IB HL History

Here are the links to some review tools. Use them as you see fit:

Arab-Israeli Conflict Review

Bismarck and Europe

Cold War Review

Europe Before & After WWI

Practices of WWI Revision

Weltpolitik and Wilhelm II

WWII Review

IB Exam Advice

Check the following link for an article from the New Yorker. The article deals with a specific case in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, but it broadens to look at the conflict in general. What are the key issues raised here?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/09/091109fa_fact_wright?printable=true

For another perspective, check out this clip from Bill Maher talking about Israel:

Attached are the documents created by Block G in order to outline the history, geography, demographic information, and current affairs pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict. You can use these documents as general study guides.

History – Arab Israeli Conflict

Demographics of Arab Israeli Conflict

Geography of the Conflict

Current events of arab-israeli conflict

Here are the links to the reading assignments on the legacy of the Cold War:

Reflections on the Cold War

An evil empire? What was the nature of the USSR? The USA? The election of Ronald Reagan changed the face of the Cold War. Here is the text of Reagan’s famous “Evil Empire” speech – a sign of changes not only to US politics but also to the Cold War:

Evil Empire Speech

Also, you can view the entire speech on YouTube:

Evil Empire Speech Video

Think about the ideas in this speech and what consequences they may have for US foreign policy. We will be comparing these ideas to Mikhal Gorbachev’s “New Thinking”.

Here is a link to a religious critique of Reagan’s speech. Consider the differing views of US foreign policy exemplified in these two documents:

Remembering Ronald Reagan’s Evil Empire

Here are the discussion questions we will refer to while analyzing the Cold War policy of Reagan:

Here is the link to the second reading assignment for our Afghanistan case study. This is from chapter 3 of Ghost Wars, “Go Raise Hell”.

Ghost Wars Reading 2

Here is your first reading assignment for the Afghanistan case study. Enjoy!

Ghost Wars Reading 1

The period of the Cold War commonly known as detente ended with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Why did the USSR invade this small, divided nation in Central Asia? What was the history of Afghanistan leading up to this conflict? Why do some historians refer to Afghanistan as the “Soviet’s Vietnam”? Today we will begin our case study of Afghanistan in order to broaden our understanding of the Cold War.

Your goal today is to research and understand the history of Afghanistan:

• It’s people
• Type(s) of government, historically
• Relations with foreign powers
• Basic historical timeline
• Economy, industry, and related fields

As a class, you must construct a comprehensive record of the above factors. You can use any format – paper, Word document, Google doc – whatever you see as best. Remember that you are not researching modern day Afghanistan, but you are looking for the history of each of the bullet points above.

The US State Department website is a good place to start for some basic information on the people and history of Afghanistan.

Was Detente a success? Or did it only serve to drag out the Cold War? The following article will help you analyze the opposing viewpoints to this argument.

Detente Reading

Your essay prompt is:

“For what reasons, and with what results, did either the USA or the USSR enter into a period of detente from 1970?”

You will be graded on the following essay rubric:

IB and ISM Rubric SL-HL Paper 2