The threat of the Second World War arose immediately after the end of the First World War, despite the stable pacifist sentiments of some European countries and the United States.
Prerequisites for the denouement of the Second World War
The post-war redistribution of the world in the early 20s greatly infringed on the economic and territorial interests of the defeated states, as well as the national pride of their citizens. Since the 20s of the 20th century, Germany and Italy were not considered by the world community as potential political leaders: the countries were burdened with reparation payments.
However, with the establishment of totalitarian regimes in the defeated states, their national economies began to rapidly strengthen, and along with it the level of the military industry actively increased. By manipulating the national sentiments of the masses, the fascist leaders prepared fertile ground for decoupling new war, placing the main emphasis on the propaganda education of the younger generation.
Confrontation and fall added fuel to the fire powerful empires- Russian and Austrian - Hungarian, on the ruins of which more than a dozen new states with very disputed borders were formed. Along with European states, claims from Germany were also made against Soviet Russia.
In addition to territorial disputes between the countries, there was also an ideological issue. A. Hitler’s plans did not include the construction of a socialist world society, the ideas of which were actively introduced by Stalin. Also, the Soviet leader represented significant competition for the Fuhrer, who was not going to share the laurels of his fame and influence with anyone.
Start of hostilities
At its initial stage, the Second World War had the character of an intra-continental confrontation, as clearly evidenced by the neutral position of the United States, whose government swore off interfering in the internal strife of Europeans. The first victim fascist aggression Poland became the most vulnerable state, since it had neither military potential nor political weight in Europe.
Nazi troops invaded the territory of the state on September 1, 1939, on the same day France and England, who had military agreements with the Polish government, entered the war. A month later, October 6 Polish troops surrendered unconditionally.
Hitler initiated a conference at which world leaders were to ratify an agreement on the division of Polish lands. In fact, this was the only chance to prevent the scale of future hostilities, but European governments refused, which significantly increased Nazi aggression.
European Blitzkrieg and the invasion of Asia and Africa
In the spring of 1940, the Nazi army began to seize European states. During the Danish-Norwegian and Frankish campaign, Hitler's troops within a few months they were able to establish occupation regimes in all European countries. It should be noted that the aggressor did not encounter visible resistance - the leading countries, which for many years boasted of their military potential, surrendered to the fascists virtually without a fight.
Thus, within a few weeks, Great Britain and France were captured. The capitulation of Europe opened the way for the Nazis to the Balkans, Africa and Asia. As a result of the Iraqi, Greek, Syrian and Yugoslav operations, in the first half of 1941 the German occupation regimes were installed in most countries of the continent.
During this period main ally fascists, militaristic Japan, begins to actively join the confrontation, unfolding fighting in China and Thailand. At the beginning of 1941 the war fascist Germany announced Australia and New Zealand, although the de facto governments of these states were in no hurry to engage in military action.
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The countdown to World War II began on September 1, 1939, with the German attack on Poland. Following this, on September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.
The first stage of the war, 1939-1941. At the first stage of the war, Germany, using “blitzkrieg” methods unusual for the allies ( lightning war, where the main role impact force allocated to tank and mechanized formations, bypassing fortified lines and smashing enemy rear lines), brought almost all of Western Europe under its control. A major role was played by the neutrality of the USSR, friendly towards Germany, which, using the war in Europe, advanced its borders to the west by 250-300 km and strengthened its own military power.
Convinced of the inability Polish army To contain the advance of the Wehrmacht, the Soviet leadership sent troops into the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine on September 17. On September 28, 1939, a new friendship and border treaty was signed between the USSR and Germany. In a joint Statement, the governments of the two countries argued that with the collapse of Poland, the grounds for continuing the war of England and France against Germany disappear. Germany and the USSR pledged to consult on joint measures to ensure peace. Foreign sections of the Comintern, including Communist Party France was given the task of exposing the governments of their countries as the perpetrators of the continuation of the war. This placed foreign communists in an extremely ambiguous position.
In November 1939, the USSR, under the pretext that its territory had come under fire from Finland, began military operations against it. A Finnish puppet government was created in the city of Terijoki, headed by one of the leaders of the Comintern, O. Kuusinen. However, the expectation of a quick victory and the transformation of Finland into a dependent state did not materialize.
