World History
World History
The exam tests world history from early river-valley civilizations through classical empires, the medieval world, global exploration, the Enlightenment and political revolutions, industrialization, imperialism, the two world wars, decolonization, and globalization. Expect questions on causation, comparison across societies, and interpretation of documents such as Hammurabi's Code or the Treaty of Versailles.
Core rules and concepts
- River valleys. Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates), Egypt (Nile), the Indus, and the Yellow River supported surplus agriculture, which enabled cities, specialization, writing, and states.
- Classical empires. Han China, Rome, Gupta India, and Maurya India built roads, standardized currency, law codes, and long-distance trade such as the Silk Roads.
- Columbian Exchange. After 1492, crops, animals, and diseases moved between hemispheres; smallpox devastated Indigenous populations, while American crops transformed Eurasian diets.
- Revolutions. Enlightenment ideas of natural rights and popular sovereignty shaped the American, French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions, though their outcomes differed sharply.
- Industrialization and empire. Industrialization began in Britain around 1750 and spread to Europe, Japan, and elsewhere; imperial competition contributed to both world wars.
- Twentieth century. World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, World War II and the Holocaust, decolonization, and the Cold War reshaped global politics.
Worked example
A question asks: "Which factor best explains why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain?" Reason it out. Britain had coal and iron, capital from trade, colonial markets, agricultural surplus and enclosure that freed labor, canals and ports, and relatively stable institutions. Because the question says "best," choose a factor that was both necessary and distinctive to Britain, such as accessible coal combined with capital and markets, rather than a single vague cause like "invention."
Traps that cost marks
- Accepting single-cause explanations for complex developments.
- Confusing the French Revolution's outcomes with Haiti's.
- Treating the Treaty of Versailles as lenient toward Germany.
- Conflating Silk Roads exchange with the post-1492 Columbian Exchange.
- Judging past societies by present standards without contextualizing.