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Advice for teachers -
History

Teaching and learning activities

Units 1 and 2 Modern History

Unit 1 Change and conflict - Area of Study 1: Ideology and conflict

Outcome 1

Explain how significant events, ideologies and individuals contributed to political and economic changes in the first half of the 20th century, and analyse how these contributed to the causes of World War Two.

Examples of learning activities

  • Using an editable document (such as a Google Doc), crowdsource a glossary to develop conceptual understanding of key terminology. Column headings might include: dictionary definition, everyday language definition, descriptors and images, associated concepts.
  • Locate a late 19th century political map; identify the contexts listed in Area of Study 1; discuss the influence of geopolitics on the end of some empires and the emergence of nation states.
  • Develop a concept map or annotated timeline of significant events that influenced the emergence of nation states over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Discuss the timeline and make observations about causation and changes.
  • Access existing mnemonics to examine the causes (for example, MAIN – militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism) and consequences (for example, TRAWL – territory, reparations, armaments, war guilt and League of Nations) of World War One. Develop more sophisticated and/or additional mnemonics.
  • Map and compare the geopolitical boundaries of Europe (and related Imperial colonies) and the Middle East at the end of World War One with the newly drawn boundaries after the peace treaties. Consider the effects of these changes on nations and their people. Students consider the implications beyond Europe.
  • Role-play the positions of key players at the Versailles conference; dialogue should reflect and explain the different perspectives of Britain, France, Italy and the USA, and the reaction of each country to the final treaty.
  • Create a political ideologies compass (left and right wing, liberal and authoritarian continuum); position listed ideologies on the compass; provide historical annotations about the evolution of each ideology and the nations in which it both emerged and has been practised.
  • Develop a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts the political structures and systems of two nation-states at a particular point in time or one nation-state at different points in time.
  • Examine and debate contested interpretations of who was responsible for causing World War One and World War Two, such as the Fischer Thesis or Adam Tooze’s 2006 assessment that Germany was ‘chiefly responsible for unleashing the first shattering World War of the 20th century. It was solely responsible for the second’. Draw on evidence from primary and secondary sources to substantiate arguments.
  • In pairs, conduct research on a specific event, idea, individual or movement to identify and analyse political cartoons of varying origins and points of view.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    In small groups, study significant individuals related to the context under investigation. Conduct research on the contribution of the allocated individual to political change in the context(s) studied.
  • Collate a range of historical interpretations about the causes of World War Two and generate categories in which to group interpretations. Using a SOLO Hexagon Template visually demonstrate varied historical interpretations and their interconnections.
  • Develop a parallel timeline of events in Europe and Asia between 1918 and the outbreak of World War Two. Evaluate to what extent World War Two is caused by similar factors in each region.
  • Following the exploration of political ideologies, create a seating plan for a dinner party in which the aim is to sit individuals with complementary political ideologies next to each other and avoid any uncomfortable confrontations. For example, seat Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Mahatma Gandhi, Cíxī Tàihòu (Empress Dowager Cixi) and Rosa Luxembourg. Justify the seating plans to each other.
  • Keep a 5x5 journal and at the conclusion of each lesson, record the five most important things learnt. Each week, review the journal and select the top five learnings for the week.
  • In groups, assume the role of key orthodox and revisionist historians and conduct a class debate on the causes of World War Two as listed in the key knowledge.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Significant individuals and their contribution to political change in context(s) studied

Context

Students examine significant individuals and analyse their contribution to political change in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Activities

  1. In small groups, students are allocated a significant individual from the context studied; they undertake research and complete the template below:
  2. Name

    Personal information (birth, death, family, education):

    Photograph/representation

    Context (country, relevant political milieu):

    Political party:

    Official positions held:

    Challenges faced:

    Responses to challenges:

     Contribution to political change:

    Impact of contribution to political change on others (scale and profundity):

    Quotes from individual:

    Quotes about individual at the time (Historical perspectives):

    Quotes from individual after the time (Historical interpretations):

  3. Teacher collates all completed templates and provides students with access to completed templates.
  4. As a class, develop a set of criteria for comparing the significance of individuals and discuss the challenges associated with doing so.
  5. Using these criteria, students individually complete a Diamond Nine task ranking the significance of individuals. A Diamond Nine graphic organiser is used to allow students to rank, prioritise and make decisions about which individual was the most significant. The most important individuals are placed towards the top and the least important individuals are placed towards the bottom.
  6. Students compare and contrast their Diamond Nine with peers.
  7. Students justify why they put particular individuals at the top and/or bottom of the diagram.
  8. Students could use their diagrams as the basis of a class debate on the significance of individuals in contributing to change.

