Virginia SOL World History II (WHII) Module 5: a complete overview of Latin American independence, nationalism, the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, World War I, and the Russian Revolution

What Module 5 actually demands

Module 5 covers the long nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth, drawing on WHII.9 to WHII.14. You need the Latin American independence movements, nineteenth-century nationalism and the unification of Italy and Germany, the Industrial Revolution, the age of imperialism, World War I, and the Russian Revolution. The dominant skill is cause and effect: explaining what drove industrialization and imperialism and how the world stumbled into World War I and revolution.

This guide ties together the matching dot-point pages, each with its own practice questions: Latin American independence, nationalism and unification, the Industrial Revolution, the age of imperialism, World War I, and the Russian Revolution.

Latin American independence

The Latin American independence movements (about 1810 to 1825) were led by creoles resentful of exclusion by peninsulares, inspired by Enlightenment ideas and the American, French, and Haitian revolutions, and triggered by the weakening of Spain after Napoleon's 1808 invasion. Bolivar (north) and San Martin (south) won independence for most of Spanish America, though creole elites often kept power.

Nationalism and unification

After the Congress of Vienna (1815) tried to restore the old order, nationalism, devotion to one's nation based on shared identity, kept rising. Italy was unified by about 1870 (Cavour and Garibaldi), and Germany was unified into the German Empire in 1871 by Bismarck of Prussia, who used realpolitik and war. The new, powerful Germany shifted the European balance of power.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain (coal, iron, capital, workforce, inventions like the steam engine) and shifted production to factories. Its effects: urbanization, harsh conditions and child labor, and a new middle class and working class. Its responses: labor unions, reform, and the clash of capitalism (Adam Smith) and socialism/communism (Marx and Engels).

Imperialism

In the late 1800s, European powers seized most of Africa and Asia. The motives were economic (raw materials and markets, driven by industrialization), political (rivalry and prestige), and ideological (superiority and a "civilising mission"). The Scramble for Africa divided the continent, Britain ruled India, and France held Indochina. Colonized peoples resisted and developed nationalism.

World War I and the Russian Revolution

World War I (1914 to 1918) had long-term causes (MAIN: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism) and an immediate cause (the assassination of Franz Ferdinand). New technology made it a deadly total war. Its consequences: the collapse of empires, the harsh Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations. The war's hardships and czarist weakness caused the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which Lenin and the Bolsheviks created the first communist state, the Soviet Union.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and application questions covering Module 5. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

1. Define creoles and explain their role in Latin American independence. (2 marks)
2. Name the leaders who unified Italy and Germany. (2 marks)
3. Give two reasons the Industrial Revolution began in Britain. (2 marks)
4. Contrast capitalism and socialism. (2 marks)
5. Give the economic, political, and ideological motives for imperialism. (3 marks)
6. Explain what the Scramble for Africa was. (1 mark)
7. State what MAIN stands for as the long-term causes of World War I. (2 marks)
8. Explain how the Treaty of Versailles helped set the stage for World War II. (2 marks)
9. Give two causes of the Russian Revolution and name its result. (3 marks)