Course Description
World History B begins with imperialism and provides detailed accounts of World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. It also explores the effects of these major events on various countries in the world, the spread of democracy vs. Communism, nuclear arms, the U.N., the struggle for peace, the establishment of the world order as we know it today, and the challenges faced by the modern world (the environment, industrialization in under-developed countries, globalization, etc.) World History for a Global Age - Book Two is required.
Credits: 5
Languages: English and Spanish
Course Content
Unit 6 – Imperialism
California State Curriculum Standards for World History in Grade Ten
Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of the following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America, and the Philippines. (10.4)
Describe the rise of industrial economies and their link to imperialism and colonialism (e.g., the role played by national security and strategic advantage; moral issues raised by the search for national hegemony, Social Darwinism, and the missionary impulse; material issues such as land, resources, and technology). (10.4.1)
Discuss the locations of the colonial rule of such nations as England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. (10.4.2)
Explain imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the varied immediate and long-term responses by the people under colonial rule. (10.4.3)
Describe the independence struggles of the colonized regions of the world, including the roles of leaders, such as Sun Yat-Sen in China, and the roles of ideology and religion. (10.4.4)
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will be able to:
Identify the political, economic, and social motivations of imperialism.
List the effects of imperialism on the continents of Africa and Asia.
Explain the importance of the Monroe Doctrine to American imperialism and describe how the United States acquired colonies and the methods in which they administered these colonies.
Explain how political change came to Great Britain and parts of its empire during the 1800s and describe the development of the British dominions of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Describe the effects of the changing political structure in Great Britain on women.
Unit 7 – World War I
California State Curriculum Standards for World History in Grade Ten
Students analyze the causes and course of the First World War. (10.5)
Analyze the arguments for entering into war presented by leaders from all sides of the Great War and the role of political and economic rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, domestic discontent and disorder, and propaganda and nationalism in mobilizing the civilian population in support of “total war”. (10.5.1)
Examine the principal theatres of battle, major turning points, and the importance of geographic factors in military decisions and outcomes (e.g., topography, waterways, distance, climate). (10.5.2)
Explain how the Russian Revolution and the entry of the United States affected the course and outcome of the war. (10.5.3)
Understand the nature of the war and its human costs (military and civilian) on all sides of the conflict, including how colonial peoples contributed to the war effort. (10.5.4)
Discuss human rights violations and genocide, including the Ottoman government’s actions against Armenian citizens. (10.5.5)
Students analyze the effects of the First World War. (10.6)
Analyze the aims and negotiating roles of world leaders, the terms and influences of the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and the causes and effects of the United States’ rejection of the League of Nations on world politics. (10.6.1)
Describe the effects of the war and resulting peace treaties on population movement, the international economy, and shifts in the geographic and political borders of Europe and the Middle East. (10.6.2)
Understand the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians. (10.6.3)
Discuss the influence of World War I on literature, art, and intellectual life in the West (e.g., Pablo Picasso, the “lost generation” of Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway). (10.6.4)
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will be able to:
Describe how the growth of nationalist feelings affected Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and explain the causes of revolutionary movements around Europe prior to World War I.
Identify the underlying causes, events, results, and the new innovations and technological advances of World War I.
Understand the causes and results of the Russian Revolution, explain the rise of communism in Russia after World War I, and explain the role Vladimir Ilyich Lenin played in the establishing of a new Russian state.
Describe the impact of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany, understand its terms and conditions, and discuss the reasons that it was ultimately unsuccessful.
Identify how World War I changed the way people viewed the world, describe the changing roles of women after World War I, understand why the economy became better after the war and what effects the booming economy had on the United States.
Examine various artistic movements of the period.
