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3 notes · 2028 course · SL
These notes belong to the earlier syllabus and are retained for wider reading. They are outside this department’s selected 2028 course.
Paper 1 · SL & HL
Political and economic transitions
Focused study · First assessment 2028
Political and economic transitions
The department's Paper 1 option. Explore political and economic change through source inquiry; the IB requires both studies in the selected pair.
- The Charter Oath of 1868 Issued in the emperor's name in April 1868, the Charter Oath set out aims for Japan's new government. Its promises provide evidence of political intentions.
- The Soviet collapse and the Russian transition The failed August coup weakened Soviet central authority. By December the Soviet Union had dissolved, leaving the Russian leadership facing a different political order.
Prescribed subject 1
Military leaders
Genghis Khan (c1200–1227) and Richard I of England (1173–1199) — leadership, campaigns and their impact.
Prescribed subject 2
Conquest and its impact
The final stages of Muslim rule in Spain (1482–1492) and the conquest of Mexico and Peru (1519–1551).
Prescribed subject 3
The move to global war
Japanese expansion in East Asia (1931–1941) and German and Italian expansion (1933–1940), and the international response.
- Japanese expansion in East Asia From the Mukden Incident to Pearl Harbor — how Japan's army seized Manchuria, went to war with China, and set Japan on a collision course with the United States.
- German and Italian expansion How Hitler and Mussolini overturned the post-war settlement — from rearmament and Abyssinia to Munich and the invasion of Poland — and why Britain and France appeased them until 1939.
Prescribed subject 4
Rights and protest
The civil rights movement in the United States (1954–1965) and apartheid South Africa (1948–1964).
- Apartheid South Africa How the National Party built apartheid after 1948, how the ANC and others resisted — from the Defiance Campaign to armed struggle — and how the state crushed resistance by 1964.
- The civil rights movement in the United States How African Americans used the courts, mass protest and nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation and win the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Prescribed subject 5
Conflict and intervention
Rwanda (1990–1998) and Kosovo (1989–2002) — causes of conflict, the course of events, and international intervention.
- Kosovo — conflict and NATO intervention How Serbia's removal of Kosovo's autonomy led to Albanian resistance, war and ethnic cleansing — and to NATO's controversial air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999.
- Rwanda — civil war and genocide How colonial rule, civil war and a radicalised regime led to the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 — and why the United Nations and the great powers failed to stop it.
Paper 2 · SL & HL
Authoritarian rule
Thematic study · First assessment 2028
Authoritarian rule
The department's Paper 2 option, covering examples from 1750 CE onwards. Examine how authoritarian power was established, maintained and experienced.
World history topic 2
Causes and effects of medieval wars (750–1500)
Why medieval wars began, how they were fought, and what they changed — from the Crusades to the Hundred Years' War.
World history topic 10
Authoritarian states (20th century)
The emergence, consolidation and maintenance of authoritarian states, and the aims and results of their policies.
- Stalin's Soviet Union How Stalin won the struggle to succeed Lenin, transformed the Soviet economy through forced industrialisation and collectivisation, and ruled through terror and propaganda.
- Mao's China How Mao Zedong's Communists won China's civil war, and how Mao used mass campaigns — from land reform to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution — to transform China and keep power.
World history topic 11
Causes and effects of 20th-century wars
The causes, practices and effects of war — including total and limited wars, civil wars and guerrilla wars.
- The outbreak of the First World War How an assassination in Sarajevo turned into a general European war within six weeks — and why historians still argue about who was responsible.
- The Spanish Civil War How the divisions of the Second Republic erupted into civil war in 1936, why foreign intervention mattered, and why Franco's Nationalists won.
World history topic 12
The Cold War — superpower tensions and rivalries
The rivalry between the USA and the USSR, its spread to other regions, and the leaders and crises that shaped it.
- The origins of the Cold War How the wartime alliance of the USA, Britain and the USSR broke down between Yalta and the Berlin Blockade, dividing Europe and Germany into rival blocs.
- The Cuban Missile Crisis Thirteen days in October 1962 when the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba brought the superpowers closer to nuclear war than at any other time.
Paper 3 · HL
Europe
Regional study · First assessment 2028
Europe — The French Revolution
One of the department's two selected Europe studies. Follow individual events to investigate revolutionary change, authority and political participation.
- The storming of the Bastille On 14 July 1789, a Parisian crowd captured the Bastille. The search for gunpowder became an enduring symbol of resistance to royal power. Higher Level
- The Tennis Court Oath On 20 June 1789, deputies pledged to remain together until France had a constitution, challenging the basis of royal authority. Higher Level
Regional study · First assessment 2028
Europe — Unification of Germany and Italy
The department's second Europe study. Compare national movements, diplomacy, war and state-building through separate event notes in Germany and Italy.
- The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy The new Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in March 1861. Turin's parliament embodied a major stage of unification, while territorial and political questions remained. Higher Level
- The proclamation of the German Empire Wilhelm I was proclaimed German emperor at Versailles on 18 January 1871. The ceremony marked unification under Prussian leadership during war with France. Higher Level
HL regional option 4
History of Europe
Eighteen sections spanning roughly 1000 to 2000 — including imperial Russia, the revolutions of 1917 and the interwar years — of which schools study three.
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