Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Joseph Stalin

For Students 9th - 10th
An in-depth biography of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Content includes information on his childhood and early years, his rise to power after Lenin's death, his policy of collectivisation, his consolidation of absolute power by the...
Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Nikita Khrushchev Collection

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents containing the thoughts and opinions of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Most are from Russian archives, along with a few Bulgarian and Romanian documents. The collection includes comments on Stalin, the post-Stalin Soviet...
Lesson Plan
San Diego State University

World History for Us All: Two Big Powers and Their Cold War 1945 1990 [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
After completing this unit, students will be able to describe major differences in the political ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union, explain the causes of the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and explain how...
Handout
BBC

Bbc: Three Days That Shook the World

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1991, communist hardliners attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev for his reforms leading to the break-up of the Soviet Union. The coup lasted for three days. Article dated August 15, 2001.
Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: End of the Cold War

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a collection of primary source documents covering the collapse of the Soviet Union during the late 1980's. The collection contains documents from archives in most of the former Soviet bloc countries. They discuss the changes...
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
In October 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States went eyeball-to-eyeball and were on the brink of nuclear war. Surveillance photographs taken by a U-2 spy plane over Cuba revealed that the Soviet Union was installing...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Revelations From the Russian Archives

For Students 9th - 10th
This particular page from the Library of Congress is the homepage with an outline of hyperlinks to numerous articles that could provide background information regarding the former Soviet Union.
Website
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: Truman: Foreign Affairs

For Students 9th - 10th
This site gives a great overview of the early Cold War under President Truman. Describes relations with the Soviet Union, the atomic bomb, actions in western Europe, and the Korean War. A great piece that gives the reader a fantastic...
Lesson Plan
Stanford University

Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Teachers 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] After reviewing documents related to United States and Soviet Union national leadership, students will discuss the reasons Russia extracted their missiles from Cuba.
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Docs Teach: President Reagan and the Cold War: Vision and Diplomacy

For Teachers 9th - 10th
See how Ronald Reagan's rhetoric evolved from his speech calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire" to his signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by examining photographs and documents.
Website
University of Virginia

Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Gerald Ford: Foreign Affairs

For Students 9th - 10th
Comprehensive look at the foreign policy of Gerald Ford's administration. Topics include: detente with Soviet Union, Soviet-American relationship in general, end of the Vietnam War, the Mayaguez crisis, and the CIA operations.
Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Cuban Missile Crisis

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962-a major confrontation that brought the Soviet Union and the United States close to war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Website
National Archives (UK)

Nalc: Cold War

For Students 9th - 10th
The tension between Great Britain, United States, and the Soviet Union at end of World War II is surveyed with an excellent presentation with many links and images, a time line, glossary, and archive.
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: The Dealth of Stalin and the Cold War

For Students 9th - 10th
In March 1953, Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the Soviet Union since 1928, died at the age of 73. His feared minister of internal affairs, Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria, was subsequently shot for treason. Nikita Khrushchev then became first...
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Vladimir Lenin

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed article on the life of Vladimir Lenin. Discusses his life before becoming the leader of the Soviet Union, his political accomplishments as a leader and his death.
Handout
Other

St. Martin: Iron Curtain 1945 1947

For Students 9th - 10th
This article discusses the development of the Soviet Union's Communist buffer zone after World War II and its evolution into the Iron Curtain of the Cold War.
Website
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Chinese Foreign Policy

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents on China's foreign relations, focusing on its relationship with the Soviet Union and the United States.
Website
American Academy of Achievement

Academy of Achievement: Mikhail S. Gorbachev

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, once the leader of the Soviet Union and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Includes a profile, interview and photo gallery.
Article
Other

Military.com: Francis Gary Powers: One Man, Two Countries

For Students 9th - 10th
This profile of the American pilot Francis Gary Powers discusses the mission of the U-2 reconnaissance flights during the Cold War as well as the international incident surrounding the shooting down of his U-2 over the Soviet Union.
Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Cuban Foreign Relations

For Students 9th - 10th
Documents on Cuban's international relations, focusing on its relationship with the Soviet Union, China, and the United States.
Primary
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Woodrow Wilson Center: Digital Archive: Geneva Conference of 1954

For Students 9th - 10th
The Geneva Conference of 1954 was an international meeting in Switzerland involving the Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China and the Viet Minh. The powers involved attempted to negotiate a settlement to end...
Handout
US Holocaust Memorial Museum

U.s. Holocaust Memorial Museum: German Soviet Pact

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the agreement between the Germans and Soviets that contained a secret section that provided for the partition of Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe between the two countries. Includes photographs, a map, and archival...
Handout
US Holocaust Memorial Museum

U.s. Holocaust Memorial Museum: Einsatzgruppen and Other Ss and Police Units

For Students 9th - 10th
Article about the use of the Einsatzgruppen by the Nazis, especially in the Soviet Union, to commit mass murder in their effort to defeat the Soviet Union in World War II.
Handout
University of Washington

Russian and Soviet Science and Technology

For Students 9th - 10th
A 1989 paper on the history of science and technology in Russia and the Soviet Union.

Other popular searches