Units 3 & 4 Overviewe

AP World History: Modern Key Takeaways — Period 3 (1750-1900)

1. The ideals of the Enlightenment-inspired a wave of independence movements and revolutions throughout the Americas and Europe that promoted liberty and other democratic values. These new governments, however, extended full legal and political rights to only a limited class of people. 

2. The concept of the nation-state became a new aspect of cultural identity. In Europe, nationalist movements led to the unification of Italy and Germany. In other parts of the world, such as Russia, China, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire, nationalism prompted rebellions and reform movements. 

3. Industrialization increased economic interdependence between different regions of the world. Industrialized nations in Europe and the Americas sought to colonize portions of Africa and Asia to obtain raw materials and to open up new markets for trade. 

4. Populations grew, and many people migrated to cities in search of work in factories. Wage laborers were more desirable than forced labor in this new market-driven economy, so slaves and serfs were emancipated. The working class emerged, and workers organized into unions to advocate for improving dangerous and oppressive working conditions. 

5. New political and economic ideologies emerged in response to industrialization. Liberalism promoted limited government interference with the free market, whereas socialism and communism advocated for government regulation and increased political power for the working class. 

6. Women gained some economic opportunities as a result of industrialization but were paid considerably less than their male counterparts. These new economic opportunities and Enlightenment ideals prompted women to fight for political rights as well, though these rights would not become realized until the twentieth century in most parts of the world.

Key Terms: Period 3 (1750-1900)

Remember that the AP World History exam tests you on the depth of your knowledge, not just your ability to recall facts. While we have provided brief definitions here, you will need to know these terms in even more depth for the AP exam, including how terms connect to broader historical themes and understandings.

Revolutions and Independence Movements

• Enlightenment: The post-Renaissance period in European history devoted to the study and exploration of new ideas in science, politics, the arts, and philosophy. 

• American Revolution: Conflict between American colonists and the British government, caused by growing resentments based on taxation and governing policies; Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 to 1781; ultimately ended in American independence and the first large-scale democracy since ancient Greece.

• French Revolution: Conflict between the Third Estate (peasants, townsfolk, and merchants) and the First and Second Estates (clergy and nobility, respectively) for political and social control; inspired by the American Revolution; various political factions competed for control of the government, with Napoleon Bonaparte ultimately seizing power in a coup. 

• Maroon: Term for a nineteenth-century escaped slave in the Americas who established his or her own settlement away from plantations, causing tensions with colonial authorities; the term is also used to describe the slaves’ present-day descendants.

• Haitian Revolution: Slave revolt that lasted from 1791–1804 led by Toussaint L’Ouverture; the former French colony of Saint-Domingue became the independent nation of Haiti, the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere and the world’s first black republic. 

• Latin American independence movements: Movements against Spanish colonial rule in Central and South America in the 1810s and 1820s, which led to the independence of every nation in the region; inspired by the success of the Haitian Revolution; key leaders were Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, and Bernardo O’Higgins.

Nationalism and the Nation-State

• Nationalism: The tendency of people to see themselves as part of a broader community with unifying forces such as common heritages, cultures, languages, religions, and customs; this sense of national identity and pride both fueled the expansion of empires and often occurred as a reaction against foreign rule.

Industrialization

• Adam Smith: Scottish economist whose 1776 work The Wealth of Nations advocated a laissez-faire policy toward economics (minimal government interference), making him one of the fathers of modern capitalism. 

• Factory system: System of labor that uses rigorous mechanization and large numbers of unskilled workers to mass-produce goods that were once made skillfully by hand; developed during the Industrial Revolution; the use of inter-changeable parts simplified assembly but made work repetitive. 

• Global division of labor: The system in which industrialized societies utilized the raw materials of less industrialized societies (e.g., cotton from India, rubber from Brazil, metals from Central Africa) to facilitate large-scale manufacturing and transportation; the growth of these industrialized societies provided an impetus for imperialist conquests later in the nineteenth century. 

• First Industrial Revolution: Rapid development and industrial production that occurred in European countries and the United States between 1760 and 1820; the development of the steam engine allowed steamships and early locomotives to rapidly increase the speed at which goods, people, and ideas spread. 

