1. THE WARTIME YEARS
The Key Question The Aim of the Lesson
How was Turkey economically and The aim of this activity is to get
politically influenced by the Second students comprehend the political and
World War? economic impact of the Second World
War on Turkey.
Learning Targets
All the students will be aware of the fact that Turkey was both economically and
politically influenced by the World War II and it caused some problems in the country.
All the students will learn how to utilise numerical and written documents and they
will gain the necessary skills for the analysis of these historical documents.
Most of the students will grasp how the war influenced the daily lives of the people.
All the students will evaluate the implementation of one of the decisions taken about
the war.
Some of the students will be able to use their imagination while using historical
evidence.
After the students consider the evidence given in the activity, they will put forth the
results related to the ideas, fears and hopes of the individuals and the society into
consideration.
Most of the students will utilise the visual materials and songs while they are writing a
historical text.
Some of the students will evaluate past events by emphatizing with the past figures.
They will regard the different aspects of the cause and effect relations related to the
Second World War while analysing these relations. They will also consider the importance of
the historical figures, economic and social conditions and the effects of the human interest and
the religious beliefs and some other factors such as luck and contingency.
Achievements
The results of the economic and social measures taken by Turkey during the Second World
War will be comprehended by the students.

2. Preparation for the Lesson
1. Look at the use of simulation under the „The Information Sheet for Teachers‟ in
Addendum I before you start the activity.
2. Take your copies of „Worksheet 1‟ and „Situation Cards‟ for your groups of
students. Each group should consist of six students. Cut each situation written in the situation
cards with a scissor.
3. Take the copies of the „Worksheet 2‟ for your students. If you have a projector
you can also project it on the screen.
4. Take the copies of „Worksheet 3‟ for your students. If you have a CD player,
play the song written in „Worksheet 3‟ for your students. The song in „Worksheet 3‟ was
written by Barış Manço and its name is „An old cup‟.
INTRODUCTION
Encourage your students to express their ideas about the war by asking how the
war affected the lives of the civilians.
Form groups in your class which consist of six students and ask them to act as if
they were cabinet council.
Tell your students that except for one group, all the students in the other groups
should also act as the members of the parliament.
All the groups should make a distribution of the roles. In each group there should
be a cabinet council which consists of a prime minister, minister of defence, minister of
finance, minister of foreign affairs, minister of the interior, farm minister.
Tell the students that all the activities in the group will be administered by the
prime minister.

3. MAIN ACTIVITIES
1. You should ask your students who represent the prime ministers in
each group to open up a discussion about the situations written in “The Simulation of
the Second World War Situation Cards‟. Tell your students to discuss what kind of
decisions should be taken by the government in those situations.
2. Look at the situation one in the Worksheet 1 and tell your students
who act as the prime minister in each group to put the situations written in Worksheet
1 on their agenda. Then ask the students who act as ministers to write their decisions
about the situation on a piece of paper. After the stage of preparation, the prime
minister should listen to the ideas of the ministers. Each minister should also express
his/her idea about his/her specialization. Finally, the prime ministers in each group
should write their decisions on a piece of paper and read it aloud for other students.
Let the other students who represent the parliament express their critique of the
decisions or their proposals about it. Then put the decisions of the minister of
education to a vote. After listening to the ideas of the other students, read the real
result of the first situation written under the title of „What happened actually?‟ to the
students. You can find the section entitled „What happened actually?‟ in the
Addendum 2. Do the same activity for the other situations.
3. Ask your students to analyse the three documents in the Worksheet 2.
Try to raise awareness among your students about the decrease of the proportions in
the table of statistics. Ask your students to share their ideas with their friends about
the questions written under the document so that they will realise the difficulties
which the people who lived at those times had to cope with.
4. Get your students to read the song titled “A cup of coffee” sung by
Barıs Manco. If you have time, you can play the song for your students. Tell your
students to pay attention to the parts of the song related to the Second World War.
You can also ask the question at the end of the activity and tell your students to write
a text about it.

