"The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner
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.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Week 18 - Into the Twentieth-First Century
Capstone presentations continue, Monday through Thursday, 5/18-21.
Final checks on current event chronicles during long periods.
Final self-reflections DUE by Thursday, 5/26.
Final capstone revisions DUE by Thursday, 5/26.
Upper School Awards Ceremony on Friday, 5/20 (Special schedule).
Monday, 5/16: Into the Twentieth-First Century.
In-class: Capstone presentations continue; complete final PERSIA chart on the state of the early twentieth century, and final current event reports and chronicles.
Homework for Day 2/3: In preparation for discussion time and course wrap-up:
Please review or read Charles Mann, "In Bulalacao: Fractured Celebration," 1493, pp. 491-502, and for final discussion, prepare to discuss the author's last points about globalization and looking ahead to the rest of this century.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Week 17 - The Rise of Contemporary China and the Arab Spring
Capstone Project Presentations begin - Check Sign-up Sheet and Calendar.
Day 1: The Emergence of the Non-Western World
In-class: Introduce the emergence of Asia and the Middle East. Report and chronicle current events.
Homework for Day 3: Read "China's Great Leap Forward" through "The Chinese-Soviet Split," p. 745, and "East Asia and the Rise of the Pacific Rim," and "The Economic Transformation of China," p. 788 in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, take notes on the follow key terms and persons, and prepare responses to the related questions below.
Key terms and persons: The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, the Four Modernizations, the New Economic Zones, and the Tienanmen Square "Incident".
Question #1: How did Mao try to transform China in the 1950s and 60s, and what were the results?
Question #2: How has China been able to modernize so quickly since the early 1980s, and what have been the results of that transformation process?
Day 2: Long periods.
Meet in classroom if there are presentations; use the remaining time to work on capstone projects.
Day 3: The Emergence of Contemporary China.
In-class: Discuss the reading and questions on the emergence of contemporary China.
Homework for Day 4: Read "The Challenge of Islam" and "International Terrorism and War," and "Upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East," in The West in the World, eds.Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 788-794, take notes on the follow key terms and persons, and prepare responses to the related questions below.
Key terms and persons: The Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, 9/11, al-Qaeda, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, preemptive war, unilateralism, and the Arab Spring.
Question #1: What explains the rise of radical Islamic movements and the use of terrorism in the Middle East, and increasingly around the world, and what have been the consequences?
Question #2: Why did the Arab Spring occur, and what have been the results?
Day 4: The Contemporary Islamic World, Islamic Extremism, and the Arab Spring.
In-class: Discuss the readings and questions on contemporary Islam.
No homework over the weekend; work on capstone projects.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Week 16 - 1989: The End of History?
Head's Holiday: Friday, 5/6 (No School).
Quiz 2.6 (the final online quiz!) opens Monday, May 2, at 3:30, and closes on Sunday evening, May 8 at midnight. This quiz covers the legacies of the Second World War, Cold War and Decolonization.
Quiz 2.7 IN-CLASS matching quiz during long periods on key terms and persons from the legacies of the Second World War, Cold War and Decolonization. This quiz is open-note.
Day 1: The End of History?
In-class: Review work on oral history interviews, last quizzes, capstone projects, and final exams.
Homework for Day 2/3: Read "The Collapse of Communism," in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 773-781, take notes on the following key terms and persons, and answer the following questions.
Key terms and persons: The Berlin Wall, the Brezhnev Doctrine, Gorbachev, perestroika, glasnost, and the Velvet Revolution.
Question #1: What were the causes of the collapse of communism?
Question #2: What were the effects of the end of communism?
Day 2/3 - Long periods: Capstone Research or Final Exam Prep.
Meet in the classroom for the matching Quiz 2.7, and then work in the library on the capstone projects, or review for the final exam.
Capstone Due dates to remember:
- Capstone presentations and exhibitions will open Monday, 5/9 and run through the week of 5/26 (Please sign up in class for a presentation date).
- Final revisions to papers for extra credit submission to the Capstone archives are due no later than Friday, 5/13.
- Final revisions to capstone projects are due no later than Thursday, 5/26.
Day 2/3: The End of Communism.
