World History Content Standards

Building on knowledge from study of world cultures in middle school, students should be able to:

Topic 1. The Global Tapestry

Compelling Question: What kinds of global connections existed among humans in the past? 

1. Demonstrate the ability to analyze primary sources, including texts, maps, diagrams, works of art and architecture.

2. Demonstrate the ability to construct graphic displays that convey information about interactions among and comparisons between societies. 

3. Different kinds of maps to show physical features, political boundaries and forms of interaction (e.g., trade routes, invasions, cultural diffusion). 

4. Timelines that show simultaneous relationships (e.g., the development of technologies or artistic styles in different parts of the world or the rise, interaction, and collapse of multiple kingdoms or empires). 

5. Charts or graphs to convey comparative information (e.g., size of population in different periods and places, value of goods traded between different locations). 

6. Give examples of exchanges of ideas and goods among ancient and medieval complex societies to c. 1500 CE.

7. Describe the central tenets of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam; create a timeline that shows when and where each religion or belief system began.

8. Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions continued to shape societies in Africa and Asia. 

9. Describe the historic commonalities among world religions" (formally organized, transcultural, universalistic) religions (e.g., Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and how they differed from polytheistic religions.

10. Explain how the systems of belief and their practices affected society in the period. 

11. Describe indigenous religious practices in Africa and explain how these practices survived and shaped African Christian and Islamic religions.

12. Muslim rule continued to expand to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants, missionaries, and Sufis. 

13. Map how the Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic religions spread from their places of origin to other parts of Eurasia and Africa to c. 1500 CE, and explain some of the means by which religions spread (e.g., by official government decree, missionary work, pilgrimages, translations of texts, the diffusion of religious imagery and the construction of buildings such as temples, churches, cathedrals, monasteries, and mosques for religious purposes).

14. Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, and their core beliefs and practices, continued to shape societies in South and Southeast Asia.

15. State formation and development demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity, including the new Hindu and Buddhist states that emerged in South and Southeast Asia.

16. Locate on a map and analyze relationships between political power, religion, and cultural achievement in one empire that flourished between c.100 and 1500 CE. 

17. The Kushan Empire (c. 1st–5th centuries) with its fusion of Greco-Roman and Buddhist culture and imagery in Gandharan sculpture; the Gupta Empire (c. 320–600 CE), uniting multiple kingdoms of North, Central, and Southeast India, religious tolerance for Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism; highly developed Hindu and Buddhist sculpture and literature. 

18. The Byzantine Empire (4th–6th century CE), the founding of Constantinople, the adoption of Christianity as an officially sanctioned religion, the building of the Hagia Sophia, and the development of the Code of Justinian. 

19. The Abbasid Caliphate in western Asia and North Africa (750–1258 CE) and the flourishing of Islamic arts, science, and learning. 

20. Explain the consolidation of wealth of the Catholic Church in the 11th century CE, the development of the practices of feudalism, knighthood, and chivalry in Europe, and the emergence of the concept of rights in England.

21. Evaluate the causes, course, and consequences on cultural and economic exchanges of the European Crusades in the Mediterranean region in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries CE.

22. Explain the concepts of hereditary rule, kingdom, empire, feudal society, and dynasty and explain why these concepts are important in the analysis of political power and governments in different historical periods and in different places.

23. State formation and development demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity in various regions.

24. Empires and states in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas demonstrated continuity, innovation, and diversity in the 13th century. This included the Song Dynasty of China, which utilized traditional methods of Confucianism and an imperial bureaucracy to maintain and justify its rule.

25. Map the geographical extent of one of the following kingdoms or empires; explain its central political, economic, cultural developments and its role in trade, diplomatic alliances, warfare, and exchanges with other parts of the world. 

Kingdoms and empires based in Africa 

1. The West African empires of ancient Ghana (c. 700–1240 CE), Mali (c.1230–1670 CE), and Songhai (15th-17th centuries CE), the importance of Timbuktu as a center of trade and learning, the gold-salt and slave trade. 

2. The East African Sub-Saharan kingdoms of Axum (c. 100–940 CE) and the Swahili city states (c. 8th–17th centuries CE).  

Kingdoms and empires based in Western, Central, and East Asia 

3. The Song Dynasty in China (960–1279 CE), the development of the concepts of the scholar official, landscape painting and calligraphy, and the merging of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian beliefs.  

4. The Mongol Empire (1206–1368 CE), its role in the Silk Routes, the rule of Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan, contacts with Europeans, and the cultural achievements of the Yuan Dynasty (1221–1368) and early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) in China. 

