Animated Lessons
World War I
WWI at Mr. Donn's Site - Large collection of resources for teachers and students about WWI (Y, M, O, T)
PBS WWI Resources - The lesson plans offered in this section are designed to enrich classroom study of World War I and were designed for middle and high school students. Each lesson could also be modified to be conducted at home. The lessons only reference content that exists on the Great War site, not the program. (T)
WWI Lesson Plans from the Harry Truman Library - The lessons are teacher-submitted lessons but are not necessarily associated with the content from the Truman Library. The Truman collection focuses on World War I. It includes 76 documents totaling 447 pages, covering the years 1917-1970. Supporting materials include a finding aid to related World War I materials at the Truman Library and recordings of World War I songs, courtesy of Marr Sound Archives. (T)
The Great War: Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles - Lesson plans exploring the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany. 9th-12th grades (O, T)
The WWI Document Archive (BYU) - This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). International in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War. (M, O, T)
WWI Primary Documents - A collection of primary documents related to WWI categorized by year (O, T)
Teaching With Documents: The Zimmermann Telegram - In January of 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history. The telegram had such an impact on American opinion that, according to David Kahn, author of The Codebreakers, "No other single cryptanalysis has had such enormous consequences." It is his opinion that "never before or since has so much turned upon the solution of a secret message." From the National Archives (O, T)
Teaching With Documents: Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I - Under the powers granted to it by the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8) "to raise and support Armies," Congress passed the Selective Service Act of 1917. Among the first regiments to arrive in France, and among the most highly decorated when it returned, was the 369th Infantry (formerly the 15th Regiment New York Guard), more gallantly known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." The 369th was an all-black regiment under the command of mostly white officers including their commander, Colonel William Hayward. Participation in the war effort was problematic for African Americans. While America was on a crusade to make the world safe for democracy abroad, it was neglecting the fight for equality at home. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) established that the 14th Amendment allowed for separate but equal treatment under the law. In 1913 President Wilson, in a bow to Southern pressure, even ordered the segregation of federal office workers. The U.S. Army at this time drafted both black and white men, but they served in segregated units. After the black community organized protests, the Army finally agreed to train African American officers but it never put them in command of white troops. From the National Archives (M, O, T)
Teaching With Documents: Sow the Seeds of Victory! Posters from the Food Administration During World War I - From the outbreak of World War I in Europe until the signing of the Versailles Treaty, the Wilson administration proposed and implemented an extraordinary number of programs that affected the lives of Americans in their everyday activities. Even the Progressives, who tended to favor more state and federal responsibility, must have been dazed at the expansion of government action beyond the conventional arenas of public policy... With the authority and power granted to him by Congress in the legislation, on August 10, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson issued Executive Order 2679-A creating the U. S. Food Administration. In doing so, he created a government entity to replace an existing volunteer organization... Using the same authority, Wilson created two subsidiaries, the U. S. Grain Corporation and the U. S. Sugar Equalization Board. Together these bodies would extraordinarily impact American lives. From the National Archives, includes posters and lessons (M, O, T)
Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points - Primary source from Harvard Law Library webstie (M, O, T)
Recordings from WWI and the 1920 Election - The Nation's Forum Collection consists of fifty-nine sound recordings of speeches by American leaders from 1918-1920. The speeches focus on issues and events surrounding the First World War and the subsequent presidential election of 1920. Speakers include: Warren G. Harding, James Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, and John J. Pershing. Speeches range from one to five minutes. From the Library of Congress (M, O, T)