Topic: Europe and the World During the Interbellum (revision class)

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

7th‑grade students of elementary school

XXVII. Europe and the world after World War I. Pupil:

3. characterizes the face of totalitarianism (Italian fascism, German national socialism, the Soviet system): ideology and practice.

XXX. Society and economy of the Second Polish Republic. Pupil:

2. discusses the effects of the global economic crisis in Poland;

XXXI. Road to war. Pupil:

3. describes the policy of Nazi Germany – breaking up the Versailles‑Lokario system: from remilitarization of the Rhineland to the Treaty of Munich;

4. characterizes the policy of Western concessions towards Hitler's Germany;

General aim of education

The student learns and describes the ideology and practice of Italian fascism, German national socialism, the Soviet system; he discusses the effects of the global economic crisis (also on the Polish territories), the disintegration of the Versailles‑Locarno system by Germany, the appeasement policy of of the wester countries towards Hitler's Germany

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to characterize the features of the Italian Fascism, German National Socialism and the Soviet system;

• to recognize the common features of dictators in the twentieth‑century dictatorships;

• to explain consequences of the Great Depression and the appeasement policy of the West.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher informs the students about the necessity to repeat the information from the e‑textbook chapter Europe and the world in the interwar period.

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. He explains that the main purpose of the lesson will be to conduct an open discussion on the subject selected or drawn by the students.

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students to perform Task 1, Exercise 1--2 and Task 2 in pairs. While the students are working, the teacher provides the feedback.

2. Students write down their suggestions for topics of the discussion. The draw is taking place.

3. The purpose of the students' further work is to prepare the statements for a 7‑minute discussion on the subject proposed and drawn by the students.

4. The teacher chooses two students who will conduct the debate. The teacher may suggest to the students the topic, eg „Was it possible to avoid the war?”; „Appeasement policy -- a rescue or the road to nowhere?” The third student acts as a secretary: he measures the time of the participants' speeches, monitors the order of the discussion, allows the willing to speak.

Summary

1. The teacher sums up the debate, adds further conclusions (if necessary). He places the statements in the context of the most important phenomena of the interwar period.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Europe and the World During the Interbellum (revision class)

After World War I, Italy saw a rise in social dissatisfaction due to unemployment, war losses, and unfavorable resolutions of the Treaty of Versailles. The Fascists, led by Benito Mussolini, started gaining popularity. In 1922, they took power in the state. A similar situation was brewing in Germany. The state found itself in economic and social crisis. Adolf Hitler took the helm of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). In January 1933, German President Von Hindenburg named him Chancellor of the government. Repressive measures against the opposition, trade unions, clergy, and Jews were implemented; the latter group was stripped of the majority of its civil rights by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. The Nazis introduced complete state control of all spheres of life.

The creator of the Soviet state was Vladimir Lenin, who founded its ideological basis and permitted the Bolsheviks to take and cement their power in the state. After his death, Joseph Stalin took full power in the USSR. Widespread terror became the means to maintain it. The forced labor camp system (the Gulag) was expanded. At the expense of millions of deaths, the authorities expanded the industry and collectivized agriculture.

Starting on 24 October 1929 with the Wall Street crash (“Black Thursday”), the world’s economy entered a period called the “Great Depression”. Production rapidly fell, and unemployment rose. The prices of agricultural products fell as well. Under the pressure of the crisis, the states changed their economic policies in order to be able to get out of it. In 1933, the situation of the American market started to improve. The rural countries of Middle and Eastern Europe handled the crisis much worse.

In 1935, Germany introduced conscription. Hitler, capitalizing on the passivity of the Western states, gradually expanded the influence of the Third Reich in Europe. In 1936, the German army entered the demilitarized Rhineland. In 1938, Germany annexed Austria (Anschluss). In the same year, as a result of the Munich Agreement on September 1938, Czechoslovakia was partitioned. In March 1939 its territory was transformed into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia dependent on Germany. 

In March 1939, Czechoslovakia was converted into the German‑dependent Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Poland and Hungary capitalized upon the difficult situation of their neighbor, taking over respectively Zaolzie and Carpathian Ruthenia, as well as the southern areas of Slovakia. Mussolini took aggressive steps as well. In 1935, the Italian military entered Abyissinia, which unsuccessfully pleaded for the assistance of the League of Nations; in 1939, Italy conquered Albania.