World History Sources

This page is an incomplete collection of sources that I've used in World History courses at various places that I've taught, and will be updated periodically. It includes a mix of print and video materials, some of which are freely available on the Internet, while others require access to subscription databases provided by either an academic or public library. If you're mostly interested in primary sources, the Internet Modern History Sourcebook has a great collection.

Conquest of the Americas

• Council of Castille, Requerimiento to be read to the Indians, 1510

• Cortés, Letter to King Charles I of Spain, 1521, excerpts

• Cortés, Second Letter to Charles V, 1520 - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1520cortes.html

• Cortés' description of Tenochtitlán and his conquest of the Aztecs 

• Indian accounts of the Spanish conquest in Mexico, 1500s 

• Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542

Slavery in the Atlantic World

• Excerpts from Alexander Falconbridge: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/1904

• Court cases and manifests: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/slave-trade.html

• Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces

• Eye-witness account: http://college.cengage.com/history/world/resources/students/primary/eyewitness.htm

• A collection of documents: http://www.historywiz.com/africanslavery.htm

Revolutions in the Atlantic World

• Women and the Revolution - http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/exhibits/show/liberty--equality--fraternity/women-and-the-revolution

• Prudhomme, "On the Influence of the Revolution on Women" (12 February 1791) - http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/483/

• Liberty for All? An Exploration of the Status of Women in Revolutionary France - http://www.indiana.edu/~psource/PDF/Current%20Articles/Fall2014/3%20Gupta%20Fall%2014.pdf

European Crisis

• Herbert Asquith’s Address to Parliament, http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/asquithspeechtoparliament.htm

• Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points Speech, http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/fourteenpoints.htm

• The Path to Nazi Genocide, http://www.ushmm.org/learn/introduction-to-the-holocaust/path-to-nazi-genocide; 

• The Bryce Report, http://www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/BryceReport/bryce_r.html

• Declarations of War for World War I, http://www.gwpda.org/memoir/declawar.html

• American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/nfhtml/nfhome.html

• A Death at the Battle of the Somme, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/somme.htm

• Lawrence of Arabia, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lawrence.htm

• Neville Chamberlain on the Nazi Invasion of Poland, http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/chamberlain.htm

• Winston Churchill, “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/churchill.htm

• Edouard Daladier, “Nazis’ Aim is Slavery,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/daladier.htm

• Franklin D. Roosevelt, “For a Declaration of War,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/fdr-infamy.htm

• London Goes to War, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/london1939.htm

• France Surrenders, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/francesurrenders.htm

• Raack, R.C. 1996. "Stalin's role in the coming of World War II." World Affairs 158, no. 4: 198. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost

• President Roosevelt to the Chancellor of Germany (Hitler) [40], [Telegram], 14 April 1939 http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga3-390414.htm

• The Western Guarantee of Polish Independence, http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/pre-war/390331a.html

• Memorandum by the Secretary of State Regarding a Conversation With the Japanese Ambassador (Horinouchi), [Extracts], [WASHINGTON,] July 10, 1939, http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/paw/132.html

• Nazi Documents related to the Holocaust, https://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/resource/document/document.htm

Struggle Against Colonialism

• Anticolonialism in Southeast Asia - Categories and Features of Anticolonialism - http://science.jrank.org/pages/7493/Anticolonialism-in-Southeast-Asia.html

• Anticolonialism in Southeast Asia - Colonial Origins of the Idea - http://science.jrank.org/pages/8310/Anticolonialism-in-Southeast-Asia-Colonial-Origins-Idea.html

• Anticolonialism in Southeast Asia - Nationalism and the Idea of Anticolonialism - http://science.jrank.org/pages/8311/Anticolonialism-in-Southeast-Asia-Nationalism-Idea-Anticolonialism.html

• A. Abdul Hamid, Malay Anti-colonialism in British Malaya - https://www.academia.edu/331961/Malay_Anti-Colonialism_in_British_Malaya_A_Re-appraisal_of_Independence_Fighters_of_Peninsular_Malaysia

• African History, the Era of Global Encroachment - http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7b/activity4.php

Superpower Rivalry

• Winston Churchill, “The Iron Curtain,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ironcurtain.htm

• George C. Marshall, “The Marshall Plan,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/marshall.htm

