Compare and Contrast the Impact of Foreign Involvement in the Russian Civil War and the Spanish Civil War – A sample essay produced by Russel Tarr (author of this website) in timed conditions in the style of a Paper 2 answer.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• German Involvement in the Spanish Civil War
• What were the consequences of the Spanish Civil War for Spain, Hitler and Nazi Germany?
• Germany and the Spanish Civil War: Guernica
• Introduction to the Spanish Civil War
• The British Involvement in the Spanish Civil War | History Today

Practices of War – Comparisons and Contrasts: With a central focus on the issue of “Limited War v. Total War”, students are provided with detailed information about the practices of three major wars in the form of a grid, broken down into key themes (political, economic, etc). Their task is to complete the grid by providing further examples of other wars that they have studied and try to make some overall observations about whether any 20th Century Wars can be described as “Total” wars.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Causes of Wars – Comparisons and Contrasts
• Causes, Practices, Effects of War – Overview of Past IB History Questions
• Medieval Careeers Advice: Christian Style!
• Nazi Social Policies [2]: The European Dimension of Social Darwinism
• The French Revolution: A New Condensed Study Unit

Model Essay: What were the most frequent causes of 20th Century Wars?: A sample essay produced by Russel Tarr (author of this website) in timed conditions in the style of a Paper 2 answer.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Practices of War – Comparisons and Contrasts
• Classroom Posters – the 20th Century
• Model Essay: Compare and contrast the rise to power of two single party state rulers
• Why did Germany lose World War One?
• Causes of Wars – Comparisons and Contrasts

One of the most popular applications I’ve developed in the past couple of years has been “Fakebook“, a Fake Facebook Profile Generator that students can use to create engaging narratives of people, places and concepts. I’ve been working on developing the code over the past fortnight so that the application is much quicker (for example at finding pictures) than it was in the past.

A brand new addition to the application is what I call “Fakebook Animated”. With this new feature, which can be accessed from the standard menu at the right of the screen, you can now watch your “Fakebook Timeline” slowly unfold before your eyes.

Sample “Fakebook Animated” Creations:

Edgar Allen Poe
Hamlet
Benjamin Franklin
Abraham Lincoln

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• “Fakebook” – create your own fake profile for a historical character or event!
• Turning Page Template
• The Causes of World War One: Philip Larkin’s Poem “1914″
• A Short History of the Advent Calendar
• Civil Rights Movement – Individual Research Project: “Fakebook” Profile of a civil rights campaigner

Causes of the Chinese Civil War: A detailed summary grid for revision purposes.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Timeline of the Chinese Civil War – Overview using Video
• Introductory Prezi: The Chinese Civil War and the Rise of Mao
• Timeline Challenge: The Chinese Civil War and the Rise of Mao
• Source Pack: The Chinese Civil War and the Rise of Mao
• MazeGame: The Chinese Civil War and the Rise of Mao

I’ve just completed a major overhaul of “Fakebook” – a tool for creating Fake Facebook profiles with your students. It’s great for getting students to create profiles of historical and literary characters and events, for example. Try it out here!

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Fakebook: Create a fake profile!
• “Fakebook” – create your own fake profile for a historical character or event!
• Introducing “Fakebook Animated”
• Facebook Timeline – February-October 1917
• Using Facebook in the Classroom

Causes of the Spanish Civil War: Summary and suggested linkage: A summary diagram for revision purposes.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Introduction to the Spanish Civil War
• German Involvement in the Spanish Civil War
• What were the consequences of the Spanish Civil War for Spain, Hitler and Nazi Germany?
• Sourcework Exercise: The Causes of the Spanish Civil War
• Causes of Spanish Civil War: Conclusion

Causes of World War One: What was Responsible?: An analysis grid which moves towards linking and prioritising the various factors that caused World War One. Students are invited to complete the blank cells using their own knowledge.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Causes of World War One – Who was Responsible?
• Classroom Debate: Who was Most Responsible for the Outbreak of World War One?
• 50 years ago (6 Jul 1960) Death of Aneurin (‘Nye’) Bevan, British politician responsible for establishing the National Health Service
• 27th September 1960 (50 years ago today) Sylvia Pankhurst died
• The July Crisis: Decision-Making Exercise

Causes of World War One – Who was Responsible?: A summary grid for revision purposes.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Causes of World War One: What was Responsible?:
• Classroom Debate: Who was Most Responsible for the Outbreak of World War One?
• 50 years ago (6 Jul 1960) Death of Aneurin (‘Nye’) Bevan, British politician responsible for establishing the National Health Service
• 27th September 1960 (50 years ago today) Sylvia Pankhurst died
• The July Crisis: Decision-Making Exercise

Causes of Wars – Comparisons and Contrasts: Students are provided with detailed information about the causes of three major wars in the form of a grid, broken down into key themes (political, economic, etc). Their task is to complete the grid by providing further examples of other wars that they have studied and try to make some overall observations. Specific instructions for how students should feed back to the rest of the class are provided in this PowerPoint Slide. A completed teacher version is also available.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Practices of War – Comparisons and Contrasts
• Model Essay: What were the most frequent causes of 20th Century Wars?
• The Nazi board game to teach Hitler youth how to win wars
• 400 Years Ago Today (17th Jan. 1612) – Birth of Thomas Fairfax
• 25 Years Ago Today (12 Oct 1986): Cold War – Reykjavik summit

Overview of Past Questions: Students are asked to collate a list of past paper questions from the most recent examination papers, to categorise these into causes, practices and effects questions, and offer some initial observations on the sorts of demands made by each.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Practices of War – Comparisons and Contrasts
• What were the causes and effects of the Dissolution of the Monasteries?
• IB History – Past Paper Questions
• A Short History of the Advent Calendar
• IB History revision

Using Key Quotes: A series of short, memorable quotes relating to the key topics being studied. Students have to reflect on how they may best be used in the examination.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Historiography: Quotes about History and Historians
• Quotes about History – Classroom posters
• IB History, new syllabus resources
• The Decline and Collapse of Soviet Control over Eastern Europe
• Obama wrongly attributes quotes on his new Oval Office rug to Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln

Historiography Handouts with Associated Tasks – The October Revolution: Popular Uprising, or Coup d’Etat?

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Primary Source Analysis: Was the October Revolution a popular uprising, or a coup d’etat?
• 20 years ago today – 19 Aug 1991 Attempted coup in the Soviet Union.
• Causes of the Bolshevik Revolution: Interactive Diamond Nine Template
• Historiography – The Provisional Government and the October Revolution
• Historiography of the October Revolution of 1917

Essential Historiographical Terms for IB: A condensed, one-sided summary sheet defining clearly and with examples such historiographical terms as Determinism, Accidentalism, Intentionalism, Structuralism.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• Historiography
• What were the consequences of the Spanish Civil War for Spain, Hitler and Nazi Germany?
• Analysing IB History Essay Question ‘Command Terms’
• Key Terminology for Historians
• Reformation Historiography [2]: Was the Reformation an example of a German Nationalist revolution?

The examiner is very keen that students demonstrate a clear understanding of central terms when they are used in essay questions. In this activity, students work in pairs then as a class to design a clear definition of such key terms as ‘Guerilla Warfare’ and ‘Totalitarianism’. The worksheet uses the examples of Stalin and Mao but others could just as easily be used. Some teacher notes are also available.

---
Related Articles at ActiveHistory:

• History Essay Marker
• History Essay Planning Tool
• IB / A-Level History essay skills: Challenge the assumptions of the question!
• The Emancipation of the Serfs: Essay-Planning Task
• Essential Historiographical Terms for IB