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Encyclopedia of the Second World War
The Second World War is a Spartacus Educational website and enables one to research individual people and events of the war in detail. The sources are "hypertexted" so that the visitor can research the newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the source.
Hyper War:World War II
Hyper War is a “hypertext” history of the second World War and features diplomatic and political documents
World War II Sites
Offers numerous links, stories of the war, biographies, films, photographs, a links, and even a test
BBC Online: World War II
Covers various topics of the war such as campaigns and battles, politics, home front, and the holocaust. Multimedia zone offers interactive maps, photographs and audio and video clips. WW2 People's War is a new website from BBCi History, aspiring to create a new national archive of personal and family stories from World War Two.
Open Directory Project: World War II
This comprehensive directory contains 737 websites on the Second World War: Air Forces (98), Arts and Literature (14), Atomic (56), Directories (3), Documents, Manuscripts and other Primary Sources (3), Education and Academic (3), Land Forces (36), Naval Forces (63), People (183), Regional (133), Theaters of Operations (162), War Crimes (2) and Weapons and Equipment (43).
WWII: A Soldier's View
Helps one try to imagine the horror and struggles of warfare in WWII. Topics include Bataan Death March, and D-Day
Armies of the Second World War
Site has histories, links, a bibliography and much more information on the war
US History - World War Cycle links
Contains a "cycle" of links on WWII
World War II Remembered
Former Senator Bob Dole and historian Stephen Ambrose are among those who contribute to the site. It was created to preserve untold stories of those who lived during the World War II era.
The World at War
The goal of this site is to be as complete as possible about the history of WW 1939-1945.
The World War II Sound and Image File
Site features interesting graphics and radio excerpts
Special Topics:
Guts and Glory
This PBS site focuses on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and offers first-hand accounts, a timeline, nurses' tales and more
D-Day
An excellent PBS site that covers many aspects of the invasion
Enola Gay
A Smithsonian display that provides plentiful information and links on the bombing of Hiroshima
Homefront 1939-1945
This interactive UK National Archives Learning Curve exhibition examines around life in Britain during Word War II. Sections revolve around essential questions for students to answer and feature diaries, activities, worksheets, a timeline, and video.
Pearl Harbor Remembered
Provides a nice introduction and useful links
Baatan Rescue
This PBS American Experience site relates the story of an elite Ranger battalion that went 30 miles behind enemy lines in the Philippines in 1944 to rescue 500 survivors of the Bataan death march who were held captive by the Japanese. There are interviews with liberated POWs, a tour
inside a Ranger training camp, a teacher's guide, and more.
Japanese American Internment
A good commercial site with useful links and documents. Includes a timeline, photo gallery, and glossary
World War II Posters: Powers of Persuasion (NARA)
An interesting National Archives exhibit that displays and explains American propaganda posters
Women Who Came to the Front (Library of Congress)
This Library of Congress exhibit tells the story of eight different women who participated as journalists, broadcasters, and photographers during World War II.
Return to Midway
A slick National Geographic feature on the Battle of the Midway
Normandy
A special presentation by Britannica.com
A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution
This site explores how a government balances human rights with a need for national security. an online exhibit from the Smithsonian. Immigration, Removal, Internment, Loyalty, Service and Justice are the areas available for viewing, with a special area for reflection by visitors. Classroom Activities are found under the Resources link at the bottom of the page.
Women and the Second World War
This website examines the important role played by women in the war and includes biographies of twenty secret agents, twenty women involved in the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Europe and twelve women who risked their lives as war reporters.
The Winston Churchill Home Page
Produced by the Churchill Center, this site covers all aspects of Churchill's life. Included are sound recordings of Churchill's speeches, a radio interview, and other primary source documents.
Master Race: 1926-1945 (PBS)
Site part of PBS's People's Century series, this site probes the Nazi takeover in Germany
Total War (PBS)
Part of PBS's People's Century series, this site discusses the contributions of civilians during WWII and their victimization
The Holocaust - Crimes, Heroes and Villains
Started in 1996 it is today one of the largest Holocaust websites in the world.
Nuremberg- The Doctor's Trial
This informative presentation is part of a larger site -- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum-- and contains the testimonies and evidence used during this trial against Nazi physicians who conducted scientific experiments on concentration camp prisoners. There are numerous primary source documents that describe the surgical atrocities.
