World History II SOL Review

1500 A.D. (C.E.) - Major Developments

  • Major states and empires developed globally.
  • Five world religions spread across the Eastern Hemisphere.
  • Regional trade patterns linked Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
  • Technological and scientific advancements were exchanged among cultures.

Major States and Empires in 1500 A.D.

  • England
  • France
  • Spain
  • Russia
  • Ottoman Empire
  • Persia
  • China
  • Mughal Empire
  • Mali and Songhai Empires
  • Incan Empire
  • Aztec Empire

Location of World Religions in 1500 A.D.

  • Judaism
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Hinduism
  • Buddhism

Traditional Trade Patterns

  • Silk Routes (linking Europe with Asia)
  • Indian Ocean maritime routes
  • Trans-Saharan routes
  • Northern European links with the Black Sea
  • Western European sea and river trade
  • South China Sea and lands of Southeast Asia

Advancements Exchanged Along Trade Routes

  • Paper, compass, silk, porcelain (China)
  • Textiles, numeral system (India and the Middle East)
  • Scientific knowledge—medicine, astronomy, mathematics

The Renaissance

  • A "rebirth" of classical knowledge, marking the "birth" of the modern world.
  • Intellectual and artistic ideas spread from Italian city-states to northern Europe.
  • Contributions in visual arts by artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Accomplishments in literature (sonnets, plays, essays) by authors like William Shakespeare.
  • Development of ideas like humanism by thinkers such as Erasmus.

The Protestant Reformation

  • Resistance of the Church to change led to the Protestant Reformation and new political/economic institutions.
  • Roots in disagreements about theology, leading to economic and political changes.
  • Religious differences caused war and destruction, dividing Europe on religious principles initially.
  • Gradual emergence of religious toleration.

Problems and Issues Provoking Religious Reforms

  • Merchant wealth challenged the Church’s view of usury.
  • German and English nobility disliked Italian domination of the Church.
  • The Church’s great political power and wealth caused conflict.
  • Church corruption and the sale of indulgences were widespread.

Beliefs of Key Figures

  • Martin Luther (Lutheran tradition):
    • Salvation by faith alone.
    • Bible as the ultimate authority.
    • All humans equal before God.
    • Actions: 95 theses, birth of the Protestant Church
  • John Calvin (Calvinist tradition):
    • Predestination.
    • Faith revealed by living a righteous life.
    • Work ethic.
    • Actions: Expansion of the Protestant Movement
  • King Henry VIII:
    • Dismissed the authority of the Pope in Rome.
    • Actions: Divorced; broke with Rome; headed the national church in England (Anglican Church); appropriated lands and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church in England
  • Queen Elizabeth I:
    • Anglican Church (see Henry VIII)
    • Tolerance for dissenters
    • Expansion and colonialism
    • Victory over the Spanish Armada (1588)

Reformation in Germany

  • Princes in Northern Germany converted to Protestantism, ending the authority of the Pope.
  • The Hapsburg family supported the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Conflict between Protestants and Catholics resulted in devastating wars (e.g., Thirty Years’ War).

Reformation in France

  • Catholic monarchy granted Protestant Huguenots freedom of worship (Edict of Nantes, later revoked).
  • Cardinal Richelieu changed the focus of the Thirty Years’ War from religious to political.

Catholic Reformation

  • Dissenters prior to Martin Luther: Jan Huss, John Wycliffe
  • Counter-Reformation:
    • Council of Trent reaffirmed most Church doctrine and practices.
    • The Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) was founded to spread Catholic doctrine around the world.
    • The Inquisition was used to reinforce Catholic doctrine.

Changing Cultural Values, Traditions, and Philosophies

  • Growth of secularism
  • Growth of individualism
  • Eventual growth of religious tolerance

Role of the Printing Press

  • Growth of literacy stimulated by the Gutenberg printing press.
  • The Bible was printed in English, French, and German.
  • These factors had an important impact on spreading the ideas of the Reformation and the Renaissance.