• Second Industrial Revolution: The continuing industrialization that occurred between 1870 and 1920, which included revolutionary new methods of producing steel, chemicals, and electrical power; changed society in Western Europe, Japan, and the United States by introducing new ways of working and living. 

• Railroads: Steam-powered locomotives were invented in England in the 1820s; started a “transportation revolution” in which mass-produced goods could be transported over-land more quickly and inexpensively than ever before; by 1900, virtually every industrialized nation had a well-developed railroad system.

Reactions to Industrialization

• Liberalism: Political and economic ideology based on Enlightenment philosophies that advocated for constitutional government, separation of powers, and natural rights, as well as limited government involvement in the regulation of the new industrialized economy. 

• Socialism: Utopian ideal developed in response to the poor working conditions faced by factory workers; in this radical form of society, the workers would run the economy in a self-sufficient manner and share everything fairly, thereby eliminating the wealthy classes. 

• Communism: Extreme form of socialism in which governments centrally plan the economy; inspired by The Communist Manifesto (1848), which advocated the overthrow of the bourgeoisie (capitalists) by the proletariat (workers).

Reform

• Tanzimât Movement: A period of reform in the Ottoman Empire, lasting from 1839 to 1879, that resulted in a modernized infrastructure, a new legal code modeled after the French system, and religious equality under the law. 

• First Opium War: Conflict waged between China and Great Britain in 1839 after Chinese customs officials refused British imports of Indian opium due to the addictive effects it had on Chinese workers; this war weakened the Qing Dynasty and made China more vulnerable to unequal trade with the West. 

• Second Opium War: Conflict between China, Great Britain, and France that lasted from 1856 to 1860; spurred by the desire of the European powers to further weaken China’s position in trade negotiations, to legalize the opium trade, and to expand the export of indentured workers from China. 

• Self-Strengthening Movement: Attempt by China, in the 1860s and 1870s, to modernize its military and economy under its own terms; changes were minimal due to imperial resistance. 

• Taiping Rebellion: Christian-based uprising led by Chinese scholar Hong Xiuquan that lasted from 1850 to 1864; the violent reaction by the imperial court left China financially strained and caused the bloodiest civil war in world history. 

• Boxer Rebellion: A movement undertaken by a secret society of Chinese and backed by Empress Cixi that sought to rid China of foreigners and foreign influence; the Boxers were defeated by a multinational force that included the United States, Russia, and Japan. 

• Meiji Restoration: Successful rebellion in which young reform-minded Japanese sought to overthrow the isolationist Tokugawa shogunate and restore the power of Emperor Meiji; sparked by contact between Japan and the United States; following the restoration, Japan experienced rapid industrialization and modernization.

Imperialism and Its Impact

• Imperialism: Policy of a country extending its rule over other countries, often by force; the world saw a wave of imperialism from 1750 to 1900 in particular, which was spurred by industrial countries’ need for raw materials and for markets for their goods, as well as justified by various cultural, racial ideologies about the superiority of imperial powers.

• Social Darwinism: Popular nineteenth-century theory used to justify capitalism and imperialism; drew on evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin’s view of “survival of the fittest.” 

• Indian (Sepoy) Rebellion of 1857: Conflict fought in India between the British and the Indian soldiers in British service; the British victory strengthened the legitimacy of their rule.

• Congo Free State: Colony in Central Africa established in 1885 by Belgium’s King Leopold II; despite the name “Free State,” it consisted of a series of large rubber plantations worked by forced labor in brutal weather and working conditions; in the 1960s, it declared independence, became the nation of Zaire, and is currently known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Legacies of Imperialism

• Indentured servants: A system of labor in which workers are contracted to work for a fixed period of time, usually for a low wage, in exchange for land or other assistance.

• Chinese Exclusion Act: Law enacted in the United States in 1882 that severely limited immigration from China, which had been prevalent earlier in the nineteenth century during the time of the California Gold Rush and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Emancipation

• Emancipation of slaves: Process by which slavery was abolished and slaves were granted their freedom; partly the result of a new political movement that found slavery to be incompatible with Enlightenment ideals; between the 1830s and the 1880s, every industrialized nation and its colonies gradually abolished slavery, turning to other labor systems such as wage labor and indentured servitude. 

