cold war enduring issues essay

Why the Cold War still matters — lessons in politics, protest and peace

Analysis Why the Cold War still matters — lessons in politics, protest and peace

The concrete wall that divided Berlin for almost 30 years was more than a wall.

It was a physical manifestation of the Iron Curtain, the imaginary line dividing Europe between Soviet influence and Western influence.

It was the most enduring symbol of the Cold War.

Amid brutal Soviet repression and a superpower conflict so tense it seemed nuclear war was imminent, it seemed impossible that anything could change.

But it did.

In 1989 the wall came down , the Cold War ended, and world politics was altered forever.

And the way that dramatic change came about still matters today.

The Cold War's end has a lot to teach us about how we can end hostile conflict in a peaceful way — and why luck sometimes matters more than you might think.

There are three lessons we can draw:

• Personality matters in world politics;
• Popular protest for democratic change is the triumph of hope over historical evidence;
• 'Stable' world politics are often anything but, and the speed of change can be stunning.

Personality, connection and a bit of luck

Personality, and personal relationships, played a crucial role in the end of the Cold War.

In 1983, then-US president Ronald Reagan declared that the Soviet Union was an evil empire.

Any kind of relationship between Washington and Moscow looked unlikely.

But in 1985, the Soviets chose Mikhail Gorbachev as their new leader.

Gorbachev was completely different from his predecessors. He was willing to be critical of the Soviet economy, and was fully aware of its flaws.

He instituted two major reforms to improve the economy: perestroika and glasnost.

Perestroika was a policy of economic restructuring, the reforms that would be necessary to transform the Soviet economy.

But for economic reform to work, it was necessary for people to criticise it; it had to be clear what was wrong in order to fix it.

This was the policy of glasnost, or openness.

The problem with allowing some criticism is that it becomes impossible to control.

Once people were allowed to speak out in some areas, they inevitably began to do so in others, challenging the state's control over political issues as well as economic ones.

Gorbachev's economic approach within the Soviet Union earned him the confidence of the West.

"I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together," British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once said.

"We both believe in our own political systems. He firmly believes in his; I firmly believe in mine.

"We are never going to change one another ... but we have two great interests in common: that we should both do everything we can to see that war never starts again, and therefore we go into the disarmament talks determined to make them succeed."

Gorbachev and Reagan got along famously. They made real progress in reducing superpower tensions.

But if Gorbachev hadn't become the Soviet leader, it is hard to see how any of this change would have occurred.

In some ways, Gorbachev's rise to power, his internal political changes, and his relationship with Reagan remind us that there is a lot of luck in world politics.

Different personalities would have led to a different result.

Reagan and Gorbachev's relationship also reinforces the fact that overcoming differences requires a personal connection.

Power of the people

Peaceful popular protest played a crucial role in bringing down the Berlin Wall and ending the Cold War.

In November 1989 — almost exactly 30 years ago — 500,000 people marched in East Berlin to protest against the government.

They followed in the footsteps of tens of thousands of people who had marched throughout September and October.

Protest in East Germany, as it was everywhere inside the Iron Curtain, was an act of extraordinary bravery.

Secret police kept a tight lid on criticism.

Dissidents were arrested, jailed and tortured , but they still continued to protest.

On nearly every other occasion demonstrators took to the streets, Soviet tanks rolled in, and brute force shut down the possibility for change.

The fact that these protests were allowed to continue, and eventually worked, again relied on luck.

In fact, the Berlin Wall only opened because of a mistake.

The East German regime, under increased pressure from protest, decided to make some changes to freedom of movement.

The official tasked with announcing these changes at a press conference didn't follow his brief: he announced that border changes would take effect immediately.

When asked if these changes would apply to the Berlin Wall, he mistakenly said yes.

People rushed to the wall, in such large numbers that the authorities could not respond quickly enough, and soon were pouring over it to freedom.

Many authoritarian regimes have drawn the obvious lesson from the protests in Berlin: peaceful protest must be crushed to prevent regimes from collapsing.

The same year the Berlin Wall fell, democratic protesters also gathered elsewhere in the world.

In Tiananmen Square, protestors were crushed by tanks , and the Chinese regime persisted.

In Berlin, they were allowed to protest, and East Germany disappeared.

Rapid change

Finally, the Cold War shows us that international political situations can appear stable, or even permanent, when in fact they are anything but.

The superpower relationship of the early 1980s was so tense it looked like it could not possibly change.

