AP World History Modern Speed Review Notes

AP World History Modern Speed Review

Unit 1: 1200-1450 - Global Tapestry

  • East Asia:
    • Song Dynasty:
      • Ruled using Neo-Confucianism and the civil service exam.
      • Buddhism remained a major belief system.
      • Champa rice led to increased food production, spread to Korea and Japan.
  • Dar al-Islam (Islamic World):
    • Caliphate system declined after Abbasids fell to the Mongols.
    • Turks established Sultanates (Islamic Kingdoms).
    • Contributions to math, science, medicine, and intellectual pursuits.
  • South and Southeast Asia:
    • Influence of Buddhism and Hinduism.
    • Sufism: Mystical branch of Islam attracting converts throughout Dar al-Islam.
  • The Americas:
    • Inca: Centralized power through road system and Mita labor system.
    • Aztecs: Centralized power through human sacrifice; Chinampas (lake farms).
  • Africa:
    • State building: Mali and the Trans-Saharan trade; Great Zimbabwe and Swahili Coast.
  • Europe:
    • Feudalism: Serfs working on manors; decentralized system of government.

Unit 2: Networks of Exchange (1200-1450)

  • Trade Routes:
    • Silk Road: East meets West; trading cities like Kashgar and Samarkand emerged.
      • Luxury goods: silk, porcelain.
      • Banking houses and flying cash.
    • Indian Ocean Trade: Maritime Silk Road.
      • Similar trade cities, luxury goods and technologies exchanged.
      • Diaspora: Communities living outside their homeland (e.g., Chinese in Malacca).
      • Admiral Zheng He: Voyages along this trade route.
      • Monsoon Winds: Seasonal knowledge required.
    • Trans-Saharan Trade: Connected Dar al-Islam to Sub-Saharan Africa.
      • Trade: salt, gold, and Islam.
      • Ibn Battuta: Famous traveler.
      • Mansa Musa: Famous hajj.
  • Consequences of Trade:
    • Environmental: Bubonic plague, Champa rice, citrus fruits.
    • Cultural: Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam), travelers (Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta), gunpowder, algebra, compass.
  • Mongols:
    • Empires turned into Khanates, facilitating the exchange of ideas, technologies, and diseases.

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires (1450-1750)

  • Gunpowder Empires:
    • Manchus (Qing Dynasty in China):
      • Invaded China, maintained Neo-Confucianism, civil service exam.
      • Q haircut as loyalty symbol; centralized power via banner system.
    • Ottomans:
      • Captured Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453; Sunni Muslim.
      • Devshirme: Built army (Janissaries), bureaucracy, intellectuals.
      • Tax farming: selling the right to tax.
    • Mughals:
      • Islamic rule over Hindu majority in India; religiously tolerant (Akbar the Great).
      • Built the Taj Mahal (monumental architecture).
    • Safavids:
      • Shia Empire between Sunni Ottomans and Mughals.
  • Other Land-Based Empires:
    • Aztecs and Incas (mentioned unit 1).
    • Songhai: Took over from mali as islamic powerhouse in West Africa
    • Tokugawa Japan: Military Shogunate, isolationist policy (Sakoku).
  • Belief Systems:
    • Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther.
    • Sikhism: Based on Guru Nanak's teachings, blended Hinduism and Islam.

Unit 4: Maritime Empires (1450-1750)

  • Technology:
    • Portuguese and Spanish caravels, Dutch fluyts, Islamic astrolabes, Chinese compasses, Latin sails, knowledge of winds.
  • Empires:
    • Portuguese:
      • Prince Henry sought route around Africa and spread of Christianity.
      • Reached Brazil and India (1498), controlled Spice Islands, started Transatlantic slave trade.
    • Spanish:
      • Empire in the Americas: viceroyalties (ruled by viceroys).
      • Defeated Aztecs and Incas; Encomienda system (New World feudalism); extracted cash crops and silver.
      • Spread Catholicism with priests like Bartolome de las Casas; Our Lady of Guadalupe.
        *Trading Post Empire.
    • Joint Stock Companies: Government-sponsored monopolies with shared investment.
      • British East India Trading Company (dominated India).
      • Dutch VOC (dominated Indonesia and spice trade).
  • Columbian Exchange:
    • Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases across the Atlantic. Almost Always on the exam.
  • Resistance to European Expansion:
    • Revolts of the enslaved (Queen Nani in Jamaica) and resistance by local groups (Ananzinga in Angola, Hindu Marathas, Cossacks).
    • Tokugawa Ieyasu: Isolationist policy.
  • Social Systems:
    • Casta system: Hierarchy in the New World.
  • Coerced Labor: Chatel Slavery and Come in the system were important in unit four.