Unit 1 Change and conflict - Area of Study 2: Social and cultural change

Outcome 2

Explain patterns of social and cultural change in everyday life in the first half of the twentieth century, and analyse the conditions which influenced these changes.

Examples of learning activities

  • Individually or in pairs, research a particular technological development and its impact on social life and social movements; for example, new office technology on women’s participation in the workforce, new forms of communication (wireless radio) on cultural expression, the motor car on increasing personal freedom and mobility, especially for young adults.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Undertake an evaluation of the historical value and reliability of a film depicting social or cultural aspects of society in the 1920s or 1930s, focusing on development and experiences of social and cultural change. Possible films [and relevant context] include: Swing Kids (1993) [Germany]; The Great Gatsby (2013) [USA]; The Grapes of Wrath (1940) [USA]; Caddie (1976) [Australia]; The Last Emperor (1987) [China]; Chariots of Fire (1981) [United Kingdom]; Tea with Mussolini (1999) [Italy]; Reds (1981) [USSR and USA].
  • Compare and contrast ways in which propaganda is used to influence or resist cultural expression within a specific context. For example; using SCIM-C (summarising, contextualising, inferring, monitoring and corroborating), conduct a comparative analysis of the catalogue covers of the 1937 Great Exhibition of German Art and the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) Exhibition.
  • Research the development and significance of a particular form of cultural expression or modernist movement, analysing its impact on issues of inclusion and/or exclusion in a specific context. Forms or movements might include: Harlem Renaissance [USA], Australian protectionism and its impact on the Australian Jazz movement [Australia]; Leni Riefenstahl’s films [Germany]; the Bauhaus Art movement [Germany]; Art Deco architecture in London; the emergence of Futurism in Italy; dress reform in 1920s Japan.
  • Analyse and compare a range of primary sources created in the 1920s and 1930s that present different perspectives on a development, movement or event: for example, North and South perspectives on the Klu Klux Klan in the USA, conservative and modern views of changing women’s fashion in the 1920s, supporters and opponents of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 in Australia.
  • Focusing on one of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, political affiliation or religious affiliation, in small groups, evaluate the level of continuity or change brought to the social life and experiences of people within the chosen context through the lens of the specific issue. For example, if focusing on ethnicity: (a) in the context of the Ottoman Empire/Turkey, research the ethnic exclusion of Armenians and evaluate the level of continuity or change in a specific period; (b) in the context of Japan, focus on the Hafu; or (c) in the context of China, compare the Han and Manchu peoples.
  • Create an annotated timeline mapping the global suffrage movement. Hypothesise the reasons why some nations granted women suffrage earlier than others. Consider also that not all women within a specific nation were granted suffrage at the same time and discuss the reasons why this was so.
  • Undertake an extended investigation into the experiences and perspectives of a group of people. Examples include: Jewish communities, African Americans, Indigenous peoples, the working classes, women, migrants, or the Sinta and Roma peoples during the interwar years. This task requires scaffolding by the teacher to support students in the formulation of an appropriate research collection and the identification of appropriate historical sources. Students prepare and deliver a presentation based on their investigation to the class.
  • Undertake a comparative analysis of the different perspectives of artists, historians or commentators on the significance of a cultural expression: for example, different views of modernism, such as those of TS Eliot, Ezra Pound or Hans Hoffmann compared with the views of Pope Pius X and the Catholic Church’s ‘Oath against Modernism’.
  • Conduct a Jigsaw Activity focusing on the influences of, and responses to, the work of an artist (for example, Felix Nussbaum, Frida Kahlo, Grace Cossington Smith); a writer (for example: Agatha Christie, John Steinbeck, Alexandra Kollantai, Louisa Lawson); a playwright (for example, Bertolt Brecht, Ouyang Yuqian,); a film maker (for example, Leni Riefenstahl, Esfir Shub, Charlie Chaplin); or a photographer (for example, Arkady Shaikhet, Kineo Kuwabara, Max Dupain).
  • Create a Twitter feed from the perspective of a historical individual during the period. Use only 280 characters per tweet to capture the thinking of the chosen individual. Teachers could assign students key leaders, artists, architects, musicians or playwrights.
  • Complete an alphabet brainstorm to recall as much information as possible about an idea, person, event or concept that begins with a selected letter of the alphabet. The brainstorm could be in response to a stimulus, such as a primary source, a video or media resource, or a question derived from the key knowledge.
  • In pairs, using an example of government-endorsed propaganda designed to influence or resist cultural expression within the context(s) studied, analyse the allocated primary source and develop five questions designed to encourage others to critically engage with the source. Swap and complete questions.
  • Identify different groups within the context studied and rank these in order of political, economic and social freedoms permitted in the 1920s and 1930s. Compare and contrast, identify changes and continuities, and develop hypotheses about the reasons for these changes and continuities.
  • Create an infographic illustrating consequences of the 1929 Stock Market Collapse and ensuing Great Depression on cultural expression in the context studied.
  • Conduct a class debate responding to the contention that the context studied underwent a revolution between 1918 and 1939. Explain how the interwar decades heightened rates of social, political and economic change by using a variety of historical sources to substantiate the argument. After the debate, prepare an essay plan that includes topic sentences and key pieces of evidence based on personal responses to the contention.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Film Study – Swing Kids (1993) [Germany]