The East German leader, Erich Honecker, announced confidently in January 1989 that the Wall would still be standing in 50, or even 100 years.

The world looked like it would never change.

Anna Funder, author of Stasiland and a long-time observer of East German politics, points out that if people raised the idea that the Berlin Wall might fall, even in early 1989, they'd have been laughed at.

"When this kind of thing was mentioned … they would be laughed at … as if they were talking about a fantasy, or leprechauns, or something so incredibly unlikely to happen that really it wasn't worth discussing," she says.

But in the space of less than a year, it totally transformed.

The speed of change can be rapid.

In retrospect, there were important shifts that presaged the Cold War's end that contemporaries often failed to notice.

The Soviet economy was in a dire state.

Even the CIA's estimates of its strength were incorrect: the Americans assumed that it was in decline, but they had no idea how much in decline.

Nick Bisley, head of the school of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, points out that the Soviet economy was "bizarre".

"The Soviet Union has the largest stockpile of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, it's got the leading edge at the time ... of supersonic jet fighters," he says.

"But they can't make durable shoes, and they can't put food on the shelves of their supermarkets with any degree of regularity."

In fact, the Soviet economy was propped up by the sale of vodka, to such a degree that when Gorbachev tried to restrict alcohol sales to improve productivity in the workforce, it reduced Soviet revenue dramatically.

The policy "starved the government of funds at the time they critically needed it," according to Kristy Ironside, an assistant professor of history at McGill University.

The failing Soviet economy caused Gorbachev to institute domestic reforms, and eventually to allow the Eastern bloc to sort out its own affairs rather than continuing to prop it up.

What seems permanent in international politics can be surprisingly impermanent.

Sarah Percy is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland. Listen to her four-part podcast, Why The Cold War Still Matters , on RN Presents.

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Social Effects of The Cold War

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Enduring Issue Essay Cold War

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This enduring issue essay is formatted as it appears on the NYS Regents exam. It can be completed by students after covering the Yalta Conference and Cold War.

Documents include:

- Economic and Political Changes under the Tokugawa Shogunate

- Map of spheres of influence in China

- Statement by Emmaline Pankhurst during the Suffrage Movement in Great Britain

- Picture and passage regarding Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany

- Passage on the Yalta Conference and the Soviet influence in Eastern Europe

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Getting Started: Resources to Enhance Instruction

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Unit 9.1: Global 1 Introduction

Unit 9.2: The First Civilizations

Unit 9.3: Classical Civilizations

Unit 9.4: Political Powers and Achievements

Unit 9.5: Social and Cultural Growth and Conflict

Unit 9.6: Ottoman and Ming Pre-1600

Unit 9.7: Transformation of Western Europe and Russia

Unit 9.8: Africa and the Americas Pre-1600

Unit 9.9: Interactions and Disruptions

• Unit 10.0: Global 2 Introduction

Unit 10.1: The World in 1750 C.E.

Unit 10.2: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism

Unit 10.3: Industrial Revolution

Unit 10.4: Imperialism

Unit 10.5: World Wars

Unit 10.6: Cold War Era

Unit 10.7: Decolonization and Nationalism

Unit 10.8: Cultural Traditions and Modernization

Unit 10.9: Globalization and the Changing Environment

Unit 10.10: Human Rights Violations

• Unit 11.0: US History Introduction
• Unit 11.1: Colonial Foundations
• Unit 11.2: American Revolution
• Unit 11.3A: Building a Nation
• Unit 11.03B: Sectionalism & the Civil War
• Unit 11.4: Reconstruction
• Unit 11.5: Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• Unit 11.6: Rise of American Power
• Unit 11.7: Prosperity and Depression
• Unit 11.8: World War II
• Unit 11.9: Cold War
• Unit 11.10: Domestic Change

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Regents Prep: Global 2 Exam

KEY IDEA:  THE WORLD in 1750: The world in 1750 was marked by powerful Eurasian states and empires, coastal African kingdoms, and growing European maritime empires. The interactions of these states, empires, and kingdoms disrupted regional trade networks and influenced the development of new global trade networks.

KEY IDEA:  ENLIGHTENMENT, REVOLUTION, AND NATIONALISM: The Enlightenment called into question traditional beliefs and inspired widespread political, economic, and social change. This intellectual movement was used to challenge political authorities in Europe and colonial rule in the Americas. These ideals inspired political and social movements.