Unit 5: Revolutions (1750-1900)

  • Political Revolutions:

    • Roots in the Enlightenment: Natural rights and reason.
    • American Revolution: Taxation without representation.
    • French Revolution: Overthrow of Louis XVI.
    • Haitian Revolution: Slave revolt.
    • Latin American Revolutions: Bolivar.
    • Nationalism: Shared beliefs should run the state.

  • Industrial Revolution:

    • Started in Great Britain: Resources, capital, and urban areas. Spread to US and Europe.
    • Factory system: Mass production in factories.
    • Steam Engine: Improved by James Watt, powered machines, boats, trains.
    • Internal combustion engine:Burns fossil fuels for power.
    • Railroads, telegraph.
    • Decline in Asian production as European factories grew.

  • Government Responses:

    • Meiji Restoration in Japan: Successful industrialization.
    • Self-Strengthening Movement in Qing China: Couldn't keep up with the West.
    • Egypt (Muhammad Ali): Nationalized cotton industry.

  • Economic Changes:

    • Capitalism (Adam Smith), laissez-faire policies.
    • Transnational businesses (Unilever, HSBC).

  • Social Changes:

    • Women's rights movements.
    • Rise of the working class; Karl Marx and communism.

Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization (1750-1900)

  • Imperialism:
    • Industrial powers turned trading posts into empires.
    • Excuses: Racist policies, religious civilizing missions, social Darwinism.
    • Real Reasons: Economic access to raw materials and markets.
    • Major Empires: Americans, British, Japanese, Russians, French.
  • Settler Colonies:
    • Britain in Australia, forcibly removed natives or replaced indigenous culture.
  • Case Studies:
    • Berlin Conference: Determined the future of Africa.
    • Sepoy Mutiny in India: Shift from East India Company to British Raj.
    • Century of Humiliation in China: Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellions, Sino-Japanese Wars, Boxer Rebellions.
  • Economic Domination:
    • Economic dominance without physical takeover (Banana Republics, Opium wars).
    • Export Economies: Focused on cotton, rubber, palm oil, guano.
  • Resistance:
    • Sepoy Mutiny, Tupac Amaru, Xhosa cattle killing movement.
  • Migrations:
    • Urban growth: People moved to cities (London, New York, Buenos Aires).
    • Push Factors: Irish potato famine, Chinese Century of Humiliation.
    • Pull Factors: Job opportunities.
    • Enclaves: Little Italy, Chinatowns.
    • Restrictions: Chinese Exclusion Act, White Australia policy.

Unit 7: Global Conflict (1900-Present)

  • Decline of Empires:
    • Qing, Russian, and Ottoman Empires collapsed.
    • China became a republic, Russians overthrown by Bolsheviks, Ottomans broken up after World War I.
  • World War I:
    • Imperialism increased tensions, alliance systems, nationalism (Serbian).
    • Total war: Everything utilized for victory.
    • Propaganda: Mobilized populations.
    • New tactics: Machine guns, gas, tanks, zeppelins increased casualties.
  • Interwar Period:
    • Great Depression: Government intervention in US and Soviet Union.
    • Empires grew, tensions increased.
    • Dictatorships: Italy, Spain, Germany.
  • World War II:
    • Catalyst: Aggression of totalitarian states (Nazi Germany, Empire of Japan).
    • Total war: Everything utilized for victory.
    • Propaganda: Mobilized populations.
    • New wartech: Firebombing, atomic bombs.
  • Mass Atrocities:
    • Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, Cambodian Communist Genocide.

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization (1900-Present)

  • Cold War:
    • Split world with American capitalism/democracy and Soviet dictatorship/communism.
    • Alliances: NATO (US), Warsaw Pact (Soviet), Non-Aligned Movement (India, Egypt, Ghana).
    • Proxy wars: Vietnam, Afghanistan.
    • China turned communist (Mao Zedong), Great Leap Forward mirrored Stalin's five-year plans.
    • Ended in 1991 after the Soviet Union fell.
  • Decolonization:
    • Anti-imperialist movements grew.
    • United Nations: Guaranteed states the right to self-determination.
    • Methods: Nonviolence (Kwame Nkrumah, Gandhi), violence (Algeria, Vietnam).
    • New borders led to conflict (India, Israel).
    • Economic Growth: Tanzania, Egypt, or India.

Unit 9: Globalization (1900-Present)

  • Technology:
    • Planes, radios, cell phones, container ships: More connected planet.
    • Petroleum, nuclear, solar, and wind energy.
    • Birth control: Women control reproductive rights.
    • Green Revolution: Increased crop production.
    • Antibiotics and vaccines: Prevented diseases.
  • Challenges:
    • Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS.
    • Pandemics: 1918 Spanish Flu.
    • Climate change: Greenhouse gases.
  • Economic Policies:
    • Free market policies (Deng in China, Chile).
    • Regional trade networks: NAFTA, ASEAN.
  • Cultural Exchange:
    • Bollywood, World Cup.
  • International Cooperation:
    • United Nations: Maintained international peace.