Global Studies Review

Global Studies Review

Global Studies Review

This is a synopsis of most of the topics that have come up on the Global Studies Regent’s Exam in the past several years. There is no way to know if the Board of Regents will include anything else, so be prepared.

Global Fundamentals

-Primary Sources: Written by people who were there or from the time of the event

-Secondary Sources: Written by people who were not there after the fact

Early People/ Neolithic Revolution

-RiverValley Civilizations China: Huang He, India: IndusRiver, Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Egypt: NileRiver

  • Why? Fertile soil for farming (irrigation), water for drinking, transportation and fishing

-Neolithic Revolution: Change from hunting and gathering to farming

  • Surplus of food = more complex societies as less people had to produce food could do other things

-Harappa and Mohenjo Daro in India are known for Urban Planning/ grid system of streets

-Hammurabi’s Code is important b/c it was an early example of a written law code

  • Written laws restrict the leader’s ability to rule however he wants and informs the people
  • Eye for an Eye…

Classical Civilizations

-Greece

  • MountainousPeninsula kept city-states isolated so they developed differently
  • Rocky soil and mountains kept farming to a minimum so they had to use their natural harbors for trading
  • Olympics, Homer (Poet),
  • Athens = Direct Democracy, humanism (value of the individual), reason
  • Philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
  • Birthplace of Western Culture
  • Sparta
  • Militaristic
  • Alexander the Great
  • Conquered Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, etc… Largest empire to that point
  • Spread Hellenic (Greek) culture to all conquered lands

-Rome

  • Republican form of government
  • Laws: Twelve Tables
  • Engineering
  • Roads
  • Aquaducts

-China: Han Dynasty

  • Civil Service
  • Road System
  • Silk Road to Roman Empire
  • Cultural Diffusion

-India: Maurya Emprire

  • Shaped by Monsoon cycle, HimalayaMtns., IndusRiver

Belief Systems

-All religions follow a code of behavior (Way of life)

-Monotheistic Religions (belief in one God)

  • Judaism
  • Holy Book= Torah
  • Yahweh
  • 10 Commandments
  • Diaspora: Jews forced from Israel by the Romans
  • Christianity
  • Holy Book = Bible
  • Jesus Christ
  • God
  • Major Sects: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, etc…
  • Islam
  • Holy Book = Koran or Quar’an
  • Prophet Muhammed
  • Allah
  • Major Sects: Sunnin, Shi’a, etc…
  • 5 Pillars
  • No god but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet
  • Stop, Drop and Pray 5 times a day
  • Hajj = Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once
  • Fast during month of Ramadan
  • Give to the Poor
  • Found in Mid East, North Africa, Central Asia, etc…

-Philosophies

  • Buddhism
  • Siddhartha Goutama is Buddha
  • Eightfold Path and Four Noble Truths
  • Goal = Give up Desire b/c it causes all suffering
  • Non-violence
  • Reincarnation
  • Coinfucianism
  • Goal: Proper behavior by all in society = harmony and peace
  • 5 Relationships
  • Father to Son
  • Ruler to Ruled
  • Older Brother to Younger Brother
  • Husband to Wife
  • Friend = Friend

-Polytheistic Religions (More thab one god)

  • Animism/ Shintoism
  • Believe all things in nature have a spirit
  • Hinduism
  • Reincarnation
  • Caste System (Rigid Social Classes)
  • GangesRiver is sacred
  • Brahma, Dharma, Moksha…

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Byzantine Empire (Eastern portion of Roman Empire)/ Russia

-Byzantine to Russia

  • Cyrillic Alphabet
  • Eastern Orthodox Christianity
  • Byzantine Architecture

-Byzantine as a continuation of Rome

  • Justinian Code
  • All Roman laws were condensed, clarified and categorized
  • Became the basis for law codes of most European countries
  • Controlled trade between Europe and Asia b/c Constantinople (capital) was located on BosporusStrait

-Byzantine Heritage

  • Preserved the accomplishments of Rome
  • Added to Roman engineering
  • Blended Christian beliefs and Greek art and philosophy