KEY IDEA:  CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Innovations in agriculture, production, and transportation led to the Industrial Revolution, which originated in Western Europe and spread over time to Japan and other regions. This led to major population shifts and transformed economic and social systems

KEY IDEA:  CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Innovations in agriculture, production, and transportation led to the Industrial Revolution, which originated in Western Europe and spread over time to Japan and other regions. This led to major population shifts and transformed economic and social systems.

​KEY IDEA:  IMPERIALISM: Western European interactions with Africa and Asia shifted from limited regional contacts along the coast to greater influence and connections throughout these regions. Competing industrialized states sought to control and transport raw materials and create new markets across the world.

​KEY IDEA:  UNRESOLVED GLOBAL CONFLICT (1914–1945): World War I and World War II led to geopolitical changes, human and environmental devastation, and attempts to bring stability and peace.

​KEY IDEA:  UNRESOLVED GLOBAL CONFLICT (1945–1991: THE COLD WAR): The second half of the 20th century was shaped by the Cold War, a legacy of World War II. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as global superpowers engaged in ideological, political, economic, and military competition.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  The Cold War originated from tensions near the end of World War II as plans for peace were made and implemented. The Cold War was characterized by competition for power and ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast how peace was conceived at Yalta and Potsdam with what happened in Europe in the four years after World War II (i.e., Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, Truman Doctrine, Berlin blockade, NATO).

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  The Cold War was a period of confrontations and attempts at peaceful coexistence.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the efforts to expand and contain communism in Cuba, Vietnam, and Afghanistan from multiple perspectives.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the new military alliances, nuclear proliferation, and the rise of the military-industrial complex.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the reasons countries such as Egypt and India chose nonalignment.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore the era of détente from both American and Soviet perspectives.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the communist bloc in Europe had a global impact.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the impacts of those reforms within the Soviet Union, on the Soviet communist bloc, and in the world.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the political reforms of glasnost and economic reforms of perestroika.

​KEY IDEA:  DECOLONIZATION AND NATIONALISM (1900–2000): Nationalist and decolonization movements employed a variety of methods, including nonviolent resistance and armed struggle. Tensions and conflicts often continued after independence as new challenges arose.

​KEY IDEA:  TENSIONS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL CULTURES AND MODERNIZATION: Tensions exist between traditional cultures and agents of modernization. Reactions for and against modernization depend on perspective and context.

​KEY IDEA:  GLOBALIZATION AND A CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT (1990–PRESENT): Technological changes have resulted in a more interconnected world, affecting economic and political relations and in some cases leading to conflict and in others to efforts to cooperate. Globalization and population pressures have led to strains on the environment.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Technological changes in communication and transportation systems allow for instantaneous interconnections and new networks of exchange between people and places that have lessened the effects of time and distance.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore how information is accessed, exchanged, and controlled and how business is conducted in light of changing technology.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the causes and effects of, and responses to, one infectious disease (e.g., malaria, HIV/AIDS).

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Globalization is contentious, supported by some and criticized by others.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast arguments supporting and criticizing globalization by examining concerns including: • free market, export-oriented economies vs. localized, sustainable activities • development of a mixed economy in China and China’s role in the global economy • multinational corporations and cartels (e.g., Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) • roles of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and microfinance institutions • economic growth and economic downturns (e.g., recession, depression) on a national and a global scale • economic development and inequality (e.g., access to water, food, education, health care, energy) • migration and labor • ethnic diversity vs. homogenization (e.g., shopping malls, fast food franchises, language, popular culture)

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Population pressures, industrialization, and urbanization have increased demands for limited natural resources and food resources, often straining the environment.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine how the world’s population is growing exponentially for numerous reasons and how it is not evenly distributed.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore efforts to increase and intensify food production through industrial agriculture (e.g., Green Revolutions, use of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation, and genetic modifications).

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine strains on the environment, such as threats to wildlife and degradation of the physical environment (i.e., desertification, deforestation and pollution) due to population growth, industrialization, and urbanization.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Globalization has created new possibilities for international cooperation and for international conflict.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the roles of the United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and efforts to build coalitions to promote international cooperation to address conflicts and issues. They will also examine the extent to which these efforts were successful.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate one organization and one international action that sought to provide solutions to environmental issues, including the Kyoto Protocol.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine threats to global security, such as international trade in weapons (e.g., chemical, biological, and nuclear), nuclear proliferation, cyber war, and terrorism, including a discussion of the events of September 11, 2001.

