Lesson 1: Causes of WWII – The Rise of Dictators

Readings:

  • Counterpoints, Chapter 5, pp 120-126

Watch:

Understand the significance of the following:

Russia:

  • Five Years Plan
  • Purges
  • Cult of worship
  • Famine in the Ukraine 1932-1933
  • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Italy:

  • Blackshirts
  • March on Rome 1922
  • Il Duce
  • Rome-Berlin Axis 1936
  • Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

Germany:

  • Hyperinflation 1921
  • Mein Kampf
  • Lebensraum
  • Fuhrer 1933
  • Anschluss
  • Hitler Jugend
  • Remilitarization
  • Nuremburg Laws
  • Kristallnacht

Japan

  • Invasion of Manchuria 1931
  • Withdrawal from League of Nations
  • Nanking 1937

Concepts to understand (test yourself):

  • How did the policy of appeasement lead towards war?
    • Why did Britain and France adopt this policy?
  • How did the League of Nations fail to keep the peace?
  • What territories did Germany take over before 1939 and why/how?

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