the people.

· Determine the Causes Here you determine the real causes for the country’s problem

· Evaluate the Policy In this section you judge the policies that the totalitarian governments came up with to deal with the nation’s problems. You need to consider the good and bad features of these policies. Remember to consider the impact on individual liberties and freedoms. You will also need to consider the reaction of other people and nations to the policies taken by the totalitarian regime.

· Do a Comparative Analysis of 20^th century totalitarian governments with similar situations today

Here is a list of websites that you can use in your research in your completion of the four worksheets.

:

Pol Pot & Rise of Khmer Rouge

Skulls of victims from Cambodian genocide

Links to information of Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge

http://www.cambodia.org/khmer_rouge/

http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/index.html

http://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/about-us.html

http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_cambodia.html

Rise of Hitler & Nazism in Germany

Websites on Hitler & Holocaust

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/genocide/holocaust_overview_01.shtml

List of Holocaust websites http://www.auschwitz.dk/id20.htm

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143

Mao Zedong & the Cultural Revolution

Links to information on Mao Zedong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward

http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/960314/china.shtml

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CHINAcultural.htm

http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch25prc.html

Josef STALIN & THE SOVIET UNION

Research sites on Josef Stalin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

Pictures of the Gulag & Prisoners http://www.jamestown.org/getman_paintings.php?painting_id=36

Great sites on Stalin’s life http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/book.html & http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSstalin.htm

Death totals of under Stalin http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Stalin

Paintings of the Great Famine http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm

Search Engines:

www.google.com

Evaluation with Rubric:

Your groups presentation to the Security Council will be graded on the following rubric.

	Needs Improvement Excellent
Research Do your responses to the worksheet questions to address the problem and evidence of the problem reflect thorough, careful research?	1 2 3 4 5
Analysis Process Do your PPA worksheets reflect a well-thought-out analysis of the problem and development of policy?	1 2 3 4 5
Power Point Presentation	All groups will have their PowerPoint Presentations graded on a separate Rubric specifically for the Presentations. Rubric is attached here: PowerPoint Guidelines.doc
Public Policy Have you formulated effective, feasible public policy in response to the problem?	1 2 3 4 5
Group Work and Class Presentation Have you conducted yourselves professionally during class time while doing your research and while presenting your findings to the class?	1 2 3 4 5

23-25 points A

20-22 points A-

17-20 points B

14-16 points B-

10-13 points C

5-10 points D

0-5 points F

At the end of this project, you will have accomplished the following:

1.Completed all five worksheets of the 5-step Global History Public Policy Analysis.

2.Completed a power point presentation worthy of a United Nations Security Council presentation.

3.Learned how to use the Internet and the library as vital sources

Standards:

New York State Social Studies Standards: Global History & Geography

Standard 2 World history

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history from variety of viewpoints.

New York State English Language Arts Standards

E1c Reads and comprehends information materials.

E2a Produce a report of information.

E3b Participate in group meetings.

E6a Critique public documents with an eye to strategies common in public discourse.

E6b Produce public documents.

E7a Critique functional documents with an eye to strategies common to effective functional documents.

E7b Produce functional documents appropriate to audience and purpose.