World History Study Guide: 1200 CE to Present

East Asia: The Song Dynasty ($960\text{--}1276\,\text{CE}$)

• State-Building and Government: The Song Dynasty maintained its rule over China through a combination of traditional practices and innovations. The central pillar of their governance was an imperial bureaucracy supported by the Civil Service Exam. This examination system was deeply rooted in the study of Confucian classics, ensuring a class of educated scholar-officials governed the state.

• Causes of Economic Prosperity:     * Inherited Growth: The Song capitalized on the infrastructure and economic growth established by previous dynasties.     * Agricultural Innovation: The introduction of Champa rice, a drought-resistant and fast-ripening crop from Vietnam, was a primary driver of prosperity. This innovation allowed for multiple harvests a year, leading to a massive population explosion.     * Infrastructure: The expansion of the Grand Canal facilitated efficient internal trade and communication.     * Proto-Industrialization: Expertise in the production of silk and porcelain further commercialized the Chinese economy, making it a global hub for luxury goods.

• Cultural and Social Effects:     * Cultural Diffusion: Via the Tribute System, Chinese traditions such as Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism spread to neighboring states, including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.     * Social Status of Women: Economic and cultural shifts led to increased subordination for women, most notably symbolized by the practice of footbinding among the elite.

Intellectual and Political Shifts in the Islamic World ($1200\text{--}1450\,\text{CE}$)

• Political Fragmentation: By the year $1200\,\text{CE}$, the Abbasid Caliphate was in a state of fragmentation. The empire officially collapsed when Mongol forces conquered the capital, Baghdad, in $1258\,\text{CE}$.

• Emergence of Turkic States: New Islamic political entities led by ethnic Turks rose to take the place of the Caliphate. These included:     * The Seljuk Empire.     * The Mamluk Sultanate.     * The Delhi Sultanate.

• Expansion of Islam: These states expanded through military conquest, but Islam also spread through trade via merchants and through the spiritual efforts of missionaries known as Sufis.

• Intellectual Flourishing in Dar al-Islam:     * Mathematics: Scholars developed and refined the field of trigonometry.     * Preservation of Knowledge: Baghdad’s House of Wisdom served as a critical center where Greek philosophy and scientific texts were preserved and translated, ensuring their survival for later eras.

South and Southeast Asia: State-Building and Belief Systems

• Emergent States: New political entities emerged based on diverse religious foundations, such as the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire and the Buddhist Majapahit Kingdom.

• Role of Trade and Religion: The spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam was largely driven by merchants who formed diasporic communities along the Indian Ocean trade routes.

• Political and Social Impact:     * Local governments adopted major world religions to unify their populations and strengthen ties with international trade partners.     * The Bhakti Movement: In India, this Hindu movement emerged, emphasizing intense personal devotion to a single god. It was notable for challenging traditional social hierarchies, including the caste system.

The Americas and Africa: State Systems and Cultural Continuity

• State Diversity in the Americas:     * Aztecs: Employed a decentralized tribute system to maintain control, using religious rituals including human sacrifice as a means of political and social dominance.     * Inca: Utilized a highly centralized bureaucracy. They implemented the mit’a system, which was a system of mandatory public labor for the state.     * North America: The Mississippian Culture is identified by the construction of large earthen mounds used for social and religious functions.

• Imperial Growth in Africa:     * Trade-Based Empires: The Mali Empire and Swahili city-states gained power through the Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trade networks, specifically trading in gold.     * Religious Landscapes: Many elites converted to Islam to facilitate easier trade relations. However, exceptions existed, such as Ethiopia, which remained a Christian stronghold, and Great Zimbabwe, where indigenous shamanistic beliefs were maintained.

Europe: Political and Economic Decentralization ($1200\text{--}1450\,\text{CE}$)

• Political Structure: Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was characterized by political decentralization. This led to the development of Feudalism, a political and social system where land was exchanged for military service between lords and their vassals.

• Economic Structure: Manorialism and serfdom defined European economics. Peasant serfs were tied to the land (manors), providing labor to lords in exchange for physical protection.

• Culture and Religion: Christianity served as the unifying cultural bond across the continent. Notably, the Iberian Peninsula remained a significant site of Muslim influence during this period.

Expansion of Trade Networks ($1200\text{--}1450\,\text{CE}$)

• The Silk Roads: This network focused on the trade of luxury goods such as porcelain and silk. Safety for travelers was enhanced by the creation of caravanserai (roadside inns). The development of a money economy, including Chinese paper money (’flying cash’) and European bills of exchange, made long-distance commerce more efficient.

