World History and World Cultures

Course Curriculum Map

Social Studies Department

Mercer Island High School


Topics of Study

·  Early Man and Early Civilizations

·  Ancient Greece

·  Ancient Roman Republic and Empire

·  World Religions

·  The Middle-Ages

·  Renaissance and Reformation

·  The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Exploration

·  Enlightenment and Revolution

·  Industrialization and the New Modern World

·  Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, and Alliances

·  World War I and the Russian Revolution

·  World War II and the Holocaust


Early Man and Early Civilizations

Central Focus/Essential Questions: How did the Agricultural Revolution fundamentally change life for human beings? What have been the advantages and disadvantages of that shift? How did the Agricultural Revolution lead to Civilization? How can civilization be defined? What comparisons can be made between various early civilizations, both eastern and western?

Themes:

Culture

Cultural Relativism

Civilization

Civilized and Uncivilized

Religion

Early Government

Social Stratification

Gender Inequality

Possible Topics:

Hunting and Gathering

Agricultural Revolution

Geography—the River Valley

Development of writing

Hammurabi’s Code

Egypt

China

India

Mesopotamia/Ancient Middle East

Confucianism

Daoism

Legalism

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 1-4

Possible Secondary Source Selections:

Hunting and Gathering and the Emergence of Agriculture (reading)

Of Headhunters and Soldiers, Rosaldo

Ilongot Headhunting, Olivariez

Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights, Fleur-Lobban

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond (selections)

Mummification (National Geographic)

A Thoroughly Modern Process (Archeology Magazine)

Foot-binding (article)

Civil Service Exams in China (article)

Possible Primary Source Document Selections:

Hammurabi’s Code

Gilgamesh

Possible Media Resource Selections:

The God’s Must Be Crazy (motion picture)

Lascaux Cave website

Evolution (Walter Cronkite)

Mesopotamia (time life)

Secrets of the Pharos (National Geographic)

Ancient China (Time Life)

Pyramids (PBS)


Ancient Greece

Central Focus/Essential Questions: Why is Ancient Greece widely regarded as the Cradle of Western Civilization? What have been Greece’s greatest legacies?

Themes:

Art and Architecture—the search for the perfect form

Greek Geography and the Polis

Philosophy

From Monarchy to Democracy, governmental evolution

Free Speech

Greek Myth

Possible Topics:

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

The Parthenon

Oedipus Rex

Homer

Iliad

Odyssey

The Polis

Athens vs. Sparta

Peloponnesian War

Trojan War

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapter 5

Possible Secondary Source Selections:

The Polis, Kitto

When Free Speech Was First Condemned, Stone

Greek vs. Greek

The Socratic Method

The Peloponnesian War

Possible Primary Source Document Selections:

Oedipus Rex (selections)

The Iliad (selections)

The Odyssey (selections)

Pericles Funeral Oration

Allegory of the Cave, Plato

The Death of Socrates, Plato

Possible Media Resource Selections:

Crucible of Civilization (PBS)

Greek Thought (The Western Tradition)


Ancient Roman Republic and Empire

Central Focus/Essential Questions: What various factors led to the transformation of Rome from a Republic to an Empire? What were the various factors that led to the decline and fall of Roman Empire? To what extent can these factors be applied to other empires, past and present? What was the nature of Roman Rule?

Themes:

Roman Culture and Values

Roman compared to the United States

Republican government

Roman Achievements

Possible Topics:

Gladiatorial Contests

“Bread and Circuses”

Julius Caesar

Roman Law

Roman Cities and Infrastructure

Pax Romana

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Punic Wars

Roman Trade and Economy

Rise of Christianity

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapter 6

Possible Secondary Source Selections:

Gladiatorial Contests and Roman Culture

Law in the Roman Empire

Possible Primary Source Document Selections:

Of Romulus and Remus: How Rome First Came to be Built

Of Horatius: How He Kept the Bridge

Lucius (Titus) Quinctius Cincinnatus

The Aeneid, Virgil

The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Plutarch

Possible Media Resource Selections:

Gladiator (motion picture)

Roman City (PBS)

The Decline of the Roman Emipre (Western Tradition)

The Fall of the Roman Emipre (Western Tradition)


World Religions

Central Focus/Essential Questions: What are the similarities and differences of the various religions that emerge in the ancient and early medieval world, both in terms of doctrine and their historical development? How have the various faiths interacted in the past and today? What effect has religion had on social, political, and economic developments?

