Matt Witt's History Podcast: Recent Episodes
Matt Witt
Many people view history merely as a set of dates and facts to be memorized, but history is much more than that. History is an organic and ever-changing discipline, periodically discovering new evidence and revising old commonly held beliefs. It’s not enough to learn history itself; one must learn from history the true essence of the human experience.
Each season will focus on topics from different courses in history including seasons 1: HIST 111 Ancient World Civilizations, 2: HIST 112 Modern World Civilizations, 3 U.S. Hist to 1900, 4 U.S. Hist 1900 to the present, and 5 Civics/Economics. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/matt-witt/support
Section 1: The Role of Government
Free enterprise is the freedom of individuals and businesses to operate and compete with a minimum of government interference or regulation. In order to encourage competition and prevent monopolies, governments take steps to regulate economies.
Section 2: Measuring the Economy
An economic system is the way a society organizes the production and consumption of goods and services. Our government plays a limited, but important, role in measuring and trying to balance the alternating periods of growth and decline called the business cycle.
Section 3: Government, the Economy, and You
People form governments to establish order, provide security, and accomplish common goals. A major focus of government programs is to help people in poverty.
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Section 1: Types of Businesses
Market economies rest upon the fundamental principle of individual freedom for consumers, producers, and workers. The three basic types of business organizations in the United States are sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.
Section 2: The American Labor Force
Market economies rest upon the fundamental principle of individual freedom for consumers, producers, and workers. Labor unions represent about 14 percent of U.S. workers and play an important role in the nation’s economy and political life. They negotiate wages and workplace agreements with management.
Section 3: Businesses in Our Economy
Market economies rest upon the fundamental principle of individual freedom for consumers, producers, and workers. Businesses play many different roles in our economy, including that of consumer, employer, and producer. Businesses also have responsibilities to their consumers, owners, employees, and communities.
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Two forces work together in markets to establish
prices for all the goods and services we buy. They are
demand—the desire, willingness, and ability to buy
a good or service, and supply—the quantities of a
good or service that producers are willing to sell at all
possible market prices.
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Whatever goals or dreams you may have, the way you live your life will be determined, at least in part, by your relationship to money: how you get it and how you use it. The opportunities you create for yourself are greatly affected by the money habits you form when you are young.
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An economic system is a set of rules that governs what goods and services to produce, how to produce them, and for whom they are produced. In this chapter, you will learn how the economic system of the United States answers these questions.
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As American citizens, we live in a land of economic opportunity. Our economy provides us with a great variety of jobs, goods, and services. The United States has a free enterprise system under which consumers and producers make the major economic decisions. We can contribute to the nation’s economic success by taking advantage of economic opportunities.
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In a democracy, citizens must be willing to take part in civic life. The Internet increases the opportunities to do just that. Accessing the Internet promises to strengthen democracy, but it may also present serious challenges to democracy.
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When is a legal issue a criminal problem, and when is it a civil problem? Civil law concerns disputes between two or more individuals or between individuals and the government. In criminal law, by contrast, the government charges someone with a crime and is always the prosecutor.
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The Constitution and the Bill of Rights contain important provisions, or laws, safeguarding the rights of Americans. In return, our system of laws gives American citizens a number of responsibilities.
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Local governments are the governments closest and most accessible to you. They provide citizens with basic services such as education; fire and police protection; and water, sewage, and sanitation.
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In America, different groups of people hold many different viewpoints. Some groups form to try to persuade government officials to support their views. These groups are exercising the important rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
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The right to vote is a major responsibility of citizenship. By voting, citizens can influence all levels of government as well as the laws under which we live. Yet many Americans do not exercise this fundamental right and responsibility of our democratic way of life.
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The Constitution makes no mention of political parties, but the first ones formed during the early years of the republic. Today, the United States has several political parties, although two—the Democrats and the Republicans—dominate American politics.
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What would our country be without a judicial system or a way of enforcing our laws? The courts see to it that our nation’s laws are justly applied. They also interpret the laws that protect the rights the Constitution guarantees. As you read this chapter, think about how the federal court system developed.
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The Framers did not state specifically in the Constitution what the role of the president should be. The nation’s first president, George Washington, established many traditions that shaped the presidency. Every president since Washington has followed and built upon these traditions, refining the president’s role within the government.