• The Indian Ocean Network: Merchants traded bulk items like spices and textiles alongside luxury goods. They relied on predictable monsoon winds and utilized maritime technology like the magnetic compass, the astrolabe, and large Chinese junk ships.

• Trans-Saharan Routes: Trade in West Africa expanded significantly due to the improved camel saddle, which allowed for much larger cargo loads to cross the desert.

The Mongol Empire and Pax Mongolica

• Success and Scale: The Mongols created the largest contiguous land-based empire in human history, resulting in the downfall of the Song Dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate.

• Pax Mongolica (Mongol Peace): The Mongols encouraged trade by ensuring the safety of the Silk Roads. They actively supported commerce by paying high prices for foreign goods.

• Knowledge Transfer: Mongol rule facilitated the exchange of cultural and scientific knowledge, including the Uyghur script and Greek and Islamic medical insights.

Consequences and Effects of Connectivity ($1200\text{--}1450\,\text{CE}$)

• Urbanization and Decline: Global trade hubs like Kashgar and Hangzhou saw immense growth, while cities like Baghdad declined after suffering destruction at the hands of the Mongols.

• Cultural Diffusion: The Swahili language in East Africa emerged from the blending of Arabic and Bantu cultures. Diasporic merchant communities continued to spread various religious traditions.

• The House of Wisdom's Legacy: The translation of Greek and Roman works into Arabic in Baghdad's House of Wisdom eventually contributed to the triggering of the European Renaissance.

• Technological Shifts: Gunpowder, paper, and printing technologies spread from China to the West.

• Environmental Impact:     * Crop Diffusion: Champa rice spread, leading to population increases.     * Pathogens: The Bubonic Plague (Black Death) traveled along trade routes, resulting in massive mortality rates.

• Increased Production: Artisans in India, Persia, and China expanded the production of steel, iron, porcelain, and silk to meet growing global demand.

Expansion of Land-Based Empires ($1450\text{--}1750\,\text{CE}$)

• Key Empires: This era saw the rise of the Gunpowder Empires: Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, and Qing.

• Major Milestones:     * Ottomans: Captured Constantinople in $1453\,\text{CE}$.     * Mughals: Defeated the Delhi Sultanate to establish control in South Asia.

• Causes of Expansion: The primary driver was the adoption of gunpowder weaponry, including muskets and cannons.

• Military and Rivalry: Military elites like the Ottoman Janissaries were created. Rivalries intensified, such as the Safavid-Mughal conflict over Afghanistan, which was exacerbated by religious differences (Sunni vs. Shi’a).

Consolidation and Legitimation of Power ($1450\text{--}1750\,\text{CE}$)

• Bureaucracies: The Ottomans utilized the Devshirme system, a method of enslaving and educating Christian boys to serve as loyal soldiers and bureaucrats.

• Religious Ideology: European monarchs cited the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ to claim authority as God’s representatives. In contrast, the Mughal Emperor Akbar practiced religious tolerance to integrate his Hindu subjects.

• Art and Architecture: Rulers used ‘monumental architecture’ to project power, examples include Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles and the Incan Sun Temple of Cuzco. The Qing utilized imperial portraits to emphasize Confucian wisdom to the Han Chinese.

• Taxation Systems: To fund expansion, empires created new systems such as tax farming (Ottoman), the Zamindar system (Mughal), and tribute lists (Aztec).

Shifting Belief Systems and Religious Conflict ($1450\text{--}1750\,\text{CE}$)

• Protestant Reformation: Internal Catholic Church corruption, specifically the sale of indulgences, led Martin Luther to initiate the Reformation. This resulted in the creation of Protestant churches and a counter ‘Catholic Reformation’ to fix internal abuses.

• Islamic Schism: Political and theological disputes over the successor of Muhammad fueled the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry. The Safavids established Shi’a Islam as their state religion and persecuted Sunnis.

• Sikhism: This syncretic faith emerged in South Asia, blending elements of Hindu and Islamic doctrines while advocating for radical equality and the rejection of the caste system.

The Rise of Maritime Empires and Global Interconnections ($1450\text{--}1750\,\text{CE}$)

• Maritime Technology: Europeans adapted the Chinese magnetic compass, the Greek/Arab astrolabe, and the Arab lateen sail. The development of the Portuguese caravel enabled transoceanic travel and navigation of open oceans using regional wind patterns.

