Summary:
This book investigates the two World Wars, the Cold War and the Holocaust - the compulsory content of this National Curriculum unit. It explores why these events are regarded as significant and what criteria this suggests for historical significance.



It also focuses on the stories of individuals caught up in these world events and investigates the impact of these events on them.


PLEASE NOTE: The accompanying teacher's resource book for this title
can be downloaded for free at www.hoddereducation.co.uk/thisishistory

• Combines overview and depth coverage of the two World Wars, the Cold War and the Holocaust
• Focuses on real individuals who are caught up in world events.
• Covers the compulsory National Curriculum unit a World Study since 1900
• Investigates the historical concept of significance

Table of Contents:
Introduction: ‘Now that’s what I call important…!’
Think about what makes something significant
Section 1: The Great War
1.1 Meet Harry Bell!
…and find out how the Great War changed his life
1.2 Why did the Great War happen?
…and were the Alliances most to blame?
1.3 What happened on the battlefields?
Analyse how and why this war was different from other wars
1.4 What happened on the Home Front?
...and how did the Great War become a 'total war'
1.5 From War to War
Consider how the First World War is linked to the Second World War
Section 2: The Second World War
2.1 Meet Maurice Micklewhite!
…and find out how the Second World War changed his life
2.2 Living through the Blitz
Evaluate interpretations of the Blitz
2.3 A ‘world’ war?
Weigh up the big picture and the small stories, then decide which is more important
2.4 Why did the Americans drop the first atomic bomb?
Join the debate: was Truman right to do it?
2.5 Why did the Holocaust happen?
...and why is this event significant?
2.6 How did the Second World War change the world?
Trace the consequences of the Second World War
2.7 Why did William Beveridge take on the Five Giants?
Write a back cover blurb for the Beveridge Report
Section 3: The Cold War
3.1 Meet Conrad Schumann
and work out why he is jumping the fence
3.2 What was the Cold War?
Work out the ingredients that make a Cold War
3.3 ‘Thirteen days of dread’
How would you report the news during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
3.4 Four stories from The Vietnam War
Decide which story would make the best film about the Vietnam War
3.5 Mikhail Gorbachev: success or failure?
Compare interpretations of President Gorbachev
Conclusion: Was there more to the twentieth century than war?
Mollie Simpson's century

About the Author(s):
Christopher Culpin is Director of the Schools History Project