KEY IDEA:  HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Since the Holocaust, human rights violations have generated worldwide attention and concern. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights has provided a set of principles to guide efforts to protect threatened groups and has served as a lens through which historical occurrences of oppression can be evaluated.

Unit Outline

Student preparedness - global regents see 2 items hide 2 items.

These resources help students prepare for the Global History Regents exam by exposing them to the format of the exam, asking them to reflect on their current confidence levels, and helping them prepare a study plan for the months and days leading up to the exam.  

Regents Readiness

Student Preparedness - Global Regents: My Strategy for the Global History II Regents Exam

Document for students to create their Global History II Regents Exam strategy in advance of the test.

Teacher Feedback

Please comment below with questions, feedback, suggestions, or descriptions of your experience using this resource with students.

If you found an error in the resource, please let us know so we can correct it by filling out this form . 

Student Preparedness - Global Regents: June 2024 Global II Regents Preparation Plan for Students

An 8 week plan for students to study and prepare for the Global II Regents. 

Regents Exam Itemization & Analyses See 1 item Hide 1 item

As each Global II Regents Exam is administered we put together an analysis of the stimuli and prompts to more easily examine the content and skills students need to perform well. 

An analysis of the stimuli and prompts of the Regents Exam from the year 2022 onwards that links to Google Doc versions of the exam and an item-by-item break down of its characteristics.

Exam Question Bank See 1 item Hide 1 item

The Global II Regents Exam Question Bank containing all of the items created and adapted by New Visions. The bank includes stimulus-based multiple choice questions (Part I), Constructed Response Questions (Part II), and Enduring Issues Essay prompts (Part III).

Exam Question Bank: New Visions Social Studies Regents Exam Question Bank

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You will need to provide your official school email address AND a Google email address. In some cases, these will be the same email account. You will only need to fill the form out once to gain access to all of the assessments and teacher materials in the curriculum.

After you fill out the form, you will receive notification that you have been added to a  Google Group  called  "New Visions Social Studies Assessments Access."  Once you receive that notification, you can access all of the assessments through the New Visions Social Studies Curriculum website, but  you must be logged into the Google account you provided in the form to view the assessments. 

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Regents Review Plans and Planning Materials See 3 items Hide 3 items

Regents readiness should be a year-long endeavor for students. As students progress through the Global I and Global II courses, their experiences should be scaffolded and de-scaffolded so they can be independently successful on the exam and as the end of the school year approaches, opportunities to review content, practice with low-stakes assessments, and get feedback on progress are essential for students. The resources below provide some suggestions for structuring Regents readiness throughout the year and in the last months of the Global II course. They include materials for teachers and students.

Regents Review Plans and Planning Materials: Backwards Planning Document for the Global II Exam

A document to help educators plan their instruction of the course of the year to prepare of the Global II Exam. 

Regents Review Plans and Planning Materials: New Visions Global II Fifteen-Day Regents Prep Plan

Regents Prep Plan that connects many of the New Visions Regents Prep resources into a cohesive end of year plan to be modified by teachers for their needs.

• Regents Prep Cause and Effect Chain Activities These chains prompt students to contextualize the events in those causal relationships and to explain the links between them in a collaborative and fun way.

Content Review Resources See 5 items Hide 5 items

The resources below provide some suggestions for structuring Regents readiness throughout the year and in the last months of the Global II course. They include materials for teachers and students.

Global History II

Unit Synthesis Task: New Visions Global II Review Sheets and Concept Maps for the Full Course

Review sheets for ALL of the topics in the Global II curriculum and concept mapping activities to organize that information. Students contextualize the event, discuss its significance and think about related enduring issues.

• Regents Prep Multiple Choice Practice These multiple-choice practice sets come from previous exams in the New Visions Global II curriculum.

Content Review Resources: New Visions Social Studies Quizlet

The New Visions Social Studies Quizlet includes terms related to the topics in this fifteen-day Regents Prep Plan.

Content Review Resources: Kahoot! Social Studies Review

Kahoot quizzes for Global II and US History Regents review.

Content Review Resources: Sprints for GH2 Stimulus Based MC Questions Review

Social Studies Writing Toolbox See 5 items Hide 5 items

Essential skills for writing in social studies that can be used to review content and push students to improve their writing. These skills support students in writing for the Constructed Response Questions and Enduring Issue Essay on the Global II Regents Exam.

