World History: Revolutions, Nationalism, World Wars and Cold War
This domain covers the major revolutions, nationalism, the two world wars and the Cold War. The exam tests causes, consequences and comparisons rather than isolated dates.
Revolutions
The American Revolution (1776) asserted colonial rights and republicanism. The French Revolution (1789) attacked absolutism and privilege with liberty, equality and fraternity; the Bastille, Declaration of Rights and Napoleon's rise followed. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain with coal, steam, textiles and factories. Russia's 1917 revolutions ended tsarism; the Bolsheviks under Lenin created the USSR in 1922.
Nationalism and wars
Italian unification used Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi; German unification was driven by Bismarck's 'blood and iron'. WWI (1914-18) grew from alliances, imperial rivalry and the Sarajevo assassination; Versailles imposed reparations. WWII (1939-45) arose from fascism, Nazism, expansion and appeasement; the Holocaust and atomic bombings marked it.
Cold War
The USA and USSR competed through containment, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, proxy wars, the Berlin crisis and the Cuban missile crisis (1962). Détente alternated with confrontation until the Soviet collapse in 1991.
Worked example
Link Versailles to WWII. Reasoning: harsh reparations, territorial losses and war guilt created German grievance; economic depression and Nazi propaganda exploited it. Versailles was a contributory, not sufficient, cause.
Traps
The French Revolution began in 1789, not 1848; WWII began in Asia in 1937 and in Europe in 1939; the Cold War was not a direct NATO-Warsaw war; the USSR was formed in 1922, not 1917.