Soviet-Finnish War dragged on, putting the USSR on the brink of conflict with Great Britain and France. They refrained from active actions against Germany, considering them meaningless. At the same time, the military leadership of Western countries, recognizing the USSR as a “non-belligerent ally” of Germany, was preparing for war with it. Preparations began for military operations in Transcaucasia, and plans were made to send an expeditionary force to help Finland. This prompted the USSR to rush to conclude peace, which was signed in March 1940. The Soviet Union managed to achieve correction of the borders in its favor, but it had to abandon hopes of subjugating Finland. The Allied expeditionary force in April 1940 was sent to Norway, where, like Denmark, it was invaded German troops.
In May 1940, the offensive of German troops in France began. Tank and mechanized divisions of Germany, having passed through the territory of Belgium and Holland, went to the rear of the Anglo-French troops, who were not ready to wage a mobile war. A large group of them was pinned to the sea in the Dunkirk area and evacuated to England. The disorganized French command had lost the will to continue the fight, Paris was declared open city and surrendered without a fight. Believing in Germany's ability to win, Italy declared war on England and France on June 10. On June 22, 1940, France capitulated.
The defeat of France changed the situation in Europe, which was almost completely under German control. WITH minimal losses, less than 100 thousand people, Germany annexed territories with a population of 27 million people, captured more captured weapons than it had at the beginning of the war. In September 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed - an agreement on a military alliance between Germany, Japan and Italy. Soon it was joined by Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Its only fighting enemy remained Great Britain, which during the “Battle of Britain” Germany tried to break with air raids and a naval blockade.
The lightning defeat of France was unexpected for the leadership of the USSR, which, based on the experience of the First World War, believed that the war would become protracted. In changed conditions Soviet Union began to rapidly establish control over his designated area of interest. On the same day that Paris fell, June 14, the USSR accused the governments of the Baltic countries of violating the terms of mutual assistance treaties imposed on them in 1939, and obtained their agreement to station its troops on their territory. Less than a month later, in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, under conditions of actual occupation, the communists came to power. These states were proclaimed Soviet republics and accepted into the USSR. Immediately after the surrender of France, the Soviet Union, concentrating large forces on the Romanian border, achieved the transfer of Bessarabia to it.
In 1940, Soviet diplomacy again faced a difficult choice. In November 1940, during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov to Berlin, he was made a proposal to join the Soviet Union to the Tripartite Pact. This assumed that the USSR would have to take part in the war with England, rewarding itself with the possibility of expansion towards " South Seas", towards Iran and India. If these proposals had been accepted, then after the defeat of England the security of the USSR would have been dependent on the plans of the leaders of Germany and Japan, who had already shown more than once that international obligations meant little to them. The USSR leadership was seriously concerned about the inclusion of countries in the German alliance system Eastern Europe and Finland.
German attack on the USSR. The history of Germany's attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941 still contains many mysterious pages. A clash between them was inevitable, since A. Hitler was considering the conquest Western Europe as a prelude to the implementation of his main idea - the creation of “living space” in the East. At a meeting of the top German generals on November 23, 1939, A. Hitler announced an action against Russia after the resistance in the West was ended. A. Hitler’s approval of the Barbarossa plan, which envisaged the lightning defeat of the USSR before the end of the war with England, followed immediately after the Soviet Union’s refusal to join the Tripartite Pact.
Official version fascist propaganda was that the attack on the USSR was preemptive in nature, since the latter was allegedly preparing an invasion of Western Europe. This version is not supported by facts.
The USSR began actively preparing for a war that was considered inevitable from the early 1930s, without a specific enemy being identified. Soviet military doctrine proceeded from the fact that the response to any attack would be a crushing counterattack, as a result of which the war would be transferred to the territory of the aggressor. Like Germany, the basis of the striking power of the Red Army were large mechanized formations capable of a rapid offensive. A large role was given to the political factor - the friends of the USSR, whose influence was greatly exaggerated.
