On March 28-29, 2009, FPRI's Wachman Center hosted 43 teachers from across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching the nuclear age. In his opening remarks, Walter A. McDougall observed that although students today are not made to crawl under their desks in air raid drills, that atomic power remains, and it is still necessary to raise a…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at the Wachman Center's July 26-27, 2008 history institute, co-sponsored and hosted by the Cantigny First Division Foundation of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. For Europeans, World War I remains the epochal event of the twentieth century. For Americans, the war falls between two much larger and…

On September 29-30, 2007, FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education presented a weekend of discussion on "Teaching Military History: Why and How" for 35 teachers from 22 states across the country. The institute was held at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois and co-sponsored by the Cantigny First Division Foundation.…

This lesson, one of four stand-alone lessons that examine Australia as an aspect of world history, addresses the relationship between Australia and Great Britain, exploring Australia's peaceful move to self-rule, membership in the Commonwealth, and development of nationality. The lesson has two parts. In the first part, "Formation of a…

Historically, the cold war was a watershed that separated two epochs: the time of abnormal, although compelled, partnership of two political systems and the period of peaceful coexistence with barely hidden hostility. The peacefulness of the latter, however elusive and vulnerable it was from time to time, has to be credited to the cold war, a…

Realizing that the Cold War is a topic that often is neglected as time runs short at the end of a school year, a group of University of Kansas (Lawrence) educators sought to create effective classroom materials for secondary/community college instructors to teach about the Cold War. The group's main goal was to create a flexible model that…

This paper addresses how the experience of the Fulbright Seminar in India has allowed the participant to enrich his teaching in comparative migration studies and comparative politics. The paper describes specifically how each course has changed as a result of the international experience. The report suggests questions for consideration as the…

This issue of a quarterly publication on world affairs explores the historical significance of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the implication for U.S. foreign policy. With the breakup of the USSR in 1990-91, Russia for the first time this century does not have control over the non-Russian nations of its former empire in Central Asia,…

This lesson, one of four stand-alone lessons that examine Australia as an aspect of world history, introduces students to the environment and geography of Australia and the positions that Australia takes on global warming. Students are asked, as mock members of an Australian delegation to an international conference to be held in 2015 in Canberra…

Contends that no comparative analysis of the reunifications of Vietnam and Germany has been conducted. Presents a study that helps students and teachers understand the process. Discusses three approaches: (1) a winners-losers hypothesis; (2) a persistent dissimilarities hypothesis; and (3) a borderlands to centrality hypothesis. (CFR)

This 4-day supplementary curriculum unit is designed for use in social studies classes at the upper secondary (9-12) and community college levels. The curriculum unit seeks to explore the roots of contemporary relations between the United State and Soviet Union through an examination of how that relationship evolved from the 18th century to the…

These materials explore the decisions that face the United States as a result of the changes in the past decade in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The background readings allow students to examine such questions of values and foreign policy as: (1) Should the United States remain committed to its Western European…

One in a series of booklets whose purpose is to stimulate greater and more effective understanding of world affairs among Americans, this seven-chapter report examines the political, economic, and anomalous positions of North and South Korea in the international system. "Traditional Legacies" traces the historical development of the two…

This booklet examines the complex origins of the Soviet-U.S. conflict. By tracing the history of the Soviet Union (USSR) to the time of Leonid Brezhnev's death in 1982, the volume raises questions about the future of the Soviet republic and the implications for world policy. Chapters include: (1) "Brezhnev's Legacy"; (2) "Hard…

Asserts that the Nobel Peace Prize provides a gateway for teaching the critical issue of peace in history courses. Presents an overview of the origin, development, and history of the Nobel Peace Prize, with special focus on U.S. winners. Includes six suggested student projects and a list of U.S. Nobel Peace Prize winners. (CFR)