Age of Exploration

  • Expanding economies of European states stimulated increased trade with markets in Asia.
  • Loss of Constantinople in 1453 prompted new maritime routes.
  • Motives included the desire to spread Christianity.
  • Europeans migrated to new colonies in the Americas, creating new cultural and social patterns.
  • Europeans also established trading posts and colonies in Africa and Asia.

Factors Contributing to the European Discovery of Lands in the Western Hemisphere

  • Demand for gold, spices, and natural resources in Europe
  • Support for the diffusion of Christianity
  • Political and economic competition between European empires
  • Innovations of European and Islamic origins in navigational arts
  • Pioneering role of Prince Henry the Navigator

Examples of European explorers

  • Portugal: Vasco da Gama
  • Spain: Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortez, Francisco Pizarro, Ferdinand Magellan
  • England: Francis Drake
  • France: Jacques Cartier

Means of diffusion of Christianity

  • Migration of colonists to new lands
  • Influence of Catholic and Protestant colonists, who carried their faith, language, and cultures to new lands
  • Conversion of indigenous peoples

Effects of European Migration and Settlement

  • Americas:
    • Expansion of overseas territorial claims and European emigration to North and South America
    • Demise of Aztec and Inca Empires
    • Legacy of a rigid class system and dictatorial rule in Latin America
    • Forced migration of Africans who had been enslaved
    • Colonies’ imitation of the culture and social patterns of their parent countries
  • Africa:
    • European trading posts along the coast
    • Trade in slaves, gold, and other resources
  • Asia:
    • Colonization by small groups of merchants (India, the Indies, China)
    • Influence of trading companies (Portuguese, Dutch, British)

Columbian Exchange

  • Western Hemisphere agricultural products, such as corn, potatoes, and tobacco, changed European lifestyles.
  • European horses and cattle changed the lifestyles of American Indians.
  • European diseases, such as smallpox, killed many American Indians.

Impact of the Columbian Exchange

  • Shortage of labor to grow cash crops led to the use of African slaves.
  • Slavery was based on race.
  • European plantation system in the Caribbean and the Americas destroyed indigenous economics and damaged the environment.

Triangular Trade

  • The European nations established a trade pattern known as the triangular trade and exported precious metals from the Americas.
  • The triangular trade linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
  • Slaves, sugar, and rum were traded.

Export of precious metals

  • Gold and silver exported to Europe and Asia
  • Impact on indigenous empires of the Americas
  • Impact on Spain and international trade (e.g. inflation)

Commercial Revolution and Mercantilism

  • mercantilism: An economic practice adopted by European colonial powers in an effort to become self-sufficient; based on the theory that colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country
  • European maritime nations competed for overseas markets, colonies, and resources.

A new economic system emerged:

  • New money and banking systems were created.
  • Economic practices such as mercantilism evolved.
  • Colonial economies were limited by the economic needs of the mother country.

Ottoman Empire

  • Original location: Asia Minor
  • Expansion and extent:
    • Southwest Asia
    • Southeastern Europe, Balkan Peninsula
    • North Africa
  • Development:
    • Capital at Constantinople renamed Istanbul
    • Islamic religion as a unifying force that accepted other religions
    • Trade in coffee and ceramics

Mughal Empire

  • Location: North India
  • Contributions of Mughal rulers
    • Spread of Islam into India
    • Art and architecture: Taj Mahal
    • Establishment of European trading outposts
    • Influence of Indian textiles on British textile industry

Trade with European nations

  • Portugal, England, and the Netherlands competed for the Indian Ocean trade by establishing coastal ports on the Indian sub-continent.
  • Southern India traded silks, spices, and gems.

