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=Modern World History =

Mrs. Ruthman
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This class is designed to introduce you to the history of the world since the 16th century. This period is referred to as “modern” not because it is a period of modern inventions like television and computers, but because modern thinking marks it. This modern thinking is the fundamental belief that people can understand and improve the world in which they live. On the basis of this belief, there have been radical changes in politics, economics, religion, culture, technology and even geography. While many changes in thinking are rooted in Western Europe, this is a world history course. This course will address forces and patterns of change in Africa, Latin America and Asia as well as in Europe over the last 500 years. This course will take into account the importance of science and technology, political revolutions, nationalism, industrialism, imperialism, and the interdependence of nations as they developed in order to give students insights into many of the issues facing our world today. While we will be studying the causes of global concerns such as war and poverty, we also will focus attention on people and organizations working to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.

Our units of study will be the following: Introduction Unit 1: Conflict in the Middle East (Iraq and Israel/Palestine) Unit 2: Global Trade Unit 3: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment Unit 4: Political Revolutions Unit 5: Industrialization Unit 6: Imperialism Unit 7: The Era of the World Wars Unit 8: 20th Century China Unit 9: Global Issues