Unit 1 World History

The Great Sphinx in front of Khafre’s Pyramid in Giza Plataeu. (Public Domain photo. Info can be found here)

The Gate of All Nations in Persepolis which is in modern day Iran. (Creative Commons Attribution photo. Info can be found here)

Unit 1

10,000 BCE – 600 CE

This unit is based on a set of dates that is recognized by most World History teachers as the time between early man and about 600 C.E. (Current Era). The point of the break is one in which many of the most influential civilizations around the world fell or had recently fallen, which gives us as much of a breaking point as one gets in world history. Between these dates are a wealth of civilizations that are important to world history but are largely forgotten by most of America. For every well-know civilization like Egypt, we cover many lesser known (but important) civilizations like the Phoenicians.

Unit Chapters

Choose from the list of Chapters below.

Chapter 1

The history of the world from 10,000 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.

Chapter 2

The history of the world from 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.

Chapter 3

An overview of the history of religion.

Critical Thinking Essay

Background:

A few years have passed from your sophomore year and you are voting in your first presidential election. The election has been controversial especially since we are at war with the country of ___________. Each candidate has explained how he will win this war that we have declared, but haven’t really started the fighting for.

Assignment Overview:

Evaluate the strategy of each candidate and choose which one you would vote for based only on what they say they will use as a strategy. You will be graded on your ability to support your decision of who to vote for with facts from ancient history.

Essay Prompt:

Using your knowledge of warfare tactics from ancient world history, which of the following candidates would you support if you were basing this completely on your knowledge of ancient/classical war tactics? Justify your answer with as many historical facts as you can.

Candidate Positions:

Candidate A: We are the most powerful military on earth! We simply need to use our superior numbers and technology and we will be victorious.

Candidate B: We need to find allies to help us in this war so that we don’t have to worry about fighting the entire war ourselves. If we invade this country from multiple directions and many allies, this war should be much more successful.

Candidate C: We have a tendency to overestimate our strength. I don’t want to act like I have all the answers. If I become President I will listen to my top generals and develop a strategy that is best so that we lose as little of our soldiers as possible.