5. The Ottoman Empire from its beginnings in 1299 CE, its capture of the city of Constantinople in 1453, through the reign of Sultan Süleiman I (1566 CE). 

6. The Kamakura Shogunate (c. 1185–1333 CE) in Japan, feudal military rule, invasions of the Mongol Empire, restoration of temples destroyed in war, Buddhist sculpture, calligraphy influenced by Zen Buddhism. 

7. The early period of the Mughal Empire in India (1527–1857 CE) and its development as a major textile, shipbuilding, and firearms manufacturer and exporter and a major center of illustrated manuscripts. 

Kingdoms and Empires Based In The Americas 

8. The Mayan civilization of the Classic period (c. 250–950 CE), cities such as Teotihuacán, Tikal, and Copán, pyramid building, long-distance trade between inland sites and sites near the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. 

9. The Aztec regional empire (c.1345–1521 CE), the capital of Tenochtitlan, conquests of neighboring states, monumental sculpture.  

10. The Inca regional empire (c. 13th century–1572 CE), extensive networks of roads, conquests of neighboring states, monumental architecture at sites such as Machu Picchu and Cusco. 

Kingdoms and Empires Based in Europe

11. Kingdoms and feudal societies in England, France, Germany, Rome, the Netherlands, Russia, and Spain, including the Holy Roman Empire (c. 5th century–1492 CE). 

12. Italian city-states such as Venice, Milan, Florence, and Genoa (c. 800–1500 CE), the development of banking, capitalism, education, patronage of the arts, commerce with the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires and Asia. 

Suggested Primary Sources for Topic 1 in Appendix E

Hinduism, The Vedas: The Rig Veda (c. 1500-500 BCE)

Judaism: Exodus, Chapter 20, the Ten Commandments (c.600 BCE, based on earlier oral tradition) 

Judaism: Barcelona Jewish Court Documents “A Daughter’s Inheritance” (1293)

Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (c.500 BCE)

Confucianism, excerpts from The Analects (c. 500 BCE)

Christianity, Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7: Sermon on the Mount (c. 80-110 CE) 

Christianity, Hildegard de Bingen, “Visions from Scivias” (1142-1151CE)

Islam: Selections from the Qu’ran, 1, 47 (c. 609-632 CE)

The Kushan Empire: Standing Shakyamuni Buddha (3^rd century CE), Worcester Art Museum

The Byzantine Empire: Hagia Sophia (532-537 CE, video and article by William Allen, 2015)

The Code of Justinian (535 CE)

The Abbasid Caliphate: Al-Tanûkhî (c. 980 CE), Ruminations and Reminiscences: Acts of Piety 

Topic 2: Networks of Exchange

1. Explain different ways in which societies interact across regions (e.g., trade; cultural, religious, linguistic, and technological exchange and diffusion; migration; exploration; diplomatic alliances; colonization and conquests).

2. Explain how interactions among societies are affected by geographical factors such as the location of bodies of water, mountains, and deserts, climate, the presence or scarcity of natural resources, and human factors such as population size and density, mortality rates, or migration patterns.

3. Describe the goods and commodities traded east, west, north and south along the Silk Roads connecting Europe, Africa and Asia, including horses, grain, wood, furs, timber, spices, silk, and other luxury goods.

4. Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes— including the Silk Roads—promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities. 

5. Explain the global spread and consequences of Chinese inventions and technologies (e.g., gunpowder, the compass, printing, and papermaking).

6. The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the use of the compass, the astrolabe, and larger ship designs.

7. Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers, including during Chinese maritime activity led by Ming Admiral Zheng He.

8. Describe the importance to India’s medieval economy of textile technologies (e.g., processes to improve the growing, processing, spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing of cotton), and the importance of cotton cloth as an export to Africa and Europe.

9. Explain the global consequences of diseases, focusing on the Bubonic plague and its spread through the Eurasian and African trade routes several times, in particular the severity of the impact of the disease on mortality rates in Europe, Africa, and Asia in the 15th century CE.

10. There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases, including the bubonic plague, along trade routes.

11. Explain how travelers’ accounts and maps contributed to knowledge about the world. 

12. Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions, as well as scientific and technological innovations. 

13. As exchange networks intensified, an increasing number of travelers within Afro-Eurasia wrote about their travels.

14. Describe coexistence, tolerance, and trade between Arab and Christian kingdoms in the 8th to early 10th centuries CE. 

15. The growth of interregional trade was encouraged by innovations in existing transportation technologies.

16. Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes, including the trans-Saharan trade network.

17. The expansion of empires—including Mali in West Africa–facilitated Afro-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into the economies and trade networks.

