Simulations
NATO Enlargement in 1994 (NSC)
Set in January 1994. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many former Soviet states express interest in joining NATO.
World History
Explore free resources that align with your World History curriculum.
CFR Education offers a range of free resources that can supplement your World History curriculum. Browse readings, timelines, videos, and simulations covering three major eras that have shaped the world from 1900 to the present. Wondering about standards alignment? Search for your state standards at the bottom of this page.
Cold War and Decolonization
- Simulations
Korean War in 1950 (UNSC)
Set in September 1950. Five years after World War II, conflict on the Korean Peninsula threatens the fragile post-war order.
- Simulations
Korean War in 1950 (NSC)
Set in September 1950. Five years after World War II, the Korean Peninsula is under threat of falling to a communist regime.
- Simulations
Russia and NATO in the Baltics in 2016 (NSC)
Set in July 2016. Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a NATO summit approaches as the Baltics face threats from Russia.
- Mini Simulations
Negotiating Ukrainian Security in 1993
How should the United States manage dismantling Ukraine’s nuclear arsenal while safeguarding against renewed conflict in Europe? Explore this historical simulation set in 1993.
- Mini Simulations
Trusting Security Assurances
How should a country under threat by a nuclear-armed power decide its future nuclear plans? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Deterrence
How should the United States use deterrence to block threats against itself and its allies? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Arms Control
Should the United States use arms control to reduce the threat of a new type of weapon? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Readings
Modern History and U.S. Foreign Policy: Sub-Saharan Africa
From European colonialism to independence movements and beyond, learn how foreign influence and history have shaped the region.
- Readings
Modern History and U.S. Foreign Policy: Middle East and North Africa
From the fall of the Ottoman Empire to U.S. efforts to advance Arab-Israeli partnerships, learn how history and foreign influence have shaped the region.
- Videos
How Did the Cold War Stay Cold?
Learn how the world’s superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR), avoided nuclear war.
- Readings
How Did Decolonization Reshape the World?
From India and the Palestinian Territories to Vietnam and Sudan, learn how former colonies sought independence—and how the shadow of colonialism still affects many regions today.
- Readings
How Did Mass Production and Mass Consumption Take Off After World War II?
Discover how consumer goods have become cheap and ubiquitous in the global era.
- Readings
What Is Colonialism and How Did It Arise?
Explore how colonialism enriched empires and fundamentally reshaped countries such as India.
- Readings
Understanding Revolutions
Explore the powerful political movements that can reshape forms of government.
- Readings
Tanks, Sanctions, and Separatists: The Various Challenges to Sovereignty
A government’s authority within its borders gets challenged all the time. Here is how.
- Readings
Understanding the Constructive and Destructive Natures of Nationalism
Nationalism can unify diverse societies. But when taken to extremes, it can also fuel violence, division, and global disorder.
- Readings
How Self-Determination Shaped the Modern World
Learn how the world’s nearly two hundred countries came to be, and whether the map is set in stone.
- Readings
Two Koreas, Two Development Policies
How did two countries with the same language, culture, and history turn out so differently?
- Videos
The Marshall Plan
Understand how the Marshall Plan, one of the first large foreign aid programs, helped Europe rebuild after World War II, but also served the foreign policy interests of the United States.
Global Conflict
- Mini Simulations
The Zimmerman Telegram in 1917
Should the United States take action against Germany? Explore this historical simulation set in 1917.
- Mini Simulations
Explosion of the USS Maine in 1898
How should the United States intervene against Spanish colonial rule in Cuba? Explore this historical simulation set in 1898.
- Readings
Modern History and U.S. Foreign Policy: Europe and Eurasia
From World War I to the War in Ukraine, learn how history and U.S. intervention has shaped the region.
- Videos
How Do Countries Select Their Foreign Policy Tools?
In this educational video on foreign policy, explore how U.S. relations with Japan have changed over the past century, from Pearl Harbor to a peaceful alliance.
- Videos
What Tools Do Foreign Policy-Makers Have at Their Disposal?
In this foreign policy video, learn how leaders further their countries’ interests with political, economic, and military tools such as diplomacy, trade, and intelligence.
- Readings
What Is Fascism?