4. CONCLUSION
Evaluate the impact of the war on the political and economical situation of Turkey by
using the simulation activity and the worksheet at the end of the activity. Then you should check
whether your students can ask the key question written on the first page of your lesson plan.
HOW CAN THIS LESSON BE IMPROVED?
Some of the political and economic events which took place in Turkey during the
Second World War are highlighted in this lesson.
This content can be taken as the basis of the lesson and the lesson may be improved by
emphasizing the other economic and social effects of the war on Turkey.
In addition, the lesson may also be improved by considering the cultural and social
effects of the war on Turkey.
Furthermore, some assignments can be given to the students about the economic and
political effects of the war on Turkey. Students can also be asked to write their assignments on
the other factors which affected Turkey during the war.

5. ADDENDUM 1
INFORMATION SHEET FOR THE TEACHER
The Use of Simulation
Simulation is a model which is based on the imitation or the recreation of a current or
past situation or a specific event. It may also be a process. (Straddling, 2003:105.) Simulation
is thought to be a collective activity in the class.
The Advantages of the using the technique of simulation
1. Students work together so that all of them can be active in the class.
2. The simulations which are based on treaties enable the students to
understand the alliances better. In addition, they can emphatise with the people who
made the decisions in the past and they can understand what kind of factors affected the
decisions of the historical figures.
3. The decision making ability of the students can be improved in these
activities.
4. The ends of the war rather than the means of it is usually emphasized in
the course books. However, as Stradling alleges that in the simulation activity, the
means of the event is emphasized rather than its ends.
5. The writer of the course book knows the results of the events before
he/she writes it. For this reason he/she consciously or unconsciously leads the readers
to a deterministic view. However, in a well-designed simulation, students realise the
fact that the human actions do not always bring certain results.
6. Students should be informed in a correct way about the historical events.
Maps, statistics and primary or secondary sources can be used for this purpose.
Students are encouraged to emphatize with the people who make important decisions in
the past. Students are encouraged to think what they would do if they were these
people. Students may not necessarily reach the same conclusion with the result of that
historical event.
Robert Stradling, (2003) 20. Yüzyıl Avrupa Tarihi Nasıl Öğretilmeli. İstanbul: Türkiye Ekonomik ve
Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı Yay.