• Motivations for Exploration:     * Political Centralization: Monarchs centralized power away from nobles, providing the wealth needed to sponsor voyages.     * Economics (Mercantilism): Nations sought to hoard gold and silver, aiming for a favorable balance of trade (exporting more than importing). States looked for direct spice trade routes to bypass middlemen.     * Joint-Stock Companies: Entities like the Dutch East India Company (VOC) allowed investors to fund voyages with limited liability.

• Colonial Acquisitions: Portugal established a ‘trading post empire’; Spain colonized the Americas and Philippines. Northern European powers like England (Jamestown), France (Canada fur trade), and the Dutch (New Amsterdam) also established colonies.

Effects of Global Interconnection: The Columbian Exchange

• Environmental and Biological Impact:     * Diseases: European diseases (smallpox, measles) killed up to $90\%$ of indigenous American populations.     * Crops: American crops like maize and potatoes caused a population boom in Afro-Eurasia. Afro-Eurasian products like sugar, wheat, pigs, and horses were introduced to the Americas.

• Labor Systems: Plantation demands led to race-based, hereditary chattel slavery. Other systems included the encomienda and hacienda. The Spanish adapted the Incan mit’a system for private mining gain.

• Social Shifts: New hierarchies like the race-based Casta system in the Americas emerged. Manchu elites dominated Qing China.

• Syncretic Religions: Christianity blended with local beliefs to form new faiths like Vodun.

• Resistance: Included maroon societies (escaped slaves), the Fronde rebellion in France, and the isolationist policies of Japan.

The Enlightenment and Political Revolutions ($1750\text{--}1900\,\text{CE}$)

• Enlightenment Ideas: Rationalism and empiricism were applied to human society. Concepts included natural rights, the Social Contract (the right to overthrow tyrants), and popular sovereignty.

• Atlantic Revolutions:     * American Revolution: Prompted by discontent with British rule; resulted in the Declaration of Independence.     * French Revolution: Aimed for a republic; guided by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.     * Haitian Revolution: Led by Toussaint Louverture; the only successful large-scale slave rebellion in history.     * Latin American Revolutions: Sought to overthrow Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule.

• Nationalism: A sense of shared religion, language, and custom that served as a force for both revolution and the unification of states like Germany and Italy.

The Industrial Revolution: Causes and Shifts

• Origins in Great Britain: Factors included proximity to water, abundant coal and iron, access to raw materials (like Indian cotton), urbanization, legal property protections, and capital from colonies.

• Technology:     * First IR: Steam engine powered factories, ships, and locomotives.     * Second IR: Introduced steel (via Bessemer process), chemicals (synthetic dyes), and electricity.

• Globalization of Industry: Spread to France, the USA, Russia (state-driven railroads), and Japan (Meiji Restoration).

• Economic Shifts: Laissez-faire policies and capitalism replaced mercantilism. Transnational businesses like the Unilever Corporation emerged.

Economic and Social Effects of Industrialization ($1750\text{--}1900\,\text{CE}$)

• Social Hierarchy: Wealthy industrialist class (top), middle-class white-collar workers, and a massive industrial working class (bottom).

• Urban Challenges: Overcrowding in tenements, poor sanitation, and outbreaks of cholera.

• Labor Responses: Formation of labor unions. Development of Marxism, which predicted a proletariat revolution against the bourgeoisie.

• Modernization Efforts:     * Tanzimat Reforms (Ottoman Empire).     * Self-Strengthening Movement (Qing China).

• Impact on Women: Birth of the feminist movement and demands for suffrage. Middle-class women were often restricted to household roles (‘cult of domesticity’), while working-class women earned low factory wages.

The Rise and Expansion of Imperialism ($1750\text{--}1900\,\text{CE}$)

• Ideology: Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest applied to race), the ‘civilizing mission’ mindset, and nationalism drove expansion.

• Methods:     * Diplomacy: The Berlin Conference ($1884\text{--}1885$) carved up Africa.     * Warfare: Boer Wars in South Africa.     * Settler Colonies: Australia and New Zealand.

• Control Shifts: The Belgian government took the Congo from King Leopold II due to extreme brutality. The US pursued Manifest Destiny and took the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.

Economic Imperialism and Global Migration

• Economic Imperialism: Control through economic power, such as the British selling Opium to China (leading to the Opium Wars) or the United Fruit Company in Latin America.

• Export Economies: Colonies focused on raw materials: cotton (India/Egypt), palm oil (West Africa), and meat/coffee.