• Feminism: A movement undertaken by women that emerged as a result of the economic changes that occurred following industrialization; challenged established gender roles and advocated for increased political and legal rights.

Unit 4

AP World History: Modern Exam — Period 4 Notes (1900-Present)

Love these notes? Try Kaplan's best AP Prep:

• Get the Barron’s AP World History: Modern book from Amazon

• Sign up for an AP World History: Modern Review Session

AP World History: Modern Key Takeaways — Period 4 (1900-Present)

1. Military conflicts are central to understanding the course of the twentieth century and the current system of states and international organizations. The world wars led to rapid advances in technology, including medical technology, which has helped the global population increase to over seven billion. Some current regional conflicts like those in the Middle East are the legacy of world wars. 

2. Revolutions and nationalist movements played an important role, especially in the period of de-colonization after WWII. Some existing countries experienced revolutions, like China and Russia, while other countries were created through nationalist movements, like Vietnam. Some current regional conflicts are the legacy of these movements, such as the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. 

3. In the second half of the twentieth century into the present, political and economic reforms reshaped interstate relations, and the world economy became more integrated. The fall of the Soviet Union, the opening of Chinese trade with the United States in the 1970s, the formation of the European Union, and the population and industrial growth of states have led to significant structural changes. 

4. Advances in computer technology, especially the growth of the Internet from the 1990s to the present, have changed economic and social structures. While this technology brought about new ways of communication and has fundamentally changed economies in the developed world, it has also led to new types of crime, such as hacking and identity theft. 

5. Over the course of the twentieth century, social structures changed to include more rights for minority groups and women. The decline of traditional social structures has been caused by many factors, such as changes in the workforce, new concepts of human rights in the post-WWII period, and the rapid growth and industrialization of the global south. 

6. Globalization in the economic and cultural spheres also increased, including the advent of mass culture based on new communications technologies like radio, television, and the Internet. This has accelerated changes caused by the other significant events in the period, such as the world wars, the expansion of human rights, and the interconnection of global trade.

Key Terms: Period 4 (1900-Present)

Remember that the AP World History exam tests you on the depth of your knowledge, not just your ability to recall facts. While we have provided brief definitions here, you will need to know these terms in even more depth for the AP exam, including how terms connect to broader historical themes and understandings.

Origins of World War I

• Alliances: A formal system of treaties binding participant states to mutual military aid in the case of attack by a third party. 

• Militarism: System of national organization that prioritizes military spending and glorifies conflict and military service; examples include the British Empire and the Soviet Union. 

• World War I: Global conflict that began in Europe in 1914 and continued until November 1918, concluding with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

World War I

• Total war: Style of warfare that reorders national economies toward war and includes civilians as targets; movement away from rules of limited engagement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; common examples are World War I and World War II. 

• League of Nations: International organization created after World War I as part of the peace effort; weakened by the absence of the United States, which never joined, and the Soviet Union, which was expelled; precursor to the United Nations; dissolved prior to World War II. 

• Mohandas Gandhi: Leader of the Indian Independence Movement known for a strategy of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience; inspired later leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dalai Lama.

Global Depression

• World War II: Global conflict from 1939 to 1945 between the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allied powers (Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States); led to the collapse of the European and Japanese empires and changed the world’s political and economic structure.

• Great Depression: The global economic depression sparked by the collapse of the American stock market in 1929; led to the rise of fascism and WWII; affected the global economy but was especially severe in Europe, which was still recovering from WWI.

Rise of Fascist and Totalitarian States

• Fascism: Governmental system organized around extreme nationalism, militarism, and consolidation of state power in a single charismatic leader. 

• Benito Mussolini: Leader of Italy’s Blackshirts and key proponent of fascism as an anti-communist movement; deposed King Vittorio Emmanuel II and established a fascist government in 1922. 

• Adolf Hitler: Austrian-born German leader who planned to restore Germany to its prewar status 126 through militarism, ultranationalism, extreme violence, and anti-Semitism; appointed chancellor in 1933; leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), commonly called the Nazi Party. 