In 1941, the USSR continued to implement measures to strengthen its military power. Army rearmament new technology(in particular, the T-34 and KB tanks, which were superior to the German ones) was supposed to be completed in 1942. At the beginning of 1941, both the US and British governments and Soviet intelligence warned I.V. Stalin about the possibility of a German attack on the USSR. These warnings were received with disbelief. Nevertheless, in April 1941, 800 thousand reservists were called up in the USSR. In May, in one of the speeches of I.V. Stalin voiced the idea that the interests of the USSR were not met by complete German hegemony in Europe. Even if we assume that the German leaders interpreted this as an indicator of the USSR's intention to be the first to attack the countries Tripartite Pact, this does not negate the fact that Germany itself began preparing for the invasion much earlier. An operation of the scale of Barbarossa required months of preparation and could not be carried out impromptu.
The main reason for choosing the USSR as the target of attack in 1941 was the conviction of the German command that, although the combat capability of the Red Army was low, it could increase significantly over the next few years due to the re-equipment of new equipment and improved training of command personnel.
The fact that the aggression from Germany was sudden for the USSR is one of the greatest miscalculations of I.V. Stalin. He underestimated the seriousness of the warnings about the impending attack and forbade taking measures to increase the combat readiness of the border districts, fearing to provoke the Germans into an attack. He believed that the source of rumors about war was England, which was interested in a clash between the USSR and Germany. He underestimated the power of Germany and did not believe in its ability to fight on several fronts. In April 1941, Germany and Italy captured Yugoslavia and Greece, in May German troops drove the British out of the island of Crete, and fighting took place in North Africa. The leaders of the USSR could not even imagine that the German generals considered the Red Army so weak militarily that they believed it was possible to destroy it in three months.
The suddenness of the attack led to the fact that a significant part Soviet aviation was destroyed at the airfields, troop control and supply were disrupted. But this was not the only reason for the catastrophic failures of the USSR at the beginning of the war. The army was weakened by the repressions of 1937-1938, during which it lost most of its experienced commanders. The fortifications on the old 1939 border were dismantled, the new lines had not yet been fortified. The doctrine, which assumed that an invading enemy would be defeated by a counterattack, required that border covering forces be deployed in readiness for offensive rather than defensive action. Because of this, in a surprise attack they suffered huge losses. It was not taken into account that German command had already accumulated experience in sudden, massive attacks, managing in the summer of 1940 to take even France, which was at war with Germany, by surprise. Attempted counteroffensive Soviet troops, undertaken in the first days of the war, made it easier for the Germans to encircle and destroy the main forces of the Red Army.
Creation anti-Hitler coalition. The aggressive policy of the powers of the Tripartite Pact became a prerequisite for the emergence of an alliance of countries with such different interests that under other conditions it would have been impossible. However, after the attack by Germany and its allies on the USSR, for him, as before for Great Britain, the interests of protecting the lives of his own citizens and preserving independence came to the fore.
With the German attack on the USSR, British Prime Minister W. Churchill and US President F.D. Roosevelt declared their solidarity with him.
There was no immediate threat to US territory, however, the ruling circles of this country were well aware that Germany’s victory in Europe in the near future would create a serious threat to America. Despite strong isolationist sentiments, in March 1941 the US Senate passed the Lend-Lease Act. According to this law, the United States provided assistance to states whose resistance to aggression was considered vital for the defense of the United States itself. Lend-Lease supplies were subject to payment after the war only if they were not used for military purposes. Thus, although the United States was in no hurry to enter the war, it played the role of a non-combatant ally of Great Britain.
In August 1941, the United States and Great Britain signed a declaration of principles for cooperation during and after the war (Atlantic Charter). In this document, the parties assumed obligations not to strive for territorial or other acquisitions, to respect the right of peoples to choose their own form of government, and to strive to restore the sovereign rights of those peoples who were deprived of them by force. They expressed their commitment to the principles of equal access of all countries to trade and global sources of raw materials, providing people with a high standard of living, economic development and social security, and lasting peace. In September 1941, the USSR adopted the basic principles Atlantic Charter, in November the Lend-Lease law was extended to it.
US entry into the war finalization the anti-Hitler coalition was accelerated by the war unleashed by Japan on Pacific Ocean.
