Through the investigation of selected primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the importance of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, how and why it was constructed, why it was converted from a church to a mosque by the Ottomans in 1453, how its design inspired later western architects and why the great building is seen today as a cultural masterpiece.

Through the investigation of selected sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain in detail the Great Schism of 1054 that split the Christian Church into Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, what different theological and political issues caused the rift, and what attempts have been made to reconcile those differences.

Through the investigation of selected primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to compare and contrast in detail how different Christian and Muslim accounts saw the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and then by judging the historical and cultural context of the sources, students will be able to assess the validity of the different versions of the story. As a follow-up, students should be able to use the knowledge gained from this lesson plan to assess and explain Winston Churchill’s assertion that history is written by the victors.

Through the investigation of selected primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain why Constantine the Great chose to relocate the Roman capital to Byzantium, how the city preserved and expanded Greco-Roman philosophy and scholarship after the fall of Rome in the 5th century CE, and why, after over 1000 years as a center of Christianity, Constantinople fell to the Muslim forces in 1453.

Through an in-depth analysis of various primary and secondary sources, including a thorough examination of the young girl’s diary itself, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the story of Anne Frank and how her thoughts and feelings expressed in the diary help tell the story of Nazi-occupied Holland and the Holocaust.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, including excerpts from John Calvin’s famous book, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain Calvin’s basic arguments behind salvation through predestination and how the spread of his ideas left an indelible and lasting legacy on the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 16th century and later with the Puritans would settle the New England colonies in the 17th century.

Through the investigation of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the story of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, including how and why the brigade formed, its experiences in Spain during the civil war, and how these soldiers were treated when they returned home.

Through the investigation of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details of the Reconquista, how Muslim forces came to rule over Christian Iberia, the cultural contributions Spanish Moors developed, and ultimately what led to their downfall after such a long rule.

Through the investigation of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details of Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia), including how Muslim forces came to rule over Christian Iberia, the cultural contributions Iberian Moors developed, and ultimately what led to their downfall after such a long rule.

Through an examination of both primary and secondary sources on the subject, including various types of visual media in addition to electronic and written sources, Students here will identify, understand and be able to explain the basics of Surrealism as it developed as a movement in the aftermath of the Great War, how surrealism served as a vehicle for the rejection of bourgeois culture prevalent after the war, and how Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel specifically fit into the surrealist movement in Europe.

Through the investigation of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the story of Hannibal Barca of Carthage, how he was able to outwit and out maneuver the Roman army time and time again during the Second Punic War and why is crossing of the Alps is still considered today to be one of the greatest military maneuvers of all time.

Through the investigation of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the details of Columbus’ First Voyage to the New World, why he undertook the challenge of sailing west to reach the east, why the Spanish monarchs supported the voyage, and finally how the world was forever changed on 12 October 1492.

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students here will understand the story of the Viking exploration of Greenland and Vinland as told in the Icelandic and Greenlandic sagas, the role Erik the Red and Leif Erikson played in exploration, and how the Viking sagas may have played a role in Columbus’ decision to sail west five hundred years later.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the Battle of Stalingrad, why the Germans wanted to take the city, how the Soviets were able to defend it, how the Soviet counterattack led to the surrender of a large German army and why the battle was seen as the turning point in the Second World War (or as the Russians call it, the “Great Patriotic War”).

Through an analysis of primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the October Revolution of 1917, how Lenin and the Bolsheviks took control of Petrograd and what Lenin’s basic plan was for creating a socialist state in the early days of the Bolshevik revolution.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the basics behind Russian involvement in the Ukraine, how the region was incorporated into the Russian Empire before the Great War, how it was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922 and why the two countries continue to maintain an uneasy, yet symbiotic relationship since the fall of the USSR in 1991.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how Peter the Great came to power in Russia, how he modernized different segments of Russian society such as the military, the church and the government, and finally how and why he built St. Petersburg as his new capital.

Through the use of various primary and secondary sources, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how Panslavism developed in Eastern Europe, what role Panslavism played in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, and how it reached its zenith in the years leading up to the Great War, and how it ultimately led to Tsar Nicholas’s decision to mobilize his troops in defense of Serbia in late July 1914.

Through an in-depth analysis of various primary and secondary sources, including a full reading of Dostoevsky’s short story, The Little Orphan, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain how Dostoevsky’s works focused on the moral depravity he saw as inherent in the emerging industrial society of mid-late 19th century urban Russia, and specifically how his stories used strong religious and moral overtones to send a message warning the emerging urban middle class of its responsibilities to society’s less fortunate members.

Through an in-depth analysis of various primary and secondary sources, including a full reading of the parable of the Grand Inquisitor from Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, students in this lesson will identify, understand and be able to explain the story and character development found in the parable, how Dostoevsky’s last work focuses on the moral contradictions he saw as inherent in organized Christianity, and yet how the ending passages also show the author’s undeniable hope he has for humanity through its reliance on faith and beliefs.