need to really master Units 7–9 for AP World. I’m going to go section-by-section and, for each major topic, give you:
* Causes
* Key developments
* Effects
* Continuities & Changes ( CCOT)
This is essentially how AP graders want you to think.
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🌍 UNIT 7: GLOBAL CONFLICT (1900–1945)
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⚔️ World War I
Causes
* Long-term:
* Militarism (arms race, war glorification)
* Alliance system → chain reaction
* Imperial rivalries (especially in Africa)
* Nationalism (esp. Balkans)
* Immediate:
* Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
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Key Developments
* Trench warfare → stalemate
* Total war → governments control industry, food, labor
* New weapons: gas, machine guns, tanks
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Effects
* Collapse of empires (Ottoman, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German)
* Treaty of Treaty of Versailles
* Harsh penalties on Germany
* Redrawing of borders (Middle East instability begins)
* League of Nations (fails later)
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Continuities & Changes
Continuities
* European dominance still strong (but weakening)
* Nationalism continues to drive conflict
Changes
* Warfare becomes industrialized & more deadly
* Civilians become direct targets (total war)
* U.S. emerges as global power
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Causation Chain
WWI → harsh peace → economic instability → rise of extremism → WWII
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🔴 Russian Revolution
Causes
* Inequality under Nicholas II
* Military failures in WWI
* Food shortages
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Key Developments
* Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin seize power
* Civil war → Red Army wins
* Formation of USSR
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Effects
* Spread of communism globally
* Fear of communism in capitalist countries
* One-party authoritarian state
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Continuities & Changes
Continuities
* Authoritarian rule (tsar → communist dictatorship)
Changes
* Shift from monarchy → communism
* State-controlled economy replaces capitalism
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📉 Great Depression
Causes
* Stock market crash (1929)
* Overproduction
* Global economic interdependence
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Effects
* Massive unemployment worldwide
* Collapse of global trade
* Rise of extremist leaders
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Continuities & Changes
Continuities
* Global economic inequality persists
Changes
* Governments take bigger role in economies (welfare, regulation)
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Causation
Depression → desperation → rise of dictators
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🧨 Rise of Authoritarianism
Key Leaders
* Adolf Hitler
* Benito Mussolini
* Joseph Stalin
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Causes
* Economic instability
* Weak democracies
* National humiliation (Germany esp.)
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Key Features
* Propaganda
* Militarism
* Suppression of dissent
* Expansionism
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Effects
* Human rights abuses
* Aggressive foreign policy → WWII
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Continuities & Changes
Continuities
* Authoritarian rule still common globally
Changes
* Use of mass propaganda and modern tech to control people
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🌎 World War II
Causes
* Treaty of Versailles resentment
* Expansion (Germany, Japan, Italy)
* Appeasement failure
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Key Developments
* Blitzkrieg warfare
* Holocaust
* Atomic bombs
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Effects
* ~70 million deaths
* Creation of United Nations
* U.S. & USSR become superpowers
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Continuities & Changes
Continuities
* War still central to global politics
Changes
* Nuclear weapons introduced
* Decolonization begins
* Europe declines in power
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⸻
❄️ UNIT 8: COLD WAR & DECOLONIZATION
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🧊 Cold War
Causes
* Ideological conflict:
* Capitalism (U.S
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