When to Go to War?

All Quiet on the Western Front, Washington’s Farewell Address, and Woodrow Wilson’s Declaration of War

“Kropp on the other hand is a thinker. He proposes that a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight. Then in the arena the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing drawers and armed with clubs can have it out among themselves. Whoever survives, his country wins. That would be much simpler than this arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting.”

—chapter 3 of All Quiet on the Western Front

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.

—President George Washington in his Farewell Address

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.

—President Woodrow Wilson in his Declaration of War speech

Introduction

This unit is designed to expose students to two seminal U.S. documents in the course of their study of World War during the reading of Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

Prior to reading, students will conduct a web search activity researching the causes of World War I. During this stage students will discover that many of the nations that entered the war were motivated more by their alliances with other nations than motivated by any grievance against them. In the same lesson, students will read a two-paragraph excerpt of Washington’s Farewell Address in which he cautions the young American nation against just such tangling alliances. Students will contrast Washington’s advice with the decisions of leaders in the months leading to the war. The lesson also helps to expose students to this difficult U.S. text that they will study in greater depth in grade 11.

Near the conclusion of the novel, after reading chapter 9 when the soldiers meet the Kaiser, students will read Wilson’s speech urging the congress to enter World War I. The U.S. did not enter the war until 1917, and in his speech Wilson outlines his reasons for entering a war that he had long tried to keep America free of. Students should be able to contrast his reluctant tone with the fervor of European leaders and characters like Kantorek—the boys’ teacher who used nationalistic rhetoric to encourage all the boys to enter the war.

Students should also be able to spot, even though Wilson is asking for America to become involved in an international conflict, a tone similar to Washington’s address.

The culminating assessment asks students to assume the role of President Wilson and write a letter to a common U.S. soldier—not unlike the boys in the novel—and justify why he, on an individual level—should risk his life in this foreign conflict.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will research and assess the causes of World War I and the motivating factors for why several European nations entered the war.
  2. Students will determine President Washington’s attitude towards alliances with foreign powers and the nation becoming embroiled in European wars.
  3. Students will contrast Washington’s stance with the stance of several political leaders in the months prior to the outbreak of WWI.
  4. Students will examine and explain how the author’s anger (theme and tone) towards political leaders who start warsis enhanced specifically in chapters 3 and 9.
  5. Students will examine President Wilson’s reasons for entering WWI.
  6. Students will contrast the author’s attitude as displayed by the character Albert Kropp and Wilson’s reasons for declaring war.
  7. Students will compare and contrast Wilson’s political stance with Washington’s regarding America’s attitude towards other nations.
  8. In the persona of President Wilson, students will persuade an average American soldier that his involvement in WWI is critical to the needs and goals of the American Republic.
  9. If students complete the alternate assessment, they will analyze Wilson’s main point in his speech and examine some of the rhetorical devices Wilson uses to make his point.
  10. If students complete the alternate assessment, they will analyze the secondary and implied audience for Wilson’s speech.
  11. If students complete the alternate assessment, they will evaluate and judge the effectiveness of Wilson’s rhetoric.

Curriculum Alignment

  • RL 1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • RL 6: “Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.”
  • RI 5: Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
  • RI 9, Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.
  • H-SS R 1, Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
  • H-SS R 2, Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

Classroom Time Required

*Teacher note: The timeline does not factor in the amount of time needed for students to read the novel and leaves that to the teacher’s discretion based upon the individual class.

  • Day OneAnalyze the causes of World War I and complete web search prior to reading the novel
  • Day TwoCompare research with peers and analyze excerpt of Washington’s address
  • Day ThreeAfter having read chapter 9 of the novel, begin reading Wilson’s speech in class
  • Day FourComplete exercise on Wilson’s speech
  • Day FiveAssign the final assessment. (Letter from President Wilson to a soldier)

Teacher Preparation

  1. Review the websites on handout #1 and become familiar with the events that led up to the outbreak of WWI, focusing especially on the role of alliances in motivating nations to enter the fight.
  2. Read the excerpt of Washington’s Farewell Address
  3. Read the excerpt of Wilson’s Declaration of War Speech
  4. Become familiar with the critical vocabulary of Wilson’s speech and develop any supplemental exercises to introduce or reinforce the vocabulary.