In this free resource, learn how Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler rose to power and the lessons their political journeys hold for today.
- Readings
What Are the Origins of Communism?
Explore the different ways Marx, Lenin, and Stalin interpreted communism and dive into the history of translating an ideology into policy.
- Readings
How Did the United States Become a Global Power?
Learn how domestic expansion and three wars—the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II—transformed the United States’ standing in the world.
- Videos
How Do Countries Decide Whether to Go to War?
Learn how balances and imbalances of power contributed to World Wars I and II in this historical video.
- Readings
Why Did World War II Happen?
In this free resource on World War II, understand the causes of World War II and why these issues drove countries back to battle just two decades after World War I.
- Readings
Why Did World War I Happen?
In this free resource on World War I, explore the causes and effects of the Great War to understand how the conflict shaped world history.
- Readings
Understanding Intrastate Conflict
From civil war to terrorist violence, explore the types, causes, and consequences of conflicts within countries that are increasingly threatening world order.
- Readings
What Is Interstate Conflict?
Bombs and bullets are not always required for countries to come into conflict. From Russia’s war in Ukraine to a U.S. trade war with China, explore the different ways countries come into tension.
- Videos
How Is Conflict Changing?
What is conflict? Explore the reasons why tensions, violence, and war break out and what the consequences are for the world in this video.
- Readings
The Civilian Consequences of Conflict
From World War II to Syria’s civil war, understand the deadly consequences of war and what that means about the changing nature of conflict.
- Readings
What Is the UN Security Council?
In this free resource, learn more about the United Nations’ most powerful body working to maintain international peace and security. Explore the security council’s failures and successes, and why the UN Security Council’s veto power is so controversial.
- Videos
What Is Sovereignty?
Understand the principle that has underpinned world order for the past four hundred years.
- Readings
Understanding the Constructive and Destructive Natures of Nationalism
Nationalism can unify diverse societies. But when taken to extremes, it can also fuel violence, division, and global disorder.
Globalization
- Simulations
Global Climate Change Policy (NSC)
A major international climate summit approaches, and all eyes are on the United States.
- Simulations
Global Climate Change Policy (UNSC)
A major summit approaches where the UN Security Council will meet to discuss the effects of climate change on security.
- Simulations
Humanitarian Intervention in South Sudan in 2014 (UNSC)
Set in May 2014. An ongoing civil war means South Sudan faces the threat of mass violence, reprisals, and possibly genocide.
- Readings
How Climate Change Worsens Inequality
Climate Change is bad for everyone, but it’s worse for some.
- Videos
How Climate Change is a Collective Action Problem
The world can work together in the fight against climate change, but there are challenges to international cooperation.
- Videos
How the Paris Agreement Helps Stop Climate Change
The Paris Agreement offers the world a pathway for addressing climate change, but challenges persist.
- Readings
How Are International Agreements Helping Fight Global Warming?
Explore the challenges facing international cooperation and the major treaties where the world has agreed to work together.
- Simulations
Humanitarian Intervention in South Sudan in 2014 (NSC)
Set in May 2014. An ongoing civil war means South Sudan faces the threat of mass violence, reprisals, and possibly genocide.
- Mini Simulations
U.S. Arctic Policy
Should the United States launch a new Arctic policy in response to climate change and investments from countries like China and Russia in the region? Explore this simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Trade Policy
How should the United States leverage trade to respond when a rivalry between growing trade partners threatens regional stability? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Stopping Deforestation in the Amazon
Should the United States take action to stop deforestation in the Amazon to combat climate change? Explore this simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Peacekeeping
Should the United States support peacekeeping in a country filled with ethnic conflict? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Mini Simulations
Economic Sanctions
How should the United States apply sanctions to influence a crisis abroad? Explore this hypothetical simulation.
- Readings
A Global Semiconductor Shortage
Expensive cars? Phone order delays? Learn how today’s globalized supply chain can affect our daily lives by exploring the global semiconductor shortage.
- Readings
How Can AI Combat Climate Change?
In this free climate change resource, learn how AI is helping countries reduce carbon emissions, but some innovations could ultimately contribute to a warming planet.
- Readings
What Is Peacekeeping?
