Western Studies
Ms. Portman

Depression, Democracy and Dictatorships:
The Western World Between the World Wars (1919 to 1939)
The Crisis Deepens: World War II (1939 to 1945)

 

Chapter 26

Section 1
1. Why, given the hopeful signs represented by the Dawes Plan, the Treaty of Locarno, and the Kellog-Briand pack, was Europe's economic and political upturn short-lived?

2. How did England, France, Germany and U.S. each respond to the economic hardships of the Depression?

 

Section 2
1. Compare and contrast Mussolini's and Stalin's tactics in making their respective countries strong and stable.


Section 3
1. How were the Nazis able to rise to power? How did they create their totalitarian state?

2. What was life like in Hitler's Germany?

 

Chapter 28

Section 1
1. Describe the events in Germany that led to World War II.

2. Describe the events in the Far East that led to Japan's involvement in World War II.

 

Section 2
1. Some people would argue that towards the end of the war Hitler was out of touch with the reality of the German situation. Do you agree or disagree?

2. What characterized the turning point of the war?

 

Section 4
1. Is the bombing of civilian targets ever justified in war? If so, when, how, and why?

2. Briefly describe what the results of the war meant for Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

 


Making Connections
Chapter 26.1-26.2
Chapter 26.3 and Chapter 28.1
Chapter 28.2, 28.4

 

Outside Reading
Various readings on the Armenian Genocide
Various speeches by Hitler
Video The Twisted Cross
"Follow the Screams" by Sgt. Curtis Whiteway
"At Ground Zero in Hiroshima" by Shizuko Yamasaki
Excerpt from Hiroshima by John Hersey

 

Map Activities
World War II in Europe and North Africa
World War II in Asia and the Pacific
Territorial Changes in Europe After WWII

 

Essays on Your Test

1. Why did the Depression in certain countries lead to totalitarianism? Why didn't totalitarianism spread everywhere?

2. Compare and contrast Hitler and Stalin's notions of an ideal society and the tactics used to achieve it.

3. "Only twenty years after the war to end all wars, the world plunged back into the nightmare of total war" (Jackson Spielvogel). Why?

4. How did World War II affect civilians?

 

Test Format
10 Multiple Choice (20 Points)
1 Document Based Question (30 Points)
1 Essay (50 Points)