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Our nation’s Constitution gives the power to make laws to the legislative branch. Citizens participate in the lawmaking process by expressing their views to Congress. Find out what legislation is pending in Congress and your representatives’ positions on the issues.
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As citizens, we are free to exercise our rights. In return we are expected to fulfill certain duties and responsibilities. By doing so, we help ensure that our government will be effective in serving our needs and protecting our rights.
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Americans have the right to speak out on issues and make their feelings known. The Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—guarantees certain basic rights to all Americans. Among the most important is freedom of speech. It guarantees that people will not be punished for stating their beliefs even if most people disagree with those beliefs.
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The Constitution outlines the ideals of American government and describes how they should be achieved. It tells you what your rights and privileges are. The Constitution affects you, your family, and your friends as much today as it affected those who wrote it more than 200 years ago.
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For American History 2: Modern American History
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For Civics/Economics
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For Civics/Ecnomics
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Lesson for HIST 132 Modern American History
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Reunion was successful, but the intensity of the effort required to achieve it caused many Americans later to reject the social and economic Reconstruction of the 1860s. It was perceived as a failure. More recently many scholars have called Reconstruction a democratic experiment that failed because it did not go far enough in reform, especially land reform, although this would have required military support.
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On the morning of September 11, 2001, two airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third smashed into a section of the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. A fourth airliner crashed in a field in the Pennsylvania countryside. Nineteen Arab terrorists had hijacked the four planes and used them as missiles in an attempt to destroy predetermined targets. The first three planes hit their targets. In the fourth plane, passengers fought the hijackers and the plane went down short of its target. Explosions and raging fire severely weakened the twin towers. Within two hours after the attacks, both skyscrapers had crumbled to the ground. One wing of the Pentagon was extensively damaged. About 3,000 people were killed in the attacks. They included all the passengers on the four planes, workers and visitors in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and about 300 firefighters and 40 police officers who rushed into the twin towers to rescue people. The attacks of September 11 were the most destructive acts of terrorism in modern history.
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How can Social Security be reformed so that it will have enough money to pay retirees?
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Should new laws restrict or expand immigration?
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Can the nation balance conservation with economic progress?
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Can information on the Internet be both reliable and accessible?
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How can a country guarantee equal education for all?
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How should the United States deal with dangerous dictators?
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How should medical coverage for the uninsured be funded?
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Will tougher gun control laws reduce the incidence of crime?
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Who has the responsibility for helping the poor?
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Advances in technology and high hopes for the global economy are marred by White House scandals and terrorism, including attacks on the World Trade Center that kill thousands.
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President Ronald Reagan’s election marks a rightward shift in domestic and foreign policy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War ends and the U.S. confronts a host of domestic problems.
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President Nixon reaches out to Communist nations, but leaves office disgraced by the Watergate scandal. His successors face a sluggish economy, environmental concerns, and a revolution in Iran.
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Latinos, Native Americans, and women seek equality in American society. The ideals and lifestyles of the counterculture challenge the values and priorities of mainstream society.
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The United States becomes locked in a military stalemate in Southeast Asia. U.S. forces withdraw after a decade of heavy war casualties abroad and assassinations and antiwar demonstrations at home.
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Activism, new legislation, and the Supreme Court advance equal rights for African Americans. But disagreements among civil rights groups lead to a violent period for the civil rights movement.
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President John F. Kennedy’s efforts to confront the Soviet Union and address social ills are cut short by his assassination. President Lyndon B. Johnson spearheads civil rights legislation and declares a “war on poverty.”
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Many Americans enjoy new material comforts and new forms of entertainment during the post-war economic boom. Yet racial gaps remain, and millions continue to live in poverty.
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The Cold War and the danger of nuclear war define international affairs, especially after the Korean War. Fear of communism in the U.S. leads to accusations against innocent citizens.
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The U.S. helps lead the Allies to victory in World War II, but only after dropping atomic bombs on Japan. American veterans discover new economic opportunities, but also simmering social tensions.
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Germany invades neighboring countries and launches the Holocaust—the systematic killing of millions of Jews and other “non-Aryans.” The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ushers the U.S. into World War II.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs stimulate the economy and the arts. The New Deal leaves a lasting, yet controversial mark on American government.
