How did the internal collapse of old empires and the rise of new ideologies shift global power after 1900?
Topic 7.1 Shifting Power after 1900: the collapse or transformation of land-based empires and the rise of new political ideologies and movements at the start of the twentieth century.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 7.1, explaining the shift in global power after 1900: the collapse of the Qing, Ottoman, and Russian empires, the Russian and Chinese revolutions, and the rise of new ideologies like communism and the end of dynastic rule.
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What this topic is asking
Topic 7.1 covers the shift in global power at the start of the twentieth century. It asks you to explain the collapse or transformation of the old land-based empires - the Qing, Ottoman, and Russian empires - and the rise of new political ideologies and movements, especially communism and nationalism, that filled the gap and reshaped world power before and during the world wars.
What "shifting power" means here
The collapse of the old empires
Three great empires fell or transformed in a generation.
Shared causes of collapse
The collapses had common roots.
- Internal weakness and failed reform. Defensive reforms (Topic 5.6) had not been enough to modernize these empires fast enough to survive.
- Economic dependence. Economic imperialism (Topic 6.5) had left them dependent on and dominated by industrial powers.
- Rising nationalism. Subject peoples increasingly demanded their own nation-states, straining multiethnic empires.
- The shock of war. The First World War was often the immediate trigger, breaking empires already under strain.
New ideologies fill the vacuum
What rose was as important as what fell.
The collapse of dynastic empires opened space for powerful new ideologies and movements. Communism triumphed in Russia and inspired movements worldwide (Topic 8.4). Nationalism drove the creation of new nation-states and anticolonial movements. Later, in the strained interwar years, fascism and other authoritarian movements would rise (Topic 7.4). The early twentieth century thus replaced the old order of empires with a contest of mass ideologies, setting the stage for the global conflicts of the rest of the unit.
Try this
Q1. Name the 1917 revolution that created the world's first communist state. [Recall]
- Cue. The Russian Revolution (the Bolshevik seizure of power).
Q2. Explain one shared cause of the collapse of the Qing, Ottoman, and Russian empires. [Short explanation]
- Cue. All suffered internal weakness, failed reform, and economic dependence on industrial powers, while rising nationalism strained their multiethnic populations, and the shock of the First World War often triggered the final collapse.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2021 (style)3 marksBriefly identify ONE empire that collapsed or transformed around 1900. Briefly explain ONE cause of its collapse. Briefly explain ONE new ideology that gained power in this period.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per bullet.
A. Identify: the Qing dynasty in China collapsed in 1911, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule.
B. Cause: internal weakness, foreign economic domination, and failed reforms undermined the Qing, while nationalist revolutionaries pushed for a republic.
C. New ideology: communism gained power when the Bolsheviks seized control in the Russian Revolution of 1917, creating the first communist state.
Each bullet must be concrete.
AP 2023 (style)6 marksEvaluate the most significant cause of the collapse of land-based empires in the period c. 1900 to the present.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point causation rubric.
Thesis (1): "The most significant cause of imperial collapse was the internal weakness produced by failed reform, economic dependence, and rising nationalism, though military defeat in war was the immediate trigger for empires like the Ottomans and Russia."
Contextualization (1): situate the collapses in the strains of industrialization, imperialism, and new ideologies.
Evidence (2): the fall of the Qing in 1911; the Russian Revolution of 1917; the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War; rising nationalism and communism.
Analysis (2): explain HOW internal weakness and new ideologies undermined the old empires, then add complexity by weighing them against the role of world war as the immediate trigger.
Related dot points
- Topic 7.2 Causes of World War I: the long-term and immediate causes of the First World War, including militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 7.2, explaining the causes of the First World War: the long-term MAIN factors (militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism) and the immediate trigger, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.
- Topic 8.4 Spread of Communism After 1900: the spread of communism through revolution and the varied paths and effects of communist movements, including the Russian and Chinese revolutions and their economic and social policies.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 8.4, explaining the spread of communism: the Russian and Chinese revolutions, the policies of Stalin and Mao including collectivization and the Great Leap Forward, the human costs, and communism's varied paths and effects worldwide.
- Topic 5.2 Nationalism and Revolutions in the Period from 1750 to 1900: the ways the rise of nationalism and the spread of Enlightenment ideas produced revolutions and movements to reshape political boundaries.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 5.2, explaining how nationalism and Enlightenment ideas drove the Atlantic revolutions - American, French, Haitian, and Latin American - and the unifications of Italy and Germany, with the causes and consequences of each.
- Topic 4.6 Internal and External Challenges to State Power from 1450 to 1750: the internal and external factors, including rebellions and resistance, that both challenged and strengthened the power of states in this period.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 4.6, explaining the internal and external challenges to state power between 1450 and 1750, including peasant and religious revolts, slave resistance, and rivalries between states, and how rulers responded to consolidate authority.
- 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.
A focused answer to AP World History Topic 7.9, the causation reasoning skill applied to Unit 7: explaining the causes and effects of the world wars, distinguishing long-term from immediate causes, and how to structure a causation essay on twentieth-century conflict.
Sources & how we know this
- AP World History: Modern Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)