Course Syllabus
World History II
Prerequisites
To be completed by the local school division
Estimated Completion Time
2 semesters/36 weeks
Course Description
Based on the Virginia Standards of Learning, this World History II course is designed to introduce students to world history and geography from the year 1500 A.D. through the present. World History II fully integrates both world history and geography concepts.  
Scope and Sequence:
Module and Topic #	Name	Virginia Standards of Learning	Reporting Category	
Developmental Module	
Module 1: Religion and Empires	
Topic 1	The Five World Religions	•	WHII.2c: Describing the distribution of major religions.
•	WHII.15a: Describing their beliefs, sacred writings, traditions, and customs.
•	WHII.15b:  Locating the geographic distribution of religions in the contemporary world.	Geography

The Post War Period	
Topic 2	Major States and Empires In 1500 A.D.	•	WHII.2a: Locating major states and empires.
•	WHII.2d: Analyzing major trade patterns.
•	WHII.2e: Citing major technological and scientific changes in the Eastern Hemisphere.	Geography

Emergence of a Global Age	
Module 2: The Renaissance and the Reformation	
Topic 1	The Renaissance	•	WHII.2b: Describing artistic, literary, and intellectual ideas of the Renaissance.
•	WHII.3c: Describing changing cultural values, traditions, philosophies, and assessing the role of the printing press.	Emergence of a Global Age	
Topic 2	English and German Reformation	•	WHII.3a: Explaining the effects of theological, political, and economic differences that emerged including the views and actions of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I.
•	WHII.3b: Describing the impact of religious conflicts, the Inquisition, and the Catholic Reformation on society and government actions.
•	WHII.3c: Describing changing cultural values, traditions, philosophies, and assessing the role of the printing press.	Emergence of a Global Age	
Topic 3	Religious Wars and Catholic Reformation	•	WHII.3b: Describing the impact of religious conflicts, the Inquisition, and the Catholic Reformation on society and government actions.	Emergence of a Global Age	
Module 3: The Age of Discovery and the Impact of European Expansion	
Topic 1	Competition for the New World	•	WHII.4a: Explaining the roles and economic motivations of explorers and conquistadors.
•	WHII.4b: Describing the influence of religion.	Emergence of a Global Age	
Topic 2	Life In the New Colonies	•	WHII.4c: Explaining migration, settlement patterns, cultural diffusion, and social classes in the colonized areas.
•	WHII.4d: Describing the Columbian Exchange, including its impact on native populations.
•	WHII.4e: Mapping and explaining the triangular trade
•	WHII.4f: Describing the impact of precious metal exports from the Americas.	Geography

Emergence of a Global Age	
Topic 3	New Empires	•	WHII.5a: Describing the location and development of the Ottoman Empire.
•	WHII.5b: Describing India, including the Mughal Empire and coastal trade.
•	WHII.5c: Describing East Asia, including Chinese and the Japanese shogunate.	Geography

Emergence of a Global Age	
Topic 4	Commerce and Trade	•	WHII.4e: Mapping and explaining the triangular trade
•	WHII.4f: Describing the impact of precious metal exports from the Americas.
•	WHII.5d: Describing Africa and its increasing involvement in global trade.
•	WHII.5e: Describing the growth of European nations, including the Commercial Revolution and mercantilism.	Geography

Civics and Economics	
Module 4: Absolutism and Constitutionalism	
Topic 1	Absolute Monarchies	•	WHII.6b: Describing the Age of Absolutism, including the monarchies of Louis XIV and Peter the Great	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 2	The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution	•	WHII.6c: Assessing the impacts of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution on democracy.	Civics and Economics	
Module 5: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment	
Topic 1	The Scientific Revolution	•	WHII.6a: Describing the Scientific Revolution and its effects.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 2	The Enlightenment	•	WHII.6d: Explaining the political, religious, and social ideas of the Enlightenment and the ways in which they influenced the founders of the United States.	Civics and Economics	
Topic 3	Cultural and Technological Changes of the Enlightenment	•	WHII.6f: Describing the expansion of the arts, philosophy, literature, and new technology.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 4	The French Revolution	•	WHII.6e: Describing the French Revolution.	Age of Revolutions	
Module 6: Revolutions and Unity	
Topic 1	Latin American Colonialism	•	WHII.7a: Describing the colonial system as it existed by 1800.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 2	Latin American Independence	•	WHII.7b: Identifying the impact of the American and French Revolutions on Latin America.
•	WHII.7c: Explaining the contributions of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Simon Bolivar.
•	WHII.7d: Assessing the impact of the Monroe Doctrine.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 3	The Napoleonic Era and the Congress of Vienna	•	WHII.8a: Assessing the impact of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna, including changing political boundaries in Europe after 1815.
•	WHII.8b: Describing unsuccessful revolutions on the continent and political reform in the United Kingdom.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 4	Nationalism and Revolutions	•	WHII.8c: Explaining events related to the unification of Italy and the role of Italian nationalists.
•	WHII.8d: Explaining events related to the unification of Germany and the role of Bismarck.	Age of Revolutions	
Module 7: Industrial Revolution and Its Impact	
Topic 1	Resources and Technological Advances	•	WHII.9a: Citing scientific, technological, and industrial developments and explaining how they brought about urbanization and social and environmental changes.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 2	Impact of Industrial Revolution	•	WHII.9c: Describing the evolution of the nature of work and the labor force, including its effects on families, the status of women and children, the slave trade, and the labor union movement.	Age of Revolutions	
Topic 3	Capitalism and its Discontents: 
Economic Theories and the Rise of Labor Unions	•	WHII.9b: Explaining the emergence of capitalism as a dominant economic pattern, and the subsequent development of socialism and communism.
•	WHII.9c: Describing the evolution of the nature of work and the labor force, including its effects on families, the status of women and children, the slave trade, and the labor union movement.	Civics and Economics

