Rockingham County Public Schools

World History Benchmarks

A Guide for Parent Involvement

 

1st Six Weeks

 

Five World Religions; WHII.2c, WHII.14a,b, Review of WHI.3d, WHI4c,d, WHI.6h, WHI.8a

 

·         Judaism

·         Christianity

·         Islam

·         Hinduism

·         Buddhism

•          Leaders

*         Sacred Writings

*         Traditions

*         Geographic Distribution

·         Influences

•          Political

•          Social

•          Economic

 

 

State of Non-European World in 1500; WHII.2a, WHII.5a-c

 

·         Political, cultural, and economic conditions  of the following areas

·         Western Europe

•          England, France, Spain,  & Portugal

·         Eastern Europe

•          Russia

·         Middle East

•          Ottoman Empire

•          Origins

•          Expansion

•          Political Development

•          Persia

·         South and East Asia

•          China, Japan, Korea as effected by global trade

•          India’s Mughal rulers

·         Africa

•          Songhai Empire & Morocco

·         Western Hemisphere

•          Empires of Inca, Mayan, & Aztec

 

 

Renaissance WHII.2b, Review of WHI.13b-d

 

·         Spread from Italian city states to northern Europe

·         Contributions

•          Visual Arts (Michelangelo, Leonardo di Vinci)

•          Literature (Petarach’s sonnets)

•          Intellectual ideas (humanism & scientific inquiry)

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

2nd Six Weeks

 

Reformation; WHII.3a-c, Review of WHI.6i, WHI.7d

 

·         Conflicts that challenged the Roman Catholic Church

·         Leaders and areas influenced

•          Martin Luther (Germany)

•          John Calvin (France)

•          King Henry VIII (England)

·         Counter Reformation

·         Changing Cultural Values

·         Role of printing press

 

 

Age of Discovery; WHII.2d,e; WHII.4a-f; WHII.5d,e

 

·         Changing of traditional trade routes

·         Impact of changing trade routes

·         New products and innovations in science and technology

·         Factors contributing to exploration of new lands

·         Establishments of overseas empires

·         Dissemination of indigenous peoples

·         Diffusion of Catholic and Protestant faiths

·         Effects of explorations on colonies

•          Africa

•          Asia

•          Americas

·         Columbian exchange

•          Products

•          Diseases

•          Precious metals

•          Impacts

·         Triangle trade

·         Growth of European trading nations

·         Mercantilism

·         Commercial Revolution

 

 

Sixteenth through Eighteenth Century; WHII.6a-g

 

·         Scientific Revolution

•          Pioneers of Science

*         Nicolaus Copernicus

*         Johannes Kepler

*         Galileo Galilei

*         Isaac Newton

*         William Harvey

•          Importance of Revolution

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

3rd Six Weeks

 

Sixteenth through Eighteenth Century; WHII.6a-g

 

·         Age of Absolutism

•          Characteristics of an Absolute Monarch

•          Absolute Monarchs

*         Louis XIV

*         Frederick the Great

*         Peter the Great

·         Development of political democracy

•          “One man one vote”

•          Political Parties

•          Glorious Revolution and English Bill of Rights

·         Age of The Enlightenment

•          Meaning

•          Leading Thinkers

•          Influence on founders of the United States

·         French Revolution

•          Causes

•          Major events

•          Outcomes

•          Influence of American and French Revolutions on Latin America

·         Arts and Humanities

•          Music

•          Paintings

•          Literature

·         Technologies

•          Transportation

•          Farming Technology

 

 

Nineteenth Century Europe; WHII.7a-d

 

·         Legacy of Napoleon

·         Legacy of Congress of Vienna

·         Revolutions of 1848 on political rights in Europe

•          Nationalism

·         Unification of Italy

•          Count Cavour

•          Garibaldi

•          The Papal States

·         Unification of Germany

•          Otto Von Bismarck

•          Franco Prussian War

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

4th Six Weeks

 

Industrial Revolution; WHII.8a-e

 

