History - World: Ancient through Modern Era
The frame the exam uses
The paper moves from the four river civilisations through classical and medieval worlds to early modern exploration, revolutions, industrialisation, and the two world wars. Dates matter less than the causal chain that links them.
Anchors to hold
- メソポタミア: 楔形文字 and the ハンムラビ法典; Egypt: 象形文字; インダス: モヘンジョダロ; China: 黄河 and 甲骨文字.
- Greece: ポリス and Athenian democracy; Rome: republic to empire, Christianity, division in 395.
- 宗教改革 1517 (ルター) versus the earlier ルネサンス.
- アメリカ独立宣言 1776, フランス革命 1789 and the 人権宣言.
- 産業革命 began in 18th-century Britain with textiles and Watt's steam engine.
- 第一次世界大戦 1914–18, ロシア革命 1917, ヴェルサイユ条約 1919, 世界恐慌 1929, 第二次世界大戦 1939–45, 国際連合 1945, 冷戦, Soviet collapse 1991.
Worked example
Match each voyager to a sponsor and a route. コロンブス sailed for Spain in 1492 heading west to reach Asia and struck the Americas. バスコ・ダ・ガマ sailed for Portugal, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and reached India in 1498. The マゼラン expedition, also Spanish, completed the first circumnavigation by 1522. Reasoning rule: identify the sponsor first, then the direction of travel - that combination separates the three every time.
Traps that cost marks
Mixing 宗教改革 with ルネサンス; dating the 世界恐慌 to 1929 while calling it the cause of the First World War; forgetting that the ヴェルサイユ条約 closed 1919 and that the United States never joined the League; treating the Industrial Revolution as starting in France or Germany.