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An economic crisis grips the nation during the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover’s conservative response to the nation’s problems costs him many supporters.
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Americans confront changes in society as women enter new roles and the mass media gains a growing audience. The Harlem Renaissance signals the flourishing of African-American culture.
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The United States seeks postwar normality and isolation. The standard of living soars amid labor unrest, immigration quotas, and the scandals of the Harding administration.
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Domestic life is greatly affected as the U.S. helps the Allies achieve victory in World War I. The Treaty of Versailles punishes Germany, but is never ratified by the U.S. Senate.
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Global competition prompts the United States to expand its influence and territory, engage in conflicts around the globe, and build the Panama Canal.
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Amid great political and social change, women gain a larger public role and lead the call for reform. President Theodore Roosevelt dubs his reform policies a Square Deal.
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New technologies improve urban living, and a modern mass culture emerges. Reforms in public education raise literacy rates. African Americans work to end legal discrimination.
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Immigration from Europe, Asia, Mexico, and the Caribbean forces cities to confront overcrowding. Local and national political corruption sparks calls for reform.
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Natural resources and new ideas create a boom for industry and railroads. Government addresses corruption in business, and laborers organize for better working conditions.
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The culture of the Plains Indians declines as white settlers transform the Great Plains. Meanwhile, farmers form the Populist movement to address their economic concerns.
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The U.S. begins to rebuild the South, but former slaves face new challenges as support fades for the policies of Reconstruction.
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In the bloody Civil War, Union forces devastate the South and defeat the Confederacy. President Lincoln narrowly wins reelection, but is assassinated as the war ends.
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Slavery becomes the dominant issue in U.S. politics, leading to the birth of new political parties, the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the secession of Southern states.
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New technologies create links to new markets. Economic opportunity and “manifest destiny” encourage Americans to head west. The U.S. gains territory in a war with Mexico.
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A religious revival sparks reform movements, including calls to outlaw slavery. Factory laborers begin to demand better working conditions. A women’s rights movement forms.
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Changes in manufacturing launch an Industrial Revolution. Slavery and other issues divide the North and South. Andrew Jackson has popular appeal but uproots many Native Americans.
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George Washington becomes the first president. President Thomas Jefferson doubles U.S. territory with the Louisiana Purchase. The U.S. fights the British in the War of 1812.
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Americans adopt the Articles of Confederation. A new constitution is ratified after Federalists agree to include a Bill of Rights.
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Thomas Jefferson draws on Enlightenment ideas in drafting the Declaration of Independence. The colonies defeat Great Britain in the Revolutionary War.
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Britain defeats France in North America. Tensions grow between Britain and its colonists. Colonial slavery becomes entrenched, particularly in the South.
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Spain establishes an American empire, devastating native populations. England forces the Dutch from North America and establishes thirteen colonies.
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Native Americans and Africans develop complex societies and cultures. Europeans explore and conquer parts of the New World and launch a massive slave trade.
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I. South Asia
II. Southeast Asia
III. Japan: Asian Giant
IV. The Little Tigers
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I. Uhuru: The Struggle for Independence in Africa
II. The Era of Independence
III. Continuity and Change in Modern African Societies
IV. Crescent of Conflict
V. Society and Culture in the Contemporary Middle East
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I. Recovery and Renewal in Europe
II. The Emergence of the Superpower: The United States
III. The Development of Canada
IV. Latin America Since 1945
V. Society and Culture in the Western World
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I. The Postwar Soviet Union
II. The Disintegration of the Soviet Empire
III. The East is Red: China Under Communism
IV. “Serve the People”: Chinese Society Under Communism
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The Collapse of the Grand Alliance
The problems started in Europe.
At the end of the war, Soviet military forces occupied all of Eastern Europe and the Balkans (except Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia), while U.S. and other Allied forces secured the western part of the Continent.
Roosevelt had assumed that free elections, administered promptly by “democratic and peace-loving forces,” would lead to democratic governments responsive to the local population.
But it soon became clear that the Soviet Union interpreted the Yalta agreement differently.
