Teaching Germany 1919 to 1945 for New History GCSE

SMART TASK: Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start? A glass half empty?

The lesson starts with a glass of water which you have filled to roughly half way. Students have to say whether they would describe the bottle as half full or half-empty. Use this to introduce the notion of historians who take the optimistic and pessimistic points...

SMART TASK: How successful was Nazi policy towards women and families?

Students place the cards along the continuum. Which pieces of evidence are most compelling?

This short task was designed to combat the tendency many students have to simply describe rather than evaluate the policy. To help them make judgments they are given up to 16 pieces of evidence to consider (resource sheet 1). They discuss each card and then...

Teaching Germany 1919-45

Hodder produce some of the best GCSE books on Germany whether for the Modern World and for the SHP Depth Module. They have now added an innovative digital dimension with great web links and activities. Resource on Hitler Youth (October 2010). This is part of Hodder...

Why was Hitler able to consolidate his position in power between January 1933 and August 1934? Smart Task KS4

This smart task works as a starter. Students are given 7 reasons why Hitler came to power. In just 5 minutes, and working in pairs, they have to see if they can find and explain any links between the reasons given on Resource Sheet 1...

Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task

The aim of this short task is to encourage students to look really closely at images for what is there, not what they think should be there. Students are asked to consider how they might expect Hitler to be portrayed on a propaganda poster. They are...

Why did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?

If Britain was only a few days away from defeat in August 1940 how on earth did she win the Battle of Britain a month later?

PLEASE NOTE - This lesson was aimed at Key Stage 3 but should be capable of being used with minimal...

Market place: Why I didn’t oppose Hitler.

To help pupils to understand why so few people opposed Hitler in the 1930s the use of this market place activity has proved to be really effective. Give every student a different role card and ask them to talk to every other member in the...

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Why was Rohm murdered?

If Ernst Rohm was one of Hitler’s closest allies, as you can see in this photo, why then did he have him and other members of the SA murdered in June 1934? On the cards you have been given are several ideas that have been put...

SMART TASK: The Treaty of Versailles: could it possibly be to blame for the Weimar Republic’s defeat nearly 14 years later?

This SMART task revolves around 6 slides on one PowerPoint presentation. It comes as a penultimate activity prior to students writing an extended answer to the question. The first slide is a slow reveal of a Nazi election poster of 1931 but all students are...

SMART TASK: Weighing up the evidence for who caused the Reichstag Fire

This task follows a more open-ended investigation of written sources on the Reichstag Fire. Most of you will already do this and there is no shortage of source material available. The Spartacus site alone offers nine. A number of schools, such as the

How the task...

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Working out what the election posters tell us about Who Voted Nazi

This simple task engages students in thinking for themselves why people voted for Hitler in the 1930s. It uses the simple but visually appealing medium of election posters. Students work in teams of three to see if they can be the first to find 6...

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Germany 1920-23; problems facing Weimar

Germany 1920-23. Can you spot any pattern in the uprisings during that period?

This activity was designed for more able students working towards a Modern World History GCSE in Year 10. It leads towards the election poster lesson that features on the outstanding lessons section of the website. This is not a full lesson as such: rather, it...

Was Leni Riefenstahl’s ‘Triumph of the Will’ a Documentary or Propaganda?

This Y10 lesson provides a very good balance between thought and activity. Having discussed the differences between a propaganda film and a documentary, students have to find as many as 20 different ways in which the short excerpt from Leni Riefenstahl's film could be construed...

What were the main threats facing the Weimar Republic?

1924 election poster in downloadable resource PowerPoint

Students often fail to look carefully at ALL parts of a cartoon , photograph or poster. To help them to take all significant features into account, this image of an election poster is broken up into jigsaw sized parts, each slowly revealed. At each stage...

How much did the Gestapo really control people’s lives in Hitler’s Germany?

This enquiry-based lesson acquaints students with a live political controversy using an excerpt from 'The Nazis: a warning from history' video to stimulate students to consider how they would set about checking whether a new theory about the role of the Gestapo was right. The lesson ends...

Did all Germans benefit equally from life under the Nazi regime 1933-45?

This GCSE lesson , which could also work at AS level, uses two principal activities, known as ‘market place’ and ‘spectrum’ to help students to work out how individuals, and then groups within German society, fared under Hitler’s control. Who prospered, who suffered? Who supported,...

Battalion 101. Why did they shoot? A history mystery

This lesson could be used as part of a Year 9 course or with the Germany module of Y10/11 SHP or Modern World. Students are confronted with moral issues and have to explain what prompted men to kill in the way they did- and the...

SMART TASK: Germany 1933-34 Revision Quickie

Which factors played their part in establishing Nazi dictatorship in 1933-4? [private] This activity presents the factors in the form of an equation.

f C t D = F + V + PS + P + L + M + WO + PoS

from Chancellor to Dictator

where: F= V= PS= P= L= M= WO= PoS= Power of...

Teaching GCSE History: Germany 1919 – 1945

Outstanding Lessons and Smart Tasks

SMART TASK: Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start? A glass half empty?

SMART TASK: How successful was Nazi policy towards women and families?

Teaching Germany 1919-45

Why was Hitler able to consolidate his position in power between January 1933 and August 1934? Smart Task KS4

Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task

Why did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?

If Britain was only a few days away from defeat in August 1940 how on earth did she win the Battle of Britain a month later?

Market place: Why I didn’t oppose Hitler.

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Why was Rohm murdered?

SMART TASK: The Treaty of Versailles: could it possibly be to blame for the Weimar Republic’s defeat nearly 14 years later?

SMART TASK: Weighing up the evidence for who caused the Reichstag Fire

How the task...

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Working out what the election posters tell us about Who Voted Nazi

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: Germany 1920-23; problems facing Weimar

Was Leni Riefenstahl’s ‘Triumph of the Will’ a Documentary or Propaganda?

What were the main threats facing the Weimar Republic?

How much did the Gestapo really control people’s lives in Hitler’s Germany?

Did all Germans benefit equally from life under the Nazi regime 1933-45?

Battalion 101. Why did they shoot? A history mystery

SMART TASK: Germany 1933-34 Revision Quickie

f C t D = F + V + PS + P + L + M + WO + PoS

from Chancellor to Dictator

Useful links

Recent Posts

Outstanding Lessons: Key Stage 1

Using artefacts to help children’s historical understanding at Key Stage 1

Great article on what Y7 pupils need to know about the Middle Ages

What have the Romans ever done for us? More than we think

Search