Topic 7.9 Causation in Global Conflicts: applying the historical reasoning skill of causation to the global conflicts of the twentieth century, including the world wars and their causes and consequences.

What this topic is asking

Topic 7.9 is a reasoning-skill topic. The College Board introduces no new content; it asks you to apply the historical reasoning skill of causation to the global conflicts of the twentieth century. You should be able to explain the causes and effects of the world wars, distinguish long-term from immediate causes, weigh which causes mattered most, and trace how the two wars and their consequences are linked.

What causation means on the AP exam

The exam tests three reasoning skills: causation, comparison, and continuity and change. Topic 7.9 anchors causation for the global conflicts, just as Topic 6.8 anchored it for the imperial age.

Long-term and immediate causes

The world wars show the distinction clearly.

Linking the two wars

The conflicts form a chain of cause and effect.

The two world wars are causally linked, and the exam loves this connection. The First World War's effects - imperial collapse, the harsh Treaty of Versailles, German resentment, and a weak League of Nations - created instability. The Great Depression then deepened the crisis. Together they helped aggressive fascist and militarist regimes seize power, which drove the world into the Second World War. So the first war was a major cause of the second, though not the only one; the Depression and the failure of appeasement also mattered. Tracing this chain, rather than treating the wars as separate, is high-value analysis.

The effects of global conflict

Causation also means following consequences.

The effects of the world wars reshaped the world:

• Demographic catastrophe. Tens of millions died, including the victims of the genocides of Topic 7.8.
• The end of European dominance. The wars exhausted Europe and discredited its empires, accelerating decolonization (Unit 8).
• A new superpower order. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers, setting up the Cold War.
• New institutions. The United Nations and human-rights frameworks arose to prevent future conflict (Unit 9).

Try this

Q1. Name the immediate trigger of the First World War and the immediate trigger of the Second. [Recall]

• Cue. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914); the German invasion of Poland (1939).

Q2. Explain how the First World War helped cause the Second. [Short explanation]

• Cue. The harsh Treaty of Versailles bred German resentment, the peace left a weak League and imperial collapse, and the resulting instability, worsened by the Great Depression, helped aggressive fascist regimes seize power and start the Second World War.