Theme 1: The Two Wars Are One Conflict

The unifying argument of this unit. WWI did not end in 1918; it paused on terms that guaranteed WWII. The Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany, the League of Nations failed, the Russian Revolution produced a hostile communist state, and the Great Depression discredited democratic capitalism. These accumulated failures produced the totalitarian regimes that started WWII. Maria should be able to trace this causal chain in her sleep.