M2 - Matu 10 - Totalitarian States

Lesson 1 - What was the historical context for totalitarianism? 

We are already familiar with the First World War and its consequences, especially for Russia. In this introductory film, the historian David Reynolds examines the rise of Fascism in that familiar historical context. 

Watch the video and consider the following questions:
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• Why did Italy emerge from World War 1 'divided and frustrated'?
• How and why did Italy's new democracy collapse?
• What did the Redipuglia War Memorial attempt to do?
• What were the most important characteristics of fascism?
• How did French politics become polarised in the 1930s?
• Why did Britain avoid popular authoritarianism?

Why is it important to study authoritarian states?
See Kognity.

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Lesson 2 - What is modern authoritarianism? What is Fascism?

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Lesson 3 - How do modern authoritarian states come to power? Case study Mussolini.

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Lesson 4 - How do modern authoritarian states consolidate and maintain power? Case study Mussolini

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Lesson 5 - How do modern authoritarian states gain support from policies and what do they aim to achieve ? Case study Mussolini

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Lesson 6 - Research and presentation assignment. 

In this lesson students are divided into pairs to research and apply the schema introduced in previous lessons to the authoritarian states of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. They begin by following the guidelines in these research sheets:

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Rise to power

Consolidation and maintenance

Aims and policies

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John D Clare

On Hitler - www.johndclare.net/Weimar1.htm
On Stalin - www.johndclare.net/Russ1.htm

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Video resources - Password 'BISB'

Hitler- Rise to Power

Hitler - Consolidation and policies

Hitler - Foreign Policy

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