Dictatorships. Keeping the Country Efficient by Ignoring You

This week, we will be analyzing how dictatorships worked, particularly in Nazi Germany in the 1930s to 1945 and in the USSR from 1924 to 1991. We will briefly touch upon the economic ideas of communism in the USSR, but in the context that shows how the Soviet Union used it as a means to control citizens. After we look at both rejections of liberalism and compare them, we will look at how these rejections led to a World War (namely World War II) and the Cold War, which lasted from approximately 1945-1990 with the fall of communism and eventual disintegration of the Soviet Union. Liberalism did not, and still does not, stand idly by as other systems reject its beliefs; in the case of fascism, World War II was fought and in the case of communism, it was the Cold War.

So what will we be doing this week?

Monday:

• Test re-take
• Work on projects or good copy of essay. Good copy of essay is due on THURSDAY - this includes people who haven't written a rough copy. I need a printed off copy by Thursday at 3:00 pm.  And when I say printed, I mean I don't want it emailed.

Tuesday:

• Start with looking at "communist" dictatorships as a rejection of liberalism

• Background to communism
• Russian Revolution

• Notes on what life was like under Stalin - his techniques of dictatorships used

Wednesday: 

• What is fascism

• Jigsaw - Life under Hitler
• How he gained power
• Techniques of dictatorships used
• Go through jigsaw
• If you are really interested in World War II and actions the Nazis took, here is a link that will get you to all of the episodes of Love, Hate and Propaganda documentaries

Thursday:

• Rants by  Russel, Sarah and Julie 
• Compare Fascism and Communism
• Interpreting Sources

Friday: 

• Start of the Cold War - Starts with the end of WWII
• Love, Hate and Propaganda - not only are there episodes about the Cold War at this site, but there's lots of explanations about people, places and propaganda used. If you are interested in the Vietnam War, Kent State shootings, Tiannemen Square incident, the Berlin War....There's a lot of information about it here, not just the documentaries
• How the Cold War started - Notes