When Soviet occupation authorities began forming a new Polish government, Stalin refused to accept the Polish government-in-exile—headquartered in London during the war and composed mostly of landed aristocrats who harbored a deep distrust of the Soviet Union—and instead set up a government composed of Communists who had spent the war in Moscow.
Roosevelt complained to Stalin but eventually agreed to a compromise whereby two members of the London government were included in the new Communist regime.
A week later, Roosevelt was dead of a cerebral hemorrhage, embolding Stalin to do much as he pleased.
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The Totalitarian State
The rise of dictatorial regimes in the 1930s had a great deal to do with the coming of World War II.
By 1930, only two major states in Europe, France and Great Britain, remained democratic.
Italy and Germany had succumbed to the political movement called fascism, and Soviet Russia under Stalin moved toward repressive totalitarianism.
A host of other European states and Latin American countries adopted authoritarian structures of various kinds, while a militarist regime in Japan moved that country down the path to war.
The dictatorial regimes between the wars assumed both old and new forms.
Dictatorship was not new, but the modern totalitarian state was.
The totalitarian regimes, best exemplified by Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, greatly extended the functions and power of the central state.
The new “total states” expected the active loyalty and commitment of citizens to the regime’s goal, whether it be war, a socialist society, or a thousand year Reich (empire).
They used modern mass propaganda techniques and high-speed communications to conquer the minds and hearts of their subjects.
The total state sought to control not only the economic, political, and social aspects of life but the intellectual and cultural aspects as well.
The modern totalitarian state was to be led by a single leader and a single party.
It ruthlessly rejected the liberal ideal of limited government power and constitutional guarantees of individual freedoms.
Indeed, individual freedom was to be subordinated to the collective will of the masses, organized and determined for them by the leader or leaders.
Modern technology also gave total states unprecedented police controls to enforce their wishes on their subjects.
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Although the West had emerged from World War I relatively intact, its political and social foundations and its self-confidence had been severely undermined.
Within Europe, doubts about the viability of Western civilization were widespread, especially among the intellectual elite.
These doubts were quick to reach perceptive observers in Asia and Africa and contributed to a rising tide of unrest against Western political domination throughout the colonial and semi colonial world.
That unrest took various forms but was most evident in increasing worker activism, rural protests, and a rising national fervor among anti-colonialist intellectuals.
In areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America where independent states had successfully resisted the Western onslaught, the discontent fostered by the war and later by the Great Depression led to a loss of confidence in democratic institutions and the rise of political dictatorships.
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The Road to World War I
On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, was assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.
Although this event precipitated the confrontation between Austria and Serbia that led to World War I, underlying forces had been propelling Europeans toward armed conflict for a long time.
Nationalism and Internal Dissent
Two Great Alliances
The system of nation-states that had emerged in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century had led to intense competition.
Rivalries over colonies and trade intensified during an era of frenzied imperialist expansion, while the division of Europe’s great powers into two loose alliances (Germany, Austria, and Italy on one side and France, Great Britain, and Russia on the other) only added to the tensions.
The series of crises that tested these alliances in the 1900s and early 1910s had left European states embittered, eager for revenge, and willing to go to war to preserve the power of their national states.
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Internal Decline or Western Pressure?
In 1800, the Qing or Manchu dynasty was at the height of its power.
China had experienced a long period of peace and prosperity under the rule of two great emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong.
Its borders were secure, and its culture and intellectual achievements were the envy of the world.
Its rulers, hidden behind the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing, had every reason to describe their patrimony as the “Central Kingdom.”
But a little over a century later, humiliated and harassed by the black ships and big guns of the Western powers, the Qing dynasty, the last in a series that had endured for more than two thousand years, collapsed in the dust.
Historians once assumed that the primary reason for the rapid decline and fall of the Manchu dynasty was the intense pressure applied by the Western powers.
Now, however, most historians believe that internal changes played a major role in the dynasty’s collapse and that at least some of its problems during the nineteenth century were self-inflicted.
Both explanations have some validity.
Like so many of its predecessors, after an extended period of growth, the Qing dynasty began to suffer from the familiar dynastic ills of official corruption, peasant unrest, and incompetence at court.
Such weaknesses were probably exacerbated by the rapid growth in population.