Medieval Era/Dark Ages

-Came about b/c Rome (Central Government) collapsed

  • Economy based on money also collapsed and barter system returns
  • Lack of a central government lets thieves and warlords to take control of small areas
  • People leave the cities and go to live on manors in the countryside for safety
  • People work for protection
  • Rigid social class structure: King, lord, knight, serf
  • Beginning of Feudalism
  • Roman Catholic Church remained and was the unifying force b/ it still had a centralized structure pope – bishops – priests
  • Held considerable political power
  • Did some of the things a central government should do . Road repair, communication, law and order, etc…

-Chivalry

  • Code of conduct for knights

Crusades

-Byzantine Emperor asks Pope for help b/c Muslims conquered Holy land

-Goals for Western Europeans

  • Recapture Holy Land/ defend Christianity
  • Gain wealth/glory
  • Adventure/ escape from mundane life

-Results

  • Europeans lost the Crusades: History’s Most Successful Failures
  • Renewed interest in Eastern Goods= Increased trade
  • Return of an economy based on Money= Increased wealth
  • More wealth/ Safety
  • Muslims had preserved the knowledge of Greece and Rome and had a lot of advancements of their own
  • Renewed interest in learning
  • Plague brought to Europe by traders= Massive population loss
  • Less workers make workers more valuable

Japan

-Feudalism

  • Tokugawa Shogunate
  • Bushido
  • Code of conduct for Samurai

-Influenced by China through Korea

  • Maintained a unique culture while borrowing selectively from others
  • Buddhism
  • ZenGardens
  • Tea Ceremony
  • Calligraphy

Mongols

-Gengis Khan and grandson Kublai Khan gain largest land empire ever

-Superior Military skills

-Demanded conquered people pay them tribute (Money)for protection

-Re-established Silk Road Trade route and made trade in Asia safe

-Influence on Russia

  • Helped serfs escape feudalism
  • Provided an example of a strong central government

Commercial Revolution

-New forms of business were developed

  • Banking
  • Letters of Credit
  • Joint-Stock Companies
  • Guilds

-Entrepreneurs used invested money to make more money

Renaissance

-Revival of Greek and Roman Culture

  • Humanism/ Individualism
  • Reason
  • Period of great artistic and intellectual creativity
  • New questioning attitude led to Reformation

-Began in Italy

  • Central Mediterranean location
  • Wealthy b/c of trade w/ middle east and Asia

Reformation

-Began when Martin Luther openly complained about corruption and abuses in the Catholic Church especially the sale of Indulgences (Forgiveness of sins)– 95 Theses

  • Used moveable type printing press invented by Gutenberg to get message out to most of Europe

-Ended religious unity in Europe

  • Decline in power of the Catholic Church

-Other notable Protestant leaders

  • Henry VIII: Began Church of England in protest of not being granted an annulment of his marriage by the Pope
  • John Calvin: Preached predestination meaning that you were chosen at birth to go to heaven or not

-Counter Reformation

  • Steps taken by the Catholic Church to address problems of corruption and abuses of power

Age of Exploration

-Why?

  • Ottoman Empire blocked profitable land trade routes
  • Technological advances
  • Astrolabe, compass and Mercator projection maps
  • Europeans looked for another way to get to China and India for trade goods
  • Portugal
  • Da Gama found an all water route to the East by going around Africa
  • Spain
  • Columbus sought to go east by heading west
  • Accidentally found the Americas

-Columbian Exchange

  • Global transfer of foods, good, ideas and diseases that happened as a result of Columbus’ discovery of the Americas
  • Millions of natives died as a result of diseases spread by Europeans

-Conquistadors

  • Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire
  • Francisco Pizzaro Conquered the Inca Empire
  • They were able to win b/c of superior technology (guns) and the native people were decimated by disease

Mesoamerica/ Mercantilism

-Maya, Aztec, Inca all were advanced cultures with many architectural, scientific and artistic achievements

-Mercantilism: the purpose of colonies is to ship raw materials to the colonial power and buy finished goods from the colonial power

-South America

  • AndesMtns. And AmazonRain forest limited development

-Inca

  • Advance system of roads
  • Terrace farming

Absolutism

-Divine Right: Belief that the king is given his power to rule by God, and therefore questioning his authority would be a sin