• Dwight D. Eisenhower, “On the Military-Industrial Complex,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/eisenhower.htm
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• John F. Kennedy, “One the Cuban Missile Crisis,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-cuban.htm

• John F. Kennedy, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-berliner.htm

• Ronald Reagan, “Address to British Parliament,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-parliament.htm

• Ronald Reagan, “Tear Down this Wall,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-tear-down.htm

• John Blewen and Stephen Smith, Korea: The Unfinished War, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/korea/index.html

• Morning Sun: A Film and Website About the Cultural Revolution, http://www.morningsun.org/about/index.html

• Nov. 10, 1989: Celebration at the Berlin Wall, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsdDb7KDkg

• Walled In: Germany’s Inner Border https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwQsTzGkbiY

• Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/

• Letter from FDR to Stalin on a Compromise in Poland, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111002

• Yalta Conference Agreement, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116176

• Stalin’s Election Speech, 1946, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116179

• George Kennan’s Long Telegram, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116178

• The Truman Doctrine, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116182

• CIA Report, Effects of Soviet Restrictions on U.S. positions in Berlin, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116184

• CIA Report, Consequences of a Breakdown in Negotiations on Germany, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116186

• CIA Memo for the President Regarding Berlin, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116188

• Soviet Central Committee Resolution regarding elections in Germany, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111965

• Gromyko to Stalin Regarding a Reply to the U.S., England, and France on the National Police of the GDR. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111966

Independence Movements in the Developing World

• Evans, Martin. "Whatever happened to the non-aligned movement? Martin Evans recalls the 'third way' of Cold War international politics, now all but forgotten." History Today 57.12 (2007): 49+. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 July 2015. 

• Ahanchi, Azar. "Reflections Of The Indian Independence Movement In The Iranian Press." Iranian Studies 42.3 (2009): 423-443. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Mar. 2015; 

• Blaufarb, Rafe. "The Western Question: The Geopolitics Of Latin American Independence." American Historical Review 112.3 (2007): 742-763. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Mar. 2015

• The Cold War in Developing Countries, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3408

• Joel Ribnick. Review of Westad, Odd Arne, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. April, 2008, http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=21432

• U.S. Third World Policy during the Cold War, http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Galbraith/galbraith3.html 

• Immerman, Richard. 2000. "Architects of Intervention: The United States, the Third World, and the Cold War, 1946-1962." Journal Of American History 87, no. 1: 283-285. Humanities Source

• Fraser, Cary. 2007. "The Eisenhower Administration, the Third World, and the Globalization of the Cold War." Journal Of American History 94, no. 3: 986-987. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost  

• Markn. Katz, Why Does the Cold War Continue in the Third World? http://digilib.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/1920/3121/1/Why%20Does%20the%20Cold%20War%20Continue.pdf 

• Jeremi Suri, Jeremi. 2006. "The Cold War, Decolonization, and Global Social Awakenings: Historical Intersections." Cold War History 6, no. 3: 353-363. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost 

• Routes to Independence in Africa: Four Examples, http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/lectures/4cases.htm

• Post-Colonialism in the Belgian Congo, http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/unit_video_22-2.html; TheNational Party's Colour Policy, 1948

• UN Resolution 1598: On Race Conflict in South Africa, 1961  

• Nelson Mandela, “I am Prepared to Die,” http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/mandela.htm
  http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA16630845&v=2.1&u=21667_hbplc&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w&asid=dce7c4620e6276f3c68d055dd2d4544f
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• A.L. Geyer: The Case for Apartheid, 1953

• Umkhonto we Sizwe (Military wing of the African National Congress): We are at War!, December 16, 1961

• Bishop Demond Tutu (1931-): The Question of South Africa, 1984

• Nelson Mandela : Speech on Release From Jail, 1990; 

• Nelson Mandela : Inaugural Address, May 10, 1994

• Jomo Kenyatta: The Kenya Africa Union is Not the Mau Mau, 1952

• All-African People's Conference: Resolution on Imperialism and Colonialism, Accra, December 5-13, 1958

• U Thant: The Congo Problem, 1962; Charter of the Organisation of African Unity, May 25 1963

• Rhodesia: Unilateral Declaration of Independence Documents, 1965

• President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: African Development and Foreign Aid, Speech of March 18, 1966

