Another Year Done!

Done, done, done: co-op is done for another year!! (***Doing a happy dance***) Another three weeks, and school will be officially OUT for us. We have worked so hard this year... time for a break!

My 8th/9th grade history class had their final today. This year we studied the 20th century, which in many ways was new territory for me. The only 20th century topics I can remember studying in school were civil rights and women's rights ad nauseum. I picked up other bits and pieces of 20th century history along the way because I enjoy history, but this year, I was finally able to put all the pieces together to see the big picture. It was fascinating, if a little depressing. It was also a little weird to teach things that I personally remember, like the fall of the Berlin Wall. That's already ancient history to these kids! Sigh. Want to test your own knowledge? Here's a portion of their Final dealing with the Cold War (answers are below):

Fill in the blanks:

Near the end of WWII, the Allied leaders, ____________________ from the United States, ____________________ from the USSR and ________________________ from Great Britain gathered at the _____________ Conference to decide what to do after the war. They made many important decisions. They decided to form an organization called the________________ _____________ to help keep future peace. Unlike the League of Nations, which had been formed after WWI, the US joined this new organization, which could raise an army from its members to enforce its decisions. They also decided to divide up the country of Germany into four zones. The countries of France, Great Britain, ___________________ and ______________________ would each control one zone. The goal was to fix up the country and then unite the zones into one new country. Other places were also divided, such as some of Japan’s colonies. For example, Korea was divided on the _______ parallel. The USSR controlled __________ Korea and the United States controlled __________ Korea.

After WWII, the _______________________and the ___________ were the two most powerful countries in the world. In fact, they were nicknamed Superpowers. These two countries were very different. The USSR was a _______________ government, meaning that all social and economic activity was controlled by the State. (They became this way after a man named ___________ led a revolution during WWI and overthrew Czar ________________. The new form of government was based on the ideas of a man named ___________.) In contrast, the US government was a _________________ (where people vote) and had an economic system called _______________ in which private individuals and businesses have the right to own, trade and produce goods in a free market.

The US and USSR became enemies. Roughly half the world was on the side of the US and half was on the side of the USSR. The countries on the US' side formed an alliance called _________ and the countries on the USSR’s side formed an alliance called the _____________ ______________. In order to help make sure countries joined their alliance, the US gave billions of dollars to Western Europe in an economic recovery plan called the ___________ ___________ which was named after _____________ _______________. Although the US and USSR were enemies, they never fought each other. This period of conflict and competition between the two Superpowers and their allies was called the ______ ______. They were both afraid of each other because both had _________ ____________.

Meanwhile, three of the countries controlling Germany combined their zones in 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany, which was also called _________ Germany. The USSR did not want to relinquish its control in Germany and formed the German Democratic Republic, which was also called __________ Germany. Many Germans did not want to live under the Soviet style of government and tried to flee to the other half of the country. In order to stop this flood of refugees, a barrier called the ___________ _________ was built, dividing Germany. Germany remained divided until _______.

Answers:

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Yalta, United Nations, USA & USSR, 38th, North, South

USA & USSR, communist, Lenin, Nicholas II, Marx, democracy, capitalism

NATO, Warsaw Pact, Marshall Plan, George Marshall, Cold War, nuclear weapons

West, East, Berlin Wall, 1989