Woodrow Wilson
Courtesy of American Memory
(Library of Congress)

 
 
Subject Areas
History and Social Studies
   U.S. History - Civics and U.S. Government
   U.S. History - World War I
 
Time Required
  U.S. Entry into World War I: A Documentary Chronology:
The teacher-directed portion ends at the beginning of the second lesson. The length of time required for completion of storyboards and slideshows in lesson three will vary
 
Skills
  Communication
Critical thinking
Graphic representation of information
Information gathering
Making inferences and drawing conclusions
Working collaboratively
 
Additional Data
  Date Created: 05/26/03

United States Entry into World War I: A Documentary Chronology

—Curriculum Unit Overview—

Introduction

American foreign policy continues to resonate with the issues involved in the entry of the United States into World War I-unilateralism versus foreign alliances, the responsibilities of power, the influence of the military-industrial complex on foreign policy, the use of force to accomplish idealistic goals. Understanding the choices the Wilson administration made and their consequences provides insight into international affairs in the years since the end of the Great War and beyond.

In this curriculum unit, students reconsider the events leading to U.S. entry into World War I through the lens of archival documents.

Note: This unit may be taught either as a stand-alone lesson or as a prequel to the complementary EDSITEment curriculum unit The Debate in the United States Over the League of Nations. It may also be taught in conjunction with the EDSITEment curriculum units African Americans Soldiers in World War I: The 92nd and 93rd Divisions and African American Soldiers After World War I: Had Race Relations Changed?.

Guiding Questions:

What important events led to U.S. involvement in World War I?

What is the most compelling evidence explaining why the U.S. entered World War I?

Learning Objectives

After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:
  • List important events leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
  • Take a stand on a hypothesis for U.S. entry into World War I, supported by specific evidence.

Preparing to Teach this Curriculum Unit
  • Review the curriculum unit. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
  • Download the blackline masters for this unit, available here as a PDF file. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
  • Before printing any oversized documents, use the Print Preview function of your browser to see how each will look. Change the settings in Page Setup, as desired, by selecting Print Preview from the FILE option in your browser. Use the Print Preview function after making changes.
  • This unit is a Web quest. Given specified resources on the Internet (though not necessarily limited to those resources), student groups are challenged to create a slideshow using archival documents to tell the story of U.S. entry into World War I. No single cause would be sufficient to explain something as complex as the reasons behind U.S. entry into World War I. It's difficult to discuss the reasons, however, without talking about them separately. In this lesson, the students are looking for primary causes and a way to understand the process by which the U.S. entered World War I.
  • This unit is intended for students familiar with the basic facts about World War I.
  • For background on the entry of the U.S. into World War I, read the following essays from "An Outline of American History" (USIA, 1994), available on From Revolution to Reconstruction, a link from the EDSITEment resource American Studies at the University of Virginia:

Unit Lesson Plans

1. United States Entry into World War I: Two Diametrically Opposed View

2. Some Hypotheses About U.S. Entry Into World War I

3. A Documentary Chronology of World War I

Extending the Lesson

Selected EDSITEment Websites

Other Information

Standards Alignment

  1. NCSS-2

    Time, continuity, and change. The ways human beings view themselves in and over time. more

  2. NCSS-5

    Individuals, groups, and institutions. more

  3. NCSS-6

    Power, authority, and governance. more

  4. NCSS-7

    Production, distribution, and consumption. more

  5. NCSS-9

    Global connections and interdependence. more

  6. NCTE/IRA-1

    Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. more

  7. NCTE/IRA-3

    Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. more

  8. NCTE/IRA-4

    Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. more

  9. NCTE/IRA-7

    Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. more

  10. NGS-13

    How the Forces of Cooperation and Conflict Among People Influence the Division and Control of Earth’s Surface

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