Context

To understand the ways in which the Nazi government attempted to control, influence and resist cultural expression in the 1930s, students undertake a critical film study of Swing Kids (1993). In doing so, they evaluate the historical value and reliability of the film through comparison to primary and secondary sources.

Activities
Students complete the following:

  1. Learn about the Nazi concept of degenerate music and arts through an examination of primary sources: for example, the Musik Entartete Exhibition Catalogue cover and photos from the exhibition.
  2. Analyse sources that illustrate the National Socialist state-sanctioned Aryan arts and music, and contrast these with their understandings of degenerate music and culture.
  3. Discuss the relationship between jazz and swing music and identify the characteristics of 'swing culture' (origins, clothing, language) using a range of online sources.
  4. View the film's trailer and research contextual information about the setting (place and time) of the film.
  5. View excerpts of the film and complete comprehension questions and/or an extended response to ensure understanding of key issues, themes and experiences. Students may choose to watch the whole film outside of class.
    Examples of extended response questions include:
    • Explain how the Hitler Youth was used to indoctrinate youth to Nazi ideology in the film Swing Kids.
    • Explain how the Nazis enforced their 'nazification of music'.
    • Analyse the different forms of resistance and conformity evidenced throughout the film.
  6. Individually or in pairs, select a focus for an evaluation of the film (that is, its value and reliability). Areas of focus might include the representation of German Swing Culture, the practices of the Hitler Youth, the treatment of disabled people in Nazi society, and approved Nazi music.
  7. Examine a selection of curated resources and assess their use as historical evidence.
  8. Maintain a record of these evaluations and prepare a bibliography of the sources used.
  9. Prepare a critical evaluation of the film as it pertains to the selected focus.
  10. Make suggestions as to how the film director could improve the historical accuracy and reliability.

Unit 2 The changing world order - Area of Study 1: Causes, course and consequences of the Cold War

Outcome 1

Explain the causes of the Cold War and analyse its consequences on nations and people.

