Best of History Web Sites
Games and Animations
Ancient History Games and Animations
Gladiator: Dressed to Kill
This game has the player choose the correct armor for three different types of Roman gladiators within a time limit. Each gladiator then fights and wins or loses based on what the player's choices were.
Housesteads Fort
This is a 3D tour of a reconstruction of a Roman fort along Hadrian's Wall in Ancient Britain.
Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii in 79 AD
This is a scavenger hunt that presents the user with several web sites and asks them to research the answers to various questions.
The Mummy Maker
Test your knowledge of history with an interactive challenge. Enter the embalmer's workshop and prepare a body for burial.
Roman Villa
This is an interactive reconstruction of a Roman villa viewed in Google Earth.
Discover Babylon
This strategy game provides challenges and mysteries that can only be solved through developing an understanding of Mesopotamian society.
Death in Rome
This game presents the user with a scene where a Roman dies and the user then has to figure out how the Roman died. The player uses evidence from the scene and information both from witnesses and modern experts.
Pyramid Challenge
This game presents the user with a series of challenges related to building a pyramid for the Egyptian Pharaoh. The construction of the pyramid succeeds or fails based on the player's decisions.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
This quiz has the user match the wonders of the ancient world with descriptions in a variety of formats.
Anglo-Saxon Coins
In this game you learn stories behind the coins and try to make "money talk."
Inca Investigation
Players investigate maps and artifacts to learn what life was once like in Huánuco Pampa.
BBC Dimensions: Ancient Worlds
Explore the scale of ancient worlds and historic journeys by overlaying them on other locations on a Google Map.
Medieval History Games and Animations
Middle Ages
This game quizzes the user on events in the Middle Ages.
Asian Middle Ages Chronology
This game prompts the player to reorder several events that took place in Asia during the Middle Ages.
King of the Hill
Dispatch armies of dispensable peasantry to defend your royal honor, your Majesty.
1066 The Game
You'll take the field with the Saxons, the Normans, and the Vikings to fight battles which decided England's fate.
Asian Middle Ages People, Places, and Things
This game quizzes the user on Asia during the Middle Ages.
Destroy the Castle
Build your own virtual trebuchet and fire giant sandstone balls at a castle wall. You decide on the size of your projectiles, where to place your trebuchet, and other factors critical to success.
Build a Medieval Arch
find out how medieval masons built cathedral arches - without the benefits of modern technology.
Early Modern History Games and Animations
The Battle of Waterloo Game
This game allows the user to replay the Battle of Waterloo and make the decisions that both generals faced.
Great Fire of London Animation
see contemporary etchings of the London skyline, showing the extent of the devastation. Afterwards, you could view the changing designs for St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt in the aftermath of the fire by Sir Christopher Wren.
Abolition of Slavery
BBC History has created an interactive Google Maps mashup about the end of British Slavery.
Pirates!
Take this quiz about pirate lore and find out if you'll have to walk the plank!
Gunpowder Plot Game
Guy Fawkes was among a gang of Roman Catholic conspirators who wanted to blow up the House of Lords and assassinate King James VI of Scotland and I of England. As part of their plan, they stored gunpowder kegs in the cellars of the House of Lords. You must find those kegs before the fizzing fuse causes disaster!
London: A Life in Google Maps
This British Library creation charts the growth of London through the ages via seven chronological themes.
Early U.S. History Games and Animations
Places of the American Revolution
This game quizzes the user on important locations in the American Revolution in the form of a matching game, flashcards, concentration, or a word search.
On the Trail of Captain John Smith: A Jamestown Adventure
Follow in the footsteps of Captain John Smith to discover what life was like in the New World 400 years ago.
The British are Coming!
This timed quiz game quizzes the user with questions about the American Revolution. The goal is for Paul Revere to beat the British, but he only moves when the player gets a question correct.
Freecol
This is a strategy game based on the game Colonization where the objective is to create an independent nation.