China

  • Creation of foreign enclaves to control trade
  • Imperial policy of controlling foreign influences and trade
  • Increase in European demand for Chinese goods (tea, porcelain)

Japan

  • Characterized by a powerless emperor controlled by a military leader (shogun)
  • Adopted policy of isolation to limit foreign influences

Africa

  • African exports
    • Slaves (triangular trade)
    • Raw materials (ivory, gold)
  • African imports
    • Manufactured goods from Europe, Asia, and the Americas
    • New food products (corn, peanuts)

Age of Absolutism and Development of Democracy

  • Europe experienced absolutist leaders and the development of democratic institutions.
  • Absolute monarchies occurred primarily in France, Spain, and Russia.
  • Political democracy began to develop in England.
  • Political democracy rests on the principle that government derives power from the consent of the governed.
  • The foundations of English rights include the jury trial, the Magna Carta, and common law.
  • The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution prompted further development of the rights of Englishmen.

Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

  • The Scientific Revolution changed the way people viewed the world.
  • Enlightenment thinkers believed that human progress was possible through the application of scientific knowledge and reason.
  • Enlightenment ideas influenced the leaders of the American Revolution and the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
  • Enlightenment ideas and French participation in the American Revolution influenced the French Revolution.

Characteristics of absolute monarchies

  • Centralization of power
  • Concept of rule by divine right

Absolute monarchs

  • Louis XIV of France: Palace of Versailles as a symbol of royal power
  • Peter the Great of Russia: Westernization of Russia

Development of the rights of Englishmen

  • Oliver Cromwell and the execution of Charles I
  • The restoration of Charles II
  • Development of political parties/factions
  • Glorious Revolution (William and Mary)
  • Increase of parliamentary power and decrease of royal power
  • English Bill of Rights of 1689

Pioneers of the scientific revolution

  • Nicolaus Copernicus developed heliocentric theory.
  • Johannes Kepler discovered planetary motion.
  • Galileo Galilei used telescope to support heliocentric theory.
  • Isaac Newton formulated law of gravity.
  • William Harvey discovered circulation of the blood.

Importance of the scientific revolution

  • Emphasis on reason and systematic observation of nature
  • Formulation of the scientific method
  • Expansion of scientific knowledge

The Enlightenment

  • Applied reason to the human world, as well as to the rest of the natural world
  • Stimulated religious tolerance
  • Fueled democratic revolutions around the world

Enlightenment thinkers and their ideas

  • Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan: Humans exist in a primitive “state of nature” and consent to government for self-protection.
  • John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government: People are sovereign and consent to government for protection of natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
  • Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws: The best form of government includes a separation of powers.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract: Government is a contract between rulers and the people.
  • Voltaire: Religious toleration should triumph over religious fanaticism; separation of church and state.

Influence of the Enlightenment

  • Political philosophies of the Enlightenment fueled revolution in the Americas and France.
  • Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence incorporated Enlightenment ideas.
  • The Constitution of the United States of America and Bill of Rights incorporated Enlightenment ideas.

Causes of the French Revolution

  • Influence of Enlightenment ideas
  • Influence of the American Revolution

Events of the French Revolution

  • Storming of the Bastille
  • Reign of Terror

Outcomes of the French Revolution

  • End of the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI
  • Rise of Napoleon

Representative composers, artists, philosophers, and writers

  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Baroque composer
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Classical composer
  • Voltaire: Philosopher
  • Miguel de Cervantes: Novelist
  • Eugène Delacroix: Painter (transition to the Romantic School of the nineteenth century)
  • Painting depicted classical subjects, public events, natural scenes, and living people (portraits).
  • New forms of literature evolved, such as the novel (e.g., Cervantes’ Don Quixote).

Technologies

  • All-weather roads improved year- round transport and trade.
  • New designs in farm tools increased productivity (agricultural revolution).
  • Improvements in ship design lowered the cost of transport.

Latin American Revolutions

  • Latin American revolutions of the nineteenth century were influenced by the clash of European cultures.
  • Spanish conquests saw the rapid decline of native populations and introduction of slaves from Africa.
  • Conquistadors were given governmental authority by the crown, becoming known as viceroys.

