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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 1: Change and conflict (1918 to 1939)
Quick questions on Rise of communism, fascism and Nazism: VCE Modern History Unit 1 Year 11
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is marxist theory?Show answer
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels argued capitalism would inevitably collapse through proletarian revolution, replaced by a stateless, classless communism. The intermediate stage was a dictatorship of the proletariat.
What is russian Revolution 1917?Show answer
The Tsarist regime collapsed in February 1917 (overwhelmed by WWI losses and economic crisis). A Provisional Government failed to end the war. In October 1917 (November in the Gregorian calendar), the Bolsheviks under Lenin seized power.
What is civil War?Show answer
Bolshevik Reds vs anti-Bolshevik Whites. Foreign intervention (including British, French, Japanese, American forces) failed to dislodge the Bolsheviks. The Soviets won.
What is stalin's rise?Show answer
After Lenin's death (1924), Stalin consolidated power through bureaucratic manoeuvring against Trotsky and others. From 1928 he launched rapid industrialisation (Five-Year Plans) and the collectivisation of agriculture.
What is soviet model?Show answer
A one-party state with state ownership of the economy, central planning, state-controlled media, mass mobilisation, and severe repression of dissent. The Soviet model would inspire and frighten the world for the rest of the century.
What is background?Show answer
Italy entered WWI on the Allied side but felt cheated of promised gains at Versailles ("mutilated victory"). Postwar Italy suffered economic crisis, labour unrest and political fragmentation.
What is mussolini?Show answer
Benito Mussolini, a former socialist, founded the Fasci di Combattimento (1919). The fascist movement combined nationalism, anti-socialism, militarism, and corporatism (cooperation between business, labour and state).
What is march on Rome?Show answer
Mussolini's blackshirts marched on Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III appointed Mussolini Prime Minister rather than confront him.
What is consolidation?Show answer
By 1925-1926, Mussolini had transformed his government into a one-party fascist state. Opposition parties banned, press censored, parliament replaced by the Grand Council of Fascism.
What is features of Italian fascism?Show answer
- Authoritarian one-party state. - Corporatist economy (state coordinated business and labour). - Nationalist and imperialist (later: Abyssinia 1935, alliance with Nazi Germany).
What is hitler?Show answer
Austrian-born Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) served in the German army in WWI. After the war he joined the small Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party), renamed Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, Nazi) under his leadership.
What is mein Kampf?Show answer
Hitler's manifesto laid out core Nazi ideology: anti-Semitism, anti-communism, German racial supremacy, Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe, contempt for democracy.
What is 1923 Beer Hall Putsch?Show answer
Hitler's failed coup attempt in Munich. He was imprisoned briefly and used the trial as publicity.
What is rise through elections?Show answer
The Nazi vote grew from 2.6 percent (1928) to 37 percent (July 1932), boosted by the Great Depression. Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933.
What is features of Nazism?Show answer
- Authoritarian one-party state with cult of the Führer. - Race-based ideology: Aryan supremacy, exclusion of Jews and others. - Aggressive militarism and territorial expansion.