After the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (1939), Japan settled the conflict with the USSR and Mongolia, continued the war with China and waited for developments in Europe. With the defeat of France, Japan brought the former French colony of Indochina under its control. England's predicament prompted the ruling circles of Japan, which aspires to dominance in the Asia-Pacific region, to opt for expansion in south direction. As a result of this choice, in April 1941, Japan signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union. Although the leadership of the USSR was not confident that this agreement would be respected, it still partially ensured the security of the Far East.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, the main base of the US fleet in the Pacific Ocean, sinking or damaging most of the large ships. They were attacked at the same time English colonies in Asia. Everyone was involved in the war major powers peace.
DOCUMENTS AND MATERIALS
“Poland was once again invaded by the same two great powers that had held her in bondage for 150 years but could not suppress the spirit of the Polish people. Heroic Defense Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is immortal<...>Russia is holding cold politics own interests. We would prefer that the Russian armies stand in their present positions as friends and allies of Poland, and not as invaders. But to protect Russia from the Nazi threat, it was clearly necessary for the Russian armies to stand on this line<...>I cannot predict to you what Russia's actions will be. This is a mystery that is extremely difficult to solve, but there is a key to it. This key is Russia's national interests. Considering security considerations, Russia cannot be interested in Germany establishing itself on the shores of the Black Sea or in its occupation of the Balkan countries and subjugation. Slavic peoples South-Eastern Europe. This would be contrary to historical life interests Russia."
“Article 1. Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in creating a new order in Europe. Article 2. Germany and Italy recognize and respect Japan's leadership in creating a new order in the great East Asian space.
Article 3 Germany, Italy and Japan agree to cooperate on the above basis. They undertake to support each other by all political, economic and military means in the event that one of the three Contracting Parties is attacked by any power not currently participating in European war and in the Sino-Japanese conflict.
Article 4. For the implementation of this pact immediately will General technical commissions have been created, the members of which will be appointed by the governments of Germany, Italy and Japan. Article 5. Germany, Italy and Japan declare that this agreement does not in any way affect the political status currently existing between each of the three parties to the agreement and the Soviet Union.”
“The President of the United States of America and Prime Minister Churchill, representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, after joint discussion, have considered it advisable to publish certain general principles the national policies of their countries - the principles on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world:
1) their countries do not seek territorial or other acquisitions;
2) they will not agree to any territorial changes that are not in accordance with the freely expressed desire interested peoples;
3) they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they want to live; they strive to restore the sovereign rights and self-government of those peoples who were deprived of this by force;
4) by due respect for their existing obligations, they will strive to ensure a situation in which all countries, great or small, victorious or vanquished, will have access to on equal footing to trade and to global sources of raw materials necessary for the economic prosperity of these countries;
5) they strive to achieve full cooperation between all countries in the economic field with the aim of ensuring a higher standard of living for everyone, economic development and social security;
6) after the final destruction of Nazi tyranny, they hope to establish a peace that will enable all countries to live in security on their territory, and also to ensure a situation in which all people in all countries can live their entire lives without knowing any fear, no need;
7) such a world should provide everyone with the opportunity to navigate the seas and oceans freely, without any obstacles;
8) they believe that all states of the world should, for realistic and spiritual reasons, renounce the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if states which threaten or may threaten aggression beyond their borders continue to use land, sea and air weapons, they consider that, pending the establishment of a wider and more reliable system of general security, such countries must be disarmed. They will also assist and encourage all other feasible measures that will make it easier for peace-loving peoples to free themselves from the burden of armament.”
“Now it is important that we do not reveal our targets to the whole world. Moreover, this is not at all necessary. The main thing is that we ourselves know what we want<...>
Basically, it comes down to mastering a huge pie so that we, firstly, master it, secondly, manage it, and thirdly, exploit it<...>The most basic:
the creation of a military power west of the Urals cannot be on the agenda again, even if we had to fight for a hundred years for this. All followers of the Fuhrer must know: the empire will only be safe if there are no foreign troops west of the Urals. Protection of this space from any possible dangers Germany takes over. The iron law should be: “It shall never be permitted that any other than Germans bear arms.”