  • Similar to Chinese Mandate of Heaven

-Writers like Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince said “ the end justifies the means” defended absolutism

-Absolute Monarchs sought to centralize power within their countries

  • Louis XIV (France) “ the Sun King”
  • Peter the Great (Russia)
  • Westernized/ Modernized Russia
  • Phillip II (Spain)

Responses to Absolutism/

Enlightenment

-Enlightenment Thinkers

  • Locke: Natural rights – Life Liberty and Property
  • Rousseau: Social Contract – Consent of those governed (The People)
  • Montesquieu: Separation of Powers in different branches of Gov.
  • Voltaire: Freedom of thought, expression and religion
  • Did not believe in the Divine Right Theory
  • Thought life should be governed by logic and reason
  • Believed in a democratic republic form of government

-Limit the Power of the Monarch

  • England
  • Magna Carta
  • Habeas Corpus Act
  • English Bill of Rights

Political Revolutions/

Nationalism

-Simon Bolivar

  • Fought against the Spanish in Latin and S. America for independence

-French Revolution

  • In response to the abuses of power by the King and nobles
  • Along w/ American Revolution, inspired revolutions around the world
  • Louis XVI killed by revolutionaries
  • Robespierre takes over and imposes strict rules
  • The Reign of Terror and all “enemies of the Revolution are tried and often killed
  • Robespierre dies and Napoleon Bonaparte takes over
  • Napoleon and the French military takes over much territory
  • Napoleon attempts to conquer Russia
  • French get bogged down and extreme Russian winter along with its massive size prevent the French from taking Russia
  • Napoleon defeated by the British at Waterloo
  • Congress of Vienna (1814-15): European leaders met after the defeat of Napoleon to discuss a long lasting peace in Europe which was based on a balance of power between the various countries

-German Unification

  • Otto Von Bismarck pushed for the unification of Germany and the development of a strong military

Economic/Social Revolutions

-Industrial Revolution

  • Began in England
  • Had Coal, Iron, access to the sea
  • Increased production, led to increased urbanization (Move to cities) and unsafe working conditions, and increased pollution
  • Led to the general rise in the standard of living
  • Led to the rise of labor unions to work for workers rights

-Communism

  • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote Communist Manifesto
  • Believed the workers were being exploited by the wealthy
  • Believed workers should rise up and take over business and government for the benefit of all
  • Believed that history is determined by economic class struggle
  • Influenced Vladimir Lennin, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro

-Laissez-Faire Capitalism

  • Adam Smith believed in minimal government involvement in the economy

Age of Imperialism/Colonization

-Imperialism: Lands taken over in order to benefit the imperial power economically with raw materials for industry and a market for manufactured goods

  • By the late 19th century, China divided into spheres of influence by western powers
  • Opium Wars fought against colonial powers
  • Great Britain
  • “The Sun never sets on the British Empire” referred to the global reach of the empire during this time
  • Africa
  • Social Darwinism: Survival of the fittest justified imperialism
  • “White Man’s Burden” Book defended this idea
  • Scramble for Africa: European nations rush to take over parts of Africa for resources
  • India
  • Sepoy Mutiny was a revolt against the British in India

-Japan

  • Maiji Restoration: Emperor Maiji sought to industrialize/ Modernize Japan in order to keep from being taken over by western powers
  • Japan engaged in imperialism in order to gain resources b/c Japan was lacking sufficient supplies for true industrialization
  • Russo-Japanese War: Japan emerged as a major world power

WWI

-Causes

  • Nationalism led to problems including the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo
  • Balkan region was referred to as “the Powder Keg of Europe”
  • Secret alliances
  • Militarism

-New Military Technology

  • Tanks, machine guns, poison gas etc increased the number of casualties
  • Lower unemployment rates b/c of increased factory production during the war

-Triple Alliance: Britain, France, and Russia

-Triple Entente: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire

  • Armenians within the Ottoman Empire were victims of genocide during WWI

-Results

  • Many nations were broken up to satisfy nationalistic demands
  • Treaty of Versailles
  • Germany had to accept blame for the war
  • Had to pay reparations
  • Could not have a military and lost territory
  • Harsh terms led to an unstable Germany and laid the groundwork for WWII

Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution

-USSR becomes the first country in the world to try communism

-Lenin promised “Peace, Land, Bread” in order to gain the support of the peasantry

  • Czar Nicholas II and family were killed
  • Based on the ideas of Marx
  • People encouraged to put the needs of the state before their own

-Stalin comes to power after Lenin died and established a totalitarian dictatorship

  • Uses secret police to maintain control
  • Five Year plans were instituted in order to set nearly impossible economic goals for the USSR
  • Forced peasants to move onto collective farms
  • Led to widespread famine

Between World Wars

WWII

-Nuremberg Trials: Nazi leaders were tried and convicted for war crimes

-Holocaust: Attempt to exterminate the Jewish people by Germany during WWII

  • Led to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948

-Formation of the United Nations in 1948

  • World organization that admitted all countries and was committed to preserving world peace

Cold War

-Marshall Plan: Program implemented by the US that offered aid to European countries rebuilding after the war in exchange for a commitment not to turn to communism

-Containment Policy: Policy of the US that would do all that was necessary in order to keep communism from spreading beyond its current borders

  • Berlin Airlift
  • US and allies supplied people of West Berlin that were blockaded by USSR
  • Led to Korean War
  • Led to Vietnam War

-Competing Alliances

  • NATO: US and its allies
  • Warsaw Pact: USSR and its allies
  • USSR Builds the Berlin Wall to keep residents of Soviet controlled East Berlin from escaping to the west

-Arms Race

  • US and USSR sought to out do each other and develop new more dangerous weapons
  • Led the world to the brink of Nuclear War: Cuban Missile Crisis

-Détente: Lessening of tensions between US and USSR

  • SALT I and II: Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

Post Cold War

-Democracy

  • USSR
  • Gorbachev
  • Implements reforms of Glasnost and Perestroika
  • Boris Yeltsin
  • Pushed for further reforms
  • Led protest against attempted military coup
  • Later became Russia’s 1st democratically elected president
  • Led to the downfall and breakup of the USSR
  • India led by Gandhi, gained independence from Britain
  • Divided into 2 countries (India and Pakistan) after independence
  • Poland
  • Lech Walesa (Former labor union leader) begins Solidarity Movement to end Communism in Poland
  • Walesa elected president following fall of communism in Poland

Modern World

-Problems

  • Former Yugoslavia (Europe)
  • Genocide committed by Serbians against Bosnians in the 1990’s
  • Serbian President Milosovic tried and convicted for war crimes
  • Rwanda (Africa)
  • Genocide committed by rival tribes in the 1990’s
  • Darfur Region (Africa)
  • Genocide committed during the 2000’s, still ongoing today
  • South Africa
  • Apartheid: Separation of races
  • President FW DeKlerk seeks to end Apartheid
  • Releases Nelson Mandela from prison
  • Nelson Mandela released from prison wins first open election in South African history
  • Islamic Extremism
  • Iranian Revolution Overthrow of the Pro-American Shah Pahlavi
  • Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power
  • Taliban take control of Afghanistan
  • Becomes a haven for Islamic fundamentalists and terrorist training camps
  • Severe limits on Women’s rights
  • Latin America
  • Differences between social classes led to civil wars in the 70’s and 80’s
  • Cuba and N. Korea
  • Have found command economies to be inefficient and led to economic problems for their citizens
  • Africa
  • Drought and unrest in have caused widespread famine and a refugee problem
  • Environment
  • Global warming threat
  • Pollution
  • Destruction of the rain forests
  • Acid Rain
  • Overpopulation?

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-Trade Agreements

  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allowed for the free flow of goods between the US, Canada and Mexico
  • European Union (EU) Allowed for the free flow of goods between most European nations

-Advancements

  • Green Revolution: Tremendous increase in agricultural production since the 1960’s
  • Computers have increased efficiency, improved communication like never before

Possible Topics for Thematic Essay from past years…

-Economic, social and Political turning points

-Influence of individuals that have changed history

-Political Revolutions

-Human and physical geography: Hoe geography has affected how people live

-Justice and Human Rights

-Human Conflict

-Power of Religion

-Economic Change

-Science and Technology