Age of Revolutions	
Topic 4	The Age of Imperialism	•	WHII.9d: Explaining the impact of industrial economies and their link to imperialism and nationalism.
•	WHII.9e: Assessing the impact of European economic and military power on Asia and Africa, with emphasis on the competition for resources and the responses of colonized people.	Age of Revolutions	
Module 8: World War I and the Interwar Period	
Topic 1	Major Causes and Events of World War I	•	WHII.10a: Explaining economic causes, political causes, and major events and identifying major leaders of the war, with emphasis on Woodrow Wilson and Kaiser Wilhelm II.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 2	WWI Outcomes and Global Effects	•	WHII.10b: Explaining the outcomes and global effects of the war and the Treaty of Versailles.
•	WHII.11a: Describing the League of Nations and the mandate system.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 3	Russian Revolution	•	WHII.10c: Citing causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 4	Economic Depression	•	WHII.11b: Citing causes and assessing the impact of the worldwide depression in the 1930s.	Civics and Economics	
Topic 5	Rise of Totalitarian Leaders	•	WHII.11c: Examining events related to the rise, aggression, and human costs of dictatorial regimes in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and Japan, and identifying their major leaders, i.e., Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Hirohito, and Hideki Tojo.	Era of Global Wars	
Module 9: World War II	
Topic 1	World War II Causes	•	WHII.12a: Explaining economic and political causes, describing major events, and identifying leaders of the war, with emphasis on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, and Hirohito.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 2	Major Events of World War II	•	WHII.12a: Explaining economic and political causes, describing major events, and identifying leaders of the war, with emphasis on Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, and Hirohito.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 3	The Holocaust and Other Genocides	•	WHII.12b: Examining the Holocaust and other examples of genocide in the twentieth century.	Era of Global Wars	
Topic 4	World War II Outcomes	•	WHII.12c: Explaining the terms of the peace, the war crimes trials, the division of Europe, plans to rebuild Germany and Japan, and the creation of the international cooperative organizations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).	Era of Global Wars	
Module 10: The Cold War	
Topic 1	The Roots of the Cold War	•	WHII.13a: Explaining key events of the Cold War, including competition between the American and Soviet economic and political systems and the causes of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.	Era of Global Wars

The Post War Period	
Topic 2	Containment In Asia	•	WHII.13c: Describing conflicts and revolutionary movements in eastern Asia, including those in China and Vietnam, and their major leaders, i.e., Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), Chiang Kai-shek, and Ho Chi Minh	The Post War Period	
Topic 3	Major Leaders and the End of the Cold War	•	WHII13b: Explaining key events of the Cold War, including competition between the American and Soviet economic and political systems and the causes of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
•	WHII.13d: Describing major contributions of selected world leaders in the second half of the twentieth century, including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Deng Xiaoping.	The Post War Period	
Module 11: Independence and Challenges in the Modern World	
Topic 1	Indian Independence	•	WHII.14a: Describing the struggles for self-rule, including Gandhi’s leadership in India and the development of India’s democracy.	The Post War Period	
Topic 2	Independence Movements In Africa	•	WHII.14b: Describing Africa’s achievement of independence, including Jomo Kenyatta’s leadership of Kenya and Nelson Mandela’s role in South Africa.	The Post War Period	
Topic 3	End of Mandates In the Middle East	•	WHII.14c: Describing the end of the mandate system and the creation of states in the Middle East, including the roles of Golda Meir, and Gamal Abdul Nasser.	The Post War Period	
Topic 4	Challenges In a Contemporary World	•	WHII.16a: Identifying contemporary political issues, with emphasis on migrations of refugees and other, ethnic/religious conflicts, and the impact of technology, including chemical and biological technologies.	Geography	
Topic 5	Economic Development	•	WHII.16b: Assessing the impact of economic development and global population growth on the environment and society, including an understanding of the links between economic and political freedom.
•	WHII.16c: Describing economic interdependence, including the rise of multinational corporations, international organizations, and trade agreements.	Civics and Economics	
Topic 6	International Terrorism	•	WHII.16d: Analyzing the increasing impact of terrorism.	The Post War Period	

Please Note: Virginia Standards of Learning WHII.1a-f are covered across all course modules.