“It would be good if everyone understood what it means that we, 83 million Germans<...>must cope with 200 million Russians<...>
We must learn from the British not in theory, but in practice, learn how they treated the Indians. We must generally learn that one person German origin was able to rule over an area with 100 thousand people without any help. Of these 100 thousand, there will probably be 50 thousand able-bodied. They will have stones, wood, straw, grain, and livestock at their disposal. Let them build their own paradise out of this, but the German must rule<...>Within 20 years we must Germanize and populate Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ingria and Crimea.”
From the report to the Reichsführer SS “On the question of future treatment of the Russian population,” April 27, 1942:
“A) First of all, it is necessary to provide for the division of the territory inhabited by Russians into various political regions with their own governing bodies in order to ensure separate national development in each of them<...>The Russian of the Gorky General Commissariat should be instilled with the feeling that he is somehow different from the Russian of the Tula General Commissariat. There is no doubt that such administrative fragmentation of Russian territory and the systematic isolation of individual regions is one of the means of combating the strengthening of the Russian people.
B) The second means, even more effective than the measures indicated in paragraph “A,” is the weakening of the Russian people racially<...>
It is important that the majority of the population on Russian territory consists of people of the primitive semi-European type. It will not cause much trouble for the German leadership. This mass of racially inferior stupid people needs, as evidenced centuries-old history these areas, in the manual<...>C) The goal of German policy towards the population on Russian territory will be to bring the birth rate of Russians to more low level than the Germans. The same applies, by the way, to the extremely fertile regions of the Caucasus, and in the future, partially, to Ukraine. For now, we are interested in increasing the size of the Ukrainian population as opposed to the Russians. But this should not lead to Ukrainians taking the place of Russians over time. In order to avoid an increase in population that is undesirable for us in the eastern regions, it is urgently necessary<...>consciously pursue a policy to reduce the population. By means of propaganda, especially through the press, radio, cinema, leaflets, short brochures, reports, etc., we must constantly instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have many children. It is necessary to show how much money it costs to raise children and what could be purchased with these funds. We need to talk about the danger to a woman’s health that she is exposed to when giving birth to children, etc. Along with this, the broadest propaganda of contraceptives should be launched. It is necessary to establish widespread production of these products. The distribution of these drugs and abortions should in no way be restricted<...>Voluntary sterilization should also be promoted, efforts to reduce infant mortality should not be allowed, and mothers should not be allowed to learn how to care for infants and preventive measures against childhood diseases. The training of Russian doctors in these specialties should be reduced to a minimum, and no support should be provided to kindergartens and other similar institutions. Along with these measures in the field of health, no obstacles should be created to divorce. Help should not be provided to illegitimate children. We should not allow any tax privileges for people with many children, and we should not provide them with financial assistance in the form of salary supplements.”
QUESTIONS AND TASKS
1. What are the main events that characterize the first stage of the Second World War, 1939-1941? Determine the place and role of the USSR in them.
2. What was the tragedy of the situation in 1941? What were the reasons for the failures of the USSR in the first months of its participation in the war?
3. How did the anti-Hitler coalition develop? How did the states of the anti-Hitler coalition and the countries of the Tripartite Pact determine their goals in the war?
4. What future did fascism prepare for the peoples of the USSR? Describe the program for the “development” of its territory by Germany.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF MOSCOW
EASTERN DISTRICT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
STATE BUDGETARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF THE CITY OF MOSCOW GYMNASIUM No. 1925
Methodological development:
Lesson summary on general history
.
History and social studies teacher at GBOU gymnasium No. 1925 – Ivakin M.V.
Moscow 2015
Methodological development of a lesson on general history
"On the Road to World War II" . ( 11th grade)
problem-dialogical technology (as dominant)
Lesson objectives along the lines of personality development:
Lines 1-2 LR. Picture of the world in facts and concepts .
*Explain the process of destruction of the Versailles-Washington system and the role of aggressor states in this (Germany, Italy, Japan), France and England.
*Reveal the failure of the League of Nations to prevent a new war and create a system collective security.
*Reinforcement of concepts:pacifists, militarists, Anti-Comintern Pact, Versailles system of international relations, collective security system.
Line 3LR. Historical thinking.
Identify the causes and consequences of the destruction of the Versailles system of international relations
Lines 4-5 LR. Moral and civil-patriotic self-determination.