The Flames of the Rebellion
This downloaded feature is a strategy game that allows two players to play either as the British or the Colonials and play out the Revolutionary War for control of the thirteen colonies.
Fact Match
This is a concentration type game about the American Revolution.
Bill of Rights
This game quizzes the user on the Bill of Rights in a variety of formats.
Franklin's Lifetime
Explore Benjamin Franklin's life through a variety of interactive exhibits.
Nation-Building U.S. History Games and Animations
Animated Atlas
This site features a ten minute, interactive movie that is a geographic history of the United States, locating major events and the admission of every state.
Constitution Facts
Test your constitution IQ with an interactive quiz and see how you scored against others in your state and nationally.
Argument Wars
Players debate historical Supreme Court cases by advancing arguments and backing them up.
Which Founding Father Are You?
Answer five questions to see who you best match up with.
Strike it Rich!
This PBS game will see if you have what it takes to strike it rich in the gold rush!
Early American Reformers of the 1800's
This game quizzes the user on important terms from reform movements in the 1800s.
Modern U.S. History Games and Animations.
World War I Study Activity
This game quizzes the user on World War I in a variety of ways.
Electoral College by States
This game quizzes the user on how many electoral votes states have in a variety of ways.
America Becomes a World Power
This game quizzes the user on how America became a world power.
U.S. Navy Fleet
This Google Earth Tour for the 2010 San Francisco Fleet Week includes a voice overlay, images, video and more.
The Redistricting Game
The game introduces the redistricting system, explores potential abuses, and offers info about reform.
Do I Have a Right?
Explore the Bill of Rights in the context of operating and growing a Constitutional law firm from obscure to distinguished status.
1960-1980 Challenge
This game quizzes the user on events in the U.S. between 1960 and 1980.
U.S. Presidents
This game asks the user 10 questions about the presidents of the U.S.
Characteristics of Geographic Regions
This game quizzes the user on geographic regions in the U.S. in a variety of formats.
American Dynasties
This immersive digital video game enables players to live the lives of Americans from eras past.
Apollo 11
This Google Earth tour portrays the landing, moon walks, and the return to space of Apollo 11 YouTube videos, astronaut narrations, sound effects, and 3D models.
How Big is the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill?
This website uses Google Maps to compare the size of the 2010 Deep Horizon oil spill to various cities.
Modern World History Games and Animations
Warfare 1917
Build armies and send them into battle. Certain death, or ultimate victory?
Between the Wars Vocabulary
This feature presents the user with flashcards about World Wars I and II. The questions it offers are very good, though it does not allow the user to enter an answer.
SOS History
An adventure game challenging students to solve five mysteries at pivotal points in the history of Montreal.
BBC Dimensions: Environmental Disasters
Explore the scale of environmental disasters by overlaying them on other locations on a Google Map.
BBC Dimensions: War on Terror
Explore the scale of the War on Terror by overlaying it on other locations on a Google Map.
Cyber School Bus
This is a collection of games by the UN. There are several different types of games and quizzes about world issues and countries.
The Changing British Population
Play the animation and track how key events in British history have affected the size of the British population.
In this free and open-source empire-building strategy game your mission is to lead your tribe from the stone age to the space age.
BBC Dimensions: Battle of Britain
Explore battle distance and and scale by overlaying them on other locations on a Google Map.
TripleA
This is a clone of the board game Axis and Allies and can be played online.
Animated Maps and Map Games
Crisis in Darfur
“Crisis in Darfur” is an impressive, interactive Google Earth file from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of their "Mapping Initiatives." Students can view images of burned-out Darfur villages and gain a deeper understanding of the destruction as a result of the civil strife in the area.
The Western Front, 1914-1918 Animation
This animated map shows the Western Front of World War I.
Animated Map: The Fall of France (Dunkirk)
This animated map shows the fall of France during World War II.
First Animated Map
"Turning the Pages" allows vistors to virtually "turn" pages of manuscripts in an incredibly realistic way. This Atlas was compiled by Mercator in the 1570s.