Getting Started

Writing Toolbox: Helpful Words and Phrases for Writing and Speaking in Social Studies

Writing Toolbox: Power Conjunctions (but, because, so, however, therefore, since)

Writing Toolbox: Sentence Expansion with Question Words

Writing Toolbox: Subordinating Conjunctions

Writing Toolbox: Appositives

Resources for Part II: Constructed Response Questions See 8 items Hide 8 items

Starting in June 2019, the New York State Global History Regents Exam will will feature constructed response question sets. The CRQs will include two sets of paired documents followed by a set of three questions on 1) historical circumstances or geographic context, 2) sourcing and reliability, and 3) causation, turning points, or comparison. For additional information, see this overview .

Where Can I Find Part II Resources in the Curriculum?

There is, or soon will be, an inquiry in each unit where students have an opportunity to answering an inquiry question by working with documents and practicing historical thinking skills that will support them in Part II. In addition, CRQ items appear in each end of unit assessment.

New York State Education Department Resources Related to Part II:

• Office of State Assessment Website- Global II Exam
• Video about Part II
• Prototype Exam
• Rubrics for Prototype Part II
• U nderstanding the CRQ - Informative document created by teachers who write CRQ items.
• Regents Prep Constructed Response Question Practice These CRQ practice sets come from previous exams in the New Visions Global II curriculum.

Resources for Part II: Constructed Response Questions: Constructed Response Questions (Part II) Writing Tips

Sentence stems and helpful words and phrases for writing responses to the Constructed Response Questions.

Historical Thinking and Writing Skills: How to Contextualize an Event

Sourcing: How to Source a Document (author, audience, purpose, point of view, bias)

An explanation of sourcing with helpful words and phrases for identifying and explaining an author’s point of view, bias, purpose, and the effects of an audience on the presentation of an author’s ideas and activities for practicing the use of those words and phrases.

Resources for Part II: Constructed Response Questions: How to Evaluate a Source’s Reliability for a Specific Purpose (limitations, reliability)

An explanation of reliability with helpful words and phrases for evaluating the reliability of a source for a specific purpose and activities for practicing the use of those words and phrases.

Historical Thinking and Writing Skills: How to Connect Cause and Effect

Resources for Part II: Constructed Response Questions: How to Identity and Explain the Significance of a Turning Point

Helpful words and phrases for identifying and explaining the significance of turning points in history and activities for practicing the use of those words and phrases

Resources for Part II: Constructed Response Questions: How to Identify and Explain Similarities and Differences

Helpful words and phrases for identifying and explaining similarities and differences in history and activities for practicing the use of those words and phrases

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay See 16 items Hide 16 items

Starting in June 2019, the New York State Global History Regents Exam will feature one long-form essay. The prompt will be the same every year. Students will need to examine five documents and relate three of those documents to an enduring issue in human history. For additional information, see this overview .

Where Can I Find Part III Resources in the Curriculum?

Enduring issues prompts can be found in Enduring Issues Check-ins and end of unit assessments in each unit. You will find collections of both resources below on this page.

New York State Education Department Resources Related to Part III:

• Video about Part III
• Enduring Issues Scoring Training Presentation
• Comparing the DBQ and Enduring Issues Essay Rubrics
• Sample Enduring Issues Essay
• Rubrics and Anchor Papers for Sample Enduring Issues Essay
• Practice Papers for Sample Enduring Issues Essay
• Practice Papers Rater Sheet
• Global Regents Prep: Enduring Issues Essays These Enduring Issues Essay prompt comes from exams or Enduring Issue Check-ins from the New Visions Global II curriculum. They can be treated as group activities using the Enduring Issues Check-In Routine Presentation, or as essay tasks.

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Suggested Instructional Sequence for an Enduring Issues Essay

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Two Pathways for Writing an Enduring Issues Essay

Global History I

End of Unit Assessment: New York State Enduring Issues Essay Rubric Separated By Category

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Enduring Issues Essay Outline and Grading Checklist

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Enduring Issues Essay Anchor Paper

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Enduring Issues Anchor Paper Assignment

Activity in which students examine anchor papers for the Enduring Issues Essay and use the New Visions outline and checklist to assess them and provide feedback to the authors, therein learning what to do and not to do when writing an Enduring Issues Essay. 

Classroom Environment Materials : New Visions Enduring Issues Tips and List

Defines "enduring issue" with a provides a list of tips for identifying one. Includes the list of New Visions Enduring Issues that commonly come up in the curriculum.

