The first half of the twentieth century featured a 30-year period of global conflict, including two world wars, from 1914 to 1918 and from 1939 to 1945. Nations around the world battled each other and dragged their citizens, colonies, and economies into two total wars. How did this happen and what did governments do to try and stop these conflicts from happening again? How did the failures of internationalism after the First World War result in a second, more devastating world war? Those are the big questions that we seek to answer in this video.

This video gives you an overview of the content and themes you’ll explore in Unit 7. The evidence presented in the video will help you assess the causes of global conflict from c. 1900 to the present. You’ll also evaluate this era by examining the impact of global conflict on different regions of the world using the themes of governance, economic systems, technology and innovation, and social interactions and organization.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. What does total war mean?
2. Who was Jeanette Rankin?
3. What was “the war to end all wars” and how quickly was this proven wrong?
4. How did industrial imperialism lead to global conflict?
5. What made the world wars “total wars”?
6. How did nations attempt to prevent another global conflict, both during the interwar period after the First World War and after the Second World War?
7. Why did Jeanette Rankin vote against US entry into the Second World War?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. At the end of this video, Rachel Hansen poses a series of questions regarding war. Do you think that this era of global conflict and the creation of the United Nations have deterred future conflicts?
2. Do you agree with Jeanette Rankin’s votes against entry into both world wars? Explain your reasoning.

The two world wars are often treated as separate conflicts punctuated by a period of peace in between. But how does our understanding of these events change when we view the period from 1914 to 1945 as a single, connected thirty-year conflict? The First World War was also the first total war. The ideologies and technologies introduced in the nineteenth century helped cause the war and make it incredibly deadly. The failure of efforts to build a lasting peace in the 1920s and 1930s led to a rise in fascism and authoritarianism that would again send the world to war. But even after these two world wars and the creation of the United Nations in 1945, conflict, genocide, and other atrocities continue today.

This article provides an introduction to Unit 7, and covers the two world wars and the period of peace that separates them. By examining the ways that these three periods were linked, this article will prepare you to explain the factors leading to both wars and to identify the conflicts they left unresolved. The article’s focus on the experiences and outcomes of the war will help you keep in mind the importance of the personal scale while you explore the causes and effects of these global events.

Read 1—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Read 2—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What are some changes in the long nineteenth century that the author lists as factors contributing to World War I?
2. From reading this article, what do you think “total war” means?
3. How did the way the First World War ended lead to the Second World War?
4. What is fascism?
5. Why does the author say the Allies won the Second World War?

Read 3—Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Do you think we should consider these three periods as a single thirty-year conflict? Provide evidence to support your argument using one of the following AP themes: governance, social interactions and organization, or technology and innovation.
2. The previous unit covered the rise and expansion of new industrial empires. Can you think of any ways that the new imperialism may have led to the two world wars?

The long nineteenth century transformed the world. Political revolutions, nationalism, industrialization, imperialism, and social upheaval all sent shockwaves of change through societies in every corner of the world. In 1914, the tensions surrounding many of these changes would send the world to war. In this mapping exercise you will identify some of the participants in the First World War and make predictions about what you think might have caused the war.

You’ll begin this activity by identifying several countries in the world of 1914 CE. You will locate these countries on a blank map and then make some guesses and predictions about how they participated in the war and what changes of the long nineteenth century might have caused the war.

Step 1

Remember, this activity is intended to introduce you to geography in this unit. You aren’t expected to have all the answers.

With your teacher, brainstorm some of the ways that the transformations of the long nineteenth century might have led to the First World War.

Step 2

In small groups, select one of the columns of countries from the table on the worksheet. Label each of the countries on the 1914 Blank Map. When this is complete, each group should share their answers until all 20 countries are labeled on your maps.

Step 3

Examine the 1914 Blank Map you just labelled. Select five of the countries you identified and guess which side of the First World War it fought on (Allied Powers, Central Powers, or Neutral). Next, you should make a prediction of which country you think suffered the highest casualties during the war, including a 1-2 sentence explanation for your prediction. Finally, annotate one part of the map with a transformation of the long nineteenth century that helped cause WWI.