Suggested Inquiries

2.3 Digital Inquiry Group: What were the key effects of Columbian Exchange, and the trans-Atlantic slave trade? 

3.5 Coming Soon: How did the slave trade begin worldwide?

Topic 3: Land-Based Empires

1. Explain how and why various land-based empires developed and expanded from 1450-1750.

2. Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade to establish large empires in both hemispheres. 

3. Land empires included the Manchu in Central and East Asia; the Mughal in South and Central Asia; the Ottoman in Southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and the Safavids in the Middle East.

4. Political and religious disputes led to rivalries and conflict between states.

5. Explain how rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.

6. Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals, became more common among rulers who wanted to maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.

7. Rulers continued to use religious ideas, art, and monumental architecture to legitimize their rule.

8. Rulers used tribute collection, tax farming, and innovative tax-collection systems to generate revenue in order to forward state power and expansion.

9. Describe the political and religious origins of the Protestant Reformation and its effects on European society, including: the reasons for the growing discontent with the Catholic Church; the main ideas of Martin Luther and John Calvin; the importance of Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and its adoption by others in the spread of Protestantism across Europe, and the formation of the Anglican Church.

10. Identify the role that the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation played in shifting political power in Europe, the persecution of religious minorities, and wars among European nations in the 15th and 16th centuries CE.

11. The Protestant Reformation marked a break with existing Christian traditions and both the Protestant and Catholic reformations contributed to the growth of Christianity.

12. Explain the emergence of a wealthy Protestant middle class in the 17th century Northern Europe, its involvement in global trade, and its patronage of the arts and sciences.

13. Explain the purposes and policies of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, including the influence and ideas of Ignatius Loyola.

Topic 4: Transoceanic Interconnections

1. Explain how cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of technology and facilitated changes in patterns of trade and travel from 1450 to 1750.

2. Explain how classical learning survived into the medieval world. 

3. The role of Islamic scholars in preserving Greek, Roman, and Arabic texts after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the role of Christian monasteries housing libraries and making manuscript copies of Christian and pagan texts. 

4. The development of Islamic and European universities from the 9th to the 13th centuries. 

5. Describe the origins and development of the European Renaissance, the emerging concept of humanism, and the influence and accomplishments of key artists, writers, and inventors of the Italian and Northern European Renaissance.

6. Summarize how the scientific method and new technologies such as the telescope and microscope, led to new theories of the universe; describe the accomplishments of at least two figures of the Scientific Revolution (e.g., Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Johannes Kepler, Robert Hooke, Antoni von Leeuwenhoek, Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus); explain how advances in shipbuilding contributed to European exploration and conquest.

7. New state-supported transoceanic maritime exploration occurred in this period. 

8. Portuguese development of maritime technology and navigational skills led to increased travel to and trade with Africa and Asia and resulted in the construction of a global trading-post empire.

9. Describe the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula after the Treaty of Granada (1492), the rise of Spanish and Portuguese Kingdoms, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Spanish expeditions to conquer and Christianize the Americas and the Philippines, and Portuguese conflicts with Muslim states.

10. Explain the motivations for European nations to find a sea route to Asia.

11. Europeans established new trading posts in Africa and Asia, which proved profitable for the rulers and merchants involved in new global trade networks. Some Asian states sought to limit the disruptive economic and cultural effects of European-dominated long-distance trade by adopting restrictive or isolationist trade policies. 

12. Driven largely by political, religious, and economic rivalries, European states established new maritime empires, including the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British.

13. Identify the major economic, political, demographic, and social effects of the European colonial period in the Americas and the Caribbean Islands, the so-called “Columbian Exchange” (the transmission of foodstuffs, plants, bacteria, animal species, etc., across the Atlantic for the first time and its environmental and agricultural implications); the impact of Christian missionaries on existing religious and social structures in the Americas, and the expansion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

14. European colonization of the Americas led to the unintentional transfer of disease vectors, including mosquitoes and rats, and the spread of diseases that were endemic in the Eastern Hemisphere, including smallpox, measles, and malaria. Some of these diseases substantially reduced the indigenous populations, with catastrophic effects in many areas.

15. American foods became staple crops in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cash crops were grown primarily on plantations with coerced labor and were exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East.

16. Afro-Eurasian fruit trees, grains, sugar, and domesticated animals were brought by Europeans to the Americas, while other foods were brought by African enslaved people.

17. Populations in Afro-Eurasia benefitted nutritionally from the increased diversity of American food crops.

18. Explain the widespread practice in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas of enslaving captives of war and of buying and selling enslaved people from the 5th to the 18th centuries CE.

