In this classroom film from 1963, a filmmaker and an historian discuss the background issues leading into the beginning of World War II, starting with the Treaty of Versailles and ending with Germany’s invasion of Poland. A major lesson of the film is the familiar of the strategy of appeasement in preventing war. (TRT 16:15)

Titles. Crane Brinton, Ph.D., the McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University (0:09) meets with a filmmaker who is using a 16mm projector to show off the rough version of a documentary he has made. Brinton, a scholar with a focus on French history whose most famous book was “The Anatomy of Revolution”, states that the unsolved problems leading from Versailles Treaty that ended World War I were contributive causes to World War II (0:55). French crowds celebrate the end of World War I in November 1918, on a balcony reading “Mme Georgette” (1:17). A raised banner: “L’armistice est Signe” “La guerre est gagnee” “Vive la France!” “Vivent les allies!” (1:28). Delegates meet at Versailles (1:35). A makeshift cemetery – “Nine million men had given their lives” (2:00). Lenin speaks to crowds (2:17). Crowds march in Germany (2:33). A Nazi (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterparti, or NDSAP). flag with a swastika, reading “Deutschland Erwache!” (“Germany, awake!”). (2:53). Riot imagery taken to represent footage of the “Beer Hall Putsch” in Munich (3:00). Adolf Hitler (3:07). Bundles of cash are dumped, representing the hyperinflation crisis of the Weimar Republic (3:18). A 20 million mark banknote (3:24). A German bakery demonstrating high prices (3:31). People hauling wood (3:43). People demonstrating and brandishing weapons in Italy – a hat reads “Siena” (3:44). King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy stands at a balcony. (3:55). Benito Mussolini (4:00). Fascist Blackshirts parade in a square (4:05). Mussolini speaks to a cheering crowd. He stands in front of the image of an eagle clutching a fasces (4:16). Housing projects built under the control of Italian fascists (4:41). Italian military, navy, tanks (4:43). Newspaper headline: “Stocks Crash 10 Billions; Sound Issues Drop 10 to 50 Points” – the 1929 stock market crash begins the Depression (5:00). People stand in bread lines (5:13). Hitler on parade (5:18). President Paul von Hindenburg names Hitler Chancellor of Germany, 1933 (5:33). The Palace of Nations at Ariana Park, home to the League of Nations (7:06). Soldiers fire cannons and scale walls, representing the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, 1931 (7:33). Pile of corpses, Second Sino-Japanese War (7:56). Italian fascists on the march, invading Ethiopia (8:09). Ethiopian soldiers march (8:16). Haile Selassie appeals to the League of Nations, June 1936 (8:30). A discussion of the policy of appeasement and its failure (9:30). Hitler speaks at a Nuremberg rally in 1934, footage taken from Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (10:00). German air force, submarines, cannon, marching soldiers (10:11). Hitler speaks with Mussolini. They look over a map (10:30). A bombed out building in the Spanish Civil War. Cannons knock down walls (10:50). German troops march into the Rhineland, March 1936 (11:10). President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia. Czech soldiers assemble (11:41). Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier meet with Hitler and Mussolini and sign the Munich Agreement, September 1938 (12:00). A map is referenced in a discussion of the leadup to the 1939 invasion of Poland (12:35). Chamberlain and Daladier in front of an Air France plane (13:58). British people march with banners: “Stop German Aggression – Act to Save Peace!” “For Peace Stop Hitler” (14:05). The British naval fleet, British and French armies (14:11). German tanks advance on Poland (14:34). Chicago Sunday Tribune headline: “Britain Goes to War” (14:39). A summary of the issues discussed in the film is provided. (14:50).

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