World History:
Modern Study Library.

Song and Yuan dynasty governance and Confucian bureaucracy · Dar al-Islam: Abbasid Caliphate and Delhi Sultanate administrative structures · South and Southeast Asian kingdoms and Hindu-Buddhist cultural exchange · Americas: Aztec (Mexica) and Inca imperial organization · African states: Mali Empire and Great Zimbabwe · European feudalism and Christian political authority · Comparison of state-building strategies across regions c. 1200–1450 · Role of religion in legitimizing political authority · SPICE-T thematic framework applied to pre-1450 societies

Silk Roads: overland exchange of goods, technologies, and religions · Black Death (bubonic plague) spread via Silk Road networks · Indian Ocean Trade: dhow technology, monsoon wind patterns, Swahili coast city-states · Zheng He voyages and Ming tributary system · Trans-Saharan Trade: gold-salt exchange, Mali Empire, Islamic scholarship at Timbuktu · Mongol Empire: Pax Mongolica, trade facilitation, destruction of Baghdad (1258) · Environmental and demographic effects of long-distance trade · Diffusion of crops, animals, and agricultural techniques across trade routes · Role of diasporic merchant communities (Jewish, Arab, Chinese) in sustaining networks

Ottoman Empire: devshirme system, millet system, Janissaries, expansion into Anatolia and Southeast Europe · Safavid Empire: Shia Islam as state religion, conflict with Sunni Ottomans · Mughal Empire: Akbar's religious syncretism, mansabdar system, Aurangzeb's reversal · Qing (Manchu) dynasty: Eight Banners system, Han Chinese bureaucracy, tributary relationships · Russian Empire: expansion eastward (Siberia), serfdom, Romanov centralization · Gunpowder technology and its role in empire-building · Methods of administrative control: tax farming, religious legitimacy, military elites · Comparison of empire-building strategies across Eurasia c. 1450–1750 · Sunni-Shia sectarian rivalry as a driver of Ottoman-Safavid conflict

European maritime exploration: Portuguese along African coast and to Asia; Spanish in the Americas · Columbian Exchange: transfer of crops (potato, maize, tomato, cassava), diseases (smallpox, measles), and animals (horses, cattle) · Demographic collapse of indigenous American populations due to Old World diseases · Atlantic slave trade: triangular trade routes, Middle Passage conditions, scale and demographics · Plantation economies: sugar, tobacco, and cotton as cash crops driving enslaved labor demand · New social hierarchies in Spanish Americas: peninsulares, criollos, mestizos, mulatos, indigenous · Silver trade: Potosí mines, Manila Galleons connecting Americas to Asia, effects on Ming Chinese economy · Dutch and English joint-stock companies (VOC, EIC) and early commercial capitalism · Coercive labor systems: encomienda, mit'a, chattel slavery

Enlightenment ideas: natural rights, social contract, popular sovereignty, religious toleration · American Revolution: colonial grievances, republicanism, influence on subsequent revolutions · French Revolution: causes (fiscal crisis, social hierarchy), phases, Napoleon and export of revolutionary ideals · Haitian Revolution: only successful large-scale slave revolt; Toussaint Louverture; independence 1804 · Latin American independence movements: Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, creole leadership · Industrial Revolution origins in Britain: textile mills, steam engine, coal and iron industries · Factory system and urbanization: working-class formation, child labor, changing family structures · Technological innovations: railroads, steamships, telegraphs and their effects on communication and trade · Nationalism: unification of Germany (1871) and Italy (1871); dissolution pressures on Ottoman and Habsburg empires

New imperialism: motives (economic, political, strategic, ideological) and the European scramble for Africa · Berlin Conference (1884–85): partition of Africa among European powers without African consent · British imperialism in India: East India Company to Crown rule, economic extraction, cash-crop agriculture · Opium Wars (1839–42, 1856–60): British forced opening of Chinese markets; unequal treaties · Meiji Restoration (1868): Japanese industrialization and selective Westernization as anti-colonial strategy · Resistance movements: Indian Sepoy Mutiny (1857), Chinese Boxer Rebellion (1900), Ethiopian victory at Adwa (1896) · Indentured labor migration: South Asian workers to Caribbean and Pacific; Chinese diaspora to Americas · Social Darwinism and 'civilizing mission' as ideological justifications for imperialism · Environmental consequences: deforestation, resource extraction, cash-crop monocultures

World War I causes: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism (MAIN); assassination of Franz Ferdinand · New warfare technologies: trench warfare, poison gas, machine guns, tanks, airplanes · Total war: mobilization of entire economies and civilian populations · Treaty of Versailles (1919): war guilt clause, reparations, territorial losses, League of Nations · Interwar period: Great Depression, mass unemployment, political radicalization · Rise of fascism: Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain · Japanese militarism and expansion in Asia (Manchuria 1931, China 1937) · World War II: Holocaust, genocide, atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki · Total war and civilian targeting: strategic bombing, occupation atrocities, forced labor

Cold War ideological rivalry: US capitalism vs. Soviet communism; containment policy and Truman Doctrine · Proxy wars: Korean War (1950–53), Vietnam War, Angolan Civil War, Soviet-Afghan War · Nuclear arms race, space race, and MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine · Communist revolutions: Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China (1949), Cuban Revolution (Castro, 1959), Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam · Decolonization in Asia: Indian independence and Partition (1947), Indonesian independence, Vietnamese independence · Decolonization in Africa: Ghanaian independence under Kwame Nkrumah (1957), Algerian War of Independence, Congo crisis · Non-Aligned Movement: Bandung Conference (1955), Nehru, Nkrumah, Nasser as leaders of the 'Third World' · Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and dissolution of the USSR (1991) · Ongoing effects of decolonization: border conflicts, political instability, neo-colonial economic relationships

Economic globalization: WTO, IMF, World Bank, free trade agreements, multinational corporations · Containerization and supply chain revolution transforming global trade volume · Technological change: internet, mobile phones, social media and acceleration of information exchange · Green Revolution: high-yield crops, fertilizers, pesticides — increased food production and environmental side effects · Environmental challenges: climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, desertification · International environmental agreements: Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement · Global health: HIV/AIDS pandemic, COVID-19, international health organizations (WHO) · Cultural exchange and resistance: Americanization, cultural imperialism, hybrid and syncretic cultures · Migration and refugees: economic migration, conflict-driven displacement, receiving-country policy responses