Themes:

The role of ideas and beliefs in shaping people’s approach to the world

Possible Topics:

Hebrew civilizations/Judaism

Rise of Christianity

Rise of Islam

Rise of Hinduism

Rise of Buddhism

Basic tenets of the various faiths

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 2, 3, 4. 6, 11 (selections)

Secondary Source Selections:

Sunni and Shi’a, David Kremer

Primary Source Document Selections:

Selections from various original religious texts (Bible, Koran, etc.)

Media Resource Selections:

Empire of Faith (PBS)

Hajj (Nightline)

Pillars of Faith (Kramer)

Western Tradition (Eugene Weber)


The Middle Ages

Central Focus/Essential Questions: To what extent was the middle-ages a period of backwardness and lack of human progress, or was it a period of technological germination and subtle but important changes?

Themes:

Rise of Europe and the West

Rise of the Christian Church in filling the void of the Roman Empire

Rise of the Germanic Kingdoms in filling the void of the Roman Empire

Possible Topics:

Feudalism

“The Age of Faith”

Crusades

Cathedrals

The Black Death

High Middle-Ages

Agricultural Changes

Manor System

Revival of Towns and Trade

Peasant Revolt

Magna Carta

Hundred Years War

Rise of the Islamic Empires Islamic/Christian Cultural Diffusion

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 8-9

Secondary Source Selections:

The Crusades, Harold Lamb (selections)

A World Lit Only By Fire, William Manchester (selections)

Technology and Invention in the Middle-Ages, Gies and Gies (selections)

The Black Death, Mark Damen

Material Civilization: Crisis and Recovery, Peters

The Manor System

Rise of Towns and Trade

Primary Source Document Selections:

Town Charter of Lorris

Magna Carta

Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)

Media Resource Selections:

The Crusades (History Channel)

History’s Turning Points: The Black

Death

Cathedral, David Macaulay (PBS)

Castle, David Macaulay (PBS)

The Western Tradition


Renaissance and Reformation

Central Focus/Essential Questions: What changes in the high and late middle-ages brought about a transition to Renaissance? Why did the Reformation happen when and where it did? Was the Renaissance simply a rebirth of classical ideas, or does it represent an entirely new way of looking at the world? Taken together, should the Renaissance and the Reformation be considered the start of the “modern world?” Does the Reformation represent a liberalizing event of the old medieval hierarchies, or was it a conservative reaction to religious institutions that had strayed from their biblical roots? Why did the Reformation happen where it did?

Themes:

Clash of science and religion

Possible Topics:

Art (themes/style/techniques)

Humanism

Reformation and Counter Reformation

Theology and Theologians

Italian vs. Northern Renaissance

Political Theory of the Renaissance (esp. Machiavelli)

Renaissance Man (concept of)

The Printing Press

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapter 14,15

Secondary Source Selections:

The Reformation: A Historical Essay

The Breakdown of Medieval Civilization

Renaissance Humanism (from the dictionary of the history of ideas)

The Logic of Indulgences, Richard Hooker

Primary Source Document Selections:

“The Prince”(Machiavelli)

Mirandola “On the dignity of Man”

Renaissance Artwork (various)

Petrarch (various)

Media Resource Selections:

Sister Wendy (The Age of Genius)

The Day the Universe Changed (Edmund Burke)

Martin Luther

A&E Biography: Michelangelo

The Catholic Reformation (The Christians)

The Sword and the Cross (The Christians)

The Western Tradition


Scientific Revolution and The Age of Exploration

Central Focus/Essential Questions: Why did new ideas about heaven and earth challenge the Catholic Church? How did the changes in thinking associated with the Renaissance pave the way for advances in science and navigation? What were the various motivations for European exploration? What were the various impacts of European exploration?

Themes:
Culture Clash

Possible Topics:

Heliocentism

Scientific Revolution

Age of Exploration

Scientific Method

European colonization

Mercantilism

Spice Trade

Slave Trade

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 14, 15, 16

Secondary Source Selections:

An Age of Discovery and Expansion, Spielvogel

Columbus (Howard Zinn)

“Memory of Fire” (Eduardo Galeano)

“Collision at Cajamarca”(Guns, Germs, & Steel) Diamond

“Yali’s Question” (Guns, Germs, and Steel) Diamond

Primary Source Document Selections:

Don Quixote (Cervantes)

Letter from the 1st Voyage (de las Casas)

Journal of Columbus

Media Resource Selections:

The Mission

Guns, Germs, and Steel (PBS)

The Western Tradition

“The Columbian Exchange” (Seeds of Change)


Enlightenment and Revolutions

Central Focus/Essential Questions: What new ideas did Enlightenment thinkers bring to the perennial question of “who should rule?” How have the Enlightenment ideas secularism, Progress, and Reason influenced the modern world? Why do many scholars argue that the modern world starts with the Enlightenment? How did Enlightenment philosophical thought about government affect real world governments? How did it influence the construction of government in America?

