Shifting Power After 1900 CE
Driving Question: What internal and external factors contributed to the transformation of states after 1900 CE?
Over the long nineteenth century, the greatest determinants of a state’s power were its abilities to industrialize and to acquire colonies. The control of that power usually fell into the hands of the elite, who benefitted from the labor of the working class to accumulate resources in support of the state. In the early 1900s, this started to change as workers began to challenge the ruling classes in states across the world.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how internal and external factors contributed to change in various states after 1900.
- Explain the causes and consequences of historical events that occurred during World War I, such as the Russian Revolution.
- Use the historical reasoning process of comparison to assess the similarities and differences between the Russian Revolution and another political revolution.
What do you already know about some of the main ideas of this lesson? Enlist your prior knowledge in this brain dump.
Help your students remember what they read by dividing a reading into paragraph- or section-long chunks. After they’ve read each chunk, have them write a one-sentence summary of what they read. For even more support, incorporate guiding questions into the article so that students know where to look for the answers.
Explore how political power shifted before, during, and after the world wars, from traditional monarchies, aristocracies and other wealthy elites to new ideologies like socialism and fascism.
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Guiding Questions
Quickly assess how your students are progressing with their comparison skills by using the Comparison Feedback Form.
Not all revolutions are the same. There are different motivations and different outcomes. In this exercise, you will compare the Mexican and Russian Revolutions.
The story of the Mexican Revolution could be told many ways. As both a political and a social revolution, it had the potential to create great change.
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Guiding Questions
Allow students to listen to the article for the first and/or second read of the Three-Step Reading process. They can follow along with the article while listening, and use a pencil or pen to help track the speaker. Have them pause at ideas or words they aren’t sure of and rewind and relisten as necessary.
World War I devastated Russia, and led to political unrest, mass casualties, and economic collapse. Amid strikes and protests, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power, but the country’s struggles continued.
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Guiding Questions
Global shifts in power occurred in the lead up to World War I. Time to do some CCOT analysis.
a political or economic theory in which community members own all property, resources, and the means of production, and control the distribution of goods
Individuals who think community members should own and control property, production, and distribution subscribe to socialism.