Classroom Materials

Set against the backdrop of the February Revolution in Russia, this short article by Carolyn Harris for Smithsonian Magazine describes the creation of the Women's Battalion of Death. Under the command...

Volunteer knitters - men and women of various ages and races - dedicated two million hours, nearly 230 years' worth of labor, in the eighteen months the United States was at war. By its end, 45...

The purpose of this blog is to expand and modernize this complex space of memory by featuring today's writers and scholars inspired by writing or events of WWI. As such contributions are such an...

In January of 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to...

In this lesson orginally created by Dr. Pellom McDaniels, III, Students will examine the conditions for African Americans living in the United States during the time of the Great War (1914-1918),...

14 18 NOW, a project from the Imperial War Museums, worked with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson to restore, and then colorize, footage from the First World War. The ensuing award-winning...

This article published in 1919 in the American Legion Weekly describes the actions of carrier pigeons during the War, including the heroic flights of pigeons Cher Ami, Big Tom, President Wilson, and...

As history becomes tangible, WWI will come alive in the classroom when students work with artifacts. Using their senses, observations, past knowledge and critical thinking skills students will learn...

This multimedia online exhibition features maps, images, posters, advertisements, music and more to explore connections between WWI and the explosive growth of the cigarette industry.

Delivering messages during World War I was not an easy task. Communication lines were often damaged by artillery fire, so soldiers often relied on carrier pigeons to deliver messages. These eleven...

This primary source collection from the Library of Congress focuses on the Treaty of Versailles, was signed by Germany and the Allied Nations on June 28, 1919, formally ending World War I. This...

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared that neutrality in the Great War was "no longer feasible" and that the U.S. had to intervene to make the world "safe for democracy." What changed between...

This introduction from the Library of Congress spotlights a number of primary sources documenting U.S. Participation in the First World War.

While drones may seem like a new phenomenon, the military began experimenting with unmanned aerial vehicles during World War I. This article by Jimmy Stamp from 2013 published in Smithsonian Magazine...