How did the Great Depression cause WWII?

STARTER:
Key Words:
Depression
Inflation
Unemployed

Challenge starter:
What are the main
features of this cartoon?
What is it trying to say?

Mega challenging starter: More challenging starter:

What is the message of this cartoon? Write a theory of what happened in
Use details from the source to help you. real life using the source.
 **Independent thinking task**

“When America sneezes, the rest of

the world catches a cold.”

What does this mean?

How did the Great Depression cause WWII?

Challenging: to explain how the Great Depression

caused WWII and links to Hitler coming to power.

More challenging: to explain how and why the Great

Depression caused WWII.

Mega challenging: to be able to analyse the

significance of the Great Depression.
REFRESHER:
Why did World War II
start 20 years after
World War I?

Why did Hitler come

to power in Germany?
Did Hitler cause World
War II?

Or were other factors

to blame too?

THINK – PAIR - SHARE

Copy: The Wall Street Crash in America led
to the Great Depression, a financial crisis
affecting much of the world. Like the
financial crash of a few years ago, but much,
much worse.
 What was the Great Depression (1929)?
TASK 2:
What were the consequences?
After watching the video and reading the sheet, answer these questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDylTBTi6Y
Mega challenging:
1. What caused the Great Depression? (2 causes) (2marks)
2. How was Germany affected by it? (3 specific impacts) (3marks)
3. How does the Great Depression link to Hitler? (2marks)
4. How significant was the Great Depression in relation to causing WWII?
(compare the other reasons for causing WWII – Hitler’s personality, The
treaty of Versailles, the lack of action of the league of nations – which one is
the most important in causing WWII? (5marks)
Sentence Structure:
1. The Great depression (1929) was caused by,…….
2. Germany was affected by the Great Depression by,…….
3. The Great depression is linked to Hitler because,……..
Therefore, this links it to Hitler as,…….
4. I believe the Great Depression was fairly/ extremely significant in causing WWII
because,…..
However, I say / someone may say, ……… was more significant in causing WWII
because,…..
 How did the Great Depression lead
to Hitler coming to power?
TASK 3:
Study through the
information sheet and
highlight 8 events to
complete your flow diagram
with.

Only when you are happy that you

have the events, write it into
your flow diagram.

Mega challenge: Which of the

events holds the greatest
significance in Hitler’s rise?
Analyse in your books.
 TASK 4:
Use everything you have
learned today and
previous knowledge to
answer this question:

How useful is this

cartoon in explaining how
the Great Depression
caused World War II?
This source is useful to an extent. It is useful because…
(+ source + own knowledge)
It is also useful for showing…
(+ source + own knowledge)
However, the source doesn’t show the full story, for example…
(own knowledge)
Plenary:
How do these things link together?
Mini-plenary:
Imagine you were a normal German worker in the early
1930s, you have been through hyperinflation, political
struggles with attempted takeovers and now the
depression.
How would you feel? Who would you blame? What would
you do about it? Explain in your books.

Challenging: to explain how the Great

Depression caused WWII and links to Hitler
coming to power.
More challenging: to explain how and why
the Great Depression caused WWII.
Mega challenging: To be able to analyse the
significance of the Great Depression.
What if?
What if the Wall Street crash
didn’t happen?

Would Hitler still have come to

power?
Where does the Treaty of
Versailles come into this?