Oklahoma Social Studies MWH.C.6.1.B
The Standard
- MWH.C.6
- Evaluate the global transformation created by the World Wars.
- MWH.C.6.1
- Analyze the underlying causes and significant events of World War I.
Summarize the significant events of World War I and why the conflict was considered a total war (e.g., use of industrial and chemical weapons, prolonged trench warfare, expansion into a global conflict) with a focus on the war’s significant turning points (e.g., Battles of the Marne, Verdun, the Somme).
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · MWH.C.6.1
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how the Marne halted Germany's advance, Verdun and the Somme wore down armies, and U.S. entry helped shift the war. They explain how trenches, industrial weapons, gas, civilian labor, and fighting beyond Europe made it a total war.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can put key events in order and explain why the Marne mattered without calling it the end of the war. They can use Verdun and the Somme to explain a war of attrition, then name ways civilians and industry supported the fighting.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think the Somme produced a quick victory or that gas caused most battlefield deaths. Some take total war to mean that every person fought, rather than that governments drew on whole societies to sustain the war.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: How did the Marne, Verdun, and the Somme shape the war? Give two examples of what made it a total war.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place battle cards on a Europe map, then use red string to mark the stalled Western Front after the Marne.
Show a factory photo and a trench photo; ask, "Why does calling this only a soldiers' war miss part of the story?"
Run a card sort: order the Marne, Verdun, the Somme, U.S. entry, and the armistice, then match each to a consequence.
Print a 1917 war bond ad from a local newspaper; ask what civilians were asked to contribute and how bonds funded the army.
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Related Standards
- MWH.C.6.2
Evaluate the lasting effects of World War I.
- MWH.C.6.1
Analyze the underlying causes and significant events of World War I.
- MWH.C.6.1.A
Describe complex and multiple causes of World War I, including militarism, nationalism, industrial and colonial competition, Europe’s alliance system, and the i...
- 8.C.12.4
Summarize the significance of key battles and turning points of the Civil War.
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