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Enduring Issues Essay Prewriting Process: How to Annotate and Contextualize Documents, Identify an Enduring Issue, and Construct a Pre-Writing Chart

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: Enduring Issues Essay Writing Tips

Sentence stems and helpful words and phrases for writing an Enduring Issues Essay

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: How to Meet the Needs of the Audience of Your Essay, Randy the Reader

Enduring Issues Check-In: How to Write an Enduring Issues Essay Thesis

Sourcing: How to Introduce Evidence with Sourcing Information

Resources for Part III: Enduring Issues Essay: How to Discuss Continuity and Change Over Time

Helpful words and phrases for discussing continuity and change in history, a part of the Enduring Issues Essay, and activities for practicing the use of those words and phrases. 

Enduring Issues Introduction Lessons See 2 items Hide 2 items

Lessons for introducing the concept of enduring issues

Introduction to Enduring Issues: SQ 8. What is an enduring issue?

Explain what an enduring issue is.  Identify an enduring issue and explain its significance.

Introduction to Enduring Issues: SQ 9. What enduring issues are in Global History?

Describe events from your life related to enduring issues in Global History

Enduring Issues Check-ins See 20 items Hide 20 items

Enduring Issues Check-Ins are group activities that engage students in the process of identifying an enduring issue from a set of documents. There is at least one Enduring Issue Check-in in each unit of the Global History curriculum. 

Enduring Issues Check-In: Enduring Issues Check-In Presentation

Use this presentation to guide students through an Enduring Issues Check-In which helps them practice the skill of constructing an enduring issues argument in a collaborative and engaging way. 

Enduring Issues Check-In: Enduring Issues Check-Ins

Practice the skills needed for the enduring issues essay.

Use this resource to review content through the lens of Enduring Issues, practice document skills needed for the Enduring Issues Essay, and revisit Enduring Questions 

Use this resource to review content through the lens of Enduring Issues, practice document skills needed for the Enduring Issues Essay, and revisit Enduring Questions. 

Use this resource to review content through the lens of Enduring Issues, practice document skills needed for the Enduring Issues Essay, and revisit Enduring Questions.

Enduring Issues Check-ins: 9.9 Enduring Issue Check-In

Enduring Issues Check-In: Enduring Issue Check-In Template

Template for Enduring Issues Check-Ins that can be used to create your own check-ins

End of Unit Assessments Aligned to the Global II Exam See 36 items Hide 36 items

The end of unit assessments below come from units in the New Visions Social Studies Curriculum. They are aligned to the new Global II Regents Exam first administered in June 2019. Each exam includes Part 1: Stimulus-based Multiple Choice Questions, Part 2: Constructed Response Questions, Part 3: Enduring Issues Essay. 

End of Unit Assessments: End of Unit Assessment- NEW Global II Exam Aligned

Aligned to the Global History and Geography II exam, administered June 2019 onwards.

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End of Unit Assessments: End of Unit Assessment- NEW Global II Exam Aligned- Teacher Materials

End of Unit Assessment: End of Unit Assessment- NEW Global II Exam Aligned

End of Unit Assessment: End of Unit Assessment- NEW Global II Exam Aligned- Teacher Materials

After you fill out the form, you will receive notification that you have been added to a  Google Group called  "New Visions Social Studies Assessments Access."  Once you receive that notification, you can access all of the assessments through the New Visions Social Studies Curriculum website, but  you must be logged into the Google account you provided in the form to view the assessments. 

If you do not have access to the assessments, 

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Powerful Eurasian states and empires faced and responded to challenges ca. 1750.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast the Mughal Empire and the Ottoman Empire in 1750 in terms of religious and ethnic tolerance, political organization, and commercial activity.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine efforts to unify, stabilize, and centralize Japan under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan with France under the rule of the Bourbon Dynasty, looking at the role of Edo and Paris/Versailles, attempts to control the daimyo and nobles, and the development of bureaucracies.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Perceptions of outsiders and interactions with them varied across Eurasia.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast the Tokugawa and Mughal responses to outsiders, with attention to the impacts of those decisions.

Students will create a world map showing the extent of European maritime empires, the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire, China under the Qing Dynasty, Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Ashanti, Benin, and Dahomey ca. 1750.

