Paper 1 - The Move to Global War

  • Road to WWII - BBC Interactive video/quiz
  • League of Nations - BBC Interactive video/quiz

The Road to Wardocumentaries - excellent summaries for all three countries:

  • The Road to War - Germany
  • The Road to War - Italy
  • The Road to War - Japan

Paper 2 and Paper 3 - BBC Bitesize review materials, videos and tests:

These websites have excellent summaries and tests to help you to remember facts, dates and other details. Unfortunately, most of the videos don’t work outside of the UK but after reading the review guide (pretty simple language), you can test yourself. Some of the links will lead to interactive videos with test questions. You might need to install Adobe Flash to view those. Some of the videos are not enough for you to write a good Paper 2 or 3 essay yet they all have some entertainment value at least :)

Interwar Germany:

  • Weimar Republic interactive video(Paper 2 and 3)
  • Weimar Germany, Hitler’s rise to power(Paper 2 and 3 - Weimar Germany)
  • Life in Nazi Germany(social policies and their impact)
  • Germany in Transition: 1919-1939(Weimar Republic, Hitler’s rise to power, Consolidation of power, foreign policy)
  • Nazis interactive video(Paper 2)
  • Weimar Republic quizzes(Paper 2 and 3)

Cold War:

  • Causes of the Cold War interactive video(Paper 2)
  • Cold War 1948-1961(Paper 2 - crises)
  • Cuban Missile Crisis interactive video(Paper 2 - Cold War crises)
  • Key Cold War events(Paper 2 - Cold War)
  • Cold War revise and test yourself activities(Paper 2 - Cold War)
  • Cold War events(Paper 2 - Cold War)
  • Vietnam War(Paper 2 - Cold War)
  • Collapse of the USSR interactive video(Paper 2 - Cold War)
  • Cold War quizzes

USSR:

  • Russia/USSR: 1917-1941(Paper 2: Stalin, Paper 3: USSR)
  • Russian Revolutions 1917(Paper 3)
  • Bolsheviks interactive video(Paper 3)
  • Stalin’s rise to power interactive video(Paper 2 and 3)

China:

  • Chinese Revolution memory quizzes
  • China: quick review and tests

Best documentaries to watch for Paper 2 - Authoritarian Leaders:

- Hitler:The Rise of Evil(great Canadian feature film, very accurate)

-The Mao Years(rise to power, consolidation of power, policies and their impact)

-Fascism in Italy(documentary about Mussolini)

-Stalin: Inside the Terror(BBC documentary)

CNN Cold War TV series - After reviewing sections of the Cold War, you could treat yourself with an episode for deep understanding and perspectives:

The outdatedwebsitehas the scripts, here isinformationabout the episodes from Wikipedia. You can find all of the episodes on youtube just add “CNN Cold War + title of the episode you are looking for”. Here are a few to start with:

Episode 1: Comrades (1917-1945)

Once allies against Hitler, the Soviet Union and the United States confront each other at the end of World War II. Looming over the postwar landscape is the awesome, mushroom-shaped cloud of the atomic bomb.

-Script

-Episode Recap

-Link to the documentary

-Additional primary sources

-Stalin at Yalta - Would YOU sign the Declaration of Liberated Europe?

Episode 2: Iron Curtain (1945-1947)

In the months following their victory in World War II, the alliance between the Soviet Union and the West quickly proves to be little more than a marriage of convenience. Suspicion clouds relations -- while a curtain descends over Europe.

-Script

-Episode Recap

-Link to the documentary

-Additional primary sources

Episode 3: Marshall Plan (1948-1949)

With hunger and discontent plaguing postwar Europe, the U.S. proposes an aid program to rebuild the ruined continent. But the Marshall Plan also solidifies the deep ideological differences between East and West.

-Script

-Episode Recap

-Link to the documentary

-Additional primary sources

Episode 4: Berlin (1948-1949)

Three years after the end of World War II, the Nazis' former capital, Berlin, would once again find itself the target of an allied air fleet. This time, the air armada was working to save, rather than destroy, the city.

-Script

-Episode Recap

-Link to the documentary

Episode 5: Korea (1948-1949)

It was one of the few times the Cold War went hot. The conflict on the Korean peninsula claimed millions of lives, and set the stage for the way both sides would view each other for years to come.

-Script

-Episode Recap

-Link to the Documentary

-Additional primary sources

Episode 6: Reds (1947-1953)

As the Cold War intensifies, so do fears in the Soviet Union and the United States of outside influences -- prompting massive campaigns to purge the "enemy within."

-Episode Recap

-Link to the Documentary

-Additional primary sources

There are altogether 24 episodes. You can find all of them on youtube.com