ESSAY TOPIC CHOICES (choose your favorite one, from A-G): A. From 1815 to 1914,
ESSAY TOPIC CHOICES (choose your favorite one, from A-G):
A. From 1815 to 1914, the West presented a significant set of challenges to
rival states. Describe the nature of these challenges in general terms,
then compare and contrast how TWO of the following societies
responded to both general and specific challenges of the West.
i. Imperial Russia
ii. Ottoman Empire
iii. India
iv. Either China OR Japan (not both)
B. Describe and explain how, on the one hand, China grew increasingly
impoverished and weak in the 19th and early 20th centuries while, on the
other hand, Japan grew wealthier and stronger. Consider events to about
1914 (the start of WWI).
C. What were the major motives for Western-style imperialism,” from about
1800 to 1914? Be sure to define important concepts, and to include
specific illustrating examples from at least two of the following imperial
regions/powers: Europe, the U.S., and Japan.
D. Compare and contrast China from about 1945 to 1989 with Russia/The
Soviet Union from about 1914 to 1991. Consider these three major
developments:
i. The victory of their communist revolutions
ii. The period of revolutionary totalitarian social and economic change
1. Stalin’s collectivization and industrialization in the 1930s
2. Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in China
iii. The major changes leading to modern China and Russia
1. Reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union
2. China’s modernizing economy in the 1980s and the fact that the Communist Party did not lost power as in Russia.
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E. Analyze major trends in “decolonization” in the years after 1945 (postWorld War II). Consider
i. how and why territories under previous imperialist domination
gained independence, and
ii. what political and economic systems they could (and did) choose
to adopt, and
iii. what some of the major problems and successes were for these
countries in the first few decades of their independence.
iv. Illustrate your remarks with detailed examples from the history of specific countries in at least two of the following regions:
1. India
2. Southwest Asia / the Middle East (several countries; use
select examples)
3. Southeast Asia (several countries; use select examples).
4. Africa (many countries, use select examples)
5. Latin America (several countries; use select examples)
NOTE: This essay should be a combination of generalizations (listing
a wide variety of trends and explanations for about a page), plus
more detailed illustrations from the history of at least two specific
countries (about another page). For your specific country examples,
an effective method to prepare would be to look up your chosen
countries in the index of the textbook and read everything the
textbook has to say about them in the years after World War II; in
some cases, this is a very manageable amount of information.
F. World War I (1914-1918) started out as a European/Western conflict, but
quickly became a truly global war. How and why did regions outside the
“West” become involved in the war, and what were their motivations
and contributions in the course of the war? After adequately addressing
the question in general, illustrate your essay with specific examples from
at least three of the following:
1. China
2. Japan
3. India
4. The Ottoman Empire
5. African colonial territories
6. NOTE: excluded from this essay are the United States and
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A. From 1815 to 1914, appeared first on Skilled Papers.