James Cameron's Expedition
Provides an interactive tour of the famous WWII battleship
Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals
This United States Holocaust Memorial Museum online exhibition examines the campaign of persecution and violence against homosexuals in Germany under the Third Reich.
Decision to Drop the Bomb
This WebQuest simulates the decision-making process that went into President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Paths of Memory
This multi-lingual European museums site has well organized sections on the First World War, Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.
Hitler's Bunker
This Discovery Channel photo gallery explores what happened in Hitler's bunker during the final months of the war.
World War II: The Home Front
This ThinkQuest site includes a timeline, an artifact museum and a simulation that allows students to follow the lives of five American families during the school year of September 1943-June 1944.
German Conspiracy to Destroy Hitler
This website is dedicated to those German involved in the six-year effort to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime. The material includes a timeline, several articles on German plots and short biographies of 70 of the conspirators.
Oscar Schindler
Biography of the rescuer Oskar Schindler, who saved 1200 Jews during the Holocaust and World War II. Stories of war crimes, survivors, and the entire Schindler's List.
Facing History
Through the excellent Facing History workshops and institute students learn how issues of identity and membership, inclusion and exclusion, play out at one particular moment in history. As part of the journey students engage in a rigorous investigation of Germany's transition from a democracy to a totalitarian regime. They see how the Nazis rose to power, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. Throughout, students confront the moral questions inherent in this history .
The Nanking Atrocities
Comprehensive accounts of the Nanking Atrocities that took place 1937-38 Nanking, China during the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War. This site includes interviews with leading historians in the field as well as historical photographs and video footages, and a number of other documented materials such as newspaper articles, diaries of former Japanese soldiers and American missionaries who were in Nanking when the incident took place, and the judgment of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.
The Spanish Revolution
This site is essentially a large collection of organized links related to the Spanish Civil war
Europe and the Spanish Civil War
This European Virtual School History Department project website chronicles the various European responses to the Spanish War of the 1936-39.
Spanish Civil War
This site is part of the University of San Diego's history department and covers the origins, events, and aftermath of the Spanish Civil War . It includes a chronology and bibliography
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities and more
Images in WWII
Through the use of Images captured in the 1940's, students in grades 6-12 will follow this Teachervision.com lesson plan to learn about the homefront.
Women and WWII
This lesson plan focuses on how Women's role in America changed after WWII. Intended for 6th to 12th graders, the lessons focus on research and discussion.
BBC History Games: Battle of the Atlantic
Play the game as Senior Officer Escort in charge of defending increasingly important convoys.
BBC History: The Fall of France Animation
Follow the progress of the German forces as they cross the border, occupy Belgium and the Netherlands and trap the Allied forces at Dunkirk.
BBC History: The North Africa Campaign Animation
Follow the three years of battles in the North African desert, and see how Axis and Allied forces chased each other across this hostile terrain.
BBC History: Battle of El Alamein
In this BBC animation you follow the battle that signified 'the end of the beginning' of World War Two, as the Allies force the decisive breakthrough in the North African Campaign.
BBC History: Operation Overlord Animation
Follow the Allies as they land on the Normandy coast on 6 June 1944, and then battle their way into Brittany and on to liberate Paris.
BBC History: The Italian Campaign Animation
Follow the Allied forces as they invade Sicily and battle their way into Italy, all the way from Salerno in the south to the Alps in the north.
Learning Resources Open Hearts/Closed Doors: Teachers guide
This thirteen-page guide contains lesson ideas, discussion questions, extensions and supporting resources that relate directly to the Jewish orphans' narratives and nine different themes. It provides opportunities for individual student and small group work. You must download the file to view it.
Race for the Super Bomb
Research and debate the ethics, policy, and events that led up to Hiroshima. Students will also learn about the dawn of the Cold War, and how the Soviets joined the nuclear arms race.
World War II: What's It All About?
World War II: What's It All About? is a visually stimulating and fun-to-use site for kids 10 & up that provides a helpful overview of World War II . There are four major topics: The Before Time, Criminals, Technology, Genocide, and Situation Maps. Each features nifty animations, images, or sounds that are sure to grab a young visitor's attention. Check out the Shockwave interactive maps that illustrate, among other things, Nazi troop movements during the war.