In-class: Discuss the homework on the collapse of communism.
No homework over the weekend, EXCEPT work on the capstones or review for final exams.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Week 15 - Decolonization, Independence and the Postcolonial World
Step-Up Teaching Day on Friday, 4/29 (Bixby will be teaching!).
Primary source#2: B. N. Ponomaryov, "The Cold War: A Soviet Perspective," 1960.
Key Terms and Persons: Apartheid, decolonization, post-colonialism, Gandhi, Satyagraha, nonviolence, Ho Chi Minh, Dien Bien Phu, Kwame Nkrumah, and proxy wars.
Day 2/3 - Long periods: Independent research.
Day 2/3: Decolonization.
In-class: Mark Bixby will teach classes on this day, to provide a sense of what eleventh grade US history will be like - ENJOY!
Friday, April 15, 2016
Week 14 - The Cold War
In-class: Wrap up discussions of the legacies of the Second World War, the Holocaust and Nuremberg Trials; begin to look at primary source evidence for the causes of the Cold War.
Homework for Day 2/3: Read “Superpower Struggles and Global Transformation. The Cold War, 1945-1980s,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 737-747 (up until "East and West: Two Paths"), and answer the following questions.
Day 2/3 - Long Periods: Independent research presentations continue; time to work in library on oral history and capstone projects, and consult with instructors, librarians, and tutors.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Week 13 - The Holocaust
Long periods: Research presentations continue. Independent research and work time for Capstone Proposals and Oral History Interviews.
Day 1, Monday, 4/11: The Origins of the Holocaust.
Key Terms and Persons: Eugenics, Sterilization, the T-4 Program, euthanasia, Poland as the "laboratory of experiment", Operation Barbarossa, and Einsatzgruppen.
Day 2/3 - Short periods: Ordinary People and the Holocaust.
Document#1: The Barbarossa Decree, by General Keitel.
Document#2: The Commissar Order, by Adolf Hitler.
Document#3: Escape from Treblinka.
Day 4: Hitler's Willing Executioners: The Final Solution and the Question of Justice.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Week 12 - Into the Fire Again: World War II (1939-1945).
Long periods: In some periods, research presentations continue, and then time to work in the library.
Quiz #4 opens online on Friday, April 1 and closes Thursday evening, April 7 at midnight; covers materials from Weeks 10 and 11, i.e., the legacies of the First World War from before break, and materials on authoritarianism, fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism.
Day 1, Monday, 4/4: The Nazi Seizure of Power, Part 2.
In-class: Discuss primary and secondary source handouts on the Nazi seizure of power and Stalinism; review for Quiz #4, and chronicle current events.
Homework for Day 2/3: Read “Into the Fire Again: World War II, 1939-1945,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 711-721 (Up to ""Behind the Lines"), and answer the following question.
Key Terms and Persons: The Popular Front, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Nanking, The Spanish Civil War, Guernica, The Axis Powers, The Anschluss, The Munich Conference of 1938, Appeasement, Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, blitzkrieg, the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa, and Pearl Harbor.
Homework question: What were the origins of the Second World War? What connections between Hitler, Nazism, and appeasement might have led to the outbreak of war?
Day 2/3 Long Periods: In some periods, meet in classroom for presentations; time in library to work on capstone projects and oral history interview research.
Day 2/3 Short Periods: The Road to War.
In-class: Discuss the origins and early stages of the Second World War.
Key Terms: The Holocaust (Shoah), Death camps, Stalingrad, the Battle of Midway, kamikaze, the atomic bomb, and the United Nations.
Homework question: How did the Allies turn the tide and defeat the Axis powers in the Second World War - what were the key actions and turning points?
Day 4: The Second World War.
In-class: Discuss the key actions and turning points of the war.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Week 11 - Totalitarianism: Stalinism and the Nazi Seizure of Power
Independent research presentations continue.
Guest lecture with Ellen Zieselmann on art during the Interwar period.
Quiz #4 opens online on Friday, April 1 at 3:30, and closes Thursday evening, April 7 at midnight; covers the legacies of the First World War from before break, and materials on authoritarianism, fascism, and Stalinism.
Day 1: The Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe: Stalinism.
