Political History - AP World History: Modern

The Umayyad Caliphate came to power in modern-day Syria in the mid-seventh century and dramatically extended the rule of Islam to include all of North Africa, the Iberian peninsula, and parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Umayyads were immediately succeeded by the Abbasid Caliphate, who took control of the Islamic world in the mid-eighth century and ruled until dissolution in the thirteenth century.

Mahmud of Ghazni ruled a sultanate centered around modern-day Afghanistan in the eleventh century. He is the most famous ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. When he came to power Ghazna was a small city of little global prominence or significance, by the end of his reign he had established a powerful empire that included most of modern-day Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and parts of northern India.

It was the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 against the United States that encouraged the United States to join the Allies in War World II. Up to that point, the United States had only been unofficially supporting the Allied Powers.

After the fall of the Tang dynasty in the early tenth century, China fragmented into several smaller states. The largest of these states was the Song, which ruled over a stretch of China from the Yellow river in the north to the Vietnamese border in the south.

All of these empires were completely destroyed by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. The Mongols infamously sacked the city of Baghdad, leading to the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate and the subsequent degradation of this part of the world for centuries. They conquered Song China and established the Yuan dynasty. They dismantled the Khwarazmian Empire and established the Il-Khanate. They also destroyed the Kievan Rus and founded the so-called Golden Horde which ruled Mongol territory in modern-day Russia and Eastern Europe. These are just a few of the empires destroyed by the Mongols.

The Jagatai Khanate was one of the four divisions of the Mongol Empire (along with the Ilkhan Empire, the Golden Horde, and the empire of Kublai Khan in China). The Jagatai ruled over a massive swathe of land in Central Asia, including the vital Silk Road trading city of Samarkand.

The Toltec civilization emerged in pre-Columbian Mexico in the 800s CE. They were a warrior society and grew wealthy and powerful on the back of military conquest. They were not contemporaries of the Olmecs (who preceded them by more than a thousand years), but they were contemporaries of the Aztecs.

Osman I founded the Ottoman Empire at the very end of the thirteenth century and, although it was only a minor emirate during his lifetime, it soon grew to control most of the Middle East and a large portion of southeastern Europe.

All of these statements are correct except that the Mongol territory was divided into two great empires. It was, in fact, divided into four great empires — the Empire of Kublai Khan, which ruled over China and the Mongol homeland; the Jagatai Empire, which ruled over Samarkand and Central Asia; the Golden Horde, which ruled over Russia and parts of Eastern Europe; and the Ilkhan Empire, which ruled over parts of the Middle East and Persia.

The Mamluk Sultanate was founded in Egypt in the thirteenth century. It began with the overthrow of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Mamluks ruled over most of Egypt and the Levant for a few centuries before being conquered by the growing Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century.

In 1398, the Central Asian Mongol-Turkic warlord Timur invaded the Delhi Sultanate and sacked the city of Delhi. This contributed greatly to the weakening of the Delhi Sultanate, which would never again rule with the same authority. The Sultanate would come to an end in the early sixteenth century when it was conquered by the Mughals.

The Mongol warlord Timur reigned over the Jagatai Khanate from 1370 to 1405. During this time he led a series of military conquests against Persia, Russia, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Notably he sacked the city of Delhi and led to the weakening of the Delhi Sultanate. Timur could probably be considered to be the last of the great Mongol warlords.

The Warring States Period led to the Establishment of the Qin Dynasty.

Rhodes fancied himself as a political titan due to his position as head of the South African Colony. He used the great resources of the colony to make himself obscenely rich.

When trying to answer this question, it is first useful to know what a nation-state is. A state is a political entity, whereas a nation is a cultural or ethnic identity. So, Basque might be a nation in Spain, but Spain is the state that Basque is within. In Europe throughout the late Medieval period, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment, nation-states began to emerge. Nation-states are political bodies unified with a cultural or ethnic identity. They primarily emerged in countries like England, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden in the early Renaissance period, and this system of nation-states was then exported around the world as the Western European powers continued to expand their influence. It is now the dominant political entity in the world and its significance has not waned in the twentieth or twenty-first centuries.

The concept of Shari'a Law outlines a list of codes and laws drawn directly from the Qu'ran and the teachings of Mohammed. Because of their religious basis they are an example of a theocracy. Shari'a law still remains a governing force in most Islamic nations.

The Tsars' power largely rested on the support of the Orthodox Church and the military.

The sans-culottes were a social group in revolutionary France.

Certain nomadic groups, such as the Cossacks, were oftentimes allied with the Tsar but they were not indigenous to Central Asia.

Although throughout history, certain Muslim fighters from Chechnya and Dagestan may have fought for the Russian Tsar, they were the exception rather than the rule.

Throughout history merchants from all over the world have traded in Russia, but they were never a main pillar of support for the Russian Tsars.

Over the course of the 16th century, French royal power became increasingly centralized, with the French monarch becoming an absolute monarch.

Although both firearms and longbows decreased the need for mounted knights in full plate armor, the French monarch was adept at raising loyal armies composed of both musketeers and longbow men.

The French Revolution did not occur until the 18th century.

The Viking invasion and sack of Paris occurred in 845, centuries before the 16th century.

In 1963 the Organisation of African Unity was created to protect African sovereignty. It was succeeded in 2002 by the African Union.

Due to the fragmented nature of the Italian region at the time of the Renaissance, every single city-state (with the exceptions of the papal state of Rome and Venice) was governed under despotism. According to this system, the most powerful (aka the richest and most socially-connected) men in each city-state selected a despot to act as the city’s governing figure. This despot was charged with upholding the principle known as “podesta:” the maintenance of strict law and order, by any and all means (judicial, economic, military, political) necessary. Each city-state’s elite circles relied upon the despot’s iron social control so that they could conduct their trade and economic business unimpeded, with as little societal and governmental obstruction as possible. This system of government ensured that while, the elites and despots themselves were quite happy with their lofty positions, the majority of the citizens were resentful, if not openly hostile, and so political conflict became the norm. Before too long, many city-states became hotbeds of political intrigue, as various individuals, powerful or otherwise, vied to influence or remove despots, often through underhanded, even violent, means.