World history
Comparative and causal arguments about societies and their past.
Democracy in Europe Between the Wars and After 1945
An evidence-led comparison of the pressures on European democracies in the interwar years and from 1945 to 1989, followed by an explanation of democracy’s expansion from 1975 to 2000.
Technology and Quality of Life in the Twentieth Century
A qualified argument that twentieth-century technology expanded human capabilities, but that this nuclear-technology case alone cannot establish broad improvements in individuals’ lives. Its benefits depended on how societies directed and governed its power.
Nazi Germany: Economic Crisis, Propaganda, and the Road to World War II
The 1932 poster transformed economic anxiety into an appeal to protect family life and vote for Hitler. The Great Depression deepened Germany’s insecurity, while the Nazi regime’s later rearmament and invasion of Poland show how its rise to power contributed to war.
Industrialization’s Economic and Social Effects, 1750–1900
Industrialization substantially changed production, labor, and urban life, but its effects spread unevenly and did not erase older economic practices.
The Nazi Party’s Rise and the Causes of World War II
The Nazi Party’s rise enabled an authoritarian government to pursue rearmament and territorial expansion. Its invasion of Poland turned that aggressive course into war with Britain and France, while earlier crises and other governments’ choices shaped the path.
European International Relations from the French Revolution to 1815
The most consequential change was the intensification of the British-French struggle for European supremacy into a prolonged series of conflicts that continued the French Revolutionary Wars. This rivalry repeatedly drew other states into a struggle over power and helped make warfare, rather than stable diplomacy, a defining feature of European relations in the period.
Portuguese and Spanish Overseas Expansion, 1450–1650
Portugal and Spain pursued overseas wealth and power through different imperial patterns. Later competition among European states made overseas trade and territory part of wider conflicts, although colonial rivalry was not the sole cause of war.
European Art from 1450 to 1700: The Most Significant Change
An argument that expanding naturalistic representation was the period’s most consequential artistic change because it reshaped how artists constructed space and engaged viewers across different subjects and settings.
Mughal India: Hindu-Muslim Cultural Interaction, c. 1450–1750
Under the Mughals, interaction between Hindu and Muslim communities contributed to artistic innovation, shared mystical traditions, and social connections across religious boundaries. The excerpt supports these cultural claims directly; the political reasons rulers might have encouraged such interaction are interpretations, not motives it explicitly attributes to them.
German Nationalism and Unification, 1800–1871
An explanatory essay on the political obstacles to German nationalism from 1800 to 1850 and the later role of Prussian-led unification, interpreted through the symbols in Philipp Veit’s Germania.
The Scientific Method and European Society, 1600–1800
An explanatory essay on how empirical inquiry changed scientific debate and contributed to the practical value of systematic knowledge in Europe from 1600 to 1800.