Characteristics of the colonial system

  • Colonial governments mirrored the home governments.
  • Catholicism had a strong influence on the development of the colonies.
  • A major element of the economy was the mining of precious metals for export.
  • Major cities were established as outposts of colonial authority:
    • Havana
    • Mexico City
    • Lima
    • São Paulo
    • Buenos Aires

Social Hierarchy

  • Viceroys / colonial officers
  • Creoles
  • Mestizos

Influence of the American and French Revolutions on Latin America

  • Slaves in Haiti rebelled, abolished slavery, and won independence.
  • Father Miguel Hidalgo started the Mexican independence movement.
  • French, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies gained independence.

Selected countries that gained independence during the 1800s

  • Mexico
  • Haiti
  • Colombia
  • Venezuela
  • Brazil

Contributions of Toussaint L’Ouverture

  • Former slave who led Haitian rebellion against French
  • Defeated the armies of three foreign powers: Spain, France, and Britain

Contributions of Simón Bolivar

  • Native resident who led revolutionary efforts
  • Liberated the northern areas of Latin America

Impact of the Monroe Doctrine

  • The Monroe Doctrine was issued by President James Monroe in 1823.
  • Latin American nations were acknowledged to be independent.
  • The United States would regard as a threat to its own peace and safety any attempt by European powers to impose their system on any independent state in the Western Hemisphere.

Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna

Legacy of Napoleon

  • Unsuccessful attempt to unify Europe under French domination
  • Napoleonic Code
  • Awakening of feelings of national pride and growth of nationalism

Legacy of the Congress of Vienna

  • "Balance of power" doctrine
  • Restoration of monarchies
  • New political map of Europe
  • New political philosophies (liberalism, conservatism)

Nationalism and Unification

Influence of Nationalism

  • National pride, economic competition, and democratic ideals stimulated the growth of nationalism.
  • The terms of the Congress of Vienna led to widespread discontent in Europe, especially in Italy and the German states.
  • Unsuccessful revolutions of 1848 increased nationalistic tensions.
  • The United Kingdom expanded political rights through legislative means and made slavery illegal in the British Empire.

Unification of Italy

  • Count Cavour unified Northern Italy.
  • Giuseppe Garibaldi joined southern Italy to northern Italy.
  • The Papal States (including Rome) became the last to join Italy.

Unification of Germany

  • Otto von Bismarck led Prussia in the unification of Germany through war and by appealing to nationalist feelings.
  • Bismarck’s actions were seen as an example of Realpolitik, which justifies all means to achieve and hold power.
  • The Franco-Prussian War led to the creation of the German state.

Industrial Revolution

Origin and Spread

  • Originated in England because of its natural resources (e.g., coal, iron ore) and the invention and improvement of the steam engine
  • Spread to Europe and the United States
  • Role of cotton textile, iron, and steel industries
  • Relationship to the British Enclosure Movement
  • Rise of the factory system and demise of cottage industries
  • Rising economic powers that wanted to control raw materials and markets throughout the world

Technological advances that produced the Industrial Revolution

  • Spinning jenny: James Hargreaves
  • Steam engine: James Watt
  • Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
  • Process for making steel: Henry Bessemer

Advancements in science and medicine

  • Development of smallpox vaccination: Edward Jenner
  • Discovery of bacteria: Louis Pasteur

Impacts of the Industrial Revolution on industrialized countries

  • Population increase
  • Increased standards of living for many but not all
  • Improved transportation
  • Urbanization
  • Environmental pollution
  • Increased education
  • Dissatisfaction of working class with working conditions
  • Growth of the middle class

Capitalism

  • Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations
  • Role of market competition and entrepreneurial abilities
  • Impact on standard of living and the growth of the middle class
  • Dissatisfaction with poor working conditions and the unequal distribution of wealth in society

Socialism and communism

  • Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto (written with Friedrich Engels) and Das Kapital
  • Response to the injustices of capitalism
  • Importance to communists of redistribution of wealth

The Industrial Revolution impact

  • Family-based cottage industries displaced by the factory system
  • Harsh working conditions with men competing with women and children for wages
  • Child labor that kept costs of production low and profits high
  • Owners of mines and factories who exercised considerable control over the lives of their laborers

The cotton gin increased demand for slave labor on American plantations.

