1. Origins of dictatorship: World War One and its impact
- The legacy of World War One
- The collapse of empires
- The peace process: Part one - aims, ideals and organisation
- The peace process: Part two - problems and issues
- The Versailles Treaty
- The League of Nations
2. The Russian revolutions and the rise of Lenin, 1917–24
- The collapse of tsardom and the February revolution
- The Provisional Government
- The rise of the Bolsheviks and the October revolution
- Bolshevik dictatorship and civil war
- Building for the future? The NEP controversy
- Lenin’s role and legacy
3. Mussolini and the establishment of fascist dictatorship in Italy, 1918–29
- The collapse of liberal Italy
- The role of Mussolini
- The road to dictatorship
- Mussolini’s core policies, domestic and foreign
- Mussolini: The man and the image
4. Germany and the Weimar Republic, 1918–33
- The birth of the Republic, 1918-19
- Weimar politics and culture
- The years of crisis, 1920-23
- Stresemann and the ‘Golden Years’, 1923-9
- The impact of the Great Depression
5. Stalin and the foundations of Stalinism, 1924–9
- The problem of succession
- Stalin and the struggle for power
- Key domestic policies: Agriculture
- Key domestic policies: Industry
- Stalin’s impact and legacy
6. Hitler and the establishment of Nazi dictatorship, 1923–34
- The birth of the Nazi Party
- The takeover of power
- The road to dictatorship
- Key domestic policies: The economy
- Key domestic policies: The racial question
7. The dictatorships in action: Italy, Germany and the USSR in the 1930s – the politics of persuasion?
- Enlightening the people: The role of propaganda
- The importance of film
- A model vision? The idealised individual
- Fit to rule? The power of sport and the health of the nation
- Looking to the future: The importance of youth
- The role of women and the gender divide
8. The dictatorships in action: Italy, Germany and the USSR in the 1930s – the politics of fear?
- The politics of terror
- Purging Russia
- ‘Purifying’ Germany
- The popular experience
- The Italian case
9. The gathering storm? Foreign policy and international relations in the 1930s
- The years of hope: Peacemaking in the early 1930s
- A growing divide: Western tensions and Italian foreign policy
- The Spanish Civil War
- Appeasement and Nazi foreign policy
- The road to war
10. Comparing interwar dictatorships
- The role and nature of ideology
- The role of the leader
- Remembering the dictators
- The value of comparison
We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.