This repeated activity should help you become familiar with a process for understanding unfamiliar words any time you encounter them in the course.

Take out your vocab tracker and be sure to record new and unfamiliar words on it according to your teacher’s instructions.

Understanding vocabulary helps you access course content and become a better reader, a better writer, and a better communicator. This word wall activity will help you begin to learn some of the key vocabulary from the unit.

In this activity, you’ll work with your class to create a word wall using the Unit 7 vocabulary.

Your teacher will assign a vocab card to each of you. Once you get yours, take a few minutes to look it up in the Vocab Guide and then examine the unit itself (click around and quickly skim the content) to see where in the unit your word might be most applicable. Then, add as many antonyms to your card for your word as possible. Be careful if you decide to use the “related words” section from the vocab guide – it doesn’t distinguish between synonyms and antonyms. Your teacher will give you a limited amount of time to write antonyms. Then, the people with the most correct antonyms at the end of the time will put their words on the word wall first.

Your teacher may add some fun twists to this assignment, so be sure to listen closely for directions!

This article briefly introduces political power structures before, during, and after the two world wars. It explains some of the traditional systems of political power including royal or aristocratic birth, as well as the great wealth generated in the industrial age. New movements like socialism and fascism challenged these structures of power in different ways. The global power balance was further changed after the world wars, as former colonies pushed for independence, and the world was divided by the ideas and alliances of the Cold War.

This article should help you understand how political power was structured and how it was then challenged and changed between the end of the nineteenth century and the middle of the twentieth century. You should be able to recognize and explain the basic ways in which these different ideas about power caused global conflicts before, during, and after the two world wars. This article should serve as a foundation for the lessons ahead.

Think about the following prompt as you read the article: Using evidence from the article, explain the most significant causes of political change after 1900. Write this prompt at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Read 2—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. In this article, how are “power” and being “powerful” defined? What are some of the sources of power the author identifies?
2. What is the economic-military cycle of power described in this article, and how does it work?
3. In what specific ways does the article show challenges to power within a state?
4. What were some important differences between socialism and fascism described in the article?
5. What challenges to global power structures emerged after the Second World War?

Read 3—Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Using evidence from the article, explain the most significant causes of political change after 1900.
2. How do the power shifts outlined in this article help you respond to the Unit Problem: “What were the causes of global conflict from c. 1900 to the present?”

The World History Project AP (WHP AP) curriculum asks you to visit and revisit the AP themes throughout the course. The aim of the Themes Notebook is to keep you connected to the core themes of each unit. In Part 1 of the Themes Notebook, which you’ll complete early in each unit, you will evaluate each of the statements on the worksheet based on what you currently know. In Part 2, which comes later in each unit, the statements appear as questions. You will respond to these questions as you revise and refine your initial understanding of the unit’s themes. In both parts of this activity, you should focus on concepts rather than formal writing. The primary purpose of the Themes Notebook is to help you assess how your thinking is progressing, where you’re gaining mastery, and where you might need additional instruction.

Although it might seem that you haven’t learned enough yet to respond to the prompts, that’s OK! This activity is meant to help you think about what you might already know about the ideas and concepts of the unit. You’ll revisit the prompts at the end of the unit (although this time they’ll appear as questions), and you’ll get to see how much you’ve learned! This activity will also give you a preview of what’s to come, as you’re learning which themes you should pay attention to as you learn new content.

Note: Since you’ll be revisiting this worksheet at the end of the unit, be sure you hold onto it! If your teacher offers to collect your class’s worksheets, that’s probably your best bet.

Use the Themes Notebook worksheet to respond to the Part 1 prompts as best as you can. Be prepared to talk about these ideas with your class.