  • The United States and Britain outlawed the slave trade and then slavery.
  • Women and children entering the workplace as cheap labor
  • Introduction of reforms to end child labor
  • Expansion of education
  • Women’s increased demands for suffrage
  • Encouraged worker-organized strikes to demand increased wages and improved working conditions
  • Lobbied for laws to improve the lives of workers, including women and children
  • Wanted workers’ rights and collective bargaining between labor and management

Imperialism

  • Nationalism motivated European nations to compete for colonial possessions.
  • European economic, military, and political power forced colonized countries to trade on European terms.
  • Industrially produced goods flooded colonial markets and displaced their traditional industries.
  • Colonized peoples resisted European domination and responded in diverse ways to Western influences.

Forms of imperialism

  • Colonies
  • Protectorates
  • Spheres of influence

Imperialism in Africa and Asia

  • European domination
  • European conflicts carried to the colonies
  • Christian missionary efforts
  • Spheres of influence in China
  • Suez Canal
  • East India Company’s domination of Indian states
  • America’s opening of Japan to trade

Responses of colonized peoples

  • Armed conflicts (e.g., events leading to the Boxer Rebellion in China)
  • Rise of nationalism (e.g., first Indian nationalist party founded in the mid-1800s)

World War I

Causes of World War I

  • Alliances that divided Europe into competing camps
  • Nationalistic feelings
  • Diplomatic failures
  • Imperialism
  • Competition over colonies
  • Militarism

Major events

  • Assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand
  • United States enters the war
  • Russia leaves the war

Major leaders

  • Woodrow Wilson
  • Kaiser Wilhelm II

Outcomes and global effect

  • Colonies’ participation in the war, which increased demands for independence
  • End of the Russian Imperial, Ottoman, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires
  • Enormous cost of the war in lives, property, and social disruption

Treaty of Versailles

  • Forced Germany to accept responsibility for war and loss of territory and to pay reparations
  • Limited the German military
  • League of Nations

Causes of 1917 revolutions

  • Defeat in war with Japan in 1905
  • Landless peasantry
  • Incompetence of Tsar Nicholas II
  • Military defeats and high casualties in World War I

Rise of communism

  • Bolshevik Revolution and civil war
  • Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy
  • Joseph Stalin, Lenin’s successor

Interwar Period and Rise of Dictators

  • League of Nations
  • German reparations
  • Expansion of production capacities and dominance of the United States in the global economy
  • High protective tariffs
  • Excessive expansion of credit
  • Stock Market Crash of 1929

Impact of worldwide depression

  • High unemployment in industrial countries
  • Bank failures and collapse of credit
  • Collapse of prices in world trade
  • Nazi Party’s growing importance in Germany; Nazi Party’s blame of European Jews for economic collapse

The mandate system

  • During World War I, Great Britain and France agreed to divide large portions of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East between themselves.
  • After the war, the “mandate system” gave Great Britain and France control over the lands that became Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine (British controlled) and Syria and Lebanon (French controlled).
  • The division of the Ottoman Empire through the mandate system planted the seeds for future conflicts in the Middle East.

