C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: Inquiries: Treaty of Versailles
A comprehensive learning module on the Treaty of Versailles that includes three supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. The unit examines whether or not the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Passport to the Great Wars
In this unit plan students will be examining the causes, events, and consequences of the First World War. To launch this project students will create passports that they will use throughout this unit and in the World War II unit. The...
Wessels Living History Farm
Living History Farm: Farming in the 1940s: Wwii Causes a Revolution in Farming
Because of World War II, life changed for farmers in the 1940s. Many farmers left the farm for the cities or to serve in the military, new technologies were developed, and equipment improved making the work in fields easier and quicker.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Ushmm: Holocaust Encyclopedia: Mosaic of Victims
An analysis of the scope of Nazi persecution during World War II, including the Jews, Poles, Roma, and any groups people who did not support the Nazi cause.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Prelude to War
[Free Registration/Login Required] Use this flipchart after reading Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss to explain totalitarian governments and dictators. The chart explains the time before World War II through Italy, Spain, USSR, Japan, and...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 8: An Age of Confidence and Anxiety
This extensive learning module examines the United States' response to the global uncertainty and instability that followed World War II and the ways that marginalized groups challenged discrimination, and the counter-responses to their...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Baby Boom
Looks at the baby boom in America after World War II - what caused it, why it lasted so long, and the far-reaching social and economic impact it has had on the United States.
Digital History
Digital History: The Aftermath of the Decision [Pdf]
A touching and horrifying description of the devastation caused by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which brought about the surrender of Japan in World War II. Suggested student exercises accompany the information....
Library of Congress
Loc: u.s. History Timeline: The Post War United States 1945 1968
Includes how the United States' entry into WWII caused vast changes in every aspect of American life, how arts and entertainment showed continuity and change, and details of the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy as President.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Us History: Wwii
Students develop and express claims through discussions and writing which examine the causes and consequences of historical events and international relations on a shift in U.S. foreign policy which eventually led to U.S. involvement in...
Other
Calvin College: Nazi and East German Propaganda
This collection of visual and printed propaganda material from 1933 to 1989 centers around the rise of the Nazi Party, World War II from the Nazi perspective, and East German Communism.
PBS
Pbs: Commanding Heights: German Hyperinflation, 1923
This site provides great discussion of the causes and effects of the German Hyperinflation of 1923.
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Zoot Suit Riots
[Free Registration/Login Required] Like other big cities, Los Angeles has had its share of unrest, even riots in some instances. In this lesson, the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 are investigated to figure out what caused the event.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1890 1945: The Us in Wwi: The Treaty of Versailles
Looks at the Treaty of Versailles, what its terms were, why America never ratified it or joined the League of Nations, why Germans grew to resent the burdens it imposed on them, and how this contributed to Hitler's rise to power....
Digital History
Digital History: Munich: Anatomy of a Crisis [Pdf]
This excellent lesson plan lays out the framework of the lead-up to World War II in Europe. It covers the problem the support of Czechoslovakia caused Great Britain and France, the policy of appeasement exercised by Prime Minister...
Other
Lebendiges Museum Online: Kriegszerstorung
This site from the Lebendiges Museum Online describes the extent of damage caused to Germany by allied bombings. There is also a video. Written in German.
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Causes of Ww2 for Kids
Article on the causes of WW2 provides detailed facts and summary of events that started the war including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the rise of dictators in Germany and Italy.
Other
Lebensraum: Living Space for the German Race
Resource provides a discussion of the concept of "Lebensraum," or "living space" for the German people. This was one of Hitler's main justifications for his military conquests.
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
U.s. Holocaust Memorial Museum: The Story of Raphael Lemkin
An article about Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew who emigrated to the U.S. at the beginning of World War II. As a lawyer and scholar, he documented Nazi atrocities and coined the word "genocide."
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Jitterbugs, Swing Kids, and Lindy Hoppers
This collection uses primary sources to explore the cultural impact of swing dancing.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Social Realism
This collection uses primary sources to explore social realism in American art.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
This collection uses primary sources to explore John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
Colby College
Colby College: Building Up German Hegemony in Cent. Europe
Essay desribing Hitler's building up of the German army and how he violated the Treaty of Versailles from 1933 to 1938.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook
A rich Fordham University site of primary source material that include full-text, and multimedia sites. There are additional study and research guides such as Modern History in the Movies.