Course Description

Welcome! This site is for students, parents, teachers and anyone else interested in the tenth-grade World History 2 Course at Santa Fe Prep.

The overall course covers the history of the world from roughly 1500 to the present. The first quarter opens with the time when Asia was the center of world affairs, then traces European encounters with Asia and the Americas, and the complex interactions and consequences of the so-called "Columbian Exchange" between Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The first quarter ends with a survey of the European Renaissance and Reformation, in both its local and global dimensions. The second quarter will focus on the rise of absolute monarchies and new ideas and practices, especially with the scientific revolution and Enlightenment. The second quarter ends with assessments of the legacies of the French Revolution, Napoleon and the emergence of the British Empire. The third quarter starts with the implications of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the Congress of Vienna, i.e., the discourse on rights, reaction, revolution and reform, the rise of new ideologies, in particular, Classical Liberalism, nationalism, and romanticism, and conservative reactions to the changes wrought by the American and French Revolutions. The course then examines the rise of industrialization and social change in 19th-century Europe, and the emergence of middle and working class cultures, followed by new iterations of liberalism and conservatism, the proliferation of more ideologies, e.g., socialism, communism, ultranationalism, social Darwinism, and antisemitism. Then the course examines the unification of the Italian and German nation states, and the creation of the modern welfare state. From there the course traces the rise of a new wave of Western imperialism, followed by the rest of the world's reactions to the rise of European empires and ideas, and in particular, the emergence of industrial Japan and their surprising victory over Russia. The third quarter ends with the outbreak of the First World War. The fourth and final quarter surveys the effects of the First World War, followed by the brief peak of classical liberal nation states and promises for peace, and the rapid rise of authoritarianism, in both communist and fascist variations, with a special focus on the rise of Nazism, the Nazi racial transformation of Germany and the Holocaust and Shoah of modern Europe. The fourth quarter concludes by looking at the causes and effects of the Second World War, the Cold War, the end of European empires in Asia and Africa, the emergence of the Modern Middle East and China, the end of the Cold War, history since 1989, all the way to the present, including current events.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

2013 Fall Semester Final Exam Review Guide

I. Exam Time & Place
When: Thursday, 12/19
Time: 9-11AM
Place: Gymnasium

II. What to bring: Writing implements, rough outlines, and primary and secondary source materials for essays.  
* "Blue books" will be provided.
** Laptop use is permitted; please notify instructor; bring a flash drive to save and print offline; make sure laptop batter is fully charged (!).
*** Please let instructor know if a school laptop is needed; please reserve ahead of time.
****Please let instructor know if additional time and/or an alternative testing space is needed.

III. Exam Format (100 points total; 20% of semester grade): 
A. Matching (10 points; 1/4 point each).
- Match key terms and definitions.
- See the 2013 World History II Course Dictionary - Fall Semester for review.
* Closed book and closed notes during exam.

B. Objective question section (25 points; 1/4 to 1/2 point each).
- True/false and multiple choice questions; covers basic knowledge of all materials studied; review notes from PERSIAN exercises, reading quizzes, and lecture notes. 
* Closed book and closed notes during exam.

C. Chronologies (5 points; 1/4 point each). 
Organize sets of key events from the European encounters with the New World and Asia, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Thirty Years War, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution, and the French Revolution in chronological order; extra credit for identification of key dates.
- See quizzes and 2013 World History II Course Dictionary - Fall Semester for review.
* Closed book and closed notes during exam.

D. Document-Based Question (60 points).
Compose a well organized, compact and coherent essay for ONE of the following essay choices.
- Questions focus on key historical questions, e.g., the analysis of causes, effects, continuities or change.
- Answers should set up the crux of the debate where possible, as found in the secondary sources from class materials where appropriate, and demonstrate command of the related primary and secondary sources with the succinct yet effective use of primary sources.
* Open book, open note; see example questions below.  
** Outlines for the essay will be permitted in the exam. 

-Example questions: 
1. The causes of the early modern decline of Asia and rise of Europe.
2. The effects of the Columbian Exchange thesis (& the Homogenocene).
3. The causes and effects of the Renaissance.
4. The effects of the Protestant Reformation.
5. The causes of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
6. The causes of the Scientific Revolution in Europe.
7. The effects of the Enlightenment.
8. The causes of the French Revolution.
9. The legacies of Napoleon and the French Revolution.

E. Alternative Document-Based Questions (To be discussed and revised with student input)
Compose a well organized, coherent and supported response to one of two essay topics provided:
1. What matters more in the emergence of early modern history: geography, politics/power, socioeconomic factors, ideas or biology?
2. What accounts for the rise of parliamentary government and individual rights in early modern 
     Europe; in other words, why England first and then on the continent of Europe about 100 
     years later?
3. What is the legacy of the French Revolution?
4. What is the legacy of Napoleon? Did Napoleon undermine or preserve the principles of the 
     French Revolution?
5. What happened to the status of European women in the early modern period, and why?

Notes: make sure to frame your response to the question with an overview of the secondary sources that sets up your argument and explains what you plan to demonstrate in the rest of your response; also make sure to use primary sources to effectively show key points, and anticipate possible counter-arguments and forms of evidence.
* Open book and open note.
** Outlines for the essay will be permitted in the exam.
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