In-class: Discuss the missed homework and related primary and secondary source handouts on the rise of Stalinism.
In-class: Chronicle current events.
Make-up Homework for review (from Week 10): Review, “Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 697-707, and answer the following two questions.
Review Key Terms and Persons: New Economic Policy (NEP), Five-Year Plan, Stalin, collectivization, the Great Purges, and the Great Depression.
Review Key Question#1: How did Stalin transform the Soviet Union - what were the effects?
Review Key Question#2: How do you explain the rise of Nazism?
Day 2: The Rise of Nazism.
In-class: Discuss the homework and related primary and secondary sources.
Day 3: The Nazi Seizure of Power
In-class: Read primary source handouts from Victor Klemper, Goebbels, et al. and discuss the Nazi seizure of power.
Key persons: The Führer (or Fuehrer), Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler.
Key terms: The Nazi Seizure of Power, the Reichstag Fire Decree, Wild Camps/Concentration Camps, GESTAPO, Enabling Act, Gleichschaltung (Coordination), and the "Night of the Long Knives" (1934).
Homework for Day 4: Read the secondary source sets provided in class; take notes on authors' arguments, evidence, and whether or not you buy it.
Day 4: Interwar Art History.
In-class: Guest lecture in class with Ellen Zieselmann.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Week 10 – Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1919-1939
Key question#2 (just added and to be discussed in class): What are the legacies of the Russian Communist Revolution and Bolshevik power?
Day 2/3: Long periods: In-library independent research paper revisions, capstone proposals, and/or in-class student research presentations.
Day 2/3: The Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe.
In-class: Discuss the homework and related primary and secondary source handouts.
Homework for Day 4: Please read, “Darkening Decades: Recovery, Dictators, and Depression, 1920-1939,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 697-707, and answer the following two questions.
Key Terms and Persons: Adolf Hitler, Nazism, Lebensraum, SS, Nuremberg Laws, the Nazi Seizure of Power, concentration camps, New Economic Policy (NEP), Five-Year Plan, Stalin, collectivization, the Great Purges, and the Great Depression.
Key Question#1: How do you explain the rise of Nazism?
Key Question#2: How did Stalin transform the Soviet Union - what were the effects?
Day 4: Nazism and Stalinism.
In-class: Discuss the homework and related primary and secondary sources.
Homework: No homework over Spring Break. Safe travels, rest up, and enjoy!!!
Friday, February 26, 2016
Week 9 - Darkening Decades: World War and Revolution.
Second deadline for capstone proposals DUE on Friday, 3/11.
Day 2/3(Long periods): Independent Research.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Week 8 – Descending into the Twentieth Century: World War and Revolution: 1914-1920
First deadline for capstone proposals DUE on Friday, 2/26.
Day 1: Monday, 2/24: Modern European Intellectual History, Part 1.
Day 2/3 (Long periods): Independent Research.
Day 2/3 9short periods): Modern European Intellectual History, Part 2.
Homework for Day 4: Read “Descending into the Twentieth Century: World War and Revolution, 1914-1920,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 655-665 (up until "The War Spreads Across the Globe"), and prepare answers to the key questions.
Key Terms and Persons: The Schlieffen Plan, The Alliance System, The Triple Entente, The Triple Alliance, Crisis in the Balkans, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Germany’s Blank Check, Trench warfare, and total war.
Key question#1: What were the causes of the war, and who, if anyone, was to blame?
Key question#2: How did people experience the war on the home fronts and battle fronts?
Day 4: World War.
In-class: Discuss the homework readings and questions on the First World War.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Week 7 - The New Imperialism
Day 1/2: Capstone Research in Library
Primary source #4: Gandhi, "Facing the British in India".
Secondary source#1: Eric J. Hobsbawm, "The Age of Empire".
Secondary source #2: Carlton J. H. Hayes, "Imperialism as a Nationalistic Phenomenon".
Secondary source #4: Margaret Strobel, "Gender and Empire.
Secondary source #5: Pankaj Mishra, "From the Ruins of Empire", Prologue.
Day 3: The Responses of the Non-Western World to Imperialism.
Homework over the weekend: Work on capstone proposals, or decide on final exam; work on revising final drafts of the independent research papers.