The long era of peace, the introduction of new crops from the Americas, and the cultivation of new, fast-ripening strains of rice enabled the Chinese population to double between 1550 and 1800 and to reach the unprecedented level of 400 million by the end of the nineteenth century.
Even without the Western powers, the Manchus were probably destined to repeat the fate of their imperial predecessors.
The ships, guns, and ideas of the foreigners simply highlighted the growing weakness of the dynasty and likely hastened its demise.
In doing so, Western imperialism exerted an indelible impact on the history of modern China—but as a contributing, not a causal, factor.
Duiker, William J. The Essential World History, Volume 2: since 1500. Thomson Higher Education, 2018.
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The Spread of Colonial Rule
In the nineteenth century, a new phase of Western expansion into Asia and Africa began.
Whereas before 1800 European aims in the East could be summed up as “Christians and spices” and Western gold and silver were exchanged for cloves, silk, and porcelain, now European nations began to view Asian and African societies as markets for the prodigious output of European factories and as sources of the raw materials needed to fuel the Western industrial machine.
This relationship between the West and African and Asian societies has been called the new imperialism.
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The Wars for Independence
By the end of the eighteenth century, the ideas of the Enlightenment and the new political ideals stemming from the successful revolution in North America were beginning to influence the creole elites (descendants of Europeans who became permanent inhabitants of Latin America).
The principles of the equality of all people in the eyes of the law, free trade, and a free press proved very attractive.
Sons of creoles, such as Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin who became leaders of the independence movement, even went to European universities, where they imbibed the ideas of the Enlightenment.
These Latin American elites, joined by a growing class of merchants, especially resented the domination of their trade by Spain and Portugal.
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- The Industrial Revolution and its Impact
- The Growth of Industrial Prosperity
- Reaction and Revolution: The Growth of Nationalism
- National Unification and the National State 1848-1871
- The European State 1871
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"IN PARIS ON THE MORNING of July 14, 1789, a mob of eight thousand men and women in search of weapons streamed toward the Bastille (bass-STEEL), a royal armory filled with arms and ammunition. The Bastille was also a state prison, and although it held only seven prisoners at the time, in the eyes of these angry Parisians, it was a glaring symbol of the government’s despotic policies. It was defended by the marquis de Launay (mar-KEE duh loh-NAY) and a small garrison of 114 men. The attack on the Bastille began in earnest in the early afternoon, and after three hours of fighting, de Launay and the garrison surrendered. Angered by the loss of ninety-eight protesters, the victors beat de Launay to death, cut off his head, and carried it aloft in triumph through the streets of Paris. When King Louis XVI was told the news of the fall of the Bastille by the duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (dook duh lah-USH-foo-koh-lee-ahn-KOOR), he exclaimed, ‘‘Why, this is a revolt.’’ ‘‘No, Sire,’’ replied the duc. ‘‘It is a revolution.’’ The French Revolution was a key factor in the emergence of a new world order. Historians have often portrayed the eighteenth century as the final phase of an old Europe that would be forever changed by the violent upheaval and reordering of society associated with the French Revolution. Before the Revolution, the old order—still largely agrarian, dominated by kings and landed aristocrats, and grounded in privileges for nobles, clergy, towns, and provinces—seemed to continue a basic pattern that had prevailed in Europe since medieval times. As the century drew to a close, however, a new intellectual order based on rationalism and secularism emerged, and demographic, economic, social, and political patterns were beginning to change in ways that proclaimed the arrival of a new and more modern order. The French Revolution demolished the institutions of the old regime and established a new order based on individual rights, representative institutions, and a concept of loyalty to the nation rather than to the monarch. The revolutionary upheavals of the era, especially in France, created new liberal and national political ideals, summarized in the French revolutionary slogan, ‘‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,’’ that transformed France and then spread to other European countries and the rest of the world. "
The Essential World History
Author: William J Duiker; Jackson J Spielvogel
Publisher: Boston, MA : Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, [2013] ©2014
Edition/Format: Print book : English : Seventh editionView all editions and formats
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Background:
Marco Polo ha reported on the magnificence of China after visiting Beijing during the reign of Kublai Khan, the great Mongol ruler.
By the time the Portuguese fleet arrived off the coast of China, of course, the Mongol Empire had long since disappeared.
