In this class, we will learn about the causes for World War 2, while playing the game Days of Decision. In this boardgame, the learners play the government of the major powers in 1936: USA, the Commonwealth, France, China, or the USSR, for example. As we play the game, the learners will make choose which policies their nations should choose, guiding them through the turbulent times, like the Spanish Civil War. The learners will have to think about:

* The national economy - can they afford military spending?
* International politics - will they try to sway minor countries to their side? Will they focus on trade or be more isolationist?
* The Spanish Civil War - will they try to intervene? Maybe the democracies can help the Republic win against the Franco's Falangist Nationalists?
* What would have happened if  the Chinese government was capable of resisting the Japanese attacks in 1937?
* What would have happened if the Soviet Union had gone to war against the Japanese Empire in the late 1930s?

Week of Sep 5th: The class discusses the situation in the world 1936, focusing particularly on how the colonial empires of Europe were still largely intact, as well as the multi-polar international order, with the Soviet Union and its Communism on the one hand, rising Fascism in Europe on the other, and democracies in the third.

Week of Sep 12th: We continue discussing the world of 1936, including the significance of the Berlin Olympics, the start of the Great Purge in Stalin's USSR, the start of the Spanish Civil War, the significance of the US Presidential Elections and the abdication of Edvard VII in the United Kingdom.

Week of Sep 19th: The class discusses the situation in the world 1937. Of particular note - the increased international interventions into the Spanish Civil War, resulting in the terror-bombing of Guernica.

Week of Sep 26th: The class discusses the situation in the world 1937, including the break-out of hostilities between Japan and China following the Marco Polo Bridge incident.

Week of Oct 3rd: The class discusses the situation in the world 1938 - events like Anschluss and the Sudeten-land crisis and the eventual annexation of Czechoslovakia will be covered.

Week of Oct 10th: The class discusses the situation in the world 1939, including the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, paving the way for the German war against Poland.