Looking Ahead
Listed below are review questions that draw information from one or more of the lessons that you have completed since the midterm exam. Since you may not have written essays covering some aspects of these review questions, you will need to review the prep sheets that we encouraged you to make for each lesson.
Now the task is to organize your notes in such a way that they relate to these rather broad review questions.
Format
You will write two essays for the final exam, each requiring a response of approximately one-and-a-half hours. The first question, covering information from the second part of the course, will be chosen from two possibilities picked by the instructor from the first list ("Questions for Lessons 7-13"). The second, a comprehensive question, will be chosen from two possibilities picked by the instructor from the second list ("Questions for the Comprehensive Essay").
If you have prepared properly, you should be able to write two detailed essays in the allotted time. The instructor will be looking for evidence that you understand the larger generalizations that underlie the questions and that you can support your own generalizations with more concrete material that you have gleaned from the lesson materials, the textbook, and, where appropriate, from the selected historical readings linked from the lesson materials.
What to Review
Questions for Lessons 7-13
- Compare and contrast the chaotic nature of the period around A.D. 500 with the period 1300-1500. Are there meaningful similarities? Major differences? Consider the causes and consequences of the disruptions. Select examples from anywhere across the spectrum of Eurasia.
- Define and discuss the concept of "southernization" as presented in the course. In doing so, make sure you mention all the relevant regions/empires and the technological innovations, crops, etc., involved in the process. What is your evaluation of the argument put forward by Shaffer that southernization was an important precursor to westernization?
- The European Middle Ages are often treated with disdain or ridicule by preachers at the pulpit, politicians, and even children who accuse their parents of being "medieval." What evidence can you give that this period was an important stage in the development of human civilization?
- In what ways can our understanding of the origins and history of Islam to approximately 1400 help us comprehend the modern world? In other words, what have you learned about this major world religion that helps you understand its role in our day and age? Consider both its basic tenets and its historical development.
- Despite efforts to maintain traditions established well before the collapse of the Han Dynasty in A.D. 221, the civilization of China underwent significant refinements or changes thereafter. What philosophical, religious, and cultural shifts occurred, and in what ways did these changes manifest themselves?
- Select any two major periods between A.D. 221 and 1400 (Tang, Song, Mongol, or Ming) and discuss some of the changes you have observed. Identify factors that helped bring these changes about.
Questions for the Comprehensive Essay
- Using several examples from across Eurasia, support the argument that religion was a major positive force throughout the period 3500 B.C. until A.D. 1400.
- At the beginning of the Classical Age (ca. 800 B.C.), the inhabitants of the major regions of the world had little or no knowledge of one another. By about A.D. 1400, however, this condition had changed considerably. Identify the technological, political, economic and/or religious/philosophical forces that helped bring this transformation about. Why was the development of the Eurasian ecumene (that condition of cultural and economic interdependence) so erratic until after A.D. 1400? In what ways did even a partial ecumene benefit the various regions of Eurasia?
- Although the pages of history devote considerable attention to the great conquerors, there is some question as to the real and lasting impact of the man of weapons on subsequent ages. Based on the civilizations that flourished during the ancient, classical, and medieval periods in Eurasia, can a case be made that it is the accomplishments of the men of ideas (art, literature, philosophy, etc.) rather than those of the great warriors (empires, etc.) that ultimately survive and become the legacy of the past? Can an alternative case be made that the great conquerors in any significant way altered the course of history? Be specific in selecting arguments that support either side of the issue.
- Many of the accomplishments of the world's first known civilizations (Sumer, Shang China, Indus Valley, Minoan Crete, and Egypt) survived to become part of the civilizations that flourished during the Middle Ages (Tang/Song China, Islam, Hindu India, Byzantium, and medieval Europe). Identify four or five strands of cultural continuity over the time frame 3500 B.C. to approximately A.D. 1400, noting some of the paths by which they traveled from earliest historical times down to the late Middle Ages. As an example, how did this or that idea of practice get from ancient Sumer to medieval Paris, or from ancient Egypt into medieval Islam?
- Throughout the course of ancient, classical, and medieval history, the "nomads" have played a very decisive role. Select one major nomadic group from each period and discuss fully the impact that each had on the civilized regions of the world. Can you arrive at any generalization concerning the historical function of the nomadic peoples of the earth? A hint: The Mongols were nomads before A.D. 1200; the Arabs were essentially nomadic before A.D. 600; the Germans were nomads before about A.D. 300; the Hyksos were nomads; so too were the Aryans before about 1500 B.C.; etc. The list can go on and on.
- List and discuss at least three major themes in world history up to approximately A.D. 1500. You can answer this question drawing on all the civilizations we have studied, or you can focus on the core societies of the Eurasian ecumene running from Western Europe through the Near/Middle East and South Asia (India) to East Asia and Southeast Asia. Please know that we are not looking for any set answers on this question. We simply want you to think broadly about what you have learned and to synthesize your thoughts clearly in writing.
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