19. Newly developed colonial economies in the Americas largely depended on agriculture, utilized existing labor systems, including the Incan mit’a, and introduced new labor systems including chattel slavery, indentured servitude, and encomienda and hacienda systems.

20. Slavery in Africa continued in its traditional forms, including incorporation of enslaved people into households and the export of enslaved people to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean regions.

21. The growth of the plantation economy increased the demand for enslaved people in the Americas, leading to significant demographic, social, and cultural changes.

22. Map the extent of the Ottoman, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and British Empires in the 17th century and research and report on an account of travel, trade or diplomacy of the 17th century.

23. Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of different ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles in society, politics, or the economy.

24. Imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites, including in China with the transition to the Qing Dynasty and in the Americas with the rise of the Casta system. 

25. The power of existing political and economic elites fluctuated as the elites confronted new challenges to their ability to affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs and leaders.

Topic 5: Revolutions

1. Identify the origins and the ideals of the European Enlightenment, such as happiness, reason, progress, liberty, and natural rights, and how intellectuals of the movement (e.g., Denis Diderot, Emmanuel Kant, John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, or social satirists such as Molière and William Hogarth) exemplified these ideals in their work and challenged existing political, economic, social, and religious structures.

2. Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason. Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract. 

3. The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.

4. Explain historical philosophies of government, giving examples from world history. 

5. The Chinese doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven, in which a ruler must be worthy of the right to rule. 

6. Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch holds unlimited power with no checks and balances (e.g., in France of Louis XIV, Spain, Prussia, and Austria). 

7. Enlightened absolutism (e.g., in Russia under Czars Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, in which ideas of the Enlightenment temper absolutism). 

8. Constitutional monarchy, in which a ruler is limited by a written or unwritten constitution (e.g., English traditions beginning with Magna Carta).

9. Explain why England was the exception to the growth of absolutism in Europe. 

10. The causes, essential events, and effects of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

11. The English Bill of Rights and its limits on the power of the monarch to act without the consent of Parliament. 

12. Explain the reasons for the Glorious Revolution in England and why England was the main exception to the growth of absolutism in royal power in Europe.

13. Explain the development of constitutional democracy following the American Revolution, the United States Constitution (1787), and the Bill of Rights (1791).

14. Colonial subjects in the Americas led a series of rebellions inspired by democratic ideals. The American Revolution, and its successful establishment of a republic, the United States of America, was a model and inspiration for a number of the revolutions that followed. The American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American independence movements facilitated the emergence of independent states in the Americas.

15. Describe the growing consolidation of political power in Europe from 1500 to 1800 as manifested in the rise of nation states ruled by monarchs. 

16. The Thirty Years War in central Europe (1618–1648) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648). 

17. The rise of the French monarchy, the policies and influence of Louis XIV (1638– 1718), and the design of the Château de Versailles as a symbol of royal power. 

18. The growing power of Russian czars, including the attempts at Westernization by Peter the Great (1682–1785), the growth of serfdom, and Russia’s rise as an important force in Eastern Europe and Asia; and the rise of Prussia, Poland, and Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

19. Analyze the various political, social, intellectual, and economic causes of the French Revolution (e.g., the influence of Enlightenment philosophy, the development of a middle class, the excesses and growing economic struggles of the French monarchy, the incompetence and corruption of the monarchy and government officials).

20. Summarize the main events of the French Revolution and analyze whether the revolution achieved its desired goals.

21. Compare the causes, goals, and outcomes of the American Revolution (1776–1787), the French Revolution (1789-1799), and the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), and analyze the short-term and long-term impact of these revolutions on world history.

22. The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers, as reflected in revolutionary documents— including the American Declaration of Independence during the American Revolution, the French “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” during the French Revolution, and Bolívar’s “Letter from Jamaica” on the eve of the Latin American revolutions— influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals.

23. Analyze the causes and methods of the unification of both Italy and Germany, including the respective roles of Cavour and Bismarck, and the effect that such unification had on the balance of power in 19th century Europe.

24. Identify the major political, social, and economic developments of Central and South American and Mexican history in the 19th century and analyze how these developments were similar to or different from those in Europe during the same time period.

25. Analyze the economic, political, social, and technological factors that led to the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.

26. A variety of factors contributed to the growth of industrial production and eventually resulted in the Industrial Revolution, including:

27. Proximity to waterways; access to rivers and canals.

28. Geographical distribution of coal, iron, and timber.

29. Urbanization.

30. Improved agricultural productivity.

31. Protection of private property.

32. Access to foreign resources.

33. Accumulation of capital.

34. Evaluate the economic and social impact of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions in England, including population growth and the migration of workers from rural areas to new industrial cities, the emergence of a large middle class, the growing inequality in wealth distribution, the environmental impact of industrialization, and the harsh working and living conditions for the urban poor.