Unit 8 – World War II
California State Curriculum Standards for World History in Grade Ten
Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of the following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America, and the Philippines. (10.4)
Describe the independence struggles of the colonized regions of the world, including the roles of leaders, such as Sun Yat-sen in China and the roles of ideology and religion. (10.4.4)
Students analyze the effects of the First World War. (10.6)
Analyze the aims and negotiating roles of world leaders, the terms and influence of the Treaty of Versailles and Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and the causes and the effects of the United States rejection of the League of Nations on world politics. (10.6.1)
Describe the effects of the war and resulting peace treaties on population movement, the international economy, and shifts in the geographic and political borders of Europe and the Middle East. (10.6.2)
Understand the widespread disillusionment with prewar institutions, authorities, and values that resulted in a void that was later filled by totalitarians. (10.6.3)
Students analyze the rise of totalitarian governments after World War I. (10.7)
Understand the causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin’s use of totalitarian means to seize and maintain control (e.g. the Gulag). (10.7.1)
Trace Stalin’s rise to power in the Soviet Union and the connection between economic policies, political policies, the absence of a free press, and systematic violations of human rights (e.g., the Terror Famine in Ukraine). (10.7.2)
Analyze the rise, aggression, and human costs of totalitarian regimes (Fascist and Communist) in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, noting especially their common and dissimilar traits. (10.7.3)
Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II. (10.8)
Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939. (10.8.1)
Understand the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United State prior to the outbreak of World War II. (10.8.2)
Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theatres of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of geographic factors. (10.8.3)
Describe the political, diplomatic, and military leaders during the war (e.g., Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower). (10.8.4)
Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians. (10.8.5)
Discuss the human costs of the war, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, Britain, the United States, China, and Japan. (10.8.6)
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will be able to:
Discuss why democracy survived in Great Britain, France, and the United States despite economic and political problems.
Describe the reasons that the United States became more influential in world affairs after World War I.
Identify the forces of nationalism affecting events in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa following World War I and identify the nationalist leaders and the methods they used to achieve their goals.
Recognize how Stalin’s rule affected developments in the Soviet Union and describe how he maintained power over his people using terror.
Discuss why democracy survived in Great Britain, France, and the United States despite economic and political problems and the economic hardships that the Western democracies endured after the war.
Outline the factors that led to the rise of Fascist dictatorships in Italy and Germany after World War I.
Identify ways in which World War II was a product of World War I.
Describe the direct causes of World War II, explain why and how the major powers formed alliances, why the U.S. entered the war, the major events and turning points, that occurred during the war, and the results/aftermath of the war.
Understand Hitler’s policies and the Holocaust.
Discuss how new technology affected the conduct of the war.
Unit 9 – The Cold War: A New World Order
California State Curriculum Standards for World History in Grade Ten
Students analyze the international developments in the post–World War II world. (10.9)
Compare the economic and military power shifts caused by the war, including the Yalta Pact, the development of nuclear weapons, Soviet control over Eastern European nations, and the economic recoveries of Germany and Japan. (10.9.1)
Analyze the causes of the Cold War, with the free world on one side and Soviet client states on the other, including competition for influence in such places as Egypt, the Congo, Vietnam, and Chile. (10.9.2)
Understand the importance of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which established the pattern for America’s postwar policy of supplying economic and military aid to prevent the spread of Communism and the resulting economic and political competition in arenas such as Southeast Asia (i.e., the Korean War, Vietnam War), Cuba, and Africa. (10.9.3)
Analyze the Chinese Civil War, the rise of Mao Tse-tung, and the subsequent political and economic upheavals in China (e.g., the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square uprising). (10.9.4)
Describe the uprisings in Poland (1952), Hungary (1956), and Czechoslovakia (1968) and those countries’ resurgence in the 1970s and 1980s as people in Soviet satellites sought freedom from Soviet control. (10.9.5)
Discuss the establishment and work of the United Nations and the purposes and functions of the Warsaw Pact, SEATO, NATO, and the Organization of American States. (10.9.8)
Students analyze instances of nation-building in the contemporary world in at least two of the following regions or countries: the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and China. (10.10)
Understand the challenges in the regions, including their geopolitical, cultural, military, and economic significance and the international relationships in which they are involved. (10.10.1)
Describe the recent history of the regions, including political divisions and systems, key leaders, religious issues, natural features, resources, and population patterns. (10.10.2)
Discuss the important trends in the regions today and whether they appear to serve the cause of individual freedom and democracy. (10.10.3)
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will be able to:
Identify the events that caused and aggravated the cold war.
Explain the reasons the United Nations was created and what is its purpose.
