1. Modern World History in Review
The Spring Semester in Seven Simple Steps!!!

2. Phase 1: Age of Discovery & First Colonies (1400s-1700s)
Europe is becoming more scientific and technologically advanced
“In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two…”
Great for Europeans (especially Spain first)
Bad for Native Americans and some Africans
Little effect on Asia

3. What’s going on here?

4. Phase 2: Enlightenment & Political Revolution (1700s-early 1800s)
Scientific Revolution uses experiments on nature
Enlightenment: can we change society & gov’t? (opposed to “divine right”). This leads to revolutions in Europe & Americas…
American Revolution: caused by both ideas and specific economic/political grievances
French Revolution: same kind of causes, but more radical (vs. social inequality & religion)… excesses lead to the more conservative Napoleon and then failure
Haiti: a slave revolt that wins independence

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8. Phase 3: Industrial Revolution & Imperialism (late 1700s-early 1900s)
Use factories and machines
Bad for workers in the short-term, good in the long- term with cheap goods and new technology
Tech lets Europe conquer Africa and much of Asia
In Asia, only Japan successfully industrializes and holds them off
U.S. joins in with Spanish-American War

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12. Phase 4: Nationalism & World War 1 (1800s-1918)
After French Revolution, growing nationalism… challenges old empires and leads to new nations (e.g. Italy & Germany)
World War 1: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, and especially Nationalism
Bosnian Serbs want to leave Austria and join Serbia
Russia is “Slavic” and so are Serbs, so supports them (plus the czar wants to unify the country vs. an enemy)

13. What’s going on here?

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15. Phase 5: Dictators & World War 2 (1917-1945)
Totalitarian governments in many countries.
Russia became Communist DURING World War 1 when it collapsed. Lenin becomes dictator, then Josef Stalin (Ukrainian genocide, 5 Year Plans).
Especially after the Great Depression, Germany & Italy become Fascist (extreme nationalists) and seek to expand their “race’s” power, as does Japan
World War 2!!! Good guys win (U.S. industry & huge Soviet armies)… but too many people die (Holocaust)

16. What’s going on here?

17. Phase 6: The Cold War ( )
Wait… Stalin ISN’T one of the good guys! Democracy vs. Communist standoff (“Cold War”)
Spreads to Asia (China, North Korea, Vietnam) and then Americas (Cuba)
Nuclear War = BAD. Détente (easing tensions) so maybe we survive after 1962.
Protests in Eastern Europe (Berlin Wall 1989)! U.S.S.R. dissolves in 1991! Cold War ends! We’re alive! Yay!
Russia now looks weak, which Putin makes sad and so he invades the Ukraine

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20. Phase 7: Independence and a More Complex World (1945-present)
India (Hindu-secular)/Pakistan (Muslim) and then all colonies in Africa & Asia gain independence
Unrest in Latin America as the poor demand rights & “anti-Communist” dictators crush them
Unrest in the Middle East due to the creation of Jewish Israel (1948) and radical Islamic movements (Iranian Revolution & al-Qaeda)
Many Asian countries began to prosper in the global free market export economy

21. What’s going on here?