35. The development of the factory system concentrated production in a single location and led to an increasing degree of specialization of labor.

36. Western European countries began abandoning mercantilism and adopting free trade policies, partly in response to the growing acceptance of Adam Smith’s theories of laissez-faire capitalism and free markets.

37. The global nature of trade and production contributed to the proliferation of large-scale transnational businesses that relied on new practices in banking and finance.

38. The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods.

39. Analyze how the Industrial Revolution gave rise to new social, political, and economic philosophies such as feminism, socialism and communism, including ideas and influence of Robert Owen and Karl Marx.

40. Discontent with established power structures encouraged the development of various ideologies, including those espoused by Karl Marx, and the ideas of socialism and communism.

41. Explain the impact of British economic and political reform movements such as labor unions on creating political reforms during the 19th century.

42. Explain how industrialization spread from Great Britain to continental Europe and the United States and how industrial development affected the political balance of power among nations. 

Suggested Inquiries

5.1 Remedial Herstory Project: What is the Enlightenment?

5.4 Digital Inquiry Group: Was the English Revolution of 1688 “glorious”?

5.8 Digital Inquiry Group: Was the main goal of the Committee of Public Safety to “protect the Revolution from its enemies”?

5.8 Remedial Herstory Project: Was the French Revolution revolutionary for women?

5.9 Coming Soon: Why were the outcomes of the Haitian, French, and American revolutions so different?

5.10 Coming Soon: Could Germany have unified without Bismarck?

5.11 Coming Soon: How did the Latin American wars for independence shape the western hemisphere? 

Topic 6: Consequences of Industrialization

1. Locate on a map key locations outside of Europe controlled by the European countries in the 19th century (e.g., India, Canada, Australia, and much of Africa by Britain; the Philippines, western and southwestern parts of North and South America, and the Caribbean Islands by Spain; Cape Verde, Brazil, and parts of India by Portugal; North and West Africa by France; parts of central Africa by Belgium and Germany).

2. Some states with existing colonies strengthened their control over those colonies and in some cases assumed direct control over colonies previously held by non-state entities.

3. Describe the causes of 19th century European global imperialism. 

4. Competition among England, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium beginning in the 15th century for economic gain, resources, and strategic advantage. 

5. The importance of slavery and slave-generated capital to the Industrial Revolution; the role of European traders, merchants, and buyers in making the slave trade profitable in North and South America and the Caribbean Islands Clarification Statement: Students should understand that slavery in the Americas was an interconnected system, and that slavery did not just exist in the Southern states of the United States (see United States History 1, standards 20–21). They should learn that the largest number of enslaved African men and women brought to the Americas (an estimated 4.9 million from the 16th to the 19th century) were sold to buyers in Brazil to work on sugar and coffee plantations and in mining.

6. The integration of political, religious, and economic goals in the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas, including the conversion of indigenous peoples by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries, the spread of Spanish and Portuguese languages and the imposition of European political structures. 

7. The writings of 18th and 19th century European race theorists posited differences among races and the superiority of the “Caucasian race” as scientific fact, including the concept of Social Darwinism, thus justifying European attitudes toward colonialism and slavery.

8. Analyze the impact of Western imperialism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. 

India

1. The economic and political relationship between India and Britain. 

2. The role of the British East India Company in India. 

3. Development of new railway infrastructure in India. 

4. The Indian Rebellion of 1857. 

5. The rise of Indian nationalism and the influence and ideas of Mahatma Gandhi in the 20th century for an independent India. 

China

1. The spheres of influence and extraterritorial rights for European nations. 

2. The role of the British East India Company in controlling the opium trade between India and China and the impact of the opium trade on Chinese society and politics. 

3. The rise of anti-Western and nationalist movements during the 19th century. 

Japan

1. The Meiji Restoration and the opening of Japan to the West. 

2. The rapid modernization and industrialization of Japan. 

3. The emergence of a growing Japanese empire in Asia by the early 20th century. 

Africa

1. The impact of European direct and indirect control of the existing political structure of African countries. 

2. The exploitation of African people for European economic gain in a variety of industries. 

3. Agricultural changes and new patterns of employment. 

4. Interactions between India and East Africa. 

5. The effects of assimilation on the people of Africa. 

Latin America

1. Spanish control of Cuba and Puerto Rico; Portuguese colonial rule in Brazil. 

2. The drive by the United States to annex Mexico’s northern territories, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Cuba, and other Caribbean territories. 