Examples of learning activities

  • Create a table comparing the essential features of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. Headings could include dates and venues, key individuals and their points of view, key issues, key agreements and actual outcomes.
  • Use a Radar chart (also known as Spider chart) to identify and organise factors contributing to the development of the Cold War, such as ideological differences, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, disagreements over post-war Germany, crisis over Korea, the Nuclear Arms Race, and Superpower foreign policy. Make judgments on the significance of each cause by positioning the cause on the graph (closer to the centre of the web indicates lower significance).
  • Individually or in groups, create two separate news headlines that capture the differing perspectives on key Cold War events and elements such as communism, capitalism, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, disagreements over post-war Germany, the crisis over Korea, the Nuclear Arms Race, and Superpower foreign policy. Discuss how the headlines may have heightened the differences between the powers, making cooperation harder.
  • Create a set of flashcards on the economic, political and social characteristics of communism, capitalism, and liberal democracy. Each card should have a question on one side with the answer on the reverse side. As a class warm-up task, use these flash cards to play quiz, quiz, swap. Take turns in asking a partner to answer the question on a card, then swap flash cards with another pair and repeat the process until all flash card questions have been answered.
  • In small groups, create a jigsaw of the significant developments and events of the Cold War. Each piece of the jigsaw should describe the event, identify two key sources of historical evidence and evaluate the event’s significance to the Cold War. These can be allocated by the teacher or students can select their own topic, but no two groups should work on the same 'piece'.
  • Create a Venn diagram to compare the political, social, economic and historical factors contributing to the development of the USA and USSR as superpowers.
  • Create a poster demonstrating the consequences of the tension and division of the Cold War on one of the following: Korean War, division of Germany and Berlin, challenges and dissent in Soviet Satellites, the Vietnam War, events in Cuba, or the civil war in Angola.  Include a range of correctly cited primary and secondary sources on the poster.
  • Respond to a prompt, using the colour, symbol, image protocol. Presented with a stimulus such as a historians' interpretation (either primary or media resource), consider the major ideas presented in the stimulus and then choose (a) a color, (b) a symbol and (c) an image that best represents that idea. Finally, debrief and share the work.
  • Develop 10 interview questions on the causes and consequences of a key event to uncover general perceptions of the Cold War. Individually, interview three adults using these questions and report responses back to the class. Write a short response (500 words) identifying the different interpretations present in the interview responses, directly incorporating aspects of the interview responses as evidence. The task may be modified to focus on memories or experiences of the end of the Cold War in the period 1989–92.
  • Write an obituary to the alliance between the West (United Kingdom and United States of America) and the USSR. Consider the social, political, ideological and economic reasons for this split between war allies.
  • Create a timeline identifying the long- and short-term causes of the end of the Cold War. Use colour-coding to differentiate long- and short-term causes.
  • Using a timeline, identify patterns of change or continuity by grouping events into social, political, economic and cultural problems or advancements/rectifications throughout the timeframe.
  • Prepare an annotated timeline documenting the long- and short-term factors contributing to the end of the Cold War. The timeline should consider factors such as economics, leaders, ideas and popular movements.
  • Use a range of primary sources from the USSR and USA to identify how social, economic, political and cultural features changed/stayed the same during the Cold War. Select or locate two images to explain the changes and continuity present in the sources.
  • Use the 'Long Telegram' sent by George Kennan on 22 February 1946 to analyse one American perspective on how to manage the USSR. Focusing on Part 5: Practical deductions from Standpoint of US Policy, one group glosses this section (glossing is the process of identifying terms that need to be included in a glossary to understand the overall meaning of the source), identifying key words that the class will need to understand to comprehend the source. Another group identifies the key content that needs to be summarised from the source and shared with the class. Another group 'reads between the lines' identifying key contextual factors that influence the perspective of the source. A final group, after reading the source, goes further by identifying the ramifications of the source as seen in policy decisions made by the USA.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Conduct a class debate on the causes and consequences of the Cold War.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Class debate

Topic statement: Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech was deliberately inflammatory due to his personal dislike of communism.

Context: To understand the role of a key individual in shaping the early Cold War period

Activities

Students complete the following activities:

  1. Listen to the relevant part of the speech and/or read the full transcript.
  2. Complete the following table about the speech:
  3. Content: Describe what is stated in the speechContext: Identify key events leading up to or that influenced the speechPurpose: Identify possible reasons why Churchill made this speech. What was he trying to achieve?Reliability: Find one perspective that supports Churchill’s point of view. Find one perspective that challenges Churchill’s point of view.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  4. Read Stalin’s response to Churchill’s speech as published in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda.
  5. Gather other evidence to support their position (for or against) on the speech being deliberately inflammatory.
  6. Commence the debate, with students who support the topic statement moving to the left side of the room and students who challenge the statement moving to the right side of the room.
  7. Each student takes a turn to present their point of view using evidence from the two speeches and other sources. Students can swap sides as they are persuaded by arguments put forward. The side with the most people at the end of the discussion is declared the winner of the debate.

Extension

  1. Explain how key events of the Cold War directly relate to the Iron Curtain speech and Stalin’s response.

Unit 2 The changing world order - Area of Study 2: Challenge and change

Outcome 2

Explain the challenges to social, political and/or economic structures of power and evaluate the extent to which continuity and change occurred.

