AP World History: Modern

Units

1. 1

   The global tapestry, 1200 to 1450

   6 lessons

   1. East Asia: Song ChinaExplain how the Song dynasty grew a commercial economy, backed it with a Neo-Confucian state run by exam-trained officials, and dealt with its neighbours through tribute and payments.
   2. Dar al-IslamExplain how the Abbasid caliphate and the Islamic world joined trade, scholarship and faith across three continents, and why the caliphate broke into rival states and fell in 1258.
   3. South and Southeast AsiaExplain how Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South and Southeast Asia gained power through trade, temples and religion, and how Islam and new sultanates joined them after 1200.
   4. State building in the Americas and AfricaExplain how the Aztec and Inca in the Americas and Mali and Great Zimbabwe in Africa built states through tribute, roads, trade and religion.
   5. EuropeExplain how feudalism and manorialism organized medieval Europe, how the Catholic Church shaped it, and how kings slowly built stronger monarchies from 1200 to 1450.
   6. Comparison in the periodCompare how states in different regions from 1200 to 1450 gained and used power, using one similarity and one difference with evidence.
2. 2

   Networks of exchange, 1200 to 1450

   5 lessons

   1. The Silk RoadsExplain what moved along the Silk Roads, which technologies made the trade possible, and how the roads changed the societies they linked.
   2. The Mongol EmpireExplain how the Mongols conquered most of Eurasia, how they ruled it, and how their rule joined regions and spread goods, ideas and disease.
   3. Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan tradeExplain how monsoon winds and camel caravans powered two great trade networks, what each carried, and how each shaped the states and faiths it touched.
   4. Cultural and environmental effects of connectivityExplain how trade networks spread religions, technology and crops, how the Black Death moved along the same routes, and what changed afterwards.
   5. Comparison of exchangeCompare the Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean network and the trans-Saharan trade by what each carried, how it moved and who gained, and write a clear comparison.
3. 3

   Land-based empires, 1450 to 1750

   3 lessons

   1. Empires expand and are administeredExplain how the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Qing and Russian empires expanded with gunpowder weapons and how each administered its lands.
   2. Belief systems and empireExplain how the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Qing and Russian rulers used religion, culture and art to justify their rule and manage diverse peoples.
   3. Comparison in land-based empiresCompare how land-based empires gained, held and lost power from 1450 to 1750, with evidence from the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal and Qing cases.
4. 4

   Transoceanic interconnections, 1450 to 1750

   5 lessons

   1. Innovation and explorationExplain the technologies that made ocean voyages possible and the economic, religious and political causes that sent Europeans, especially the Portuguese and Spanish, across the oceans.
   2. The Columbian ExchangeExplain what crops, animals, people and diseases crossed the Atlantic after 1492 and how the exchange changed the Americas, Europe and Africa.
   3. Maritime empiresExplain how Portugal, Spain, the Dutch, the English and the French built maritime empires from 1450 to 1750 and how each kept control through forts, colonies, companies and silver.
   4. Challenges to state power and changing social hierarchiesExplain the internal and external challenges that shook states between 1450 and 1750 and how the colonial and labor systems of the Atlantic world changed social hierarchies, including the casta system and race.
   5. Continuity and change in the periodIdentify what continued and what changed in world trade, empires, labor and belief between 1450 and 1750, and write a continuity and change claim with evidence and a reason.
5. 5

   Revolutions: the Enlightenment, nationalism and the start of industrialization, 1750 to 1900

   5 lessons

   1. The Enlightenment and nationalismExplain how Enlightenment ideas fed the revolutions of the Atlantic world, including Haiti, and how nationalism reshaped states between 1750 and 1900.
   2. The Industrial Revolution begins and spreadsExplain why industrialization began in Britain around 1750 to 1800 and trace how it spread to Europe, the United States and Japan by 1900.
   3. Technology, government and economy in the industrial ageExplain how new technology of the 1800s, the role of governments and capitalism fit together, and compare how states encouraged or regulated industry.
   4. Reactions to industrial economy and social changeExplain how workers, thinkers and reformers answered industrial capitalism with socialism, unions and reform, and how industry changed family life and class.
   5. Continuity and change in an industrial worldUse the continuity and change over time (CCOT) process to judge what changed and what stayed the same in work, politics and society during the industrial age, 1750 to 1900.
6. 6

   Consequences of industrialization: imperialism, resistance and migration, 1750 to 1900

   5 lessons

   1. Rationales for imperialism and state expansionExplain the economic, political and cultural reasons industrial states built empires between 1750 and 1900, and describe how European, US and Japanese states expanded.
   2. Indigenous responsesDescribe how colonized and threatened peoples resisted imperial expansion or adapted to it between 1750 and 1900, and explain why some efforts succeeded and others failed.
   3. Global economic development and economic imperialismExplain how cash crops, raw materials and unequal trade tied colonies and weaker states to industrial economies, and how economic imperialism worked without formal rule.
   4. MigrationExplain the push and pull causes of the great migrations of the 1800s, describe the main labor and settler flows, and explain their effects and the restrictions placed on migrants.
   5. Causation in the imperial ageDistinguish long-term causes, short-term causes and triggers, and write a causal argument about the imperial age that names causes and effects and ranks their importance.
7. 7

   Global conflict, 1900 to the present

   4 lessons

   1. Shifting power and World War IExplain the long-term causes and the spark of World War I, describe how the fighting became a stalemate and a total war, and say how the war changed the balance of power.
   2. The interwar yearsExplain how the peace settlement of 1919 left grievances, how the Great Depression spread worldwide, and how aggression by Japan, Italy and Germany went unchecked in the 1930s.
   3. World War IIExplain how World War II began in Europe and Asia, trace the main fronts from 1939 to 1945, and describe how the war ended and what it changed.
   4. Mass atrocities and causationDescribe the genocides of the twentieth century, explain what they had in common, and use causation reasoning to separate long-term causes, short-term triggers and effects in global conflict.
8. 8

   Cold War and decolonization, 1900 to the present

   5 lessons

   1. Setting the stage and the Cold WarExplain how the United States and the Soviet Union became rival superpowers after 1945, how Europe split into two blocs, and how the rivalry shaped the world without a direct war between them.
   2. Spread of communismExplain how communism took power in the Soviet Union, China, Korea, Vietnam and Cuba, how those states ran their economies, and how Cold War rivalry shaped each revolution.
   3. Decolonization and new statesExplain why colonies won independence after 1945, compare the paths of India, Ghana, Algeria and Vietnam, and name the problems new states faced.
   4. Resistance and the end of the Cold WarExplain how protest and dissent challenged powerful states in the twentieth century, and why the Soviet Union and its bloc collapsed between 1989 and 1991.
   5. Causation in the Cold War eraUse the causation reasoning process to separate causes from effects, tell short-term from long-term causes, and build a short argument about the end of the Cold War.
9. 9

   Globalization, 1900 to the present

   4 lessons

   1. Technology and exchangeExplain how new technologies since 1900, from the Green Revolution to the internet, changed food, health, communication and trade, and how people and states responded to the risks they brought.
   2. Economics in the global age and calls for reformExplain how the world economy was rebuilt and linked after 1945, how global supply chains and free trade grew, and how workers, states and activists called for reform.
   3. Globalized culture and resistanceExplain how media, consumer goods, sport and ideas spread across the world after 1900, and how individuals, groups and states resisted or adapted them.
   4. Global problems and continuity and changeExplain how international organizations and agreements have tried to solve shared problems since 1900, and use the continuity and change over time skill to judge what has changed and what has not in the world since 1200.