Give the opportunity to determine your position in relation to actions political leaders of that time.
(1-3 lines are aimed at the formation of cognitive UUD; 4-5 lines are personal UUD)
Study problem:
Brief summary lesson
Stages of finding a solution educational problem
Plan itemFacts (previously studied and contained in the text §) that can be used to solve the problem
1 War or peace?
Facts indicating the possibility of peaceful development:
1. The terrible consequences of the First World War
2. Thousands of peace supporters
3. Activities of the League of Nations
4. Agreement on the renunciation of war as a way of conducting politics.
International contradictions that caused the Second World War:
1. Militarists are supporters of wars.
2.Development of new types of tanks, aircraft, machine guns….
3. The contradictory Versailles system.
4.The struggle of the colonies for independence.
5. Aggressive plans
2. Destruction of the Versailles system
1. Japan withdraws from the League of Nations to pursue a policy of “iron and blood”
2. Dreams of communists about a world Union of socialist republics
3. Attempts by the USSR, England, France to create a system of collective security in Europe.
4. The policy of “appeasement” of Germany
5. Italy's capture of Ethiopia.
Inconsistency in the actions of England, France and the USSR and the aggressive foreign policy of fascist countries leads to the collapse of the Versailles system
3.The hidden beginning of the war
1. Conclusion of the Anti-Comintern Pact by Germany, Italy and Japan.
2. The mutiny of General Franco in Spain. Civil War ( military assistance and Germany
Italy) The Nazis won.
3. Anschluss of Austria.
4. Munich Agreement (partition of Czechoslovakia)
5. Italy captures Albania.
7.Japan attacked Mongolia.
8. Hitler’s demands to give Germany part of Poland.
Anti-fascist forces
1. Continuation of the policy of “appeasement” by England and France.
2. After a long delay by England and France in creating a collective security system,
USSR signs
Non-aggression pact with
Germany.
Detailed summary
Creating a problematic situation.
Working with sources.
What was the League of Nations? Why was it created?
Which main goal, judging by the passage from the Charter, pursued by the leading countries of the world, creating the League of Nations?
Suggested Student Answers (hereinafter referred to as “ Students »):
League of Nations - first international organization, created by participants in the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919.
To protect the world from any war or threat of war.
Teacher : What is the essence of the conclusion made at the end of the paragraph?
Students : The world is sliding into World War II.
Formulation of the problem
Teacher: Which one arises problematic issue, which we should find out in class?
Students : Why couldn't World War II be prevented?
Proposing hypotheses:
Teacher : What suggestions do you have for solving the problem? What could be the reasons why the war could not be prevented?
Students: They put forward hypotheses.
Updating knowledge
Teacher : Establish the main semantic differences within each group of words.
The task is completed in writing. Rules for completing the task:
communism - fascism
Put each group of words under general concept(generic)
Indicate the main ones semantic features(species)
Students :
Political regime based on:participation of the people in government
concentration of power in the hands of one person or a narrow layer
spheres of public and personal life
Democracy
totalitarianism
Ideology, based on the idea
O socialist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat as the main means of transition to fair society
about the superiority of the “superior race” over other peoples. Subject to enslavement or destruction
Communism
Fascism
Teacher : What did the Versailles system of international relations consist of?
Students:
transition from Germany to France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark of part of the territory, loss of overseas colonies
a ban on Germany having an army of over 100 thousand people, submarines, military aviation, heavy artillery, tanks
Germany's ban on hosting armed forces in the Rhineland
reparations from Germany
Teacher: How will we look for an answer to the problematic question posed? What should we find out? (a lesson plan is drawn up, which the teacher records on the board
Students if necessary pedagogical support teachers:
1. What were the contradictions in international relations after the First World War?
2. What three centers of power emerged in the world in the 1930s?
3. Why did one of the centers (Germany, Italy, Japan) manage to destroy the Versailles system?
4. Why couldn’t the other two centers unite to prevent war?
Discovery of new knowledge
Teacher: Based on the textbook text and illustrations, we will reveal the complexity of international relations after the First World War.
