Russia: Revolution and Beyond

 

Editor

  • Victory Day: How The Soviet Union Beat the Nazis and Why You Didn’t Know It (Free online text suited for middle or high school classroom use, guided reading questions, and suggested activities): A brief account of the Russian war against Hitler’s Germany, its place in Russian national identity, and an inquiry into the question of why this story isn’t better known in the United States.
  • Who Caused the Cold War? (Free online text suited for middle or high school classroom use, guided reading questions, and suggested activities): This article guides students through four early, decisive situations during the early years of the Cold War – the development of the atomic bomb, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Blockade – asking them to consider both sides’ goals and points of view in each scenario.
  • “The Goal of Capitalism:” Soviet Anti-American Propaganda (Free online text suited for middle or high school classroom use, guided reading questions, and suggested activities): What were the primary Soviet critiques of the United States, and what symbols did these posters use to communicate them?  Is there value in studying a rival’s propaganda against your own country? Is there danger in studying a rival’s propaganda against your own country?
  • What is Communism? (Free online text suited for middle or high school classroom use, guided reading questions, and suggested activities): A short introduction to communism, capitalism, and the ideas of Karl Marx.  An excellent companion to any lesson on the Soviet Union or the Cold War.
  • The Material Culture of the Soviet Union (Short film, free online text suited for middle or high school classroom use, guided reading questions, and suggested activities): The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and with it all of the state-run industries that held a monopoly on the ordinary consumer and commercial products that make up the Museum of Industrial Culture in Moscow, Russia. The Soviet system of government was gone, for better or worse, and so too was the material culture that had defined Russian life for generations.
  • A Guided Tour of Moscow is a curated photo essay for use in middle and high school social studies classrooms.  The essay offers a brief, completely non-comprehensive overview of Russian history and culture circa 2017 and is meant to present these topics in an unconventional way – that is, as if the student were travelling through, wandering, and exploring Moscow on their own.  Explore Red Square and Gorky Park, commute through the Moscow Metro, and participate in the 2017 Victory Day celebrations commemorating the end of World War II.
  • Live From Moscow, 2018:

THIS LESSON WAS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH GENEROUS SUPPORT AND COOPERATION FROM Фонд исторической перспективы and Русская гуманитарная миссия.