·         Origins

·         Changing work force

·         Technological advances

·         Scientific advances

·         Impact on Industrialized countries

·         Capitalism

•          Adam Smith Wealth of Nations

·         Socialism and Communism

•          Karl Marx Communist Manifesto  & Das Kapital

·         Nature of Work in the factory system

·         Impact on slavery

·         Social effects

•          Women and children in the work force

•          Women’s suffrage

·         Rise of labor unions

·         Imperialism

•          Nationalism

•          Globalization

•          Forms

•          Colonies

•          Protectorates

•          Spheres of influence

·         Areas of European imperial growth and the effects

•          Africa

•          Asia

•          Response of colonized peoples

 

 

World War I; WHII.9a-b

 

·         Causes

·         Major events

·         Major leaders

·         Outcomes and global effects

·         Treaty of Versailles

 

Russian Revolutions; WHII.9c

·         Causes of 1917 revolutions

·         Rise of communism in Russia

•          Lenin

•          Stalin

 

 

Interwar period WHII.10a-b

 

·         League of Nations

·         The Mandate System

·         Great Depression

•          Causes

•          Impact on global economy

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

5th  Six Weeks

 

World War II; WHII.10c, WHII.11a,c

 

·         Rise of Totalitarian governments

•          USSR

•          Germany

•          Italy

•          Japan

·         Economic and political causes

·         Major events

·         Major leaders

·         Outcomes

·         German reconstruction

·         Japanese reconstruction

 

 

Holocaust and other forms of genocide; WHII.11b

 

·         Elements leading to Holocaust

·         Examples of other persecutions massacres and genocides

•          Ottoman persecution of Armenians

•          Stalin’s Great Purge

•          The “Killing Fields” of Cambodia

•          Rwanda

•          Serbian attacks on Kosovar Albanians

 

 

Independence movements in the non-European world WHII.13a-c, WHII.15a

 

·         India

•          Dividing of nation between Hindu and Islamic peoples

•          Evolution of movement

•          Mohandas Gandhi

·         Africa

•          Self-determination

•          Peaceful and violent movements

•          Apartheid in South Africa

·         Middle east

•          Ending of the Mandate system

•          Israel / Palestinian problem

 

 

Cold War; WHII.12a-c

 

·         Important nations during Cold War

·         Beginning of Cold War 1945-1948

·         Characteristics 1948-1989

•          NATO v. Warsaw Pact

•          Nuclear weapons

·         Collapse of Communism 1989-present

•          USSR

•          Eastern Europe

·         Conflicts and revolutionary movements

•          China

•          Vietnam

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

6th Six Weeks

 

Economic development and global population growth; WHII.15b,c

 

·         Contrast between developed and developing nations

·         Economic development

·         Population growth effect on the environment

·         Relationship between economic and political freedom

·         Economic interdependence

•          Role of rapid electronic communications

•          European Union

•          Trade Agreements

 

 

Review for World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

 

Take World History II, 1500 to the Present Standards of Learning Test

 

 

Remainder of year:

 

Study the current state of world affairs.  Projects to examine the most recent events in world history.

 

Or

 

Review European History prior to 1500

•          Feudalism, WHI.9b,c

•          Early European Monarchies, WHI.12a

•          Crusades, WHI.12b

•          Early Roman Catholic Church, WHI.12d

•          Effects of Crusades, WHI.13a

 

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Standard WHII.1a-e & WHII.15; Improve skills in historical research & geographical analysis, will be incorporated into each of the above units

 

·         Reading primary and secondary sources

·         Analyzing maps, globes, and artifacts

·         Examining importance of geographic features to historical events

·         Analyzing the ever changing boundaries of countries

·         Examining effects of human migration and cultural interactions

·         Examining the effects of refugee movements on the international stage

·         Analyzing the roll of changing technologies on civilization

 

 

**  The numbers throughout the Benchmarks refer to the Virginia Social Studies Standards of Learning objectives.  For example, “WHII.3” refers to the World History II Social Studies SOL objective number “3”.