Open these three charts in your internet browser:

• Chart 1 – Number of Autocracies and Democracies: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/numbers-of-autocracies-and-democracies
• Charts 2 and 3 – World Citizens Living under Different Political Regimes: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-pop-by-political-regime Political Regime, 1816–2015: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/political-regime-updated2016

For most of human history, democracy was pretty rare. Starting in the nineteenth century, this started to change as more democracies emerged from revolutions. During the twentieth century, two world wars, decolonization, and the end of the Cold War all helped propel democratic governments to power. Today, more people live in democracies than not, and most governments in the world are democratic. However, this transition to majority democracies only happened very recently.

What are the limits of data? What kinds of things can we use data to measure? In this data exploration, you will encounter three charts that apply numeric values to a pretty fluid social concept: democracy. Is it useful to quantitatively measure something like democracy? What does this sort of data tell us about the history of the spread of democracy? What does it leave out or make it difficult to see? The charts in this data exploration will provide you with evidence to respond to these questions and evaluate the uses to which data is put.

Your teacher will let you know if there is an overall question to hold in your mind as complete your three reads of the article.

Preview–What Do We Have?

Fill out the Read 1: Preview section of the Three Close Reads for Data worksheet as you complete your first close read. Remember—this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas–What Do We Know?

For this read, your goal is to understand the “story” the chart is telling by identifying its arguments and evaluating its presentation of data. You will decide what claim or claims this chart is making and what evidence is being used to support those claims. Do you think the data is reliable? Is the chart misleading in any way? By the end of this read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How are Charts 1 and 2 different?
2. According to Charts 1, 2, and 3, when did the transition to most of the world living under democratic governments take place? What events might have contributed to this change?
3. Were there any points in history when democracies declined for a sustained period? What caused the drop?
4. According to Chart 3, which parts of the world were the most democratic, historically? Which are the most democratic today?
5. Do you trust this data? Is there anything that this chart leaves out? Do you see any problems with assigning a “democracy score”?

Making Connections–What Does This Tell Us?

The third read is really about why the chart is important, what it can tell us about the past, and how it can help us think about the future. At the end of this read, respond to the following questions:

1. Why do these charts matter? What do they tell us about the history and future of human communities and governance? Is our current democratic moment just a blip in a long history of autocracy?
2. Using these charts, make one prediction about how democracy will change in your lifetime. What evidence from the charts supports your prediction? What evidence challenges it?

Access to the Our World in Data website: https://ourworldindata.org/

This activity will help you select the topic of your final presentation about. This is a brainstorming activity that will help you identify your interests and where those interests intersect with the available charts on Our World in Data (OWID). Selecting the right topic can be tricky. You need to select a topic that’s meaningful to you and that has world-historical significance. You also need to be sure that there’s enough evidence available on your topic to sustain your final project. This activity gives you a chance to explore the OWID website and gather information about two possible topics of your choice.

In this activity, you’ll be picking your final project topic. Begin by exploring the OWID website to identify two topics that are meaningful to you. Next, you’ll fill out a worksheet in which you reflect on why these topics are important and record the resources available on the OWID site. Finally, you will select one of the two topics as the subject of your final presentation.

The first step in this this activity is to explore the OWID website. Spend about five minutes exploring the OWID website, clicking on links and images you find interesting. Once you’re familiar with the website, find the Articles by Topic menu and hover the cursor over it:

Notice that each topic (for example: Health, Demographic Change, Food and Agriculture) has several subtopics to choose from. For example, the Health topic includes Smallpox, Life Expectancy, and Vaccination among its subtopics. Take another five minutes to explore the topics and subtopics that are most interesting to you.

In addition to selecting a topic that is important to you, your topic also needs to be significant in a world-historical context. This means that the topic deeply affects lots of people over a long period of time.

Once you’ve identified two subtopics that are meaningful to you and significant in a world-historical context, take out the Topic Selection worksheet and answer the questions for each of your two chosen subtopics.

Once you have completed the worksheet for both subtopics, review what you’ve written and choose the subtopic that you think is most meaningful and significant. Record your choice on the worksheet. Congratulations! You have a research topic.