Move to Global War: German-Italian Expansion

Move to Global War: German- Italian Expansion (Grade 11, Semester 1)

The focus of this section is on the causes of expansion, key events, and international response to that expansion.

Resources:

I. Historical Contextual Framework: WWI, Treaty of Versailles and Interwar Years

Weeks 2 and 3 (Aug. 19, 21, 22, 23 / Aug 26, 27, 29)

A. Effects of World War I

1. Impact of the War – Europe and beyond (Pearson 77-79)

2. Treaty of Versailles (Pearson 80-94)

3. Impact of the war and the peace treaties (Pearson 95-97)

Weeks 4 and 5 (Sept. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 / Sept. 10, 12)

B. Failure of Collective Security

1. The failure of ‘collective security’ (Pearson 99-102)

2. Problems for the League of Nations in the 1920s (Pearson 102-104)

3. How successful was the League of Nations in the 1920s (Pearson 105-110)

4. Why did collective security fail in the 1930s? (Pearson 111- 118)

5. The failure of disarmament (Pearson 118-123)

II. Italy

Week 6 (Sept. 16, 17, 18. 19)

A. Causes of Expansion –  Impact of fascism on Italian foreign policy

1. Mussolini’s Rise to power (Oxford 85-86)

2. Impact of the First World War on Italy, 1915-1918 (Oxford 86-88)

3. What is Fascism? (Oxford 89-95)

4. Mussolini’s Consolidation and Power / Factors Influencing Mussolini’s foreign policy (Oxford 96 – 99)

5. Success of Mussolini’s foreign policy in the 1920s (Oxford 100 – 104)

Week 7 (Sept. 23, 25, 26, 27)

B.  Events – Italian expansion, 1933-1940

1. Factors that had an impact on Italy’s foreign policy in the 1930s (Oxford 130 – 133)

2. Italian foreign policy, 1935-9 (Oxford 134-140)

3. Why did Italy intervene in the Spanish Civil War in 1936-39? (Oxford 141-143)

4. Italy’s role during the Sudetenland crisis in September 1938 (Oxford 145-149)

5. Italy and the Second World War (Oxford 149-152)

Week 8 (Oct. 8, 9, 11)

C. International Response to Italian Aggression

1. Policy of appeasement pursued by Britain in the 1930s (Oxford 193- 198)

2. International response to aggression in the 1930s (Oxford 198-208)

3. End of appeasement of Mussolini’s Italy (Oxford 208-210)

III. Germany

Week 9 (Oct. 15, 16, 17)

A. Causes Impact of Nazism on German foreign policy

1. Impact of WWI and defeat on Germany (Oxford 111-122)

2. Factors that allowed Hitler to become a dictator (Oxford 123 – 126)

Week 10  (Oct. 21, 22, 25 )

B. Events – German expansion, 1933-1938

1. Changing diplomatic alignments in Europe after 1933 (Oxford 156-157)

2. Germany’s challenges to the post-war settlements, 1933-38 (Oxford 157-165)

3. Changing diplomatic alignments: The Rome-Berlin Axis and the Anti-Comintern Pact (Oxford 165-167)

Weeks 12 and 13 (Nov. 4, 6, 8 / Nov. 11, 12, 13, 14)

C.  Events – German expansion, 1938-1940

1. Challenging the post-war settlement after 1937 (Oxford 171-178)

2. Beyond the Treaty of Versailles (Oxford 179- 186)

  • The liquidation of Czechoslovakia
  • German expansion: Poland
  • Changing international alignments: The Pact of Steel, May 1939

3. The outbreak of war (Oxford 186-189)

Weeks 14 and 15 (Nov. 18, 20, 21, 22 / Nov. 25, 26, 28)

D. Responses – International Response to German Aggression

1. International reaction to German rearmament (Oxford 213-222)

2. End of appeasement: invasion of Czechoslovakia (Oxford 222-229)