In his 1967 speech about casualties from the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, Jr. said “wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” Unfortunately, global conflict seems inevitable in the form of military action. These five mobile apps focus on specific events leading up to wars and the impact on society at large.
American Revolution by KIDS DISCOVER (iOS, $3.99)
KIDS DISCOVER develops insightful iPhone apps that focus on specific periods of history, geography, and sciences. American Revolution helps Middle and Upper Elementary School students navigate the war’s major themes, social consequences, battles, influential leaders and more. The app presents the Revolutionary War from the perspective of soldiers, women, and deposits you onto the battlefield with high quality reenactments. In addition, students can see history come to life with 3D models, amazing multimedia, and quizzes.
Trafalgar 1805 (iOS, $2.99)
This standalone app is from a collection about great battles, published by Amber Books. The Battle of Trafalgar saw an outnumbered British fleet, which did not lose a single ship, defeat the Franco-Spanish in arguably the most decisive naval battles in 19th century world history. With Trafalgar 1805 students can view an animated map depicting the entire battle, listen to in-depth audio commentary, and recall key historical information with the in-app quiz . The developers truly dive into every component of the battle with attentive detail, making Trafalgar 1805 and their suite of iOS Universal apps essential for fathoming the intricacies of international wars.
The Civil War Today (iOS, $2.99)
Stop the presses! The Civil War Today iPad app from A&E Television Networks Mobile delivers new content—primary source newspaper articles, casualty reports, photos, and quizzes—daily in order to provide an account in-step with history. In addition, students can examine diary entries and letters written by Abraham Lincoln and other important historical figures. This app’s beautiful interface and distinct approach to the Civil War garnered awards and iTunes App Store immortality. By April 26, 2015 this digital ‘newspaper’ will have covered the entire Civil War, and thus end its publication run. In order to experience the app to the fullest, it is best to download The Civil War Today now and soldier on.
World War I for iPad (iOS, $1.99)
This app includes 36 chapters, each individually covering the nations involved, major events, political policies, battles, cultural response and more. Their chapters approach every angle of World War I, whether you are searching for information on Germany or Imperialism or chemical weapons. Middle and High School students will be engulfed in the history of World War I owed to the app’s arsenal of media, including historically valuable cartoons and videos, crossword puzzles, timelines, quotations, and trivia. The iPad app is visually appealing and avoids any reliance on content from Wikipedia or the public domain.
World War II Interactive ($4.99)
Divided into nine sections, World War II Interactive does a stellar job outlining events leading up to and every month of the global conflict in eight interactive timelines. The iPad app features 35 videos, captivating speeches from political and military leaders, and 600 plus photographs. The information contained flows naturally, taking full advantage of World War II Interactive’s multimedia components, which should keep students enthralled, even if they do not have a pre-existing interest in history. They will spend hours learning through the app, which avoids nonessential information.
