Topic: Pathway to war – totalitarianism of the 20th century

Author of the script: Marcin Dyś

Target group

7th grade student of elementary school.

Core curriculum

7th grade of elementary school

XXVII. Europe and the world after the First World War. Student:

3) characterizes the faces of totalitarianism (Italian fascism, German National Socialism, Soviet system): ideology and practices.

XXXI. Pathway to war. Student:

3) describes the policy of the Nazi Germany – breaking down the Versailles- Locarno system: from the Rhineland remilitarisation to the Munich Agreement;

4) characterizes the policy of concessions made by the West to the Nazi Germany;

5) lists the consequences of the Molotov‑Ribbentrop Pact.

The general aim of education

The students learn about the development of totalitarianism in the inter‑war Europe.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• tells about the results of the First World War;

• explains how the communists in Russia and the Nazis in the Third Reich came to power;

• analyses the characteristics of totalitarian and authoritarian systems;

• describes the differences between USSR and the Third Reich.

Methods / techniques

• exposing methods: talk, explanations and comments from the teacher;

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook; using multimedia;

• problematic methods: activating methods: discussion;

• practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text, working with image, working with film;

Forms of work

• activity in pairs or in groups;

• individual activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard or traditional blackboard;

• tablets/computers;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens.

Before classes

Students should recall what military blocks Russia and Germany belonged to before the First World War and what happened to these countries during the Great War and afterwards.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher explains the students the lesson objective and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher, referring to the homework, asks the students about the fate of Germany and Russia since the outbreak of the First World War. The teacher asks which coalitions both countries joined and the results of the end of the Great War for them. Students should know that both countries were defeated, even though they were in different military blocks, and both turned into republics (the fall of the monarchy). Moreover, the students should know about the Bolsheviks gaining power and the decisions of Versailles conference concerning Germany. The students complete the table (Instruction 1) basing on this knowledge.

Realization

1. The teacher starts the discussion, asking the students about the systems and forms of government they know - the students should list democracy, monarchy, totalitarian and authoritarian states. Continuing, the teacher asks what are the differences between them and who exercises power in each of them. Asking the questions, the teacher remembers to formulate them as key questions.

2. Students watch videos with the speeches of Stalin and Hitler, and then they do Instruction 2. The teacher asks the students to pay special attention to the behaviour of the speakers and the reaction of the listeners, not the content of the speech. Then the teacher asks the students about their observations - they should pay attention to the speakers’ expression, charisma (Hitler) and spontaneous reaction of the crowd.

3. The teacher explains the circumstances under which the communists in Russia and the Nazis in Germany came to power. The teacher shows common mechanisms (populism, slogans to punish the guilty ones, state terror, revisionism, etc.), similarities (totalitarian states, individual cult, having an enemy) and differences (ideology, approach to the economy and ownership). The teacher points out that the indoctrination was directed even at the youngest citizens by establishing organizations which were to educate the future members of governing parties in the spirit of the only right values. Students do Instruction 3 and Exercise 1, comparing the speeches of a member of Hitler Youth and a Soviet pioneer.

4. The common feature of totalitarian systems, regardless of the ideology proclaimed, is, among others, the prevailing state terror and the enemy, who can be accused of all the evil and defeats. In the Third Reich these were Jews and communists, in the Soviet Union - capitalists and imperialists. When starting the discussion, the teacher asks the students why these two features are so important for the efficient functioning of a totalitarian state? Students do Instruction 4, analysing the life of prisoners of forced labour in both totalitarianisms.

5. The teacher takes care to provide the students with feedback when they do exercises and instructions.

6. To sum up, the teacher asks the students what the leaders of totalitarian countries might have thought about after they had conquered and gained the power over their own country? Students, independently or with the teacher’s suggestions should answer: territorial expansion, conquests. As an example, the teacher mentions Anschluss of Austria and partition of Czechoslovakia.

7. Students, verifying the knowledge they gained during the lesson, do Exercise 2. They indicate the true sentences using, among others, the time line.

Summary

1. The teacher assesses the students’ work during the lesson taking into account their contribution and involvement. For this purpose, the teacher can prepare an evaluation questionnaire both for self‑assessment and for the assessment of the teacher’s and other students’ work.

2. The teacher gives homework for volunteer students (it is not an obligatory part of the script): A common feature of USSR and Third Reich was also the policy of conquests - on the one hand, it was to show the strength and power of the countries and give a sense of pride to its citizens, and on the other hand, it resulted in victims both in the conquered countries and among the invaders. Analysing the maps in the e‑textbook in the Territorial expansion section, the students write down all the countries that were under the rule of Russia or Germany even for a short time.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

In the shadow of Hitler and Stalin. Totalitarianisms in inter‑war Europe

A revolution broke out in Russia at the end of the First World War. In February 1917 the Tsar's power was overthrown. The republic was announced. In October of the same year, the (Bolshevik) communist party headed by Vladimir Lenin, gained power as a result of the coup d'état. The communist ideology was directed against the possessing strata (classes), i.e. nobility and bourgeoisie (middle class), as well as against clergy. A civil war broke out in Russia between supporters of the new order (the red) and defenders of the old order (the white). The red won. The Bolsheviks began to rule of terror by persecuting their opponents. They were sent to camps (Gulags), where they were forced to work hard in inhumane conditions, or simply executed by a firing squad. The former tsar was executed together with his whole family. After Lenin's death (1924), Joseph Stalin took over absolute power in the party and in the state. The name of the state was changed to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The private property was liquidated and the factories were taken over by the authorities. The economy was subordinated to the interests of the state. In the course of time, the lands in villages were taken over by the state, which established large farms. All resistance towards the authorities was ruthlessly broken. In Ukraine, famine has raged, claiming many millions of lives. At the end of the 1930s., Stalin ordered a great purge in the army (Red Army), murdering most of the officers. At the same time he was building great industry and preparing for the next war, which was to spread communism all over the world. The inter‑war Europe was hit by a crisis of democracy. In many countries, democratic rules were overthrown and dictatorial power was established (e.g. Benito Mussolini became the dictator in Italy). The Germans were disappointed with the outcome of the Great War. They felt wronged and humiliated. This was compounded by the Great Depression. The young German democracy was not able to cope with the economic problems. This led to an increase in support for radical parties: the Communists and the Nazis. The Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers' Party, NSDAP) was founded by a movement of war veterans who were dissatisfied with the situation in their country. It was headed by Adolf Hitler.

It received considerable public support in the 1930s and, as a result of an agreement between the parties, Hitler became the Head of Government (Chancellor). The Nazis soon seized full power in the state, removing democratic freedoms and other parties. Hitler became the Commander (German: Führer). Purges, persecutions of political opponents and terror started. It especially hit the Jewish population. Nazi ideology proclaimed the primacy of the German nation over other, allegedly inferior, nations. Communist rule in the USSR and Nazi rule in Germany (the Third Reich) had many common features. The political system in which the state has the primacy over the citizen in all areas of life is called totalitarianism.