Examples of learning activities

  • Create a timeline of events (such as Timor-Leste’s fight for sovereignty), colour-coding them to indicate the local and global ideas that influenced the continuity and/or change of that event.
  • Create fact files on the key individuals who contributed to or tried to inhibit change. Fact files should contain the following headings: early life, political standpoint, key actions or decisions. They should include one primary source (either from or about the individual) and one historian’s interpretation on the significance of the individual. Examples include key individuals relating to the Australian civil rights movements, such as Ada Bromham, Alan Duncan, Barry Christophers, Bert Groves, Evelyn Scott and Geraldine Briggs.
  •  In small groups or individually, create a life roadmap. Focusing on a key individual from the context studied and using a large piece of blank paper, undertake research on the individual and add the following to the map: important decisions and events that have shaped their life, historical events, goals and motivations, important relationships and different perspectives on their actions. Report findings to the class.
  • Create an infographic that illustrates the different exchanges that took place within the mercantile economy of the context under study. Evaluate who benefitted most from the exchange.
  • Create a detailed list of the methods used by two rival groups (such as the Provisional IRA and Ulster Defence Association) to demand change or power, and give each method a rating out of 10 for effectiveness. Write a justification of the rating, drawing on evidence from policy change and public reaction from the time.
  • Create a Twitter feed from the perspective of a historical individual relevant to the context studied. Use only 280 characters per tweet to capture the thinking of the chosen individual. Teachers could identify key events for the tweet.
  • Using the following newspaper sources: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3 and Source 4, identify the following for each source: type, origin, content, context, purpose and usefulness in understanding different points of view in the 1970s regarding Apartheid.
  • Create a flowchart that details the actions of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation over time and their short- and long-term consequences.
  • Create a Venn diagram comparing the rights and influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders before and after 1976.
  • Explain the interpretations of the challenge and change created by Al Qaeda by two modern historians writing in the last 10 years. Explain reasons for the differences in interpretations by identifying a shift in public perception regarding the war in Iraq.
  • Identify four examples of cultural expression (songs, plays, film, art etc.) relating to the movement or theme examined in this Area of Study, such as civil rights, reconciliation, women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ or peace movements. Drawing on wider historical sources, evaluate the extent to which these expressions reflect the outlook or ideology of these movements or groups and the way these cultural expressions have changed over the period of study.
  • Create a global map of the protest hotspots during 1968. Use arrows to indicate how each protest sparked or influenced another protest.
  • As a class, establish a definition of ‘terrorism’. Drawing on a range of historical evidence, evaluate the extent to which the tactics of a movement or organisation studied conforms with this definition of terrorism.
  • Speak like an expert task: students record themselves presenting (as a historian would) on the perspectives and experiences of those living through the War on Drugs in the United States. The presentation should focus on how much society was really changed by the death of Pablo Escobar.
  • Debate, as a class, the contention: ‘Ideas, not individuals, posed greater challenges to political and social structures in the early 21st century’. Draw on historical evidence and a range of contexts to support the arguments.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Write an essay plan analysing continuity and change in a particular context and explain the extent to which the conflict or challenge resulted in change.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Writing an essay plan

Context

To write an essay as a written response on the continuity and change presented in the studied context.

Activities

 Students complete the following activities:

  1. Frame the response by initially developing a ‘yes, yes, but’ statement. Given an essay topic, make two statements that supports the contention of the essay presented (‘yes’ statements). Next, they craft a ‘but’ statement that challenges the contention. Collate the ‘yes, yes, but’ statements on the board.
  2. As a class, single out the strongest ‘yes, yes, but’ statements and discuss how to elaborate on them further.
  3. In pairs, draft one paragraph each for the ‘yes, yes, but’ statements using the TEEAL structure: topic sentence, explanation, evidence, analysis of evidence and linking sentence.
  4. Each pair then partners with another pair to review drafted paragraphs. In this group of four, they then redraft the three paragraphs.
  5. Each group presents their paragraphs to the class and provides feedback to each other using the following format: strength of response, strength of point(s), areas for development.

Resources

Some of the print resources contained in this list may be out of print. They have been included because they may still be available from libraries, bookshops and private collections.

At the time of publication the URLs (website addresses) cited were checked for accuracy and appropriateness of content. However, due to the transient nature of material placed on the web, their continuing accuracy cannot be verified. Teachers are strongly advised to prepare their own indexes of sites that are suitable and applicable to the courses they teach, and to check these addresses prior to allowing student access.

