New York · NYSEDSyllabus
World History syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the New York World Historysyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
Module 5: The Cold War and decolonization
Module overview →- How was the Cold War fought around the world without the superpowers fighting each other directly?Explain how the Cold War was fought through proxy wars and crises: the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the space and arms races (Framework Key Idea 10.9).12 min answer →
- How did African and Middle Eastern peoples win independence, and what challenges did the new states face?Explain decolonization in Africa and the Middle East: independence movements, the end of European empires, apartheid in South Africa, the creation of Israel, and the challenges new nations faced (Framework Key Idea 10.9).12 min answer →
- How did Asian peoples win independence, and how did communism come to China?Explain decolonization in Asia and the Chinese Revolution: Indian independence and partition, Gandhi's nonviolent movement, and the communist victory in China under Mao (Framework Key Idea 10.9).12 min answer →
- Why did the United States and the Soviet Union become rivals after World War II, and what was the Cold War?Explain the origins of the Cold War: how ideological and political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II created a global rivalry, including containment, the division of Europe, and the arms race (Framework Key Idea 10.9).12 min answer →
- Why did the Cold War end, and what changed when the Soviet Union collapsed?Explain why the Cold War ended: Gorbachev's reforms, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of a new world order (Framework Key Ideas 10.9 and 10.10).12 min answer →
Module 6: Globalization and contemporary issues
Module overview →- What are the major challenges facing the interconnected world of today?Explain contemporary global challenges: environmental change and human impact, terrorism and conflict, population pressures and migration, and the role of international cooperation (Framework Key Idea 10.10).11 min answer →
- What is globalization, and how has it tied the world's economies together?Explain globalization and economic interdependence: how trade, multinational corporations, and international organizations have created an interconnected world economy with both benefits and costs (Framework Key Idea 10.10).11 min answer →
- How has the struggle for human rights shaped the contemporary world?Explain human rights as a contemporary global issue: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the role of the United Nations and movements, and ongoing struggles against discrimination and abuse (Framework Key Idea 10.10).11 min answer →
- How have developing and newly industrializing nations sought to modernize and find their own path in the global order?Explain modernization and the role of developing nations: the non-aligned movement, the rise of newly industrializing economies, and the tension between tradition and modernization (Framework Key Idea 10.10).11 min answer →
- How have modern technologies transformed communication, medicine, and daily life across the world?Explain how modern technological and scientific change has transformed the world: advances in communication and computing, the Green Revolution and medicine, and their global benefits and challenges (Framework Key Idea 10.10).11 min answer →
- How do I write the Part III Enduring Issues Essay and earn the top score?Apply the method for the Part III Enduring Issues Essay: identify and define an enduring issue from the documents, then argue its significance and how it has endured, using document evidence and outside knowledge (Social Studies Practices A, B, C).13 min answer →
Module 2: Industrialization and imperialism
Module overview →- Why did industrialized nations build empires in Africa and Asia, and how did they rule?Explain the causes and methods of nineteenth-century imperialism: how industrialized nations sought raw materials, markets, strategic advantage, and prestige, and how they divided and ruled Africa and Asia (Framework Key Idea 10.4).13 min answer →
- How did workers, reformers, and governments respond to the problems of the industrial age?Explain the responses to the problems of industrialization: labor unions, reform movements, government legislation, and the extension of rights, including the abolition of slavery and the early women's rights movement (Framework Key Idea 10.3).11 min answer →
- How did colonized peoples resist, adapt to, or reform in response to imperialism?Explain how colonized peoples responded to imperialism through resistance, rebellion, reform, and modernization, including the Sepoy Rebellion, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Meiji Restoration in Japan (Framework Key Idea 10.4).12 min answer →
- How did industrialization change where people lived, the class structure, and daily working life?Explain the social and economic effects of industrialization: urbanization, new social classes, changes in working and living conditions, and new economic ideas such as capitalism and socialism (Framework Key Idea 10.3).12 min answer →
- How do I answer the Part II Constructed Response Question (CRQ) sets and earn every point?Apply the method for the Part II CRQ sets: answer the historical context, sourcing, and identify-and-explain questions for Cause-and-Effect, Turning Point, and Similarity and Difference sets (Social Studies Practices A, B, C).12 min answer →
- Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in Britain, and how did it change production, transport, and daily life?Explain why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and how new energy sources, machines, factories, and transport transformed production and society (Framework Key Idea 10.3).12 min answer →
Module 4: The interwar years and World War II
Module overview →- What is genocide, and how did the world respond after the Holocaust to protect human rights?Explain genocide as an enduring issue and the postwar response: the Nuremberg Trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and later genocides (Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, the Balkans) (Framework Key Ideas 10.8 and 10.10).12 min answer →
- How did the failures of the peace, aggression, and appeasement lead to World War II?Explain the causes of World War II: the unresolved tensions of World War I, the Great Depression, the aggression of Germany, Italy, and Japan, the failure of appeasement, and the weakness of the League of Nations (Framework Key Idea 10.8).12 min answer →
- How did the Great Depression spread worldwide and destabilize governments?Explain the causes and global effects of the Great Depression: how the economic collapse of the 1930s spread through an interconnected world economy and created conditions for political extremism (Framework Key Idea 10.7).11 min answer →
- What is totalitarianism, and how did fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism gain and hold power?Explain the rise of totalitarian regimes between the wars: how fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany, and Stalinism in the Soviet Union used crisis, propaganda, repression, and state control to gain and hold power (Framework Key Idea 10.7).12 min answer →
- How was World War II fought worldwide, and what was the Holocaust?Explain the course and global scale of World War II and the Holocaust: the major fronts and turning points, the war's unprecedented destruction, and the systematic Nazi genocide of Jews and other targeted groups (Framework Key Idea 10.8).13 min answer →
Module 3: Nationalism and World War I
Module overview →- How do I reason about cause and effect, turning points, and continuity and change on the exam?Apply chronological reasoning and causation (Social Studies Practice B): distinguish long-term and immediate causes from effects, identify and explain turning points, and analyze continuity and change over time.11 min answer →
- What long-term forces and immediate spark caused World War I?Explain the causes of World War I: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism (the long-term causes) and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the spark) (Framework Key Idea 10.6).12 min answer →
- How was World War I fought, and how did it reshape the world and sow the seeds of the next war?Explain how World War I was fought (total war, new technology, trench warfare) and its consequences: massive casualties, the fall of empires, the Treaty of Versailles, and the conditions that led to future conflict (Framework Key Idea 10.6).12 min answer →
- How did nationalism unify some peoples into nation-states while dividing multi-ethnic empires?Explain nationalism and its effects: how it unified Germany and Italy into nation-states and how it strained multi-ethnic empires, fuelling competition and conflict (Framework Key Idea 10.5).11 min answer →
- How did World War I help cause the Russian Revolution, and what kind of state did it create?Explain the causes and outcome of the Russian Revolution: how war, hardship, and inequality led to the fall of the tsar and the Bolshevik seizure of power, creating the world's first communist state (Framework Key Ideas 10.6 and 10.7).12 min answer →
Module 1: Revolutions and the Enlightenment
Module overview →- How did Enlightenment ideas and the Atlantic revolutions spread to Haiti and Latin America, and with what results?Explain the causes and consequences of the Haitian Revolution and the Latin American independence movements: how enslaved and colonized peoples used Enlightenment ideas and grievances to overthrow colonial and slave systems (Framework Key Idea 10.2).12 min answer →
- How do I read a stimulus document on the Global II exam, and what is an enduring issue?Apply the document skills the Global II exam rewards: reading a source line for author, date, and purpose, identifying point of view and reliability, interpreting maps, charts, and cartoons, and recognizing an enduring issue (Social Studies Practices A, C, D).12 min answer →
- How did Enlightenment ideas turn into the American and French Revolutions, and what lasting effects did they have?Explain the causes, key ideas, and consequences of the American and French Revolutions: how Enlightenment ideas, grievances, and demands for rights produced revolution, and the political and social changes that followed (Framework Key Idea 10.2).13 min answer →
- How did Enlightenment ideas about reason, natural rights, and government challenge traditional authority?Explain how the Enlightenment applied reason and natural law to society and government: natural rights, the social contract, popular sovereignty, and separation of powers, and how these ideas challenged absolutism and inspired revolution and reform (Framework Key Idea 10.2).12 min answer →
- What did the world look like in 1750, and how did powerful states, empires, and trade networks shape it?Describe the world in 1750: the powerful Eurasian land-based empires, coastal African kingdoms, and growing European maritime empires, and explain how their interactions reshaped global trade networks (Framework Key Idea 10.1).11 min answer →