3. The Spanish-American War of 1898. 

4. Analyze the cultural impact of colonial encounters and trade on people in Western nations, drawing on examples such as:

5. Asian furniture, porcelain, and cloth made for export. 

6. The introduction of new foods into Europe and the United States. 

7. Emerging academic fields of archaeology and cultural anthropology.  

8. Collections of art and artifacts from around the world exhibited in international expositions and museums. 

9. The influence of Japanese and African art on European art styles of impressionism and cubism. 

10. Colonialism portrayed in literature and journalism by writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Edward. D. Morel, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). 

Suggested Primary Sources        

Rudyard Kipling, “Take Up the White Man’s Burden” poem (1899) 

Edward D. Morel, “The Black Man’s Burden” essay (1903)

Topic 7: Global Conflict

1. Analyze the factors that led to the outbreak of World War I (e.g., the emergence of Germany as a great power, the rise of nationalism and weakening of multinational empires, industrial and colonial competition, militarism, and Europe’s complex alliance systems.

2. The causes of World War I included imperialist expansion and competition for resources. In addition, territorial and regional conflicts combined with a flawed alliance system and intense nationalism to escalate the tensions into global conflict.

3. Evaluate the ways in which World War I was a total war and its impact on the warring countries and beyond. 

4. The use of industrial weapons and prolonged trench warfare and how they led to massive casualties and loss of life. 

5. The expansion of World War I beyond Europe into a global conflict (including the mobilization of Asian and African colonial subjects as troops to support military efforts and the reasoning for and impact of United States involvement; the impact on various nationalities, religious and ethnic groups). 

6. The impact of war on the home front in Europe, including the conscription, war propaganda, rationing, and government control of wartime industries. 

7. Analyze the political, social, economic, and cultural developments following World War I. 

8. The vast economic destruction resulting from the war. 

9. The emergence of a “Lost Generation” in European countries. 

10. The collapse of the Russian, Ottoman, and Austrian Empires.  

11. The modernization of Türkiye under President Kemal Atatürk. 

12. The establishment of European mandates in the Middle East and the creation of modern state boundaries in the region.

13. The Armenian genocide. 

14. The proceedings of the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles. 

15. The global influenza pandemic of 1918–1920. 

16. The development of modernism in the arts, in the works by composers, visual artists, writers, choreographers, and playwrights such as Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, René Magritte, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, Bertolt Brecht, Luigi Pirandello. 

17. Evaluate the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles and how the treaty did or did not address the various issues caused by World War I.

18. Analyze the various developments of early 20th century Russian history including the Russian Revolution within the context of World War I, the growing political and social unrest under Czar Nicholas II, the emergence of the Bolshevik movement, the political revolutions of 1917, and the Russian Civil War.

19. Analyze later developments in Russian history, including the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)  in 1922, the New Economic Plan (NEP) and the creation of a Soviet economy, artistic and cultural experimentation, the death of Lenin and the cult of his personality, and the power struggle that resulted in Stalin’s leadership.

20. Identify the various causes and consequences of the global economic collapse of the 1930s and evaluate how governments responded to the effects of the Great Depression. 

21. Restrictive monetary policies. 

22. Unemployment and inflation. 

23. Political instability in weak democracies such as Germany. 

24. The influence of the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek, and Milton Friedman. 

25. Identify the characteristics of fascism and totalitarianism as exhibited in the rise of the authoritarian regimes in Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s.

26. Evaluate the economic, social, and political conditions that allowed the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin in their respective countries, and how each dictator repressed dissention and persecuted minorities.

Students may examine the following examples of conditions leading to the rise of dictators to address this standard:

1. The lingering resentment over World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. 

2. The devastation of the Great Depression and the inability of fragile democracies to address those effects. 

3. The rise of anti-Semitism and racist ideologies in Europe during the last decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Students should analyze the following examples of how each dictator repressed dissension and persecuted minorities:

1. The arrest and execution of political opponents to Mussolini in Italy. 

2. Censorship of the press and propaganda. 

3. The Nazi use of art as propaganda, promoting classicism and disparaging modernism as degenerate. 

4. The great purges under Stalin, the development and maintenance of the gulag system, and its impact on Soviet society. 

5. The policy of forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and the resultant forced famine genocide of the Ukrainian people, known as the Holodomor. 

