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VICModern History

Unit 3: The 20th century, 1918-1939

8 dot points across 8 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How did authoritarian regimes consolidate power in Italy and Germany between 1922 and 1939?

the rise and consolidation of authoritarian regimes, including Mussolini's Italy (1922 to 1939) and Hitler's Germany (1933 to 1939), covering the seizure of power, the dismantling of constitutional government, and the construction of one-party rule
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on the rise and consolidation of authoritarian regimes. Mussolini's March on Rome (1922), the Matteotti crisis (1924), the Acerbo Law, the Lateran Treaties (1929), Hitler's appointment as Chancellor (1933), the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives, and the verdicts of Robert Paxton and Ian Kershaw.
10 min answer →

Why did collective security fail and how did Europe slide into WWII between 1931 and 1939?

the collapse of collective security and the events that led to WWII, including Manchuria (1931), Abyssinia (1935), the Rhineland (1936), the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), Anschluss (1938), Munich (1938), and the invasion of Poland (1939)
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on the collapse of collective security 1931 to 1939. Manchuria, Abyssinia, the Rhineland, the Spanish Civil War, Anschluss, the Munich Agreement, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the invasion of Poland, and the verdicts of A.J.P. Taylor and Richard Overy.
11 min answer →

How did WWI and the Treaty of Versailles reshape Europe between 1918 and the early 1920s?

the consequences of WWI, including the collapse of empires, the Treaty of Versailles (June 1919), the League of Nations, and the political and economic instability of the immediate post-war period
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on the consequences of WWI. The collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires, the Treaty of Versailles, the territorial settlement, reparations, the League of Nations, and the verdicts of Margaret MacMillan and Ruth Henig.
9 min answer →

How did art, modernism and mass culture change between 1918 and 1939?

continuity and change in art, design, literature, music, cinema, radio and popular culture between 1918 and 1939, including modernism, mass media, jazz, Hollywood, and the use of culture by ideological regimes
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on art, modernism and mass culture between 1918 and 1939. The high modernism of the 1920s, the Bauhaus and surrealism, the rise of radio and Hollywood, jazz across the Atlantic, the Great Depression's cultural impact, and the verdicts of Modris Eksteins and Eric Hobsbawm.
8 min answer →

Why did fascism, Nazism and communism rise as competing ideologies in interwar Europe?

the rise of ideologies in the interwar period, including fascism, Nazism, communism, and the appeal of authoritarianism over liberal democracy after WWI
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on the rise of ideologies between 1918 and 1939. Liberal democracy in retreat, the core ideas and texts of fascism, Nazism and communism, the social bases of each movement, and the verdicts of Robert Paxton and Ian Kershaw.
8 min answer →

How did Stalinism transform Soviet society and culture between 1928 and 1939?

social and cultural change in Stalin's USSR 1928 to 1939, including the First and Second Five-Year Plans, collectivisation, the Great Terror, socialist realism, the experience of women and workers, and the role of state propaganda
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on Stalinist social and cultural change. The First Five-Year Plan, collectivisation and dekulakisation, the Holodomor, urbanisation, the Stakhanovite movement, the 1936 Constitution, the Great Terror, socialist realism, women's lives, and the verdicts of Sheila Fitzpatrick and Robert Service.
9 min answer →

How did culture in Germany change from Weimar pluralism to Nazi Gleichschaltung between 1919 and 1939?

continuity and change in social and cultural life in Germany 1919 to 1939, including Weimar culture (Bauhaus, cabaret, expressionism, cinema, the New Woman) and the Nazi Gleichschaltung of culture, education and the family after 1933
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on cultural change in Germany 1919 to 1939. Weimar Berlin cabaret, the Bauhaus, expressionist cinema (Caligari, Metropolis, M), the New Woman, Nazi Gleichschaltung after 1933, the Reich Chamber of Culture, the Degenerate Art exhibition (1937), and the verdicts of Peter Gay and Peter Fritzsche.
9 min answer →

How did the experience of women change between 1918 and 1939 in Europe and the United States?

the experience of women between 1918 and 1939, including the expansion of suffrage, women's work and the New Woman, the reversal of gains under fascist and Nazi regimes, and women in Stalin's USSR and the United States
A focused answer to the VCE Modern History Unit 3 dot point on women's experience between 1918 and 1939. Women's suffrage after WWI, the New Woman, women's work, fascist and Nazi reversal, Soviet women under Stalin, American women in the Depression and New Deal, and the verdicts of Susan Kingsley Kent and Mary Nolan.
8 min answer →