=> Group work: using these documents, your knowledge and additional informations found on the Internet, make a short video of less than five minutes summarizing the main events and characters of the Second World War.
When did the USA get involved in the Second World War?
- America enters WWII (video , History). Find information about the U.S. armed forces after December 7, 1941: can we say that the United States was a great military power? (justify). Sum up and explain the first part of the video : how did American foreign policy, and American opinion, change after December 7, 1941? And why?
The attack on Pearl Harbor
- The attack on Pearl Harbor according to Hollywood: Tora! Tora! Tora! trailer; the begining of the attack; the destruction of the airfields (Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku et Toshio Masuda 1970). And just for fun, the trailer of Michael Bay’sPearl Harbor (2001) => it could be intersting to compare the two trailers and to put the two films in their historical contexts.
- The attack on Pearl Harbor (featuring footage from the U.S. Navy): Sunday December 7, 1941 (another video with the historical context of the attack)
The US declaration of war;
- President Roosevelt declares war on Japan following the attack at Pearl Harbor (British Pathe archives; full speech). Comment on.
WWII timeline with some of the major events of this war:
- Timeline (video here): listen to the video and take note of the main events and characters of the Second World War. Don’t forget to critique the documents used to illustrate the timeline
- The Second World War: a timeline (main events of the WWII; History Extra – BBC)
- The Battle of Britain in 90 Seconds
- Spitfire Gun camera actual combat footage – Battle of Britain – RAF (Video Youtube – 2010)
- Non-British personnel in the RAF during the Battle of Britain (Wikipedia)
- American Spitfire Squadron in England (1rst January 1942; source: Reuters)
- The D-Day Normandy Landings (archives); original maps (Library of Congress)
Main American and British commanders of WWII
- Commanders of WWII (Wikipedia): choose and make a presentation of at least 6 US commanders and 4 British commanders of WWII. Justify your choice.
The liberation of the concentration camps by the American army
- The liberation of Flossenburg concentration camp (video)
- WWII veteran recalls liberation of Buchenwald (CNN): testimony
=> The end of the war in Europe:
- Russians Enter Berlin: Final Months of World War II (1945) | British Pathé
- Berlin in july 1945
=> The end of the war in the Pacific area and the American atomic program
- President Harry Truman announces the Bombing of Hiroshima
- Video about the Manhattan project
- J.Robert Oppenheimer: the scientific director of the Manhattan project
- The atomic bomb was successfully built in 1944 and used for the first atomic bombing in history: Hiroshima and Nagasaki (6 and 9 august 1945)