6. The Enabling Act, Night of the Long Knives, and Nuremburg Laws in Germany. 

7. The use of paramilitary groups and youth movements. 

8. Explain the various causes and consequences of mass atrocities in the period from 1900 to the present. 

9. The rise of extremist groups in power led to the attempted destruction of specific populations, notably the Nazi killing of the Jews in the Holocaust during World War II, and to other atrocities, acts of genocide, or ethnic violence. 

10. Analyze the aggression of Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s and the lack of response by the League of Nations and Western democracies. 

11. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia (1935). 

12. The Spanish Civil War (1936–39). 

13. The Japanese invasion of China (1931), the Manchukuo State and the Nanjing Massacre (1937), and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines (1941–42).

14. Germany’s militarization of the Rhineland, annexation of Austria, and aggression against Czechoslovakia, the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, the German attack on Poland, and the changing responses of Great Britain and the United States to Hitler’s strategies. 

15. Analyze the effects of one of the battles of World War II on the outcome of the war and the countries involved:

1940: the Battles of Britain and Dunkirk.

1941: the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1942: the Battles of Midway and Corregidor. 

1943: Stalingrad and the Allied invasion of Italy. 

1944–1945: the invasion of Normandy, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Berlin, Battle of Bataan and the subsequent Bataan Death March, the Battles of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Manila and Corregidor. 

13. Describe the Holocaust, including its roots in Christian anti-Semitism, 19th century ideas about race and nation, and the Nazi dehumanization and planned extermination of the Jews and persecution of LGBT and Gypsy/Roma people.

14. Analyze the decision of the United States to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to bring the war with Japan to a swift conclusion and its impact on relations with the Soviet Union.

Topic 8: Cold War and Decolonization

1. Identify the goals, leadership, strategies, and post-war plans of the Allied leaders (i.e., Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin) and how wartime diplomacy affected the outcome of the war and the emergence of the Cold War.

2. Evaluate the global political, economic, and social consequences of World War II. 

3. The physical and economic destruction through the bombing of population centers. 

4. Enormous disruption of societies and the deaths of millions of soldiers, civilians, colonial subjects, political opponents, and ethnic minorities. 

5. Support in Europe for political reform and decolonization. 

6. The emergence of the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the world’s two superpowers. 

7. The nuclear arms race between the U.S and the Soviet Union. 

8. The establishment of the United Nations in 1945, the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the adoption of the Nuremberg Principles to guide the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945 and the expansion of the Geneva Conventions in 1949. 

9. Identify the differences in worldview between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and analyze how tensions between the USSR and the West led to the division of Europe.

10. Analyze the impact of transnational organizations and alliances such as the United Nations (UN), the European Economic Community (EEC), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, 1949), the Warsaw Pact (1955), and the non-alignment movement on the developments of the Cold War.

11. Evaluate the importance of key military and political developments on the outcome of the Cold War. Students may use one the following examples to address this standard. 

12. The partition of Germany and the Berlin Crisis of 1948 and 1961. 

13. The Marshall Plan and the revival of Western Europe’s economy a. the policy of containment and its relation to the Korean War and the Vietnam War b. the emergence of the People’s Republic of China as a major power. 

14. Life in the USSR after Stalin’s death in 1953, the rule of Nikita Khrushchev, popular uprisings in Soviet-controlled countries such as the 1956 uprising in Hungary and the “Prague Spring” of 1968.  

15. The United States backed the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran (1953) and Arbenz in Guatemala (1954), demonstrating the stakes of the Cold War in non-Great Power countries.  

16. Soviet-U.S. competition in the Middle East and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. 

17. The Cuban Revolution and the Cuban Missile Crisis g. the arms race and arms control agreements (including the ABM and SALT treaties) h. détente and diplomatic efforts between the USSR and the West. 

18. Analyze the major developments in Chinese history during the second half of the 20th century, including the Chinese Civil War and the triumph of the Communist Revolution in China, the rise of Mao Tse-Tung and political, social, and economic upheavals under his leadership, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square student protests in Beijing in 1989 and economic reforms under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.

19. Analyze the development and goals of nationalist movements in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East, and evaluate how one of these movements and its leader brought about decolonization and independence in the second half of the 20th century (e.g., Fidel Castro in Cuba, Patrice Lumumba in Congo, Ho Chi MiNew Hampshire in Vietnam, Gamel Abdul Nasser in Egypt, Jawaharlal Nehru in India, Salvador Allende in Chile).

20. Explain the defense of and resistance to the official South African government policy of apartheid (legalized racial segregation) between 1948 and 1991, and analyze how opposition by the African National Congress, including resistance leader Nelson Mandela, and international organizations such as the United Nations, contributed to the downfall of apartheid.

21. Explain the background for the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, and subsequent military and political conflicts.