Explain the provisions and results of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.
Understand the reasons why Germany was divided and explain the major changes that occurred in Europe after World War II.
Explain the purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Describe how Eastern Europe recovered after World War II and explain how postwar recovery in Western Europe differed from that of Eastern Europe.
Explain the growth in tensions during the 1950s,why it was necessary for the cold war to thaw in the 1960s, and the effects of the cold war on politics in the United States.
Identify ways in which the various European nations tried unify in order to compete in world markets and explain the changes that occurred in Canada, Japan, and Korea after WWII.
Explain the general details of the Korean War.
Explain how communism affected the internal and external policies of China and understand the role of Mao Zedong in China’s history and his policies to revitalize China’s economy.
Explain causes and effects of the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989.
Understand China’s role in world affairs today and the effects of the changing global market on its communist system and its changing relationships with Tibet and Taiwan.
Describe the events leading to the creation of Israel, Arab nationalism, and early Arab-Israeli conflicts and the problems the countries faced.
Understand problems nations Asia faced after shedding colonial rule and the problems faced by various countries in the region.
Explain the causes and effects of the Vietnam War and understand the role the United States played in the Vietnam War.
Understand how former colonies such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia succeeded or failed in establishing strong democratic governments and sound economies.
Unit 10 – An Interconnected Globe: The World Today
California State Curriculum Standards for World History in Grade Ten
Students analyze the international developments in the post–World War II world. (10.9)
Compare the economic and military power shifts caused by the war, including the Yalta Pact, the development of nuclear weapons, Soviet control over Eastern European nations, and the economic recoveries of Germany and Japan. (10.9.1)
Describe the uprisings in Poland (1952), Hungary (1956), and Czechoslovakia (1968) and those countries’ resurgence in the 1970s and 1980s as people in Soviet satellites sought freedom from Soviet control. (10.9.4)
Understand how the forces of nationalism developed in the Middle East, how the Holocaust affected world opinion regarding the need for a Jewish state, and the significance and effects of the location and establishment of Israel on world affairs. (10.9.6)
Analyze the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the weakness of the command economy, burdens of military commitments, and growing resistance to Soviet rule by dissidents in satellite states and the non-Russian Soviet republics. (10.9.7)
Discuss the establishment and work of the United Nations and the purposes and functions of the Warsaw Pact, SEATO, NATO, and the Organization of American States. (10.9.8)
Students analyze instances of nation-building in the contemporary world in at least two of the following regions or countries: the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and China. (10.10)
Understand the challenges in the regions, including their geopolitical, cultural, military, and economic significance and the international relationships in which they are involved. (10.10.1)
Describe the recent history of the regions, including political divisions and systems, key leaders, religious issues, natural features, resources, and population patterns. (10.10.2)
Discuss the important trends in the regions today and whether they appear to serve the cause of individual freedom and democracy. (10.10.3)
Students analyze the integration of countries into the world economy and the information, technological, and communications revolutions (e.g., television, satellites, computers.) (10.11)
Unit Objectives
Upon completion of this Unit, students will be able to:
Identify the limits of Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union and describe the events leading to the coup against Gorbachev and subsequent dissolution of the U.S.S.R.
Explain the challenges facing Yeltsin after the creation of the Russian Federation.
Describe the reasons for nuclear cooperation between the superpowers.
Describe the causes underlying the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the challenges facing the newly democratic countries.
Describe the recent political and economic developments in the United States.
Describe the changes in Western Europe as the Cold War ended, which included the reunification of Germany and identify the challenges facing Western Europe today.
Explain the debate over the U.N.’s role in world affairs and describe the positive and negative impact of increased communication and contact among various nations.
Identify the role of the United States, Japan and Western Europe in the global market.
Describe the various concerns related to the environment, the impact of global warming on the future of the earth, and identify the ways in which the environment is suffering due to industrialization.
Describe the ways in which technology has changed our lives today, explain the negative implications of advanced technology such as genetic engineering and computer viruses, and understand the ways in which advanced technology and post-cold war sentiment inspired changes in values and cultures around the world.
Understand international desires to maintain peace and provide basic human rights for all citizens of the world.