In this free resource on the successes and failures of peacekeeping, learn about the UN missions tasked with transitioning countries out of war.
- Readings
How Do Governments Combat Climate Change?
In this free resource, explore seven ways countries are responding to a changing environment, from cap and trade policies to clean energy standards.
- Readings
Radicalization and Right-Wing Extremism
Learn how QAnon, white supremacists, and Silicon Valley have contributed to an evolving domestic terror threat.
- Readings
What Is Water Scarcity?
Is there a global water crisis? In this free resource, learn how climate change is causing water scarcity to worsen worldwide.
- Readings
Climate Change Inequality
In this free resource, explore how climate change disproportionately affects certain communities and could drastically increase global inequality.
- Readings
Social Media: Revolutionizing Communication
Social media has connected people at lightning speeds and upended long-held monopolies on information. But like past innovations, it has also created major societal challenges.
- Readings
How Did Mass Production and Mass Consumption Take Off After World War II?
Discover how consumer goods have become cheap and ubiquitous in the global era.
- Readings
Human Trafficking in the Global Era
Understand the various forms of human trafficking, including forced labor, forced marriage, and forced organ removal.
- Readings
What Is the UN Security Council?
In this free resource, learn more about the United Nations’ most powerful body working to maintain international peace and security. Explore the security council’s failures and successes, and why the UN Security Council’s veto power is so controversial.
- Videos
Reimagining Sovereignty in a Global Era
When fires in the Amazon affect countries around the world, is there a need to rethink a centuries-old understanding of sovereignty?
- Readings
The Terrorist Money Trail
How do terrorists get funding? Learn about the challenges of targeting the finances of terrorist groups in this free resource on terrorism.
- Videos
Technology and Development
As Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution and India’s Green Revolution have shown, technological innovation can drive extraordinary development. Explore how digital advancements are further driving progress today.
- Videos
The Globe-Trotting Journey of a Sneaker
Learn the pros and cons of the global supply chain process of making a popular Nike shoe in this video.
- Readings
How Health Care Works Around the World
Experts agree that access to quality health care is the best way to improve global health. But health-care options vary greatly depending on where you are in the world.
- Readings
Noncommunicable Diseases and How They Are Measured
How to track and understand the world’s leading causes of death.
- Videos
The Rising Tide of Diabetes in Mexico
As noncommunicable diseases become more prevalent, Mexico is coming up with innovative ideas to fight the problem.
- Readings
Global Health Then and Now
The world has become healthier over the past few centuries, but new challenges are on the horizon.
- Videos
What Is Global Health?
We have made advances in global health, but we face challenges from new disease trends—and need funding to treat them.
- Videos
What are Cyberspace and Cybersecurity?
Explore the origins of the internet and the challenges that will define its future.
- Readings
How Does Cyberspace Work?
Learn about the many places information is transferred across the internet—including under the ocean, up in space, and in your pocket.
- Readings
How Companies and Governments Do (and Don’t) Protect Your Data
The spread of the internet has far outpaced domestic and international privacy laws, making global coordination difficult and leaving personal data vulnerable.
- Videos
Should the Internet Respect National Borders?
The United States supports internet freedom. China, a proponent of cyber sovereignty, disagrees.
- Readings
The Internet by the Numbers
In a world where internet access is increasing, digital divides remain.
- Readings
Internally Displaced Persons: Migrants Who Do Not Cross a National Border
Who are IDPs and how are they different from refugees? Understand what happens to people who are forced from their homes but remain inside their own country through country case studies.
- Videos
The Lasting Effects of Emigration
When migrants seek work abroad, what does their home country gain and lose? Explore one example of a country shaped by emigration, the Philippines.
- Videos
History of U.S. Immigration Policy
Explore how the United States has responded to migrants throughout history—from the Chinese Exclusion Act to DACA—and how immigration policy influences the society, economy, and politics of a country.
- Readings
For Migrants, Labels Matter
What is the difference between immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers? Explore how contested definitions of migrants have a profound effect on the rights and protections of people leaving their homes.
- Videos
What Is Migration?
Why do people migrate? Understand why migration means different things for individuals, countries, and economies in a globalized world.