Students will compare the size of these states, empires, and kingdoms relative to the power they wielded in their regions and in the world.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Enlightenment thinkers developed political philosophies based on natural laws, which included the concepts of social contract, consent of the governed, and the rights of citizens.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine at least three Enlightenment thinkers, including John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and key ideas from their written works

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Individuals used Enlightenment ideals to challenge traditional beliefs and secure people’s rights in reform movements, such as women’s rights and abolition; some leaders may be considered enlightened despots.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore the influence of Enlightenment ideals on issues of gender and abolition by examining the ideas of individuals such as Mary Wollstonecraft and William Wilberforce.

CONCEPT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine enlightened despots including Catherine the Great.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Individuals and groups drew upon principles of the Enlightenment to spread rebellions and call for revolutions in France and the Americas.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine evidence related to the preconditions of the French Revolution and the course of the revolution, noting the roles of Olympe de Gouges, Maximilien Robespierre, and Napoleon Bonaparte.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the evidence related to the impacts of the French Revolution on resistance and revolutionary movements, noting the roles of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Simon Bolivar.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Cultural identity and nationalism inspired political movements that attempted to unify people into new nation-states and posed challenges to multinational states.

CONCEPT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the role of cultural identity and nationalism in the unification of Italy and Germany and in the dissolution of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Agricultural innovations and technologies enabled people to alter their environment, allowing them to increase and support farming on a large scale.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the agricultural revolution in Great Britain.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Factors including new economic theories and practices, new sources of energy, and technological innovations influenced the development of new communication and transportation systems and new methods of production. These developments had numerous effects.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will analyze the factors and conditions needed to industrialize and to expand industrial production, as well as shifts in economic practices.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the economic theory presented in The Wealth of Nations.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine changes and innovations in energy, technology, communication, and transportation that enabled industrialization.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Shifts in population from rural to urban areas led to social changes in class structure, family structure, and the daily lives of people.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the social, political, and economic impacts of industrialization in Victorian England and Meiji Japan and compare and contrast them.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Social and political reform, as well as new ideologies, developed in response to industrial growth.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate suffrage, education, and labor reforms, as well as ideologies such as Marxism, that were intended to transform society.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the Irish potato famine within the context of the British agricultural revolution and Industrial Revolution.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  International competition, fueled by nationalism, imperialism, and militarism along with shifts in the balance of power and alliances, led to world wars.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast long- and short-term causes and effects of World War I and World War II.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Technological developments increased the extent of damage and casualties in both World War I and World War II.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast the technologies utilized in both World War I and World War II, noting the human and environmental devastation.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  The devastation of the world wars and use of total war led people to explore ways to prevent future world wars.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine international efforts to work together to build stability and peace, including Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, and the United Nations.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Nationalism and ideology played a significant role in shaping the period between the world wars.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the Russian Revolution and the development of Soviet ideology and nationalism under Lenin and Stalin.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the role of nationalism and the development of the National Socialist state under Hitler in Germany.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the role of nationalism and militarism in Japan.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the causes of the Great Depression and its influence on the rise of totalitarian dictators and determine the common characteristics of these dictators.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Human atrocities and mass murders occurred in this time period.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the atrocities against the Armenians; examine the Ukrainian Holodomor, and examine the Holocaust.

End of Unit Assessment: End of Unit Assessment- Global II Exam Aligned

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Independence movements in India and Indochina developed in response to European control.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore Gandhi’s nonviolent nationalist movement and nationalist efforts led by the Muslim League aimed at the masses that resulted in a British-partitioned subcontinent.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will compare and contrast the ideologies and methodologies of Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh as nationalist leaders.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  African independence movements gained strength as European states struggled economically after World War II. European efforts to limit African nationalist movements were often unsuccessful.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore at least two of these three African independence movements: Ghana, Algeria, Kenya.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Nationalism in the Middle East was often influenced by factors such as religious beliefs and secularism.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate Zionism, the mandates created at the end of World War I, and Arab nationalism.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will examine the creation of the State of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Nationalism in China influenced the removal of the imperial regime, led to numerous conflicts, and resulted in the formation of the communist People’s Republic of China.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will trace the Chinese Civil War, including the role of warlords, nationalists, communists, and the world wars that resulted in the division of China into a communist-run People’s Republic of China and a nationalist-run Taiwan.

​CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate political, economic, and social policies under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping and compare and contrast these policies.