6. WORKSHEET 1
The Simulation Cards for the Second World War
Form groups which consist of six students. Distribute the roles such as prime minister,
minister of finance, minister of defence, minister of foreign affairs, minister of the interior among
your students. Your students should form a plan after they discuss the situations written below. The
student who acts as the prime minister should lead the discussions. Your students should write their
common decisions in the blanks in the situation cards. Then they should put their decisons to the
vote of their friends who acts as the ministers in the parliament .
Situation 1 Situation 2
The axis countries and the Allies fought There was scarcity in resources during the
against each other. Both the axis countries and war and there was a decrease in the production
the allies wanted to have Turkey on their side of bread. In addition, the government had
because Turkey is a Mediterranean country and problems with providing food for officials and
they wanted to increase their power by having soldiers.
Turkey on their side. Decision: What kind of precautions would
Decision: What kind of politics would you you take to provide enough bread for people?
implement between those powers? Why? ……………………………………..............……………
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Situation 3 Situation 4
Hitler‟s army invaded all the Balkan The ship, Strauma which embarked from
countries. After the invasion of the Balkans by the Köstence harbour of Romania had to anchor
Hitler‟s army, Britain insisted on Turkey‟s to the Istanbul strait due to the breakdown of its
entering the war. engine. There were 779 passengers and 10 crew
Decision: What kind of politics would you in it. Britain restricted the immigration of the
implement against German forces who approach Jews to Palestine. British politicians also force
to the borders of your country? Turkish politicians to implement the similar
……………………………………..............…………....... politics about the same issue. For this reason,
........………………………………………….…………… the passengers and the crew of the ship were not
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allowed to go out of the ship.
…………………………………………………………… Decision: What kind of policies will you
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Situation 5 Situation 6
The leaders of the Allies decided that only Indicate another negative situation which
the countries which declared war against happened as a result of the effects of the Second
Germany until 1st March 1945 would join the World War on Turkey except for the ones
Allies in Yalta conference in 1945. In addition, mentioned above and write about your decision.
there was a group of people who supported Italy Decision:
and Germany in Turkey during the wartime ……………….……………………………………………
years. …………………………………………………………….
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Decision: What should be done in this ……………………………………………………….……
situation? Express your ideas by explaining the ………………….…………..……………………………
reasons of them. ……………………………………………………………
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8. ADDENDUM 2
TEACHER’S INFORMATION SHEET
WHAT HAPPENED ACTUALLY?
Situation 1
Turkey tried to stay out of the war because Turkey was trying to recover from the
consequences of the Turkish Independence War.
Situation 2
The government applied the policy of obtaining goods in order to fill needs of the officials
and soldiers. This caused the problem of black marketeeing in the big cities. Some people did not sell
their wheat to the government due to the low price it paid and as a result of it the government did not
give enough wheat to the municipalities. In the big cities, the sale of the bread during the Second
World War was done over the prices determined by the government. The bread rationing was used in
order to provide enough bread for everyone.
Situation 3
After the invasion of Balkan countries by the German army, Germany offered a peace treaty
to Turkey. Hitler sent a letter to the Turkish prime minister, Ismet Inonu. Hitler wrote in his letter that
he would not approach Turkish borders more than 85 km. Russia and Britain also sent a diplomatic
note to Turkey in 1942. In that note, they declared that they would respect Turkey‟s territorial
integrity if Turkey was faithful to its promise to close its straits to the battleships as a result of
Montro treaty.
Situation 4
After the negotiations had failed, Turkish politicians decided that the ship had be taken to a
place near the Black Sea region. However, there was an explosion on the next day and the ship sank.
778 people died and 103 of them were children. Only a passenger called David Stolier survived. No
one could understand the real reason of the explosion for years. The real reason of the explosion
could only be learned after a document from the archive of Russia had been revealed. It was
understood that the ship was sunk by the Russians.
Situation 5
Turkey declared war to Germany on 23th February 1945. Turkey only formally entered the
Second World War two months before the war ended. Noone died in Turkey because it was just a
formality.

9. WORKSHEET 2
1. Document
2. Document 3. Document
KAYNAK: Ahmet KUYAŞ vd., Tarih 2002, TÜSİAD Yayınları, İstanbul, 2002.
1. How would you feel if you were the woman who buys bread in the photo?
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2. Which headline would you prefer for this photo if you were a photographer?
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3. Look at the numbers in the table and try to analyse the changes in each year. What may be the
reasons for this change?
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4. Write a paragraph by using documents about the economic situation of Turkey in 1940s.
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10. 4. Document
ESKİ BİR FİNCAN
Dinle oğlum çok eskiden bir konakta,
Akşamları gaz lambası ışığında,
Paşa dedesinden kalan bu fincanla,
Ninem eliyle kahve sunarmış Abdi Bey’e,
Yıllar sonra 43-44 harp ortası,
Ekmek karnesi ve yokluk yılları,
Kayınvalidesinden kalan bu fincanla,
Bu kez annem kahve sunarmış Hakkı Bey’e,
Eski konak yıllar önce yandı gitti.
Ekmek karneli zor günler çoktan bitti.
Abdi ve Hakkı Beyler rahmetlik oldu.
Bir tek bu fincan kaldı yüzyıllık sevdalarla,
Bir gün senin olacak birikmiş anılarıyla,
Düşüp kırılsa da topla tamir et oğlum,
Kahve yaşın gelecek bu fincanı iyi sakla.
Barış Manço
4. What can you learn about the Second World War from the song in the document four? What
can you say about the wartime years of Turkey after you listen to this
song?………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………
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