- Readings
Migration Today
Understand where migrants come from, where they go, and why migration is increasing through maps, charts, and data.
- Videos
Tools of Counterterrorism
What is counterterrorism? Learn how governments try to prevent terrorist attacks in this video on terrorism.
- Readings
Sources of Energy: A Comparison
Learn how turning toward cleaner energy sources means factoring in economic and energy needs alongside environmental ones.
- Readings
The Greenhouse Effect
How do greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming? Learn why the world is getting warmer in this free climate change resource.
- Readings
What the World’s Terrorist Groups Have in Common
From the KKK to al-Qaeda, learn how strong ideology motivates terrorist groups to commit violence, no matter their goals.
- Readings
The Paris Agreement
What is the Paris Agreement? In this free resource, learn what actions countries are taking to address the global threat of climate change.
- Readings
Why Scientists Are Watching Greenland
In this free climate change resource, learn why melting ice in Greenland is causing global sea level rise.
- Videos
Climate Change and the Coffee Industry
In this educational video, learn how climate change’s effects on agriculture can have serious economic consequences for the world.
- Readings
Who Releases the Most Greenhouse Gases?
Learn how the world measures greenhouse gas emissions and how different approaches imply different levels of responsibility.
- Videos
Who Is Responsible for Climate Change?
Why do developed and developing countries disagree about who is responsible for climate change? Explore the history of industrialization and its impacts on climate in this video.
- Readings
Six Essential International Organizations You Need to Know
Learn about the most prominent international organizations tackling the world’s biggest issues in this free resource.
- Readings
Trains, Planes, and Shipping Containers
Three innovations shaped how people and goods move around the world today.
- Videos
What Is Climate Change?
In this educational video, learn why the climate is changing, how it affects us, and what we can do about it.
- Readings
Big in China: The Global Market for Hollywood Movies
Hollywood’s relationship with the Chinese market—and its gatekeepers, Chinese government censors—is changing the way movies are made and promoted.
- Readings
Climate Change Adaptations
Explore how eleven countries are adapting to the effects of climate change in this free resource.
- Videos
What Is Globalization?
Explore examples of globalization to understand the benefits and challenges of our increasingly interconnected world in this video.
- Videos
Tools of Nonproliferation
How do world leaders try to prevent nuclear war? From diplomacy to military force, learn what policy options are most effective in this video.
- Readings
It Takes a Village to Make Your Medicine
Follow the global supply chain across borders and into your pill bottle.
- Videos
How Globalization Affects What’s for Brunch
Globalization’s effects can appear where you least expect them—including on your plate.
- Readings
The Nuclear World
Where are the world’s nuclear weapons today and whom do they protect? Explore maps, charts, and graphs to learn about current and future nuclear weapons states.
- Readings
How Do Countries Create Nuclear Weapons?
What is nuclear power and how can the same process that generates nuclear energy create a nuclear bomb?
- Readings
South Africa: Why Countries Acquire and Abandon Nuclear Bombs
Why did South Africa give up its nuclear weapons? In this historical case study, learn about the only country in the world to have developed and then dismantled its nuclear program.
- Videos
What Is Nuclear Proliferation?
In this video on nuclear proliferation, learn why countries develop nuclear weapons—and what is being done to prevent the spread of these weapons and the possibility of nuclear war.
- Readings
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
What is the NPT and how has the treaty influenced the spread of nuclear weapons?
- Readings
Who Counts As a Terrorist?
What are the major types of terrorism? From foreign groups to domestic threats, learn how the U.S. government defines terrorism and its legal consequences.
- Readings
How a Single Phrase Defined the War on Terror
What is the 2001 AUMF and what does it have to do with 9/11? From the invasion of Afghanistan, to the Iraq War, and more, learn how the United States justified U.S. counterterrorism policy for over two decades.
- Videos
Terrorism and the Media
How do terrorists use the media? From Osama bin Laden to the Islamic State, learn how terrorists use internet and media coverage to shape their goals.
- Videos
What Is Terrorism?
Learn how terrorists have sought to achieve their goals all over the world with this video on terrorism.
- Readings
Global Terrorism Trends
Explore terrorism trends through five data charts that help show the threat of terrorism around the world and how it has changed over time.