U.S.S.R. — Joseph Stalin

  • Entrenchment of communism
  • Stalin’s policies: Five-year plans, collectivization of farms, state industrialization, secret police
  • Great Purge

Germany — Adolf Hitler

  • Inflation and depression
  • Democratic government weakened
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Extreme nationalism
  • National Socialism (Nazism)
  • German occupation of nearby countries

Italy — Benito Mussolini

  • Rise of fascism
  • Ambition to restore the glory of Rome
  • Invasion of Ethiopia

Japan — Hirohito and Hideki Tojo

  • Militarism
  • Industrialization of Japan, leading to drive for raw materials
  • Invasion of Korea, Manchuria, and the rest of China

World War II

Economic and political causes of World War II

  • Aggression by the totalitarian powers of Germany, Italy, Japan
  • Nationalism
  • Failures of the Treaty of Versailles
  • Weakness of the League of Nations
  • Appeasement
  • Tendencies towards isolationism and pacifism in Europe and the United States

Major events of the war (1939–1945)

  • German invasion of Poland
  • Fall of France
  • Battle of Britain
  • German invasion of the Soviet Union
  • Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
  • D-Day (Allied invasion of Europe)
  • Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Major leaders of the war

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt: U.S. president
  • Harry Truman: U.S. president after death of President Roosevelt
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower: Allied commander in Europe
  • Douglas MacArthur: U.S. general
  • George C. Marshall: U.S. general
  • Winston Churchill: British prime minister
  • Joseph Stalin: Soviet dictator
  • Adolf Hitler: Nazi dictator of Germany
  • Hideki Tojo: Japanese general
  • Hirohito: Emperor of Japan

Elements leading to the Holocaust

  • Totalitarianism combined with nationalism
  • History of anti-Semitism
  • Defeat in World War I and economic depression blamed on German Jews
  • Hitler’s belief in the master race
  • Final solution: Extermination camps, gas chambers

Other examples of genocide

  • Armenians by leaders of the Ottoman Empire
  • Peasants, government and military leaders, and members of the elite in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin
  • Artists, technicians, former government officials, monks, minorities, and other educated individuals by Pol Pot in Cambodia
  • Tutsi minority by Hutu in Rwanda

Outcomes of World War II

  • Loss of empires by European powers
  • Establishment of two major powers in the world: The United States and the U.S.S.R.
  • War crimes trials
  • Division of Europe, Iron Curtain
  • Establishment of the United Nations
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Marshall Plan
  • Formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact

Efforts for reconstruction of Germany

  • Democratic government installed in West Germany and West Berlin
  • Germany and Berlin divided among the four Allied powers
  • Emergence of West Germany as economic power in postwar Europe

Efforts for reconstruction of Japan

  • United States occupation of Japan under MacArthur’s administration
  • Democracy and economic development
  • Elimination of Japan’s military offensive capabilities; guarantee of Japan’s security by the United States
  • Emergence of Japan as dominant economy in Asia

International Cooperative Organizations

  • United Nations
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
  • Warsaw Pact
  • Established and adopted by members of the United Nations
  • Provided a code of conduct for the treatment of people under the protection of their government

Cold War and Decolonization

Beginning of the Cold War (1945–1948)

  • The Yalta Conference and the Soviet control of Eastern Europe
  • Rivalry between the United States and the U.S.S.R.
  • Democracy and the free enterprise system vs. dictatorship and communism
  • President Truman and the Policy of Containment
  • Eastern Europe: Soviet satellite nations, the Iron Curtain

Characteristics of the Cold War (1948–1989)

  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vs. Warsaw Pact
  • Korean War
  • Vietnam War
  • Berlin and significance of Berlin Wall
  • Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Nuclear weapons and the theory of deterrence

Collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

  • Soviet economic collapse
  • Nationalism in Warsaw Pact countries
  • Tearing down of Berlin Wall
  • Breakup of the Soviet Union
  • Expansion of NATO

Conflicts and revolutionary movements in China

  • Division of China into two nations at the end of the Chinese civil war
  • Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi): Nationalist China (island of Taiwan)
  • Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong): Communist China (mainland China)
  • Continuing conflict between the two Chinas
  • Communist China’s participation in Korean War

Conflicts and revolutionary movements in Vietnam

  • Role of French Imperialism
  • Leadership of Ho Chi Minh
  • Vietnam as a divided nation
  • Influence of policy of containment
  • The United States and the Vietnam War
  • Vietnam as a reunited communist country today

