Curated OER
Writing Exercises: Russian Revolution, #2
Why did communism develop in an unindustrialized Russia? What human rights were violated under Joseph Stalin? And, how did the Soviet Union become industrialized? These are the writing prompts your class will work to answer with complete...
Curated OER
Communist Revolution
High schoolers examine the Russian Communist Revolution of 1917. They watch and discuss a video, take notes and answer video discussion questions, and read and evaluate newspaper articles about how Lenin and Stalin are viewed today in...
Curated OER
Chapters 30 (sections 1 & 5) – The Cold War
In this U.S. history worksheet, students read assigned textbook pages on different topics associated with the Cold War and respond to 50 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Why Is North Korea Going At It Alone?
Students examine the division of North and South Korea. They identify the ideological differences and the tensions between the two countries. They discuss the threat of nuclear weapons as well.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Economy of the Soviet Union
This economic history of the Soviet Union begins with its revolutionary beginnings and examines the state of the economy throughout the decades of the twentieth century.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Truman: Foreign Affairs
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...
Other
Hoover Digest: Inside Stalin's Darkroom
The article from the Hoover Digest provides accounts of the falsification of photographs, art, and records in Stalinist Russia from a book by David King, "the Commissar Vanishes."
Other
Trussel: Crimes of the Stalin Era
This site from Trussel.com provides the text of the report to the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party by Nikita Khrushchev February 25, 1956 condemning the "cult of personality" surrounding Stalin and condemning Stalin's policies...
Country Studies US
Country Studies: Russia the Economy Historical Background
This economic history of the Soviet Union examines the eras of Lenin and Stalin and postwar policy under Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and the reform period of Gorbachev.
PBS
Pbs: Red Flag
Read two eyewitness accounts of life under Stalin. They explain how Communism became "an all-consuming, all-explaining ideology that appealed to their deepest hopes and dreams."
Other
Hoover Institution: Documents From the Terror
Documents from the Hoover Institution detailing the gruesome details of the "reign of terror" that Stalin instituted against the Soviet people from 1936 to 1938 with some earlier and later accounts.
Library of Congress
Loc: Collectivization
This site from the Library of Congress provides information on Stalin's domestic policy of rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture for the purpose of erasing all traces of capitalism that results in a totally...