Students:
In Western countries there were both supporters of peace (pacifists, League of Nations) and supporters of war (militarists)
Development and creation of new types of weapons
The inconsistency of the Versailles system itself (dissatisfaction with it of Germany and other defeated countries, many Europeans who turned out to be national minorities, the peoples of colonies and dependent countries).
Teacher: What three centers of power were emerging in the world in the 1930s?
Students: 1. Western democracies (England, France, USA)
2.USSR
3.Totalitarian dictatorships (Germany, Italy, Japan)
Teacher: Further work will consist of an extensive conversation with the class on the analysis of the textbook text, presentation illustrations and maps.
Teacher: What centers of a future world war were created by the aggressor countries?
Students: Japan's attack on China, the Nazis' rise to power in Germany, rearmament German army, Italian attack on Ethiopia.
Teacher: Under what conditions was it possible to stop the aggressor countries and preserve the Versailles system?
Students : Active opposition of countries belonging to the League of Nations to aggressor countries, creation of a collective security system.
Teacher : Why was a collective security system not created, although efforts were made in this direction? certain steps– agreements were concluded between France and the USSR, the USSR and Czechoslovakia, some British and French politicians proposed to agree with the USSR on joint opposition to German aggression?
Students : The leaders of England and France hoped to direct Hitler against the USSR and world communism, i.e. enemy No. 1 for them was not Hitler, but the USSR.
Stalin in 1939 dismissed People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinov, a supporter of collective security.
Negotiations between England, France, and the USSR in Moscow dragged on.
August 23, 1939 The Non-Aggression Treaty was concluded between the USSR and Germany.
2. Teacher: In the second option, the logic of students’ work is the same as when compiling a table, only this work is carried out in orally with the help of teacher questions.
So, you can set the task: Based on the illustrations (presentation), explain the meaning of the phrase: “In the first half of the 1930s, pockets of war arose in Far East, in Europe and Africa." Use both the illustrations themselves and captions for them.
According to the text of the textbook on general history and the textbook “ Russian history“Determine how England, France, and the Soviet Union reacted to the aggressive actions of Germany, Italy, Japan. What explained the position of compromise taken by England and France in relation to the actions of the aggressor countries? How character changes foreign policy The USSR after the Nazis came to power in Germany?
What position did England, France, and the Soviet Union take regarding these actions of the aggressor countries in 1936–1938?
Students : Chamberlain is the head of government in England, Churchill is the leader of the Conservative Party.
Teacher : What agreement with Hitler is meant, find the answer in the text of the textbook, what is its essence? On the map, find the territory of Czechoslovakia, seized from it by Germany under the Munich Agreement.
Students : Munich Agreement on the transfer of border lands of Czechoslovakia to Germany
Teacher : Explain Chamberlain’s phrase, uttered upon his return from Munich: “I brought you peace!” What position did Churchill take regarding the Munich Agreement?
Students: The last concession has been made to Hitler; he will not touch the Western countries (England, France.
Teacher : Using the text of the textbook, find out why the USSR could not provide assistance to Czechoslovakia? Why in 1939? Did England and France negotiate with the USSR? Give your answer based on the textbook text and map. Why did these negotiations fail? positive results?
Students : Germany, Italy, Japan are taking further aggressive actions(German occupation of all of Czechoslovakia, Italian seizure of Albania, Japanese attack on Mongolia, an ally of the USSR).
Some British and French politicians are demanding an agreement with the USSR on joint opposition to German aggression.
Teacher : Why was Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, in such a hurry to conclude an agreement with the USSR that he did not pay attention to the shelling of his plane by Soviet border guards?
Students: Hitler prepared for war against Poland, and Poland is an ally of England and France, therefore, in the event of a war between Germany and Poland, England and France will be drawn into the war. This means that Hitler had to, with the help of an agreement with the USSR, secure the rear in the East while the war against the West was going on.
Application of new knowledge
Teacher: Which one can we do? general conclusion on the problem we posed? Who are the direct initiators of the collapse of the Versailles system and the outbreak of a new world war?
Students: Germany, Italy, Japan.
Teacher: What role did England and France play, being the main participants in the League of Nations?
Students: With their policy of compromise and non-intervention, they contributed to the collapse of the Versailles system.
