{"id":103,"date":"2009-01-01T17:40:31","date_gmt":"2009-01-01T22:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/materamabilis.org\/ma\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2024-07-16T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T20:24:49","slug":"20th-century-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/materamabilis.org\/ma\/subjects\/history\/20th-century-history\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Century World History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: New, updated, 20th century world history plans were added to the Mater Amabilis site in 2024. See those plans here.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Note: Broken links are being updated as the volunteer team has time. See archived page<\/a> for missing links.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\r\n

This year’s history study focuses on the twentieth century. Studying modern history has certain difficulties that do not apply to earlier periods:<\/p>\r\n

(1) Most history texts stop either at the beginning or in the middle of the twentieth century.<\/p>\r\n

(2) Those books that cover the whole century are more suitable for high school or adult reading, rather than younger teenagers.<\/p>\r\n

(3) The nature of twentieth century history means that secular books with material sufficiently challenging for this age group will almost always have problematic sections or images.<\/p>\r\n

(4) Books covering the entire century from a Catholic perspective simply aren’t available.<\/p>\r\n

Due to the lack of a narrative text suitable for this level to provide an overview of world history for this level we have arranged this course as a series of units from which you can choose. We recommend that each student studies the history of their own country (USA or Britain) for twelve weeks during the first term, and follow this up with four six-week units chosen from the following list of topics:<\/p>\r\n

First World War<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Second World War<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Russia and the Fall of Communism<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

China<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

South East Asia (India, Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

For World War I, World War II and the Middle East, complete units divided into eighteen lessons are available; for the other topics we have provided lists of resources, and hope to add full lesson plans later.<\/p>\r\n

If you would like a recommended course of study, we suggest:<\/p>\r\n

(1) Second World War<\/p>\r\n

(2) Russia or China<\/p>\r\n

(3) First World War or South East Asia<\/p>\r\n

(4) Middle East or South Africa<\/p>\r\n

These units rely heavily on primary source material (original documents from the period being studied). Where possible we have used books from the Witness to History series recently published by Heinemann. These short books on a number of twentieth century history topics consist of double page spreads, with a brief introduction to an aspect of the topic complemented by an extract from an original document. You can see a sample here<\/a>. They include sources from different perspectives, ranging from eyewitness accounts to newspaper reports and extracts from speeches and official documents. We have supplemented these with other accounts and documents that can be found online, including Catholic sources where possible.<\/p>\r\n

Time requirement:<\/strong> Three lessons weekly, of approximately 45 minutes each, plus supplementary reading.<\/p>\r\n

Teacher involvement:<\/strong> While students can study the material alone, it is important to remember that twentieth century history is a heavy subject that includes distressing and emotive topics. Please make time to follow up your child’s history lessons with some discussion about what they are learning. This does not need to be formal discussion: conversation while doing dishes would be fine!<\/p>\r\n

Key Resources<\/span><\/strong> (Key Texts for individual study units are listed separately)<\/p>\r\n

US: * The Century for Young People<\/strong><\/a>, by Peter Jennings<\/p>\r\n

UK: * Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland, Section 5: A Century of Change<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

(also published as a separate volume, A Century of Change<\/strong> by James Mason)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Witness to History: The Troubles in Northern Ireland<\/strong> by Tony Allan<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Recommended Resource<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia <\/a><\/em>(formerly published as Kingfisher History of the World), or similar history encyclopedia<\/p>\r\n

Note: Selections from this book are listed for some units. They provide a useful introduction to certain topics, but are not an essential element of the course.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Suggested Reference Works<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are a number of books available providing newspaper style reports, photographic illustrations or eyewitness accounts of the twentieth century. We recommend having at least one of these additional reference books to hand.<\/p>\r\n

Note: The nature of the subject matter means that there may be problematic information or images in these books. We have not thoroughly previewed them<\/span>, as the criteria people use for judging suitability for this age group varies so widely. Items we consider acceptable, you may not; and vice versa. Please review any of these books that you plan to use and exercise your own judgment. Many of these were published at the end of the twentieth century and are now out of print, but are likely to be easily available used or through libraries. Any other similar book(s) can be substituted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

20th Century Day by Day<\/a>\u00a0]<\/em>Dorling Kindersley] – US edition (available from Sonlight), or UK edition as appropriate (previous title Chronicle of the 20th Century)<\/p>\r\n

20th Century: a Visual History<\/a><\/em> by Simon Adams (pub.Dorling Kindersley)<\/p>\r\n

National Geographic: Eyewitness to the 20th Century<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n

LIFE: Our Century in Pictures<\/a><\/em> by Tony Chiu<\/p>\r\n

Children’s History of the 20th Century<\/a><\/em> (pub.Dorling Kindersley)<\/p>\r\n

Eyewitness: the 20th Century<\/em> (Eyewitness Accounts of the Moments that Shaped Our Century), by Jon E. Lewis [Robinson]<\/p>\r\n

Usborne Illustrated Atlas of the 20th Century<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Useful Links<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

About: 20th Century History<\/a> – links to many topics and sites about individuals. Includes very useful timeline and map links.<\/p>\r\n

Modern History Sourcebook<\/a> – hundreds of primary source documents<\/p>\r\n

This course makes use of a number of articles and primary source documents available through websites. You may wish to print these at the beginning of a unit ready for your student to use.<\/p>\r\n

Lesson Format<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n