1920s: Europe is still recovering from the devastation of World War I. The Fascist movement is on the rise in Italy, where Benito Mussolini takes power in 1922. In 1926, Mussolini solidifies his power, bans opposition, and establishes a single-party dictatorship. In 1932 in Germany, Adolf Hitler leads his Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, for which he receives a nine-month prison sentence. During his imprisonment, he writes his famous book Mein Kampf (1925).

Today: Germany and Italy have long overcome their totalitarian past and are democratic nations. They are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; the Western military alliance) and the European Union (founded to enhance political, economic, and social cooperation among European nations).

1920s: The League of Nations, founded after World War I, aims to enforce the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war; to prevent new wars from breaking out; to promote disarmament...