• Tanzania: The Arusha Declaration, 1967

• Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972): I Speak of Freedom, 1961

• Robert D. Kaplan: The Coming Anarchy February 1996, and Proportionalism August 1996, The Atlantic Monthly

• Stanley Meisler: Rwanda and Burundi, The Atlantic Monthly, September 1973

• The Atlantic Report: Rwanda, The Atlantic Monthly, June 1964

• Violence and Unrest in Central Africa, The Atlantic Monthly, November 1996

• The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/

• Bill Berkeley, Zaire: An African Horror Story, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/08/zaire-an-african-horror-story/305496/

• Amanda Carmelitano and William Gibbons, 20th Century Global Revolutionaries with American Connections, http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/Docket/Acedemic_Freedom_Docket/1820thCenturyGlobalRevolutionariesWithAmericaConnections.pdf

• Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964): Marxism, Capitalism and Non-Alignment, 1941, 1956

• President Sukarno of Indonesia: Speech at The Opening of The Bandung Conference, April 18 1955

• Prime Minister Nehru: Speech to Bandung Conference Political Committee, 1955; Anwar el Sadat: Afro-Asian Solidarity and the World Mission of the Peoples of Africa and Asia, 1957

• Rubinoff, Arthur G. 1991. "The multilateral imperative in India's foreign policy." Round Table 80, no. 319: 313. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost 

• Rajak, Svetozar. 2014. "No Bargaining Chips, No Spheres of Interest." Journal Of Cold War Studies 16, no. 1: 146-179. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost 

• Hershberg, James G. 2007. "'High-Spirited Confusion': Brazil, the 1961 Belgrade Non-Aligned Conference, and the Limits of an 'Independent' Foreign Policy during the High Cold War." Cold War History 7, no. 3: 373-388. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost

• Graham, John A. 1980. "THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT AFTER THE HAVANA SUMMIT." Journal Of International Affairs 34, no. 1: 153. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost

• Huilun Chen, U.S. Anti-Colonialism and Algerian Non-Alignment: Diplomatic Relations During the Algerian War of Independence, 1954-1962, http://history.ucsc.edu/undergraduate/undergraduate-research/electronic-journal/journal-pdfs/Chen2010.pdf
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• Harry E. Vanden, Nicaraguan Relations with the Nonaligned Movement, http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=gia_facpub

• Tea Hadziristic, The Non-Aligned Movement in the cold War: Between Policy and Rhetoric, https://www.academia.edu/10017498/The_Non-Aligned_Movement_in_the_Cold_War_Between_Policy_and_Rhetoric

• Nayan Chanda, Non-Alignment in a New Light, http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/non-alignment-new-light

• Nazli Choucri, The Nonalignment of Afro-Asian States: Policy, Perception, and Behaviour, http://web.mit.edu/polisci/nchoucri/publications/articles/B-6_Nonalignment_Afro_Asian_States_Policy_Percetpion_Behavior.pdf

• Ross, Cesar. "India, Latin America, and the Caribbean during the Cold War/India, America Latina e Caribe durante a Guerra Fria." Revista Brasileira de Politica 56.2 (2013): 23+. Academic OneFile. Web. 8 July 2015. 

• Zoubir, Yahia H. "The United States, the Soviet Union and decolonization of the Maghreb, 1945-62." Middle Eastern Studies 31.1 (1995): 58+. Expanded Academic ASAP

The Contemporary World

• The Great War and the Shaping of the 21^st Century, http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/thenandnow/

• The 20^th Century: One Defining Moment? http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/99fa/tablefaculty3.html

• The Guardian View on Europe Today: hail the achievements of peace. Fear the resurgence of old rivalries, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/guardian-view-on-europe-today-achievements-peace-fear-old-rivalries

• Philip H. Spies, Millennial Megatrends: Forces Shaping the 21^st Century, http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1447&context=iatul

• Vivek Ranadive, The Five Forces Shaping the 21^st Century, http://www.forbes.com/sites/vivekranadive/2012/11/27/the-five-forces-shaping-the-21st-century/

• McMaster Humanities, 20^th Century Global History Series, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hofFFjZ7Zx8&list=PLE14105A8B58D9104