A.

P World History

Midterm Exam Review

***The Foundations sections will not be on the exam directly. I put them on here because it
would be good to know the information for understanding the context of societies that are
on the exam. ****

Foundations – Early Complex Societies

1. What was the impact of the Agricultural Revolution on Neolithic society?

2. Who held power in early complex societies and why were they able to do so?
3. What are the characteristics of patriarchal societies?
4. How and why did nomadic peoples interact with sedentary peoples?
5. What caused conflict between sedentary and nomadic people?
6. What were the comparative military capabilities of nomadic and sedentary people?
7. Which early complex societies developed when?
8. How did the political organizations of specific early complex societies contrast?

Foundations – Classical Societies

1. What characteristics do all classical societies share?

2. What are the primary contrasting characteristics of polytheistic and monotheistic faiths?
3. Compare and contrast the Western belief systems (Judaism, Christianity) with Eastern
belief systems (Buddhism, Hinduism).
4. How do the Roman and Han Empires compare and contrast?
5. What are the foundations and characteristics of Hellenism?
6. How do Mayan and Aztec accomplishments compare to Classical civilization?

Post Classical Society

1. What are the characteristics of the feudal system?

2. Why did China consider itself the Middle Kingdom? How did this impact its relations
with the rest of the world?
3. How does NeoConfucianism contrast with Confucianism?
4. Name and explain the Five Pillars of the Islamic faith.
5. Trace the change in the treatment of women in Islamic society.
6. What is the role of merchants in Islamic society? Was their position similar or different
from their counterparts in other post-classical societies?
7. How significant was Indian Ocean trade during the postclassical era?
 8. How did the Bantu affect the development of sub-Saharan Africa?
9. What factors connected sub-Saharan Africa to the Islamic world?
10. Why is Mansa Musa a significant figure in post classical society?
11. Compare and contrast the journeys of Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo.
12. How did the Crusade impact Western Europe? the Middle East?
13. Compare the conquests of the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks.
14. What is scholasticism? How does this compare to NeoConfucianism?
15. What characteristics allowed the Roman church to dominate politics in Western Europe?
16. How did the post-Roman Byzantine world contrast with the post-Roman Western
European world?
17. What was the Mongol style of conquering and maintaining an empire?
18. What impact did the Mongols have on cross-cultural trade?
19. What factors contributed to the pandemic known as the Black Death? What was its
impact?
20. Contrast the recovery of Europe from the Plague with the recovery of China.
21. What economic, political and technological factors led to the development of European
voyages of discovery?

Early Modern Era

1. List the characteristics of the Early Modern Era: the globalization of trade, the change in
political philosophy in Europe, the continuity of Eastern politics and power, the impact of
Europe on the Americas, coercive labor systems
2. Evaluate the impact of the Reformation on the politics of Europe.
3. Contrast the political philosophies of the absolute monarchies of Europe with the
constitutional monarchies.
4. Trace the path of constitutionalism in England.
5. Compare the ruling styles of Louis XIV of France and Peter the Great of Russia.
6. Trace the early development of capitalism (“baby capitalism”).
7. Explain the theory of mercantilism.
8. List the new discoveries associated with the European Scientific Revolution.
9. Connect the Scientific Revolution with the further decline of the Roman Catholic Church.
10. Connect the concept of Natural Law in the Scientific Revolution with the various theories
associated with the Enlightenment.
11. Explain the Enlightenment ideas of Locke, Smith and Voltaire.
12. Contrast European and Chinese exploration.
13. List and explain the factors that permitted the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Incan
empires.
14. Contrast the structures of the Spanish, British and French colonial systems.
15. Contrast the style of relations with the indigenous peoples between the Spanish, British
and French colonial systems.
 16. Explain the impact of European conquest and colonization on the native population.
17. Explain the origin and characteristics of the European slave trade.
18. Contrast European and Islamic slave trade.
19. Compare and contrast the economic benefit of the European colonies in the Americas to
their respective mother countries.
20. List the products considered part of the Columbian Exchange.
21. Compare and contrast the impact of the European presence in the Pacific with their
presence in the Americas.
22. Compare and contrast the gunpowder empires of the East.

Age of European Hegemony

1. List the characteristics of the Age of European Hegemony: revolution, Enlightenment,

nationalism, industrialization, imperialism, contrasting reactions of the Ottomans,
Chinese and Japanese, mass migrations, the demographic transition.
2. See the connection between Enlightenment thinking and the Age of Revolution.
3. Summarize the philosophies of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Baron de
Montesquieu.
4. Explain the reasons the peoples of North America, Spanish America, Haiti and France
were displeased with the rule of the Old Regime.
5. Identify the key events in displacing the Old Paradigm in each of the revolutions we have
discussed.
6. Explain why the French and the South Americans failed to secure their revolutions.
(Jacobins, Napoleon; Juntas).
7. Explain why the American Revolution is fundamentally different from the other
revolutions of that time.
8. Explain the connection between the American Revolution and the later revolutions of that
time.
9. Identify the key leaders of the revolutions we have discussed.
10. Connect conservatism to the Congress of Vienna and the balance of power concept.
11. Explain the reasons for radical and reactionary thinking.
12. Explain and give examples of utopianism.
13. Define “nationalism.”
14. List and explain the factors that contributed to the development of the Industrial
Revolution in Europe and America.
15. Identify key technological advances associated with the Industrial Revolution.