Units 1 and 2 Modern History

Books

Black, J 2002, The World in the Twentieth Century, Routledge, London

Burleigh, M 2001, The Third Reich: A New History, Pan Macmillan, London

Burleigh, M 2009, Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism, Harper Perennial, New York

Evans, R 2003, The Coming of the Third Reich, Penguin, London

Evans, R 2005, The Third Reich in Power, Penguin London

Fairclough, A 2001, Better Days are Coming: Blacks and Equality 1890–2000, Penguin, New York

Fitzpatrick, S 2000, Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times, Soviet Russia in the 1930s, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Fiehn, T et al. 1998, The USA Between the Wars 1919–1941, John Murray, London

Gaddis, JL 2005, The Cold War, Penguin, London

Gilbert, M 1997, A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume One 1900–1933, Harper Collins, London

Gilbert, M 1998, Descent into Barbarism: A History of the Twentieth Century 1933–1951, Harper Collins, London

Gilbert, M 1999, Challenge to Civilisation: A History of the Twentieth Century 1952–1999, Harper Collins, London

Hobsbawn, E 1994, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914–1991, Abacus, London

Hodgson, G (ed) 1995, The People’s Century: From the Dawn of the New Century to the Start of the Cold War, BBC Books, London

Hodgson, G (ed) 1996, The People’s Century: From the Start of the Nuclear Age to the End of the Century, BBC Books, London

Huffmann, J 2010, Modern Japan, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Kershaw, I 2015, To Hell and Back: Europe 1914–1949, Penguin, London

Kershaw, I 2019, Rollercoaster: Europe 1950–2017, Penguin, London

Maltby, R 1988, Popular Culture in the Twentieth Century, Grange Books, London

Montefiore, S 2004, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tzar, Phoenix Books, London

Reynolds, D 2000, One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945, Penguin, London

Scott, J 1989, The World Since 1914, Heinemann History, Oxford

Sitkoff, H 2008, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1890–2000, Hill and Wang, New York

Smith, C 2016, (9th edn) Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict: A History with Documents, 9th edn, Bedford/St Martins, New York

Todd, A 2001, The Modern World, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Websites

The Avalon Project

The Cold War Museum

Cold War

History.com, Civil Rights Movement (USA)

The Great Depression in USA

German Propaganda Archive

History of Apartheid

History of the Cold War

The Holocaust Memorial Museum

Internet History Sourcebooks Project

National Humanities Centre, History in Class: Becoming Modern: America in the 1920s

World History Archives

Lectures and podcasts

NPR Civil Rights Series

Historical Association, The Voice for History

History Extra, Voices of the Cold War

Tony Judt, A history of Europe since 1945

Stitcher’s The History of the Cold War Podcast 

University of Oxford, Middle East Centre

When Diplomacy Fails

Films and documentaries

All Quiet on the Western Front – Lewis Milestone, 1930, USA (film)

Cabaret – Bob Fosse, 1972, USA (film)

Cold War – Jeremy Issacs, 1998, USA (documentary series, 24 episodes)

Europa, Europa – Agnieszka Holland, 1991, Germany (film)

Eyes on the Prize – PBS, 1987, USA (documentary series, 14 episodes) 

First They Killed My Father – Angelina Jolie, 2017, USA (film)

Gosford Park – Robert Altman, 2002, USA (film)

The Grapes of Wrath – John Ford, 1940, USA (film)

The Great Gatsby – Baz Luhrman, 2012, Australia (film) 

Indo-Chine – Regis Wargnier, 1992, France (film)

Loving – Jeff Nichols, 2016, UK and USA (film)

Metropolis – Fritz Lang, Germany, 1927, (film)

Mississippi Burning – Alan Parker, 1988, USA (film)

Other People’s Lives – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006, Germany (film)

The People’s Century – exec producer Zvi Dor-Ner, 1997, UK (documentary series, 26 episodes)

The Pianist – Roman Polanski, 2002, UK (film)

Selma – Ava DuVernay, 2014, US (film)

Swing Kids – Thomas Carter, 1993, Germany (film)

Tea with Mussolini – Franco Zefferilli, 1999, Italy (film)

Triumph of the Will – Leni Reifenstahl, 1934, Germany (film)

Vietnam – PBS, Ken Burns, 2017, USA (documentary series)