Geography
1. You also should make sure students are aware of Germany's reunification in 1990 following the collapse of East Germany. (You might want to compare Germany's present-day borders to those of 1938.)

2. Students also might want to explore the debate, which has continued in one form or another for decades, about the potential of air power to partially or even completely eliminate the need for ground troops to achieve military objectives.

Economics
1. During World War II, military spending accounted for more than 35 percent of GDP, according to a Congressional Research Service report (figure 1). Today it accounts for about 3.5 percent of GDP, according to an analysis (table 9) of President Bush's fiscal year 2003 request done by the nonprofit Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment.

2a. If students are having trouble with the pie chart, explain that the total pie represents the total number of deaths suffered by all major warring nations.

2b. You also might have students compare Soviet deaths during World War II with the current U.S. population so they can get a sense of the enormous cost of the war to the Soviet Union.

History
1. Though there is no way to know what the consequences of a German victory would have been, students might imagine that the United States ended the war by dropping atomic bombs on Germany, or that the Soviet Union eventually defeated Germany and occupied much or all of continental Europe. 2. After the presentations, ask students how, in the cases where U.S. forces were defeated in the battle, the United States nevertheless was able to win the war.

Civics
1. If students need help getting started, ask them to think about the tension between discipline and hierarchy, which the armed forces need in order to function effectively, and individual freedom and equality, which are highly valued in the United States. You also might use the essays as the starting point of a larger discussion about the role of the military in the United States and to what degree that role has changed as the United States has become a world power.

2. Students who favor cooperation might point out that other nations can provide various forms of support to promote American goals. Students who favor unilateral action might point out that working with allies often forces a nation to make compromises in its policies.