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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 15

World War I

Causes, trenches and the peace

What your child practices

The causes of World War I, why the United States entered in 1917, new weapons and trench warfare, the Harlem Hellfighters, wartime limits on civil liberties, and the debate over the Treaty of Versailles.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 8.4a; 8.4b; 8.4c; 8.4d · the causes and course of World War I, the decision to enter it, its effects at home and the return to isolationism

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. World War I (1914–1918) had causes such as militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism; soldiers fought from trenches.
  2. The US joined in 1917 after Germany returned to unrestricted submarine warfare, attacking ships near Britain.
  3. In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Court ruled that speech creating a “clear and present danger” can be limited.

Example: Why did unrestricted submarine warfare push the US into the war? German submarines would attack any ship near Britain. That included American ships. Americans were killed, and the US entered the war in 1917. Answer: Germany would attack American ships.

World War I in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 6 of 15 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Expansion & Empire and before The Roaring Twenties.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    In trench warfare,…

    • battles lasted an hour
    • soldiers fought only at sea
    • soldiers fought from long ditches, and neither side could easily advance
    • armies marched in open fields

  2. Question 2

    President Wilson's Fourteen Points included a plan for…

    • a German empire
    • a new US state
    • a canal across Europe
    • a League of Nations to keep the peace

  3. Question 3

    The Treaty of Versailles made Germany…

    • the winner of the war
    • a US territory
    • accept blame for the war and pay reparations
    • part of France

  4. Question 4

    The Central Powers in World War I included…

    • the United States and Canada
    • Britain, France and Russia
    • Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire
    • Japan and China

  5. Question 5

    The fighting in World War I ended with an armistice on…

    • July 4, 1919
    • April 9, 1865
    • November 11, 1918
    • December 7, 1941

  6. Question 6

    Why did women's work during World War I help the suffrage movement?

    • it had no connection
    • it showed their contributions and strengthened the case for voting rights
    • women were banned from work
    • it ended the movement

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