Second World War 1939 - 1945 | The National Archives

Our records cover the entire conflict from Churchill's desk downwards. Read the PM's signed orders and top level diplomacy with Roosevelt and Stalin alongside reports from all theatres of war and every aspect of the situation on the Home Front - from what was shown in the nation's cinemas to recipes for British kitchens.

Topics
- The Cabinet Papers 1915-78
  History through the eyes of 60 years of British cabinets
  
  Key stage 4 - 5
- World War II
  Take a fresh look at the biggest conflict in history
  
  Key stage 3 - 4
- The Art of War
  Britain's war artists capture the conflict in artwork
  
  Key stage 2 - 5
- - Home Front
    Fighting the war at home
    
    Key stage 2 - 3
  - Dambusters
    Documents that tell the story of 617 Squadron
  - Focus on Film
    Investigate film as a historical source
    
    Key stage 2 - 5
  - British Battles
    British forces in action in conflicts from the Crimea to Korea
  - Secrets and Spies
    Hidden codes and double agents across three centuries
  - Women in Uniform
    Service in the Crimea, Western Front and Second World War
  - Moving Here
    200 years of the history of migration to England
    
    Key stage 2 - 4
  - Treasures
    Highlights from the collections of The National Archives
  - Heroes & Villains
    Investigate the movers and shakers of the 20th century
    
    Key stage 3 - 5
  - Human Rights
    800 years of the struggle for rights
  - Crime and Punishment
    From heretics and poachers to car crime and walkie-talkies
    
    Key stage 2 - 5
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Lessons
- Adolf Hitler
  Was Hitler a 'passionate lunatic'?
  
  Key stage 3 - 4
- Gordon Ford's Story
  What was it like to be an Airman in the Second World War?
  
  Key stage 2
- The Home Front
  How did people prepare for the war at home?
  
  Key stage 2 - 3
- - Evacuation to Canada
    How much care was really taken?
    
    Key stage 2 - 3
  - Government Posters
    How did Britain encourage people at home to help win the war?
    
    Key stage 2 - 3
  - British Response to V1 and V2
    How did Britain respond to the threat of missile attack in 1943?
    
    Key stage 2
  - Hitler Assassination Plan
    How did the British plan to kill Hitler?
    
    Key stage 3 - 4
  - Evacuation to Shropshire
    What was it like in the Second World War?
    
    Key stage 2
  - Belsen Concentration Camp 1945
    What did the British find when they entered?
    
    Key stage 3 - 4
  - Convincing the Colonies
    How did Britain try to keep the support of West Africans?
    
    Key stage 3 - 4
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Workshops
- The Holocaust
  From the Nuremburg Laws to the Final Solution
  
  Key stage 3 - 4
- Unmasking a Spy: Who was Karel Richter?
  Putting history skills into practice
  
  Key stage 2
- Propaganda and the Art of War
  Study original war art and then make your own
  
  Key stage 2

Videoconferences
- The Holocaust
  From the Nuremburg Laws to the Final Solution
  
  Key stage 3 - 4
- Propaganda and the Art of War
  Study original war art and then make your own
  
  Key stage 2

Virtual classroom
- Propaganda and the Art of War
  Study original war art and then make your own
  
  Key stage 2

Podcasts
- The battle that frightened Churchill
  The war in the Atlantic
  
  Key stage 5

Time periods

History by numbers

3900

Tonnage of bombs dropped on the city of Dresden in February 1945
1,700,000

Estimated number of Axis and Soviet casualties of the Battle of Stalingrad
1,494,000,000

Cinema tickets sold in Britain in 1942
31,400,000,000

Value in dollars of supplies shipped to Britain by the US under the lend-lease agreement
1

Number of eggs per person per week allowed under wartime rationing

Second World War 1939 - 1945

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