Homework :
The outbreak of the Second World War brought a lot of grief to the civilian population of Europe. In the first years of the war, it seemed to many that fascism was invincible. You will read about why this happened at home in the paragraph, orally prepare answers to the questions for the paragraph. (Depending on the textbooks, it may be different)
Without encountering any real opposition, in March 1938 Hitler carried out the Anschluss(annexation to Germany) Austria. The Western powers viewed the absorption of Austria not as an act of Nazi aggression and revision Treaty of Versailles, but as a step towards “pacifying” Germany.
The next victim was Czechoslovakia. Taking advantage of the lack of decision national problems in this country, Fuhrer demanded the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany, mainly populated by Germans. In September 1938, an international conference of the heads of government of Germany, Italy, England and France took place in Munich, at which Western countries they actually betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia, by agreeing to secede the industrialized Sudetenland from it. Having lost border fortifications and weapons depots, the Czechoslovak army lost the opportunity to provide serious resistance to the aggressor. In March 1939 German troops occupied the Czech Republic, and a puppet state was created in Slovakia. The Anschluss of Austria and the seizure of Czechoslovakia announced to the governments and peoples of Europe that war was approaching and the need for effective measures to block German aggression.
March 21, 1939, a week after annexation Czech Republic, Germany presented Poland with ultimatum demands for the transfer of the “free city” of Danzig to it and the granting of extraterritorial rights to build a highway and railway to East Prussia through the “Danzig Corridor” that belonged to Poland. On the same day, on board the cruiser Deutschland, A. Hitler headed to the Lithuanian port of Memel (Klaipeda) demanding the return of this city to Germany. Poland rejected the ultimatum demands, but Lithuania was forced to give up Klaipeda. Germany annulled the non-aggression treaty with Poland, concluded in 1934. Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations on mutual assistance in the event of Hitler's aggression also began on March 21. These negotiations were conducted sluggishly, with no desire to achieve a speedy result. Hitler acted quickly and decisively, proactively.
The next two months were also eventful. On April 15, F. D. Roosevelt appealed to A. Hitler and B. Mussolini with a call to refrain from attacking the 31 states listed in the address for 10 years. In addition, the US President took the initiative to convene international conference on issues of disarmament and peaceful cooperation. The proposal was supported by Great Britain, France and the USSR, but the conference was disrupted by Germany and Italy. In turn, just two days later the USSR invited Great Britain and France to conclude a triple alliance of mutual assistance. But these countries, acting independently, declared their readiness to help Poland in the event of an attack on it, and also acted as guarantors of the independence of Romania and Greece. Although it was practically impossible for the two most powerful powers in Western Europe to actually fulfill these obligations without an alliance with the USSR.
Germany continued to pursue an aggressive policy: it denounced the Anglo-German naval treaty, presented a repeated ultimatum to Poland and prepared a plan of military action against it. In May, a military-political treaty was concluded between Germany and Italy. Mongolia was attacked by Japan in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River. The USSR, in accordance with its obligations, provided assistance to her. Military conflict in the Far East has acquired a large-scale character.
In August, events began to develop with incredible speed. An Anglo-French military delegation was sent to Moscow, which, however, did not have the proper authority to conclude a specific agreement on mutual obligations. The negotiations, which lasted from August 11 to August 21, reached a dead end. German and Soviet political leadership began to look for ways to get closer. In order to free one's hands for aggression against Poland Hitler decided to neutralize the USSR. J.V. Stalin, having lost faith in the possibility of concluding an agreement with Great Britain and France, but convinced of the proximity imperialist war, decided to collude with Hitler. Material from the site
As a result, on August 23, 1939, Hitler's Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop and the Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov was concluded non-aggression pact. From a formal point of view, there was nothing reprehensible in this document. However, everyone understood that the agreement opened up a “green street” for Hitler’s aggression against Poland. Moreover, an agreement was reached between Germany and the USSR on the division of spheres of influence in Europe - the so-called secret protocol , according to which the USSR laid claim to part of the Polish state, which included Western Ukraine And Western Belarus, i.e., to the lands ceded to Poland under the Treaty of Riga of 1921. Germany recognized the special interests of the USSR in the Baltic states, Finland and Bessarabia, which became part of Romania in 1918.
