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AP courses

AP World History: Modern

The modern world from 1200 to today, tracing empires, exchange, revolutions, and global conflict.

14 units · 90 lessons · 364 practice items · 77 videos

AP World History: Modern traces the world from about 1200 to the present. You study the state-building of early land-based and maritime empires, the networks of exchange that moved goods and ideas between them, the age of revolutions, and the consequences of industrialization. The final units cover global conflict in the twentieth century, the Cold War and decolonization, and the patterns of globalization that follow, each connected to the periods before it.

Lessons pair the narrative with short video segments and graded checks: matching developments to their historical context, multiple choice, and brief written responses that build the evidence habits the exam rewards. Nearly every lesson carries practice, with the unit reviews as the exception, and semester exams sit on the course map as units of their own.

This course follows the College Board's published AP World History: Modern framework.

Syllabus

Every published lesson in this course, by unit.

Foundations before 12006 lessons
  1. 10.0 Early humans, farming, and the state
  2. 20.1 Early agrarian societies to c. 600 BCE
  3. 30.2 The classical era, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE
  4. 40.3 Postclassical civilizations, c. 600 to c. 1200
  5. 50.4 Regional webs and the fall of empires
  6. 6Unit 0 review
The global tapestry8 lessons
  1. 11.1 Developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  2. 21.2 Developments in Dar al-Islam from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  3. 31.3 Developments in South and Southeast Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  4. 41.4 State building in the Americas
  5. 51.5 State building in Africa
  6. 61.6 Developments in Europe from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  7. 71.7 Comparison in the period from c. 1200 to c. 1450
  8. 8Unit 1 review
Networks of exchange8 lessons
  1. 12.1 The Silk Roads
  2. 22.2 The Mongol Empire and the making of the modern world
  3. 32.3 Exchange in the Indian Ocean
  4. 42.4 Trans-Saharan trade routes
  5. 52.5 Cultural consequences of connectivity
  6. 62.6 Environmental consequences of connectivity
  7. 72.7 Comparison of economic exchange
  8. 8Unit 2 review
ExamSemester 1 midterm1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 1 midterm exam
Land-based empires5 lessons
  1. 13.1 Empires expand
  2. 23.2 Empires: administration
  3. 33.3 Empires: belief systems
  4. 43.4 Comparison in land-based empires
  5. 5Unit 3 review
Transoceanic interconnections9 lessons
  1. 14.1 Technological innovations from 1450 to 1750
  2. 24.2 Exploration: causes and events from 1450 to 1750
  3. 34.3 Columbian Exchange
  4. 44.4 Maritime empires established
  5. 54.5 Maritime empires maintained and developed
  6. 64.6 Internal and external challenges to state power from 1450 to 1750
  7. 74.7 Changing social hierarchies from 1450 to 1750
  8. 84.8 Continuity and change from 1450 to 1750
  9. 9Unit 4 review
ExamSemester 1 final1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 1 final exam
Revolutions11 lessons
  1. 15.1 The Enlightenment
  2. 25.2 Nationalism and revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900
  3. 35.3 Industrial Revolution begins
  4. 45.4 Industrialization spreads throughout the world
  5. 55.5 Technology of the industrial age
  6. 65.6 Industrialization: government's role from 1750 to 1900
  7. 75.7 Economic developments and innovations in the industrial age
  8. 85.8 Reactions to the industrial economy from 1750 to 1900
  9. 95.9 Society and the industrial age
  10. 105.10 Continuity and change in the industrial age
  11. 11Unit 5 review
Consequences of industrialization9 lessons
  1. 16.1 Rationales for imperialism from 1750 to 1900
  2. 26.2 State expansion from 1750 to 1900
  3. 36.3 Indigenous responses to state expansion from 1750 to 1900
  4. 46.4 Global economic development from 1750 to 1900
  5. 56.5 Economic imperialism from 1750 to 1900
  6. 66.6 Causes of migration in an interconnected world
  7. 76.7 Effects of migration
  8. 86.8 Causation in the imperial age
  9. 9Unit 6 review
Global conflict10 lessons
  1. 17.1 Shifting power after 1900
  2. 27.2 Causes of World War I
  3. 37.3 Conducting World War I
  4. 47.4 The economy in the interwar period
  5. 57.5 Unresolved tensions after World War I
  6. 67.6 Causes of World War II
  7. 77.7 Conducting World War II
  8. 87.8 Mass atrocities after 1900
  9. 97.9 Causation in global conflict
  10. 10Unit 7 review
ExamSemester 2 midterm1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 2 midterm exam
Cold War and decolonization10 lessons
  1. 18.1 Setting the stage for the Cold War and decolonization
  2. 28.2 The Cold War
  3. 38.3 Effects of the Cold War
  4. 48.4 Spread of communism after 1900
  5. 58.5 Decolonization after 1900
  6. 68.6 Newly independent states
  7. 78.7 Global resistance to established power structures after 1900
  8. 88.8 End of the Cold War
  9. 98.9 Causation in the age of the Cold War and decolonization
  10. 10Unit 8 review
Globalization10 lessons
  1. 19.1 Advances in technology and exchange after 1900
  2. 29.2 Technological advances and limitations after 1900: disease
  3. 39.3 Technological advances: debates about the environment after 1900
  4. 49.4 Economics in the global age
  5. 59.5 Calls for reform and responses after 1900
  6. 69.6 Globalized culture after 1900
  7. 79.7 Resistance to globalization after 1900
  8. 89.8 Institutions developing in a globalized world
  9. 99.9 Continuity and change in a globalized world
  10. 10Unit 9 review
ExamSemester 2 final1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 2 final exam