Focus 1: Domestic Policy
-We will be using the "frame" document as a 'master' document that you will be referring back to it over the couple of lessons to record your learning/create a revision document. Download it and save it somewhere sensible. This sequence is designed to help you develop some of the necessary 'history skills' that you will need for the IA.
As you work through this unit try to keep in mind:
a) This is your 'comparison' single party state - this means we are trying to avoid going into as much detail as we did for the Germany unit.
b) We need to make notes by theme in order to make revision clear. However, within each section you need to keep an eye on chronology - different textbooks identify different phases, but here is one option -
Phase 1: 1959-1963
Phase 2: 1963-1970
Phase 3: 1970-c.1989
Phase 4: Special Period c.1989-c.2000
(this is referred to in more detail in impact section on the powerpoint called fidel castro-domestic-regional-foreign policy)
Do not be bound to this chronology yet, but DO try to look for patterns as you find out more about Castro's policies and either agree with that chronology or come up with your own.
The article referred to in the frame is the Uriarte article below in Step 1. Each step refers to a section in the frame. Use the article to do Step 1. Also, add some information to the table in Step 2, remember to cite it, so you know it comes from this article, as you will use other sources later.
As you work through this unit try to keep in mind:
a) This is your 'comparison' single party state - this means we are trying to avoid going into as much detail as we did for the Germany unit.
b) We need to make notes by theme in order to make revision clear. However, within each section you need to keep an eye on chronology - different textbooks identify different phases, but here is one option -
Phase 1: 1959-1963
Phase 2: 1963-1970
Phase 3: 1970-c.1989
Phase 4: Special Period c.1989-c.2000
(this is referred to in more detail in impact section on the powerpoint called fidel castro-domestic-regional-foreign policy)
Do not be bound to this chronology yet, but DO try to look for patterns as you find out more about Castro's policies and either agree with that chronology or come up with your own.
The article referred to in the frame is the Uriarte article below in Step 1. Each step refers to a section in the frame. Use the article to do Step 1. Also, add some information to the table in Step 2, remember to cite it, so you know it comes from this article, as you will use other sources later.
| castro_domestic_policy_frame.docx |
Resources:
Step 1:
| uriarte_article_on_castros_policies.docx |
Step 2: Additional information, filling in the gaps...
Here, you need to download the resources sheet below and follow the instructions on it to identify what categories the policies implemented fall into. You will need to add a table at the bottom of the sheet with political, economic, social, cultural, women and minorities policies on it. Unjumble the policies mentioned into the correct categories.
Here, you need to download the resources sheet below and follow the instructions on it to identify what categories the policies implemented fall into. You will need to add a table at the bottom of the sheet with political, economic, social, cultural, women and minorities policies on it. Unjumble the policies mentioned into the correct categories.
| castros_policies_student_resources_sheet.docx |
Step 3: Making some judgments - success or failure?
Look at your tables so far:
- What are Castro's three biggest successes?
- What are Castro's three biggest failures?
- Compared to Hitler, how totalitarian is Castro seeming at this stage?
(we will now watch from 1.17 to 1.27 of the video as a class. The video is in the folder too. Use the film activity sheet)
- What are Castro's three biggest successes?
- What are Castro's three biggest failures?
- Compared to Hitler, how totalitarian is Castro seeming at this stage?
(we will now watch from 1.17 to 1.27 of the video as a class. The video is in the folder too. Use the film activity sheet)
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Step 4: The Special Period
Read the text below : You will need to make your own table at the bottom of the domestic policy frame . Call it the 'Special Period'. Focus on page 79-80. Make no more then ten key points to summarise the period Concentrate on the successes and failures during this period.
| domestic_policy_readings_castro.pdf |
Step 5: Review your work using this summary - is there anything you need to add into your document?
| fidel_castro_-_domestic_regional___foreign_policy.ppt |
Focus 2: What was the extent of Totalitarianism?
1. WHY DID CASTRO'S REVOLUTION END IN THE CREATION OF A DICTATORSHIP WHEN IT WAS LED IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM?
We will watch the remainder of the film as it relates to Castro's time in power. This will need to be finished at home.
30:00 - end (we have already watched 1:13.00 - 1:23.00)
"Castro on the couch"
Divide the class into teams of two students each. Imagine that each team, as part of a biography it is writing of Fidel Castro, is examining why Cuba's revolution ended in the creation of a dictatorship even though it was fought in the name of freedom. Is Castro himself -- his personality, beliefs, and/or experiences before becoming Cuba's leader -- the main reason why the revolution did not bring freedom to the people of Cuba? Have one member of each team list evidence from the film, the profile of Fidel Castro, and the piece on Huber Matosthat supports this conclusion.
The other member of each team should think of other factors that might help explain the Castro dictatorship. For example, the film repeats the well-known saying that "revolutions devour their own children" -- in other words, governments that take power following a revolution are often repressive (sometimes more repressive than the government they replaced), and their victims often include some of the revolutionaries themselves. Why might this be so, and could this have affected events in Cuba? Also, do you think that U.S.-Cuban tensions and the general Cold War atmosphere of the early 1960s contributed to the creation of a dictatorship in Cuba?
Have each team present its conclusions to the class.
*Lesson taken from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/tguide/index.html
2.TO WHAT EXTENT DID CASTRO CREATE A TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP?
Now complete the totalitarian part of your grid from the lesson on domestic policy above - you can consolidate it into four headings rather than the five:
- Use of Force/Terror
- Did his ideology dominate? Propaganda and successful policies?
- Economic control
- Extent that legal political control (i.e. legal control) concentrated to Castro
There is some additional reading to do below that will help.
We will watch the remainder of the film as it relates to Castro's time in power. This will need to be finished at home.
30:00 - end (we have already watched 1:13.00 - 1:23.00)
"Castro on the couch"
Divide the class into teams of two students each. Imagine that each team, as part of a biography it is writing of Fidel Castro, is examining why Cuba's revolution ended in the creation of a dictatorship even though it was fought in the name of freedom. Is Castro himself -- his personality, beliefs, and/or experiences before becoming Cuba's leader -- the main reason why the revolution did not bring freedom to the people of Cuba? Have one member of each team list evidence from the film, the profile of Fidel Castro, and the piece on Huber Matosthat supports this conclusion.
The other member of each team should think of other factors that might help explain the Castro dictatorship. For example, the film repeats the well-known saying that "revolutions devour their own children" -- in other words, governments that take power following a revolution are often repressive (sometimes more repressive than the government they replaced), and their victims often include some of the revolutionaries themselves. Why might this be so, and could this have affected events in Cuba? Also, do you think that U.S.-Cuban tensions and the general Cold War atmosphere of the early 1960s contributed to the creation of a dictatorship in Cuba?
Have each team present its conclusions to the class.
*Lesson taken from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/tguide/index.html
2.TO WHAT EXTENT DID CASTRO CREATE A TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP?
Now complete the totalitarian part of your grid from the lesson on domestic policy above - you can consolidate it into four headings rather than the five:
- Use of Force/Terror
- Did his ideology dominate? Propaganda and successful policies?
- Economic control
- Extent that legal political control (i.e. legal control) concentrated to Castro
There is some additional reading to do below that will help.
Use the revision guide below to help - you will have to add your own in for the Special Period...
| castro_1959-1990_revision_document.pdf |