It had gradually weakened after the death of Kublai Khan and was finally overthrown in 1368 by a massive peasant rebellion under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, who had declared himself the founding emperor of a new Ming dynasty and assumed the reign title of Ming Hongwu.
As we have seen, the Ming inaugurated a period of territorial expansion westward into Central Asia and southward into Vietnam while consolidating control over China’s vast heartland.
At the same time, between 1405 and 1433 the dynasty sponsored a series of voyages under Admiral Zhenghe that spread Chinese influence far into the Indian Ocean.
Then suddenly the voyages were discontinued, and the dynasty turned its attention to domestic concerns.
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Topics covered in this episode:
- Discuss the main tenets of Lutheranism and Calvinism and how they differed from each other and from Catholicism.
- Appreciate why the period between 1560 and 1650 is considered an age of crisis in Europe.
- Understand what absolutism was, as well as what the main characteristics were of the absolute monarchies that emerged in France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
- Grasp how and why England avoided the path of absolutism.
- Understand how the artistic and literary achievements of this era reflected the political and economic developments of the period.
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When the Portuguese fleet landed in the port of Calicut a Muslim merchant cursed the landing party by saying, “May the Devil take thee! What brought thee hither”. The Portuguese replied, “spices”
As we begin our discussion of this age of Exploration and Expansion lets first ask ourselves, “How did Muslim merchants expand the world trade network at the end of the fifteenth century?
The man that greeted them was a Muslim that had probably crossed the Sahara Desert from North Africa.
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- Understand how the Byzantine empire that had emerged by the eighth century both differed from the empire of Justinian and the German kingdoms in the west and was also alike them.
- Discuss the chief developments in the Byzantine empire between 750 and 1025.
- Understand the impact the Crusades had on the Byzantine empire and why Constantinople and the empire fell.
- Appreciate the impact the Black Death had on Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century.
- Understand the problems Europeans faced during the fourteenth century and the impact these crises had on European economic, social, and religious life.
- Discuss the main features of the Renaissance in Europe and how it differed from the Middle Ages.
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After having read the chapter and listening to this episode, students should be able to
}Appreciate the contributions that the Romans, Christian church, and Germanic peoples made to the new civilization that emerged in Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
}Understand the significance of Charlemagne’s coronation as emperor.
}Appreciate the roles that aristocrats, peasants, and townspeople played in medieval European civilization, and how their lifestyles differed.
}Grasp how cities in Europe compared with those in China and the Middle East.
}Comprehend the main aspects of the political, economic, spiritual, and cultural revivals that took place in Europe during the High Middle Ages.
}Understand the ways in which Europeans began to relate to peoples in other parts of the world after 1000 C.E.
}Understand the main reasons for the Crusades, and who or what benefitted the most from the experience of the Crusades
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After having read the chapter and listened to this episode, students should be able to
•Understand how Japan’s geographic location affected the course of early Japanese history, as well as the political and social institutions that arose there.
•Appreciate the main characteristics of economic and social life in early Korea.
•Discuss the main developments in Vietnamese history before 1500.
•Understand why the Japanese were able to restore their national independence after a millennium of Chinese rule.
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Understand why China went through several centuries of internal division after the decline of the Han dynasty, and the impact this had on Chinese society.
Grasp the major changes in political structures and social and economic life that occurred during the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.
Appreciate how the Mongols were able to amass an empire.
Recognize the main characteristics of Mongol rule in China.
Understand the chief initiatives taken by the early rulers of the Ming dynasty to enhance the role of China in the world, including why the imperial court ordered the famous voyages of Zhenhe and why they were discontinued.
Understand the roles that Buddhism, Daoism, and Neo-Confucianism played in Chinese intellectual life between the Sui and Ming dynasties.
Appreciate the main achievements in Chinese literature and art between the Tang and Ming dynasties, and the technological innovations and intellectual developments that contributed to these achievements.
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After having read the chapter and listening to this episode, students should be able to
•Identify the chief destinations along the Silk Road, and the kinds of products and ideas that traveled along the route.
•Understand the changes in Buddhism in the centuries after Siddhartha Gautama’s death and why the religion ultimately declined in popularity in India.
•Explain how Islam arrived in the Indian subcontinent and why Muslim peoples were able to establish states there.
•Grasp the impact Muslim rule had on Indian society.