Kings and Queens Through Time
In this animated timeline you put the kings and queens of England, and later the United Kingdom, in their proper place. There are four periods to explore.
Schock-ing Geography
Students can quiz themselves on physical, current political, and historical map information. Historical maps include Europe 1763, Europe 1815, Europe 1914, and World 1800.
GeoSpy
Test your GeoSmarts and become a GeoSpy agent by identifying states, provinces, countries, and continents.
Where in the World?
Each month Google Earth publishes the Google Earth Sightseer newsletter and asks readers to identify an interesting feature. Can you find it?
U.S. Presidents Birth Places
This Google Maps charts U.S. Presidents via their birth places.
Plague in Gotham!
Interactive Google Map of 1832 cholera outbreak in New York.
Mapping America: Every City, Every Block
New York Times interactive map that allows users to browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey --based on samples from 2005 to 2009.
Conflict History
This is a timeline and Google Map of world conflicts from 3000 BC to the 1970's.
BibleMap. org
This website creates a free Bible atlas illustrated with Google maps.
Do you know about US@ Geography?
This website offers four activities for learning about the geography of the United States.
Animated Map: Gettysburg
This is an animated map from Civil War Animated showing the Battle of Gettysburg.
Animated Map: Antietam
This is an animated map from Civil War Animated showing the Battle of Antietam.
Animated Map: Chancellorsville
This is an animated map from Civil War Trust showing the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Animated Map: Battle of Somme
This is an animated map showing the Battle of Somme in WWI.
Animated Map: The Burma Campaign
This animated map shows the campaign in Burma during World War II.
Animated Maps of European Mapmaking
Explore the changing European view of the world in the animated history of maps across the centuries.
GeoBee Challenge
The GeoBee Challenge from National Geographic is a game that features five new geography-based questions every day.
Social Explorer
interactive maps allow you to choose a time period and demographic feature to look at census data from 1790 to 2000.
Mapping the Holocaust (Google Earth)
Uses Google Earth to map key Holocaust sites with historic content illustrating the enormous scope and impact of the Holocaust.
The Traveler IQ Challenge
The Traveler IQ Challenge is a fun online geography game that tests your knowledge of various places in the world.
BBC Dimensions
allows users to overlay historical landmarks and events over other locations on a Google Map.
The Jew Map
This map shows the locations of important landmarks in Jewish history.
Philaplace
This website connects stories in Philadelphia's neighborhoods interactively via maps through personal accounts, videos and photographs.
Calisphere
As part of a project to digitize California artifacts, five Google Maps have been created to showcase digitized historical photographs.
Sydney Sidetracks
This interactive map explores the history of inner-city Sydney via audio, video, and photographs.
Historypin
Users can overlay (mainly historical) photographs on top of Google Maps Street View and add a story!
FreePoverty.com
This geography game allows participants to donate water to people who live in extreme poverty. The game presents a city or landmark, and you have a short amount of time (5 to 10 seconds) to locate it on a map.
Animated Timelines
Worldhistory
Create your own biography timeline and map, add your ancestors, and view them on a historical map.
Scavenger Hunt Through History
This PBS game challenges players to match a historical event with the time period in which it occured.
The Third Reich
An animated timeline of Germany under Hitler.
History of Religion
This animated map and timeline gives a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism.
March of Democracy
This map flashes democracy's "march across history" in 90 seconds.
Science and Technology in World War II
This engaging timeline is from the National World War II Museum.
Immigration Explorer
This New York Times interactive timeline/map shows how immigrants settled in the U.S. over time.
Paul Revere's Ride
An animated timeline of Paul Revere's life.
Road to Revolution
An animated timeline of events leading to the American Revolution.
The English Democracy
An animated timeline of the growth of English democracy to the Bill of Rights.
Growth of a Nation
This is a 10-minute animated timeline of the physical growth of the United States.