Indira Gandhi

  • Closer relationship between India and the Soviet Union during the Cold War
  • Developed nuclear program

Margaret Thatcher

  • British prime minister
  • Free trade and less government regulation of business
  • Close relationship with United States and U.S. foreign policy
  • Assertion of United Kingdom’s military power

Mikhail Gorbachev

  • Glasnost and perestroika
  • Fall of the Berlin Wall
  • Last president of Soviet Union

Deng Xiaoping

  • Reformed Communist China’s economy to a market economy leading to rapid economic growth
  • Continued communist control of government

Indian Independence and Decolonization

Regional setting for the Indian independence movement

  • Indian sub-continent
  • British India
  • India
  • Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan)
  • Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan)
  • Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)

Evolution of the Indian independence movement

  • British rule in India
  • Indian National Congress
  • Leadership of Mohandas Gandhi
  • Role of civil disobedience and passive resistance
  • Political division along Hindu-Muslim lines — Pakistan/India

The independence movement in Africa

  • Right to self-determination (U.N. charter)
  • Peaceful and violent revolutions after World War II
  • Pride in African cultures and heritage
  • Resentment of imperial rule and economic exploitation
  • Loss of colonies by Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Portugal; influence of superpower rivalry during the Cold War

Mandates in the Middle East

  • France:
    • Syria
    • Lebanon
  • Britain:
    • Jordan (originally Transjordan)
    • Palestine (a part became independent as the State of Israel)

Golda Meir

  • Prime Minister of Israel
  • After initial setbacks, led Israel to victory in Yom Kippur War
  • Sought support of United States

Gamal Abdul Nasser

  • President of Egypt
  • Nationalized Suez Canal
  • Established relationship with Soviet Union
  • Built Aswan High Dam

World Religions

Characteristics of the five major world religions

  • Judaism
    • Monotheism
    • Ten Commandments of moral and religious conduct
    • Torah: Written records and beliefs of the Jews
  • Christianity
    • Monotheism
    • Jesus as Son of God
    • Life after death
    • New Testament: Life and teachings of Jesus
    • Establishment of Christian doctrines by early church councils
  • Islam
    • Monotheism
    • Muhammad, the prophet
    • Qur’an (Koran)
    • Five Pillars of Islam
    • Mecca and Medina
  • Buddhism
    • Founder: Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
    • Four Noble Truths
    • Eightfold Path to Enlightenment
    • Spread of Buddhism from India to China and other parts of Asia, resulting from Asoka’s missionaries and their writings
  • Hinduism
    • Many forms of one God
    • Reincarnation: Rebirth based upon karma
    • Karma: Knowledge that all thoughts and actions result in future consequences

Contemporary World

Challenges of the Contemporary World

  • Refugees migrations
  • Ethnic and religious conflicts
  • Impact of new technologies

Contrasts between developed and developing nations

  • Geographic locations of major developed and developing countries
  • Economic conditions
  • Social conditions (literacy, access to health care)
  • Population size and rate of growth

Factors affecting environment and society

  • Economic development
  • Rapid population growth

Environmental challenges

  • Pollution
  • Loss of habitat
  • Global climate change

Social challenges

  • Poverty
  • Poor health
  • Illiteracy
  • Famine
  • Migration

Economic interdependence

  • Role of rapid transportation, communication, and computer networks
  • Rise and influence of multinational corporations
  • Changing role of international boundaries
  • Regional integration, e.g., European Union
  • Trade agreements, e.g., North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • International organizations, e.g., United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Examples of international terrorism

  • Munich Olympics
  • Terrorist attacks in the United States (e.g., 9/11/2001) motivated by extremism (Osama bin Laden).
  • Car bombings
  • Suicide bombers
  • Airline hijackers

Governmental responses to terrorist activities

  • Surveillance
  • Review of privacy rights
  • Security at ports and airports
  • Identification badges and photos