Course Models: World War II
Part of the California History-Social Science content standards and annotated course which include: background information, focus questions, pupil activities and handouts, assessment, and references to books, articles, web sites, literature, audio-video programs, and historic site. Grade 11.
South Carolina Voices: Lessons from the Holocaust
A teacher's guide to teaching about the Holocaust and it's aftermath. This page has several lesson plans as well as links to background information and printable handouts. Intended for grades 7-12
A teachers guide to the Holocaust: High School lesson plans
This Florida Center for Instructional Technology page has multiple lesson plans. Lessons analyze all aspects of the Holocaust and urge students to take advantage of primary sources. The lessons come with their own worksheets. These are High School level assignments.
America and the Holocaust
Complex social and political factors shaped America's response to the Holocaust, specifically the treatment of Jewish refugees from Europe. It was not until 1944 that a small band of Treasury Department employees forced the government to respond.
Teacher's Guide: Total War
In World War II, fire bombs, air raids, and the atomic bomb kill millions of civilians and leave many more injured and homeless. As the fighting grows more fierce and sweeps across nations, ordinary citizens join the war effort, often at great sacrifice. Explore the effects of World War II on civilians.
Was Hitler a Passionate Lunatic?
This exercise is aimed at getting pupils to look at conflicting evidence and assessing their reliability. It can be used as an introduction to looking at the issue of appeasement and the decisions that were made in the run up to the outbreak of the war. From Learning Curve. Key Stage 3-4.
Assassinate Hitler: How Did the British Plan to Kill Hitler?
In 1944 the SOE (Special Operations Executive) drew up some plans to kill Hitler and as Head of SOE it is your job to decide which of two ways of killing Hitler should be given the go-ahead. From the Learning Curve (UK National Archives). Key Stage 3-4.
Chamberlain and Hitler, 1938: What was Chamberlain trying to do?
Chamberlain’s account of his meeting with Hitler over the Sudetenland crisis of 1938 is the centre of this activity. Is it unfair to criticize Chamberlain for mis-judging Hitler? Students could try to construct the case for Chamberlain. From the (UK) National Archives. Key Stage 3-4.
German Occupation of the Rhineland, 1936: What should Britain do about it?
Documents reveal the motives and attitudes of the British government as they discuss their options. The extracts from the Cabinet minutes also show how little room for manoeuvre British politicians actually had. A good case-study of British appeasement policy. From the Learning Curve (UK National Archives). Key Stage 3-4.
The American People: World War II
PowerPoint Presentation on America and World War II as part of the online companion to The American People. Click Chapter 25.
A-Bomb WWW Museum
Sources on the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagisaki.
Changing Perspectives on the Japanese Internment Experience
In this interactive and multi-disciplinary lesson, students learn about the role that perspective plays in the writing of history by focusing on the changing views about Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. Students will demonstrate what they've learned by creating a project that demonstrates a biased view of the Internment camps. Along the way, students will be asked to identify the ways in which biases affect what gets retold as a "history".
Western Civilization: States in Conflict
The online study companion to Margaret King's Western Civilization: A Social and Cultural History has many features: chapter learning objectives, online quizzes, writing activities, essay questions, web links, built-in search engines, and faculty modules that include PowerPoint outlines, presentation graphics, and lecture hints and activities
Asylum Talk Show
Role play various real-life persons in the case of the SS St. Louis, a German ship containing Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi persecution in the late 1930s. PBS.
Voices of the Past
An oral history project for students in grades 6 through 12, students follow oral history processes
to contact and interview a World War II veteran or person alive during the World War II era.
MacArthur
Explore the career of a controversial leader and understand events in the Pacific theater during WWII.
The Battle of the Bulge: Teacher's Guide
Presented by PBS, this teacher's guide is a springboard for WWII discussion. Many important issues are addressed and offered for student debate. The guide also has several class activities and projects (map making, research, etc.)
Teacher's Guide: Master Race
Study the racial philosophies and ethnic cleansing policies of Nazi Germany through this PBS People's Century teacher's guide.