•Identify the most important cultural achievements of Indian civilization in the era between the Mauryas and the Mughals.
•Understand the main characteristics of Southeast Asian social and economic life, culture, and religion before 1500 C.E.
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After having read the chapter and listened to this episode, students should be able to
¨Understand how the advent of farming and pastoralism affected the various people of Africa.
¨Grasp how the consequences of the agricultural revolution in Africa compare with its consequences in Eurasia and America.
¨Appreciate the effects that the coming of Islam had on African religion, society, political structures, trade, and culture.
¨Comprehend the role migrations played in the evolution of early African societies.
¨Appreciate the impact these migrations had compared to similar population movements elsewhere.
¨Understand the role lineage groups, women, and slavery played in African societies.
¨Appreciate how societies in various parts of Africa differed and understand what accounted for these differences.
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After having read the chapter and listening to this podcast, students should be able to
Identify the main tenets of Islam and understand how it compares with Judaism and Christianity.
Understand the reasons for the Arabs’ rapid expansion in the seventh and eighth centuries and their success in creating an empire.
Appreciate the main features of Islamic society and culture during the era of its early growth.
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After having read the chapter and listened to this podcast, students should be able to
• Appreciate the various theories about how, when, and from where the first Americans arrived in the Western Hemisphere.
• Identify the main characteristics of religious belief in early Mesoamerica.
• Understand the role the environment played in the evolution of American civilizations.
• Grasp the main characteristics of stateless societies in the Americas, and how they resembled and differed from American civilizations.
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After having read the chapter and listen to this podcast, students should be able to
Discuss the policies and institutions that contributed to the Romans’ success in conquering Italy.
Understand why Rome was able to achieve an empire between 264 and 133 B.C.E., and the problems that this imperial expansion caused.
Grasp the key features of the Roman empire at its height in the second century C.E.
Discuss the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, and appreciate the extent to which they were successful.
Understand which characteristics of Christianity enabled it to grow and ultimately dominate the Roman world.
Discuss the chief features of the Han empire, how it was similar to and different from the Roman Empire, and the role played by the Silk Road that prospered between them.
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After having read the chapter and listened to this podcast, students should be able to
Appreciate how Greece’s geography affected Greek history.
Be familiar with Homer and why his work was used as the basis for Greek education.
Understand the chief features of the Greek city-state (polis) and the major differences between Athens and Sparta.
Know what the Greeks meant by democracy and to what degree Athens was a democracy.
Understand the effects that the two great conflicts of the fifth century—the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War—had on Greek civilization.
Comprehend how Alexander the Great was able to conquer as much territory as he did and what kind of legacy he left.
Understand how the political and social institutions of the Hellenistic world differed from those of Classical Greece.
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After having read the chapter and listened to this podcast, students should be able to
Understand the influence that geography has had on the development of Chinese civilization.
Appreciate the importance of Chinese belief systems in shaping Chinese culture. In particular, students will be familiar with the major tenets of Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism, and the role they played in early Chinese history.
Understand the important political, economic, and social developments of the Zhou and Qin dynasties.
Understand the role that nomadic people played in early Chinese history and how that role compared with the role of nomadic people in other parts of Asia.
Grasp the key aspects of social and economic life in early China.
Understand the chief characteristics of the Chinese writing system and how it differed from the scripts used in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
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After having read the chapter and listened to this episode, students should be able to
Understand the major aspects of Harappan civilization and the ways in which it was similar to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations.
Understand what was distinctive about the class system introduced by the Aryans and how this system affected Indian civilization.
Grasp the main beliefs of Brahmanism and Buddhism, and how each religion influenced Indian civilization.
Understand why India was unable to maintain a unified empire in the first millennium B.C.E., and what enabled the Mauryan Empire to overcome the tendencies toward disunity.
Appreciate how the culture of ancient India resembled and differed from those of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Understand the major reasons that India became home to an advanced society, and the degree to which it merits comparison with Mesopotamia and Egypt as one of the first civilizations.
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Topics covered in this video:
- The First Humans
- The Emergence of Civilization
- Civilization in Mesopotamia
- Egyptian Civilization: "The Gift of the Nile:
- New Centers of Civilization
- The Rise of New Empires
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