Between the Wars · 1918–1939
The war was over.
So why was everyone still angry?
After WWI ended, Europe tried to pick up the pieces. It did not go well. In just twenty years, the world would be at war again.
SKELETON — fill-in needed
- Add 3 hook stats (deaths from WWI, money owed, years until WWII)
- Add a counter animation, mirror WWI Ch 0
- Add map showing Europe 1919 vs 1939
Chapter 1 · 1919
Germany got blamed for everything.
After WWI, the winners made Germany sign a paper called the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty said Germany had to pay for the whole war — and could not have a real army. Germans were furious.
[CONTENT — Versailles signing image, plain-language summary of the four key terms (war guilt, reparations, army limits, lost land), one MC, vocab: treaty]
Chapter 2 · 1929
One day, the money just disappeared.
In 1929, the stock market in America crashed. Banks closed. People lost their jobs. Their savings were gone. This was the Great Depression. And it spread to the whole world.
[CONTENT — 1929 breadline photo, "what is a depression" Grade-3 explanation, soup kitchen detail, one MC, vocab: depression]
Chapter 3 · 1922–1933
Three angry men took over three countries.
When people are scared and hungry, they look for someone to blame. In Italy, Germany, and Japan, three angry leaders rose up. They promised to fix everything. They were called dictators.
[CONTENT — three side-by-side cards (Mussolini Italy 1922, Hitler Germany 1933, Tojo Japan), what each promised, what each took. Sober tone — no sensationalism. Vocab: dictator, fascism, nazi]
Chapter 4 · 1938
"Just let them have it."
When Hitler started taking other countries, Britain and France had a choice. Fight him? Or let him take a little, and hope he would stop? They picked the second one. They thought he would stop. He did not.
[CONTENT — Munich 1938 photo, Chamberlain "peace in our time", Czechoslovakia map, one MC, vocab: appeasement, invasion]
You see the pattern now
Here is what you learned.
You now know how peace led to another war.
SKELETON — same shape as WWI Chapter 5
- 6 timeline tiles: Treaty · Depression · Bullies · Appeasement · Invasion · → WWII
- Each tile: one-sentence story + 1–2 vocab chips with .so audio buttons
- Goal banner: stars (0/6) and sentences (0/3)
- "Tell the story back" panel — copy from wwi-mockup.html
- Reuse: tile + chip + story-panel CSS already proven
Bonus Reading · A true story
A boy who ran the world.
In 1936, the Olympics came to Germany. Hitler said his people were the best at everything. Then a Black American kid named Jesse Owens ran on his track — and won four gold medals.
[CONTENT — Jesse Owens 1936 narrative, Grade-3 prose, ~800–1000 words, modeled on Stubby. Vocabulary: Olympics, gold medal, racism (gentle framing). Optional alt: Kindertransport — pick whichever vets best.]
Show what you know
Test Yourself.
Six questions. Then three sentences. Andrés will help with the first one of each.
SKELETON — same shape as WWI Chapter 7
- 6 MCs ramped: 1 (do-together recall) · 2 (recall+distractor) · 3–4 (cross-out practice) · 5 (restate-the-question) · 6 (best-answer inference)
- Each MC carries one of 3 frames: Cause/Effect, Turning Point, Opinion+Evidence
- Standalone wrap-up: 3 sentences (one per frame), about Interwar overall
- "Email my answers" mailto button; reuse buildSummary() pattern from wwi-mockup.html
- Suggested MC topics: Versailles cause-of-WWII, Depression chronology, Hitler appeasement turning-point, Jesse Owens POV