• Migration Causes: Railroads and steamships made travel easy. Drivers included job shortages in Europe or environmental crises like the Irish Potato Famine.

• Labor and Nativism: Indentured servitude (Indian/Chinese labor) and convict labor (Australia) replaced slavery. Migration created ethnic enclaves like ‘Chinatowns’ but sparked nativist backlash like the Chinese Exclusion Act.

• Resistance: The Asante Kingdom (Yaa Asantewaa War) and the Zulu Kingdom fought back against imperial powers.

Global Conflict and the Collapse of Empires ($1900\text{--}\text{Present}$)

• Imperial Collapse:     * Ottoman: Weakened by Turkish nationalism (Young Turks) and WWI defeat.     * Russia: Economic strain and WWI led to the $1917$ Revolution; Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin established the Soviet Union.     * Qing China: Revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen ended imperial rule ($1911$ context), eventually leading to Mao Zedong's communist state.     * Mexico: The Mexican Revolution against Porfirio Diaz led to the $1917$ Constitution and land reform.

• World War I ($1914\text{--}1918$):     * Causes: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism (MAIN).     * Nature: Total war, propaganda, trench warfare, and new tech (gas, tanks, machine guns).

The Interwar Period and World War II

• Great Depression: Sparked by the $1929$ US stock market crash. Led to the New Deal in the US and Five Year Plans (industrialization/collectivization) in the USSR under Stalin.

• Unresolved Tensions: The Mandate System continued Western control over colonies.

• World War II ($1939\text{--}1945$): Driven by the failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the rise of fascism. It was a total war featuring firebombing and the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Internal repression included Japanese internment and Nuremberg Laws.

Mass Atrocities in the 20th Century

• Armenian Genocide: Between $600\,000$ and $1.5\,\text{million}$ Armenian Christians killed by Ottoman authorities.

• The Holocaust: Nazi genocide of $6\,\text{million}$ Jews and $5\,\text{million}$ others using industrial methods.

• Holodomor: Man-made famine in Ukraine caused by Stalin's policies, killing millions.

The Cold War and the Spread of Communism ($1945\text{--}1991$)

• Ideology: Democratic capitalism (US) vs. Authoritarian communism (USSR). Both nations emerged as superpowers.

• Effects: Formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Proxy wars occurred in Korea, Angola, and Nicaragua (Contra War).

• Non-Aligned Movement: Led by figures like Achmad Sukarno (Indonesia), some nations refused to join either side.

• Communist Reforms: Mao Zedong takes power in $1949$; his Great Leap Forward resulted in famine killing $20\text{--}50\,\text{million}$ people. Land redistribution was seen in Vietnam, Cuba (Castro nationalized US land), and Egypt (Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal).

Decolonization and the creation of New States

• Independence: Negotiation (India/$1947$) or armed struggle (Algeria/National Liberation Front vs. France).

• Consequences: Violence followed the Partition of India (over $1\,\text{million}$ dead/displaced) and the creation of Israel in $1948$.

• Migration: South Asians moved to Great Britain and Algerians to France, creating multi-ethnic metropoles.

• Resistance Movements: Non-violence (Gandhi, MLK, Mandela vs. Apartheid) vs. Terrorism/Violence (Shining Path, Al Qaeda, Pinochet coup).

• End of Cold War: Soviet decline due to military spending and the invasion of Afghanistan. Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika and Glasnost failed to save the state. The Berlin Wall fell in $1989$; the USSR dissolved in $1991$.

Globalization: Interconnectedness and Innovation ($1900\text{--}\text{Present}$)

• Technology: Fast communication (Radio, TV, Cellular, Internet) and cheaper transportation (shipping containers, air travel).

• Energy and Medicine: Shift to petroleum and nuclear power. Vaccines and antibiotics increased lifespans. The birth control pill gave women fertility control.

• Green Revolution: Genetic modification of grain in the $1950$s and $60$s increased the global food supply.

• Economic Liberalization: Reagan, Thatcher, and Deng Xiaoping moved toward free-market policies, widening the wealth gap. A global division of labor created ‘knowledge economies’ in the West and manufacturing hubs in developing nations.

• Environment and Culture: Climate change fueled by greenhouse gases and deforestation. A global culture emerged via Reggae, K-Pop, and world sports. The UN and the Declaration of Human Rights ($1948$) promoted global values.

• Resistance: The 1999 Battle for Seattle (anti-WTO), environmentalism (Greenpeace), and state cultural resistance (China's social media restrictions).