• Joseph Stalin: Took control of Russia after the death of Vladimir Lenin; created a system of one-man dictatorial rule known as Stalinism; oversaw mass purges and pogroms in Soviet Russia until his death in 1953.

World War II

• Firebombing: Use of incendiary bombs during warfare, often directed at cities and other civilian targets; used extensively during World War II. 

• Atomic bomb: Developed in the United States during World War II and used against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, sparking an arms race that continued into the Cold War. 

• United Nations: International organization founded in 1945 with the intent of settling postwar concerns and the creation of a new global order based on mutual peacekeeping; mostly focused on human rights in the modern era. 

• Cold War: Ideological struggle between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union from 1949 to 1993 that included many other states in proxy wars and alliance networks, like NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Revolutions

• Vladimir Lenin: Leader of the Bolsheviks in Russia during World War I; seized power in 1917 and created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). 

• Mao Zedong: Leader of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1920s and 1930s; reemerged in the 1940s to fight the Nationalists (Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek; leader of China from 1949–to 1976; promoted mass purges and modernization programs, following Stalinist example.

• Great Leap Forward: Mao Zedong’s plan starting in 1958 to collectivize all aspects of the economy, most notably by having communal houses with backyard furnaces for steel production; led to millions of deaths from starvation. 

• Fidel Castro: Guerrilla leader of Cuba who deposed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959; allied Cuba with the Soviet Union; led the country until his resignation in favor of his brother Raul Castro in 2008.

The Cold War

• Proxy wars: Regional conflicts that typically involve tacit or hidden support from major powers who are antagonistic to one another but not openly at war; were particularly common during the Cold War era; sometimes directly involved the armed forces of major powers (e.g., the Vietnam War and the United States, and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s). 

• Vietnam: Southeast Asian nation that formed after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954; divided into North and South Vietnam, site of an important proxy war during the Cold War; unified into one country after U.S. withdrawal in 1973 and communist victory in 1975. 

• NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, founded in 1949 by the nations of North America and Europe to counter the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. 

• Warsaw Pact: Alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and seven Eastern Bloc countries to counteract the growing influence of NATO. 

• Non-Aligned Movement: An international organization formed during decolonization to promote a middle path for newly independent nations between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

• European Union: Supranational organization in Europe promoting common economic regulation and growth; grew out of the European Economic Community, which was founded in 1957; commonly referred to as the EU.

Independence and Nationalist Movements

• Indian National Congress: Political party founded in 1885 by British-educated Hindu leaders that pushed for Indian independence along the model of a federal state. 

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Muslim political leader who supported the creation of an independent Muslim nation as a counter to the federal idea of the Indian National Congress; became the first leader of Pakistan after partition. 

• Indian/Pakistan Partition: The creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India after Great Britain granted India independence in 1947; led to mass migration, a refugee crisis, and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. 

• Algeria: Former French colony and the largest nation in Northwest Africa; gained independence in 1962; still closely connected with France economically and culturally. 

• Ho Chi Minh: Vietnamese nationalist leader who fought against the Japanese during the Axis occupation of French Indochina in World War II, then fought the French after the war, then fought the American-supported regime in South Vietnam to create a unified communist Vietnam in 1975.

Political Reform and Economic Changes

• Deng Xiaoping: Leader of communist China from Mao Zedong’s death in 1976 to his own death in 1997; instituted the Four Modernizations to introduce capitalist reform in China.

• Tiananmen Square: Large public square in Beijing, China. Site of a 1989 conflict between students protesting for democratic reform and the Chinese military defending the leadership of Deng Xiaoping.

Technology, Populations, and the Environment

• Green Revolution: Technological movement in the 1960s and 70s that introduced new agricultural techniques and high-yield seed strains in an attempt to boost food production in developing countries.

• Cholera: Acute bacterial infection of the small intestine associated with inadequate sanitation and unsanitary drinking water; associated with poverty and developing nations.

Social and Cultural Changes

• Liberation theology in Latin America: Movement in the Roman Catholic Church that argued for Church attention to focus on world issues of poverty, human rights, and economic justice.