1942 saw the Allies beginning to gain the upper hand against the Axis in North Africa, and the Germans began to struggle in the Soviet Union. [5:12]

Khan Academy learning modules include a Community space where users can ask questions and seek help from community members. Educators should consult with their Technology administrators to determine the use of Khan Academy learning modules in their classroom. Please review materials from external sites before sharing with students.

A scanned copy of the 1856 publication of The People of Europe, a nonfiction book for children.

Provides large colorful maps of climate data about each continent for the current week, month, or previous quarter.

Castle Film newsreel [15:43] from 1940 on the course of events in Europe including the fall of Holland and Belgium, French surrender, and London blitz, FDR and peacetime draft.

By studying paintings from the Cave of Lascaux (France) and the Blombos Cave (South Africa), students will discover that pictures can be a way of communicating beliefs and ideas and can give us clues today about what life was like long ago.

Official site for the Council on Europe. It provides information on Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly, and Human Rights Court.

Brightly colored printouts, maps, and graphics on the greatest land masses on earth. See how continental drift works, look up extremes, label maps, learn about latitude, longitude and other geography terms. Teachers will find a Landforms Quiz using the "Little Explorers Picture Dictionary."

This article is written by Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, and Saul Landau of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Foreign Policy in Focus, Volume 2, Number 1, January 1997. Key points, problems, and recommendations are discussed.

This site has the story of an anti-Nazi resistance movement in Germany during World War 2 written by one of the participants. Includes primary documents on the trials held after their capture.

This organization "assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse." The site describes past and current programs in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

At age twenty-seven, physicist Philip Morrison joined the Manhattan Project, the code name given to the U.S. government's covert effort at Los Alamos to develop the first nuclear weapon. The Manhattan Project was also the most expensive single program ever financed by public funds. In this video segment, Morrison describes the charismatic leadership of his mentor, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the urgency of their mission to manufacture a weapon 'which if we didn't make first would lead to the loss of the war." In the interview Morrison conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Dawn,' he describes the remote, inaccessible setting of the laboratory that operated in extreme secrecy. It was this physical isolation, he maintains, that allowed scientists extraordinary freedom to exchange ideas with fellow physicists. Morrison also reflects on his wartime fears. Germany had many of the greatest minds in physics and engineering, which created tremendous anxiety among Allied scientists that it would win the atomic race and the war, and Morrison recalls the elaborate schemes he devised to determine that country's atomic progress. At the time that he was helping assemble the world's first atomic bomb, Morrison believed that nuclear weapons 'could be made part of the construction of the peace.' A month after the war, he toured Hiroshima, and for several years thereafter he testified, became a public spokesman, and lobbied for international nuclear cooperation. After leaving Los Alamos, Morrison returned to academia. For the rest of his life he was a forceful voice against nuclear weapons.

Students discover why Leonardo is considered the ultimate Renaissance man. They will learn about his famous notebooks, focusing upon his machines of motion, then zooming in on the flying machines.

During the Middle Ages, the feudal system meant that most people in Europe lived in small farming villages. As the population expanded and the towns grew, however, a need arose to find ways to differentiate between two people who shared the same first name.

Although it was the Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, U.S. military planners decided that Germany, not Japan, was to be the primary target of operations. This lesson plan will focus on the overall strategies pursued by the Americans and their British allies in the initial months of World War II in Europe.

Over half of all English surnames used today are derived from the names of places where people lived. This type is known as a locative surname. For example, a man called John who lived near the marsh, might be known as John Marsh. John who lived in the dell was called John Dell. Other examples are John Brook, John Lake, and John Rivers.

Another common type of medieval byname derived from how a man spent his time. Every farming village had a blacksmith to forge iron tools, a miller to grind wheat, a carpenter to craft furniture, and many other specialists.

Modern American society is known for its ethnic diversity, and this, of course, is reflected in a wide variety of surnames. In this activity, students will learn about the origins and meanings of surnames commonly used in the United States that derive from non-British cultures.

The Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary government and subsequent declarations of rights in Great Britain and the United States. In attempting to establish checks on the king's powers, this document asserted the right of "due process" of law.

Browse forest fires across the world. Learn about these natural hazards as you browse by date or region.