22. The growth of Zionism, and 19th and early 20th century immigration by Eastern European Jews to Palestine. 

23. Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. 

24. The United Nations (UN) voted in 1947 to partition the western part of the Palestine Mandate into two independent countries. 

25. Palestinian loss of land and the creation of refugees by Israeli military action. 

26. The rejection of surrounding Arab countries of the UN decision and the invasion of Israel by Arab countries. 

27. The various wars between Israel and neighboring Arab states since 1947, (e.g., the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War)

28. The diverse mix of cultures (e.g., Jews, Palestinians, and Arabs of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Druze backgrounds) in the region in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. 

29. Attempts to secure peace between Palestinians and Israelis, including the proposal of a two-state solution. 

30. Analyze the causes for the decline and collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, including the increasingly costly geopolitical competition with the United States, the growing gap between the economies of Western and Eastern Europe, the impact on people’s lives of the weakness of the Soviet economy, the toll of extended military conflict in Afghanistan, and the weakening popular support for communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

31. Evaluate the consequences of the breakup of the Soviet Union on the development of market economies, political and social stability, the spread of nuclear technology and other technologies of mass destruction to rogue states and terrorist organizations, and analyze how these consequences led to the consolidation of political power in the hands of an oligarchy during the first and second decades of the 21st century.

32. Analyze the contributing factors to and the effects of the global surge in economic productivity, the rise in living standards in Western Europe and Japan, such as the long postwar peace between democratic nations, the role of migrant workers in rebuilding postwar nations, and the policies of international economic organizations.

Topic 9: Globalization

1. Evaluate how scientific developments of the 20th century altered understanding of the natural world, changed the lives of the general populace, and led to further scientific research. Students may use one of the following examples to address this standard: 

2. Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity. 

3. Niels Bohr and quantum theory. 

4. Marie and Pierre Curie and radioactivity. 

5. Enrico Fermi, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and nuclear energy. 

6. Wernher von Braun and space exploration. 

7. Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine, and other medical breakthroughs. 

8. Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick, the discovery of DNA, and the Human Genome Project. 

9. The development of the first integrated circuit in 1958. 

10. The invention of the ARPAnet and its evolution into the Internet. 

11. Sylvia Earle and oceanography k. Jane Goodall and the study of primates and ecology. 

12. Analyze how various social and intellectual movements of the second half of the 20th century changed traditional assumptions about race, ethnicity, class, gender, the environment, and religion (e.g., the modern feminist movement, the LGBTQ rights movement; the environmentalist movement and emergence of Green parties). 

13. In much of the world, access to education as well as participation in new political and professional roles became more inclusive in terms of race, class, gender, and religion.

14. Analyze reasons for globalization – an international network of economic systems—and explain its consequences for workers in highly developed and less developed countries.

15. Analyze the major forces in the Middle East since 1980, including the rise of Islamic fundamentalism; the bulge in the youth population, rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, struggle for autonomy by the Kurds, the political challenges of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states, the Iranian Revolution of 1978–1979 and the Iran-Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, Arab uprisings, the growth of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

16. Explain the role of populist political movements, their strength in European political parties in the early 21st century.

17. Analyze the rise in political and economic power of China and its increasingly critical role in global affairs (e.g., North Korea, the World Trade Organization).

18. Evaluate the impact of international efforts to address global issues. 

19. Environmental efforts to slow climate change, preserve wildlife habitat, and increase agricultural production. 

20. Humanitarian efforts to slow the spread of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), lower rates of disease and childhood mortality, provide solutions to recurring refugee crises, increase the availability of education for girls and women, and develop local rural economies. 

21. Distinguish between the concepts of genocide and mass atrocity and analyze the causes of genocide and mass atrocities in the modern world (e.g., conflicts over political power, historical grievances, manipulation of ideas about difference and fear by political forces). Students may use one the following events to address this standard: 

22. Conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. 

23. The Bosnian War and the persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 

24. The Cambodian genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge. 

25. The Rwandan Genocide and ethnic conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

26. The Darfur crisis and South Sudan.

27. Conflict between India and Pakistan in Kashmir. 

28. Ethnic tension in Sri Lanka h. mass atrocities in Guatemala and Syria. 

29. Conflict between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. 

30. The treatment of Rohingya people in Myanmar. 

31. Analyze the events, people and conditions that have given rise to international terrorism including the emergence of the global terror network Al-Qaeda, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and ISIS, and evaluate responses by governments and societies to international terrorist activity.

Suggested Primary Source 

Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (2014)

Greta Thunberg, “Climate Speech to the United Nations” (2019)