King's College History Department

CORE 132 Twentieth Century
Study Questions for Final Exam

Remember:  in your exams you will be asked to write a clear, legible essay, using complete sentences and paragraphs.  You should plan your essay in advance.  You should use specific details in your essay, such as proper names, dates and terminology. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION TO HELP YOU REVIEW, CHECK OUT kings.edu/history/20c.html !

1. Discuss the conflicts of nationalism and ethnicity since World War II. You might consider the following questions: What are some of the nationalist groups that have increased tensions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas? How have democracy, fascism and communism dealt with the problems in the context of the Cold War and after? What problems of nationalism and ethnicity still confront the world into the 21st Century?
   
2. Discuss the affect of the Cold War on global history. You might consider the following questions: How did the Cold war begin and in which ways was the Cold War different from previous wars? What were the major events and wars which continued the conflict through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s? How did the conflict involve other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America? How did the Cold War come to an end?
   
3. Discuss the increasing technological, social and cultural change in world societies in the last half of the twentieth century. You might consider the following questions: What new inventions have helped to accelerate change? How did social structures and life-styles change in industrialized nations? How did the cultural movements of the 1960s bring together many of these changes and try to go in new directions? What are the different affects of change on technologically advanced and impoverished nations?
   
4. Discuss decolonization, or the breakdown of Western colonial imperialism after 1945. You might consider the following questions: How and why did specific colonies in the Middle East, Asia and Africa agitate for independence? What issues concerned the imperialist mother countries? What problems did the former colonies face after independence? What kind of solutions did their leaders undertake? What are the similarities and differences between newly independent countries in Africa and Asia and older countries in Latin America?

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