Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

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List of Benchmarks for World History

Standard 39.Understands the causes and global consequences of World War I
  Level II (Grade 5-6)
   1. Understands the origins and significant features of World War I (e.g., the precipitating causes of the war; the factors that led to military stalemate in some areas; which countries joined each of the two alliances - the Allied Powers and the Central Powers - and the advantages and disadvantages for the formation of alliances; major areas of combat in Europe and Southwest Asia)
   2. Understands the immediate and long-term consequences of World War I (e.g., the principal theaters of conflict in World War I in Europe, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, and the South Pacific; major turning points in the war; the short-term demographic, social, economic, and environmental consequences of the war's violence and destruction; the hardships of trench warfare)
   3. Understands the roles of significant individuals, and the events that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 (e.g., causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and how the revolutionary government progressed from moderate to radical; the historical importance of Russian leaders such as Tsar Nicholas II, Rasputin, and Lenin)
   4. Understands the rise of Joseph Stalin, and his impact on the Soviet Union (e.g., how Joseph Stalin came to and maintained power in the Soviet Union, and how his projects [collectivization, the first Five Year Plan] disrupted and transformed Soviet society in the 1920s and 1930s; what life was like for common people under Stalin's rule)
   5. Understands how the homefront contributed to World War I (e.g., how massive industrial production and innovations in military technology affected strategy and tactics, and the scale, duration, brutality, and efficiency of the war)
  Level III (Grade 7-8)
   1. Understands events that contributed to the outbreak of World War I (e.g., diverse long-range causes of World War I, such as political and economic rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, militarism, imperialism, and nationalism; how nationalism threatened the balance of power among the Great Powers in Europe, and why it was considered one of the causes of World War I)
   2. Understands ways in which popular faith in science, technology, and material progress affected attitudes toward the possibility of war among European states
   3. Understands the role of the U.S. and other countries in World War I (e.g., how the Russian Revolution and the entry of the United States affected the course and outcome of the war, motivations behind the entrance of the U.S. into the war)
   4. Understands the influence of Lenin and Stalin on the government, economy, and social conditions in Russia and the Soviet Union after the Revolution of 1917 (e.g., the effects of Lenin's New Economic Policy on Soviet society, economy, and government; why and how Stalin changed Lenin's policy and forced collectivization, and the consequences of resistance to this policy for the kulaks; how people who were persecuted survived during Stalin's purges)
   5. Understands how different countries were aligned during World War I (e.g., the systems of alliances through which Europe organized itself into World War I, the role militarism played in these alliances, and the reasons for the war's expansion beyond European boundaries to become a world war; immediate causes for the entry of different nations into World War I)
   6. Understands the role of Tsar Nicholas II and Rasputin prior to and during the Russian Revolution of 1917 (e.g., the biography of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, including how they died; the role the monk Rasputin played in determining Russian policy, and his influence on the royal court)
  Level IV (Grade 9-12)
   1. Understands arguments and theories regarding the causes of World War I (e.g., the role of social and class conflict leading to World War I; how primary and secondary sources illustrate the arguments presented by leaders on the eve of the Great War; why and how political leaders in European nations felt aggressive foreign policy, and the advocation of war, would help subdue domestic discontent and disorder; the arguments for and against war used by diverse political groups and figures in European countries)
   2. Understands the extent to which different sources supported the war effort (e.g., how nationalism and propaganda helped mobilize civilian populations to support "total war;" ways in which colonial peoples contributed to the war effort of the Allies and the Central Powers by providing military forces and supplies, and what this effort might have meant to colonial subjects; the effectiveness of propaganda to gain support from neutral nations; how and why original support and enthusiasm to support the war deteriorated)
   3. Understands Lenin's ideology and policies and their impact on Russia after the Revolution of 1917 (e.g., Lenin's political ideology and how the Bolsheviks adapted Marxist ideas to conditions particular to Russia; why Lenin declined to follow Marxist economic philosophy; the platforms and promises of Kerenksy and Lenin in 1917, the impact of war upon Kerensky's program, and the importance of Lenin's promise, "land, bread, peace"; how statistics on women in the labor force and education contradict Lenin's statements concerning women's equality)
   4. Understands the impact of the Russian Revolution on other countries (e.g., the challenge that revolutionary Russia posed to Western governments; the impact of the Bolshevik victory on world labor movements; how the Red Russians, White Russians, British, French, and Japanese viewed the Russian Revolution)
   5. Understands the role of Stalin in the emerging Soviet Union (e.g., to what degree Stalin was able to accomplish his goal of bringing the USSR to industrial parity with the West, the unique problems in industrialization Stalin faced, and how this model differed from those of Western nations; what primary sources reveal about the human cost of Stalinist totalitarianism in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s)
   6. Understands the Schlieffen Plan and whether it contributed to a military stalemate
   7. Understands the strategies of the Allied and Central Powers at the beginning of the war, when these strategies changed, and how
   8. Understands the human cost and social impact of World War I (e.g., what sources, such as letters and books, illustrate about the mental and physical costs of the war to soldiers around the world; how the casualty figures for World War I compare to other wars, and reasons for the high casualty rate; the changes in women's roles during the Great War)