WORLD HISTORY CURRICULUM

Europe’s distinct character rose from a combination of Christian restraints on monarchs, combined with the appearance of “Enlightenment” ideas and notions of common law, private property, and a free market. This wide-ranging lesson includes discussions of religious toleration and Adam Smith.

Beginning with the rise of “nation states,” this lesson examines the importance of the economic theory called mercantilism and its role in both the American and French Revolutions. In America mercantilism is a source of conflict with England, even as France was driven from the New World. At the time of the American Revolution, mercantilism gives way to capitalism. The French Revolution, caused by the indebtedness of the monarchy and the need for more taxes from non-nobles, soon eliminates the King and many others in the “Reign of Terror,” paving the way for Napoleon.

Test understanding of lessons 1 and 2 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!

With the collapse of the French Revolution, one of the most important figures in human history, Napoleon Bonaparte, comes to power and quickly defeats several alliances of other European powers to spread French influence as far as Russia. This lesson examines Napoleon as a person, his military genius, and his impact far beyond mere conquest. Although defeated and exiled, Napoleon’s influence lived on it Latin America and then in his relative, Louis Napoleon, for decades.

Europe, for geographic reasons but also mainly due to approaches to scientific and mechanical inquiry leaps far ahead of the rest of the world with the application of steam power which makes energy portable for the first time in human history. An examination of the flawed term “Dark Ages” gives way to a review of a host of exceptional inventors including James Watt, John Fitch, Eli Whitney, Sam Colt, as well as to new forms of business organization unseen anywhere else in the world, such as the corporate form and “Preemption.” The legal structures for the West proved as important as the inventions themselves. Critics of the Industrial Revolution, including Thomas Malthus and, later, Karl Marx are included along with modern scholarship criticizing the critics.

Test understanding of lessons 3 and 4 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!

This lesson includes a great deal of analysis of geographic limitations to national growth, especially in Latin America and Africa. The rise of the slave trade in Africa, European conquest of many parts of these continents, and the internal difficulties of any group assuming power over large regions are examined. China’s history from the “Golden Fleet” to the Mongols to the Mahchu is included, along with a discussion of the Opium War and the Boxer Rebellion. In Latin America, Europe’s grip over the Latin American countries is affected deeply by Napoleon’s conquest of Spain, opening the door for revolutions under Edward San Martin and Simon Boulivar.

We return to Europe to look at the spread of democracy, the widespread influence of the free market, and the response by mobs when they feel they are being denied their role in politics. Special attention is given to Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, William Wilberforce, and Charles Gordon in this lesson. We see the failure of France as it is divided among monarchists, republicans, and Bonapartists, a struggle ended by the rise to power of Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III). The rise of Germany and the Franco-Prussian War close out this unit.

We return to Africa and Asia as the Europeans and, toward the end, the Americans, exert control over much of the globe due to the “tools of imperialism”: steam power, advanced firearms, medicine, and the “western way of war.” This lesson also examines the construction of the Panama Canal and the Spanish-American War. What explains Europeans’ desire to control other regions? A variety of answers are examined including racism, perceived benevolence, and plain old “balance of power politics.”

Test understanding of lessons 5 - 7 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!

Modernity not only feathered new technological and scientific breakthroughs, but a new “ism” called Progressivism that held that humans could be made perfect with the “right” system. Numerous progressive ideas permeated prison reform, political change, and even consumption habits. The era saw the opening of the Panama Canal, the emergence of Japan, the rise of the skyscraper, and breakthroughs in exploration and architecture.

World War I came at a time many leading voices said another war could not possibly occur because of prosperity and/or the deadlines of modern weapons. When it came, it proved horrific. As bad a the war was, the peace may have been worse for it set the stage for another war in the future.

Test understanding of lessons 8 - 9 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick! sustainable VHS.

Russia, which had struggled for centuries to unify and modernize, was still largely a feudal state when the October 917 revolution occurred. Although initiated by more moderate groups, the revolution was quickly controlled by the Communists under Vladimir Lenin, who took over the country. With his successor Josef Stalin, Lenin made the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into a more modernized, fully communist country. It was saved from collapse by Germany’s invasion in 1941.

Progressivism, or the notion that perfection could be achieved in this world, directed much of the post-World War I thinking on both sides of the Atlantic and was embodied in Woodrow Wilson’s “14 Points.” It not only rearranged maps and entire populations, but set America and Europe on a quest to re-engineer people themselves. By the end of the 1920s, much of the western world experienced and economic collapse known in the U.S. as the “Great Depression.”

Test understanding of lessons 10 - 11 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!

Following the gritty defense of England in the Battle of Britain, the response by the United States after Pearl Harbor turned the tide of World War II. The USSR played a key role in blunting, then defeating the Germans in the East, but victory ultimately came from the tsunami of industrial military production coming form American shores, culminating in use of the atomic bombs.

The collapse of Europe’s empires, the defeat of the Japanese, and the expansion of Communist Russia after World War II left dozens of new nations independent, but hardly stable. Both the U.S. and the USSR moved to align the “Third World” onto their side.

Test understanding of lessons 12 - 13 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!

As the dominant power in the world, the United States entered into a 20-year period of decline as poor business practices, involvement in the Vietnam War, and the massive growth of government took its toll. It was as if America had attempted suicide.

Ronald Reagan’s revival of America and strategic steadfastness brought an end to the USSR. But instead of a Cold War, the world increasingly found itself involved in a new “War on Terror” fighting Islamic radicals around the globe. An international recession further added to the chaos and prompted calls for international governance. By 2016, a backlash of nationalism sought to re-establish pre-World War II structures.

Test understanding of lessons 14 - 15 using these questions. Remember that these tests are important for the learning process as they create opportunities to practice recall of information. This practice helps to make information stick!