International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) Group 3: Individuals and Societies (History) Syllabus

Group 3: Individuals and Societies (History) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Group 3: Individuals and Societies (History) in International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Prescribed Subject: The Move to Global War

   3 topics

   • Japanese expansion in East Asia (1931-1941)
     • Causes of expansion and Manchuria
     • Sino-Japanese War and Pearl Harbor
   • German and Italian expansion (1933-1940)
     • Hitler's foreign policy aims
     • Abyssinia, the Rhineland and the Anschluss
   • Responses and appeasement
     • League of Nations failures
     • Munich and the path to war
2. 2

   World History Topic: Authoritarian States (20th Century)

   3 topics

   • Emergence of authoritarian states
     • Conditions and methods of rise to power
     • Role of leaders and ideology
   • Consolidation and maintenance of power
     • Use of propaganda, force and legal methods
     • Treatment of opposition
   • Aims and results of policies
     • Economic and social policies
     • Status of women and minorities
3. 3

   World History Topic: Causes and Effects of 20th-Century Wars

   3 topics

   • Causes of war
     • Long-term, short-term and immediate causes
     • Economic, ideological and political factors
   • Practices and impact of war
     • Technological developments and tactics
     • Effects on civilians and economies
   • Outcomes and peace settlements
4. 4

   HL Option: History of Europe

   3 topics

   • Diplomacy and international relations
     • Post-1918 settlements and collapse
   • Social and economic developments
     • Inter-war crises and recovery
   • Selected national case studies
5. 5

   Historical Skills and Assessment

   3 topics

   • Source analysis and evaluation
     • Origin, purpose, value and limitations
     • Cross-referencing and corroboration
   • Paper 1, 2 and 3 requirements
     • Paper 1: source-based prescribed subject
     • Paper 2: comparative essays
     • Paper 3 (HL): regional depth study
   • Internal Assessment: Historical investigation
     • Choosing a research question
     • Evaluation of sources and reflection

Group 3: Individuals and Societies (History) flashcards for International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB)

25 of 50 cards from the Group 3: Individuals and Societies (History) deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What event in September 1931 marked the start of Japanese expansion into mainland East Asia?

   The Mukden (Manchurian) Incident, in which the Japanese Kwantung Army staged a bombing on the South Manchuria Railway near Mukden as a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.

2. What puppet state did Japan create in Manchuria in 1932, and who was its nominal ruler?

   Manchukuo, with the former last Qing emperor Puyi installed as its figurehead head of state.

3. What was the Lytton Report (1932) and how did Japan respond to it?

   A League of Nations commission report that condemned Japan as the aggressor in Manchuria and refused to recognise Manchukuo. Japan rejected it and withdrew from the League in 1933.

4. What incident in July 1937 triggered the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War?

   The Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing, a clash between Japanese and Chinese troops that escalated into all-out war.

5. What atrocity occurred after Japan captured the Chinese capital in December 1937?

   The Nanjing Massacre (Rape of Nanjing), in which Japanese forces killed an estimated 200,000-300,000 civilians and prisoners and committed mass rape.

6. What US action in 1940-1941 increased pressure on Japan and pushed it toward war?

   Economic sanctions, including the freezing of Japanese assets and an oil/scrap metal embargo, in response to Japan's occupation of French Indochina.

7. What was the 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere'?

   Japan's propaganda concept of a self-sufficient bloc of Asian nations led by Japan and free of Western colonialism, used to justify imperial expansion and resource extraction.

8. How did Hitler's Germany begin overt rearmament and treaty violation in 1935?

   He announced conscription and the existence of the Luftwaffe, openly repudiating the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.

9. What was the significance of the remilitarisation of the Rhineland in March 1936?

   Hitler moved troops into the demilitarised Rhineland, violating both Versailles and Locarno; Britain and France did not respond, emboldening further aggression.

10. What was the Anschluss of March 1938?

    The annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, uniting the two German-speaking states in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

11. What was agreed at the Munich Conference of September 1938?

    Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed to transfer the Sudetenland (German-speaking border region of Czechoslovakia) to Germany, the high point of appeasement; Czechoslovakia was not consulted.

12. What was Italy's major act of expansion in 1935-1936 in Africa?

    The invasion and conquest of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), which exposed the weakness of the League of Nations and its failed sanctions against Italy.

13. What 1936 agreement formalised the alliance between Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany?

    The Rome-Berlin Axis, followed in 1939 by the formal military alliance, the Pact of Steel.

14. Define 'appeasement' as practised by Britain and France in the 1930s.

    A foreign policy of granting concessions to aggressive powers (chiefly Hitler's Germany) to avoid war, based on the belief that grievances were legitimate and conflict could be prevented through negotiation.

15. Give three reasons Britain pursued appeasement in the 1930s.

    Fear of another devastating war and aerial bombing; military and economic unpreparedness; a belief the Treaty of Versailles had been unjust; public anti-war sentiment; and a desire to focus on the perceived communist threat.

16. What was the Nazi-Soviet Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) of August 1939?

    A non-aggression treaty between Germany and the USSR with a secret protocol dividing Poland and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, clearing the way for the invasion of Poland.

17. What event on 1 September 1939 directly precipitated the start of WWII in Europe?

    Germany's invasion of Poland, which led Britain and France to declare war on Germany on 3 September 1939.

18. According to the IB authoritarian states topic, what conditions typically give rise to authoritarian regimes?

    Economic crisis, social division and weak/discredited existing governments, war or its aftermath, ideological appeal, and a leader who exploits these conditions to seize and centralise power.

19. List common methods used to consolidate and maintain power in authoritarian states.

    Use of force and terror (police, paramilitaries), propaganda and a personality cult, control of education and media, legal/constitutional manipulation, removal of opposition, and economic policies to build support.

20. What is the difference between a 'legal' seizure of power and a coup, with an example of each?

    A legal seizure uses existing constitutional means (e.g. Hitler appointed Chancellor in 1933), whereas a coup is a forcible, often violent overthrow (e.g. Mussolini's 'March on Rome' pressure in 1922, though partly legal).

21. What is a 'cult of personality' and why is it used by authoritarian leaders?

    The deliberate cultivation of an idealised, heroic public image of the leader through propaganda; it legitimises rule, fosters loyalty, and equates the leader with the nation itself.

22. What is 'totalitarianism' and how does it differ from authoritarianism?

    Totalitarianism seeks total state control over all aspects of public and private life, ideology and society; authoritarianism demands obedience and suppresses opposition but tolerates some autonomy in non-political spheres.

23. In the IB framework, what are the typical aims of authoritarian leaders' domestic policies?

    To consolidate power, transform the economy (often through state direction or self-sufficiency/autarky), reshape society according to ideology, control culture/religion, and mobilise the population.

24. What is 'autarky' as an economic aim of authoritarian states?

    Economic self-sufficiency, in which a state seeks to produce all it needs domestically and minimise dependence on foreign trade, often to prepare for war (e.g. Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy).

25. How did authoritarian regimes typically treat religion?

    Either by suppressing it as a rival source of loyalty (e.g. Soviet atheism), or by co-opting/concordat with it to gain legitimacy (e.g. Mussolini's 1929 Lateran Pacts with the Catholic Church).

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