How did the instability of the interwar period and the Great Depression lead to the rise of totalitarian dictatorships?
Apply social science skills to understand the interwar period: the economic and political instability after World War I, the Great Depression, and the rise of totalitarian regimes under Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in the Soviet Union, and the militarists in Japan (WHII.14).
A standards-level answer on the interwar period for the Virginia World History SOL: the instability after World War I, the Great Depression, and the rise of totalitarian regimes under Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and the Japanese militarists, with worked exam questions.
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What this topic is asking
Standard WHII.14 covers the interwar period, the years between World War I and World War II (about 1919 to 1939), and the rise of totalitarian dictatorships. The standard asks you to explain the instability that followed World War I, the impact of the Great Depression, and how these conditions allowed totalitarian regimes to seize power: Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in the Soviet Union, and the militarists in Japan. The key idea is cause and effect: economic and political crisis created the conditions in which dictators promising order and recovery could take control, setting the stage for World War II.
Instability after World War I
The Great Depression
What totalitarianism is
The totalitarian dictators
Try this
Q1. Define a totalitarian government. [Recall]
- Cue. A government in which the state, under a single party or dictator, seeks total control over nearly every aspect of public and private life and suppresses all opposition.
Q2. Explain how the Great Depression contributed to the rise of dictators. [Short explanation]
- Cue. It caused mass unemployment and economic despair; desperate people lost faith in their governments and supported extreme leaders such as Hitler who promised jobs, order, and national pride.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
VA SOL WHII (MC)1 marksA totalitarian government is best described as one in which (A) power is divided among branches; (B) the state controls nearly every aspect of public and private life under a single party or dictator; (C) citizens vote directly on all laws; (D) there is no government at all.Show worked answer →
The correct answer is (B). A totalitarian government is one in which the state, usually under a single party or dictator, seeks total control over nearly every aspect of public and private life, including the economy, the media, education, and even thought, suppressing all opposition.
Why the others are wrong: (A) describes a system of separated powers; (C) describes direct democracy; (D) describes anarchy. Markers reward identifying total state control under a single party or dictator.
VA SOL WHII (MC)1 marksThe Great Depression contributed to the rise of dictators such as Hitler because (A) it brought great prosperity; (B) widespread unemployment and economic despair made people willing to support extreme leaders who promised solutions; (C) it ended World War I; (D) it had no political effects.Show worked answer →
The correct answer is (B). The Great Depression caused mass unemployment and economic despair worldwide. Desperate people, losing faith in existing governments, became willing to support extreme leaders such as Hitler who promised to restore order, jobs, and national pride.
Why the others are wrong: (A) the Depression brought hardship, not prosperity; (C) it came after World War I; (D) it had enormous political effects. Markers reward linking economic despair to support for extreme, totalitarian leaders.
Related dot points
- Apply social science skills to understand the causes and effects of World War I: the long-term causes of militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism (MAIN) and the immediate cause of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the new technology of total war, and the consequences including the collapse of empires, the Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations (WHII.13).
A standards-level answer on World War I for the Virginia World History SOL: the long-term causes (militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism) and the immediate cause, the new technology of total war, and the consequences including the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, with worked exam questions.
- Apply social science skills to understand World War II and its worldwide impact: the causes including aggression by totalitarian states and the failure of appeasement, the major theaters and turning points (Stalingrad, D-Day, Midway), the use of the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust and other genocides (WHII.15).
A standards-level answer on World War II for the Virginia World History SOL: the causes including totalitarian aggression and appeasement, the major turning points, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust and other genocides, with worked exam questions.
- Apply social science skills to understand the Russian Revolution: the causes including the hardships of World War I and the weakness of the czarist government, the 1917 revolutions, the Bolshevik seizure of power under Lenin, and the creation of the Soviet Union as the first communist state (WHII.14).
A standards-level answer on the Russian Revolution for the Virginia World History SOL: the causes including World War I and czarist weakness, the 1917 revolutions, Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and the creation of the Soviet Union as the first communist state, with worked exam questions.
- Apply social science skills to understand the Cold War: its origins in the ideological conflict between the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union, the major events and alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War), and the nuclear arms race (WHII.16).
A standards-level answer on the Cold War for the Virginia World History SOL: its origins in the conflict between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union, the major events and alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact, key crises, and the nuclear arms race, with worked exam questions.
- Apply social science skills to understand the impact of European imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the economic, political, and ideological motives, the domination of Africa and Asia (the Scramble for Africa, British India, French Indochina), and the responses and resistance of colonized peoples (WHII.12).
A standards-level answer on the age of imperialism for the Virginia World History SOL: the economic, political, and ideological motives, the European domination of Africa and Asia, and the responses and resistance of colonized peoples, with worked exam questions.