Materials Needed

  1. Copies of the introductory exercise (Handout #1)
  2. Copies of Wilson’s speech exercise (Handout #2)
  3. Copies of the Final Assessment (Handout #3 or #4 depending on choice)

Technology Resources

  1. Students will need internet access to complete their research for the introductory exercise.

Pre-Activities

  1. Students will examine the causes of WWI before reading the novel. (Handout #1)
  2. Students will assess Washington’s attitude towards American involvement in foreign conflicts (Handout #1)

Guided Practice (Handout #2)

  1. Students will read Wilson’s speech and circle unknown words.
  2. Students will determine the main idea of Wilson’s speech.
  3. Students will contrast Wilson’s declaration of war with the character Albert Kropp in the novel.
  4. Students will compare Wilson’s tone to Washington’s tone.

Assessment (Handout #3)

  1. Students will adopt the persona of President Wilson and write a persuasive letter to an average American soldier justifying the need for war.

Modifications

The final assessment for this lesson is accessible to all levels of the English classroom as it provides students with a chance to write a persuasive argument in a form they should be accustomed to: a letter. However, teachers seeking to further challenge their students may wish to substitute the alternative assessment for the letter or may assign the alternative assessment in addition to the letter.

Alternative Assessments (A Rhetorical Analysis of Wilson’s Speech)

This assignment guides students through an introduction to rhetorical analysis. It is designed to be user friendly and directs students to specific paragraphs in the text where they can assess a particular rhetorical device. See Handout #4 for this assignment.

Critical Vocabulary

  1. For the excerpt of Washington’s Farewell Address, the critical vocabulary is defined in the right-hand margin of the excerpt.
  1. The following words are from Wilson’s declaration of war:
  2. Meager (adj)deficient in quantity or quality; lacking fullness or richness; inadequate
  3. Haphazard (adj)characterized by lack of order or planning, by irregularity, or by randomness.
  4. Ruthlessly (adv)without pity or compassion; cruel; merciless. (ruthless is the adj.)
  5. Belligerents (n)warlike; given to waging war.
  6. Bereaved (adj)greatly saddened at being deprived by death of a loved one.
  7. Proscribed (v)to denounce or condemn (a thing) as dangerous or harmful; prohibit.
  8. Temperateness (n)moderate or self-restrained; not extreme in opinion, statement.
  9. Vindication (n)justification against denial or censure.
  10. Suffice (v)to meet or satisfy a need.
  11. Impracticable (adj)incapable of being performed or accomplished by the means employed.
  12. Extirpate (v)to destroy completely.
  13. Indemnities (n)something paid by way of such compensation.
  14. Rancor (n)bitter, rankling resentment or ill will; hatred; malice.
  15. Punctilio (n)strictness or exactness in theobservance of formalities or amenities.
  16. Animus (n)strong dislike or enmity; hostile attitude.
  17. Enmity (n)a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will.
  18. Amuck (n)rushing wildly; losingself-control.
  19. Fealty (n)the obligation or theengagement to be faithful to a lord.
  20. Rebuking (v)to expresssharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand. (rebuke is the verb)

Websites

The following websites are used for the introductory activity:

Comments

We hope teachers find this lesson plan useful in helping to meet several of the new Common Core Anchor Standards. Even if teachers do not intend to use this particular unit in whole or in part, we hope that it has served as a model or a catalyst for the creation of lesson plans on other works of literature, linking fiction texts to informational texts and primary source documents, especially seminal documents in U.S. History.

Author Info

Geoff Belcher teaches all three levels of senior English (Standard, Honors, and AP) at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He has taught all 20 years of his career in the Wake County Public School System. He holds National Board Certification and was selected as a 2012 Kenan Fellow.

Marlin Jones teaches U. S. History (both levels) and AP Human Geography at Panther Creek High School in Cary, North Carolina. He has taught levels (Standard, Honors, and AP) and all high school grade levels in the last 13 years of teaching. He holds National Board Certification and was selected as a 2012 Kenan Fellow.