Nazi Designers of Death
Nearly 50 years after the Holocaust, discover how a British historian gathered powerful evidence to show how Nazi death camps were planned and constructed. PBS activity for middle school students.
Drums of War: Exploring How Politics Shapes American War Policy
In this New York Times lesson, students will research the political climate prior to major American wars of the past, then reflect on the current call for power to confront Iraq.(September 23, 2002)
Teacher's Guide: The Trial of Adolf Eichman
In 1961, the world watched the first televised courtroom trial as a Jerusalem court tried Nazi SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann for crimes against the Jewish people. Eichmann's role in deporting the Jews of Europe to concentration camps made him the target of a fifteen-year manhunt by Israeli agents. His defense, like that of other Nazis, was that he was "just following orders." This supplemental PBS site offers discussion questions, vocabulary and an evaluation.
Anne Frank in the World: Teacher Book
Produced by The Friends of Anne Frank in Utah and the Intermountain West Region the workbook features lesson plans and activities for grades 5-8, lesson plans and activities for grades 7-12, readings and overviews, timelines, and a glossary.
Interpreting Primary Sources
Digital History provides brief excerpts from primary sources and statistics and questions to think about: World War II
History 20 (Normandy recreation)
The Saskatchewan Social Studies Curriculum has developed a "resource hot sheet" dealing with topics identified in the History 20 (Modern World History) curriculum. Each page has been supported with appropriate visual images, and where possible, first person accounts by individuals who were present during the event. In addition, a number of multimedia-learning objects have been place including sound bites, mini - movies and flash items. Two major simulations have been developed for students that can be used in a stand-alone delivery mode. Decision in Normandy provides students with the opportunity to recreate the events around the Normandy Invasion.
The Holocaust: A Tragic Legacy (Think Quest)
An impressive student-produced site on the Holocaust
Prisoners of Another War
In this high school lesson plan students will be able to identify violations of the Geneva Convention in the treatment of American POWs at Berga and understand the role of international bodies in judging war crimes and crimes against humanity.
HomeFront 1939-1945: Build a Bomb Shelter
This interactive UK National Archives Learning Curve exhibition examines around life in Britain during Word War II. Sections revolve around essential questions for students to answer and feature diaries, activities, worksheets, a timeline, and video. Try the activity at this page.
HomeFront 1939-1945: Help Children Escape the Bombing of the Blitz
This interactive UK National Archives Learning Curve exhibition examines around life in Britain during Word War II. Sections revolve around essential questions for students to answer and feature diaries, activities, worksheets, a timeline, and video. Try the activity at this page.
War and Peace: Multiple Choice Quiz, Fill-in-the-Blank, Flashcards, American History Glossary, American History Appendix
The Student Resources section of The American Nation companion web site features introductions to chapters, interactive quizzes, flashcards, web links, an American History Glossary, and an American History Appendix
Spanish Civil War Quiz
The quiz is mainly focused on the international dimension of the Spanish Civil War
The United States in an Age of Global Crisis Practice Test
High School level quiz on America and World War II from Prentice Hall.
The United States in an Age of Global Crisis Document Based Essay
This Prentice Hall DBQ is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents and is based on the accompanying documents (1–6).
Between the Wars Review Game
This exercise provides review for events, people, and terms associated with the period between World War I and World War II
World War II in Europe: Blank Map
The companion web site to The American People offers blank maps related to various topics in American history. The maps can be printed or placed in a PowerPoint presentation. Click Blank Map for Quizzes
World War II in the Pacific: Blank Map
The companion web site to The American People offers blank maps related to various topics in American history. The maps can be printed or placed in a PowerPoint presentation
Chronology of World War II Game - Pacific
Put WWII events in chronological order
Identify the World War II Leaders Game
Through these BBC images it is clear that Hitler saw propaganda as a vehicle of political salesmanship in a mass market, and a way of conveying a message to the bulk of the German people.
Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance: Teacher's Resources
Featuring: glossary, timeline, bibliographies, 36 questions and answers about the Holocaust, and curricular resources for teachers.
BBC History: Nazi Propaganda Gallery
BBC History: Advertising and Information Posters Gallery
The BBC offers these photos of magazine illustrations, advertisements and government information posters, published during World War Two
Government Publications from World War II