Themes:

Possible Topics:

Secularism

Progress

Reason

Limited Monarchy

Absolutism

The Guillotine

Rein of Terror

Hobbes

Locke

Montesquieu

Diderot

The Encyclopedia

Voltaire

Rousseau

Natural Rights

The General Will

The Candide

Napoleon

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 17,18,19

Secondary Source Selections:

An Age of Enlightenment, Spielvogel

Newspaper articles about progress, secularism, and reason in the modern world

Primary Source Document Selections:

Candide, Voltaire

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon

Selections from various Enlightenment philosophers, including Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot, Voltaire, and others

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Media Resource Selections:

The Western Tradition

Baroque Music (selections)


Industrialization and the New Modern World

Central Focus/Essential Questions: How did the Industrial Revolution change patterns of living for different groups of people? What were the positive and negative results of the Industrial Revolution? What were the important cultural and social responses to the industrial revolution?

Themes:

Changing patterns of living and economic processes

Possible Topics:

Luddism/Luddites

Factory Work

Mine Work

Environmental Impact

Romantic Movement

Proto-Industrialization (The putting-out system)

Bessemer Process

Economies of Scale

The Market Revolution

Frankenstein

Critics: Malthus, Marx, J.S. Mill

Mechanization

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapter 20, 22

Secondary Source Selections:

A Luddism for Today, Sale

Various newspaper and journal articles addressing the concept of a 2nd industrial revolution

Primary Source Document Selections:

The Chimney Sweeper, Blake

Testimony Gathered By The Ashley Mines Commission

Frankenstein, Shelly (selections)

Rules for Workers in the Factory of Benck

Media Resource Selections:

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (motion picture)

Industrial rev video from the library (BBC)

The Western Tradition

Nationalism, Imperialism, Militarism, Alliances and World War I

Central Focus/Essential Questions: How did Imperialism in the late 19th Century differ from the colonialism of the 16th and 17th centuries? What immediate and long term effects did Imperialism have on the non-western world? How did nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and alliances lead to World War I? How did Industrialization change the nature of warfare by 1914?

Themes:

Nationalism

Imperialism

Alliances

Balance of Power

Militarism

Possible Topics:

White Man’s Burden

Religious Humanitarianism

Social Darwinism

Isolationism

Partition of Africa, Middle-east

Trench warfare

Total war

Machine gun

Submarine

Airplane

Eastern vs. Western Front

Treaty of Versailles

Wilson’s 14 points

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 23, 25, 27

Secondary Source Selections:

To Shoot an Elephant, Orwell

The Origins of World War I, Sheffield

The Western Front and the Birth of Total War, Badsey

Primary Source Document Selections:

All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque

The White Man’s Burden, Kipling

The German Fatherland, Arndt

Patrie, Voltaire

Wilson’s 14 Points

Poetry of Wilfred Owen (various selections)

Media Resource Selections:

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Great War (PBS)

The Western Tradition

WWII and the Holocaust

Central Focus/Essential Questions: What factors led to the rise of Hitler and the spread of fascism? How did the Treaty of Versailles contribute to the outbreak of WWII? How and why did the Holocaust happen? How did new technologies contribute to the deadliness of WWII?

Themes:

Scape-goating

Genocide

Fascism

Appeasement

Anti-Semitism

Modern Warfare

Possible Topics:

Hitler

German apathy?

Mussolini

Leninism

Stalinism

Night of Broken Glass

Holocaust

Concentration Camps

Munich (appeasement)

Atomic Bomb

War in the Pacific

European Theater

Weimer Republic

Pearl Harbor

Propaganda

Treaty of Paris

Air Power/Bombing

Nuremberg Trials

After effects: cold war and decolonization

Axis vs. Allies

Reading Assignments:

Textbook: World History: Connections to Today, Ellis and Esler: Chapters 30, 31

Secondary Source Selections:

The acquiescence of the German People, Haskew

Primary Source Document Selections:

Various propaganda selections

Anti-Jewish Laws in Germany (selections)

Possible Media Resource Selections:

Triumph of the Will

Auschwitz

Life is Beautiful

Au Revoir Les Enfants

Schindler’s List

The Pianists

The Western Tradition