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Cultures and countries experience and view modernization differently. For some, it is a change from a traditional rural, agrarian condition to a secular, urban, industrial condition. Some see modernization as a potential threat and others as an opportunity to be met.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate the extent to which urbanization and industrialization have modified the roles of social institutions such as family, religion, education, and government by examining one case study in each of these regions: Africa (e.g., Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone), Latin America (e.g., Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico), and Asia (e.g., China, India, Indonesia, South Korea).

CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:  Tensions between agents of modernization and traditional cultures have resulted in ongoing debates within affected societies regarding social norms, gender roles, and the role of authorities and institutions.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will investigate, compare, and contrast tensions between modernization and traditional culture in Turkey under the rule of Kemal Atatürk and in Iran under the Pahlavis and the Ayatollahs.

CONTENT SPECIFICATION:  Students will explore how changes in technology, such as communication and transportation, have affected interactions between people and those in authority (e.g., efforts to affect change in government policy, engage people in the political process including use of social media, control access to information, and use terrorism as a tactic).

End of Unit Assessment: End of Unit Assessment- Global II Exam Aligned- Teacher Materials

Enduring Issues Essay Bundle Gl4 WWI - Cold War

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Part III (Question 35)

ENDURING ISSUES ESSAY

This question is based on the accompanying documents. The question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purposes of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document. Keep in mind that the language and images used in a document may reflect the historical context of the time in which it was created.

Directions : Read and analyze each of the five documents and write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details based on your knowledge of social studies and evidence from the documents.

An enduring issue is a challenge or problem that has been debated or discussed across time. An enduring issue is one that many societies have attempted to address with varying degrees of success.

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• Identify and define an enduring issue raised by this set of documents

• Argue why the issue you selected is significant and how it has endured across time

In your essay, be sure to

• Identify the enduring issue based on a historically accurate interpretation of at least three documents

• Define the issue using relevant evidence from at least three documents

• Argue that this is a significant issue that has endured by showing:

– How the issue has affected people or has been affected by people

– How the issue has continued to be an issue or has changed over time

• Include relevant outside information from your knowledge of social studies

In developing your answer to Part III, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:

Identify —means to put a name to or to name.

Define —means to explain features of a thing or concept so that it can be understood.

Argue —means to provide a series of statements that provide evidence and reasons to support a conclusion.

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Jan. ’20 [24]

Global 4 Documents for Essay

As only 2.8 square miles survived the Atomic bomb out of 6.9 miiles. Hiroshima became a be-rend land asoonest the bomb ended. Releasing toxic waste

How many bombs where dropped on Hiroshima?

1962 How was soviets able to have a nuclear site in cuba. when U.S had leased most of the land?

The US controlled much of the land in Cuba when Batista was in power. But after Castro’s revolution the Americans were limited to Guantanamo Bay

he following year, a direct “hot line” communication link was installed between Washington and Moscow to help defuse similar situations, and the superpowers signed two treaties related to nuclear weapons.

The Soviet Union attempt to stop the U.S from supplying the Americans in the city failed, the Soviet Union also lost their standoff with Kennedy, and wound up withdrawing from the war with Afghanistan.

Did Marshalls policy, led to Russia’s opening up their border in West Berlin. Lifting much of the hate from the allies

This makes me wonder because after the 13 days of standoff between the Soviet and John F. Kennedy. Russia dismantles the nuclear missiles, avoiding another mass casualty.

That in term to managing themselves this made china become so wealthy yet technological behind by not being influence at social modernity

The economic and technology systems were backwards because China had been under the rule of foreigners and warlords for a number of years. China lacked the stability to thrive economically and technologically. What Enlightenment ideal was violated by the foreigners and warlords?

For the science and technology of modern Taiwan, see Ministry of Science and Technology (Republic of China).

Why was the Chinese so advanced? What did the have that we didn’t?

This is when Russia started to take over weaker populations for more resources

That during 1989 Cuba was accustomed to women doing household chores

Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states among the leaders of the increase, even though several wealthy coastal states still had the most inequality overall, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

OPTIONAL PLANNING PAGE

Enduring Issues Essay Planning Page

You may use the Planning Page organizer to plan your response if you wish, but do NOT write your essay response on this page. Writing on this Planning Page will NOT count toward your final score.

My Enduring Issue is:__________________________________________________________________

Refer back to page 24 to review the task.

Write your essay on the lined pages in the essay booklet.

Global Hist. & Geo. II – Jan. ’20 [31] [OVER]

DMU Timestamp: November 12, 2020 20:50

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