Global Conflict practice games — free for AP World History: Modern.
This unit covers World War I, World War II, genocide and total war — essential concepts for AP World History: Modern. Use our interactive study games to test your understanding, or review questions in traditional format below.
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This unit covers World War I, World War II, genocide and total war — essential concepts for AP World History: Modern. Use our interactive study games to test your understanding, or review questions in traditional format below.
Key Concepts Breakdown
1 World War I
Students must understand the causes of WWI using the MAIN framework (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism) and how they interconnected to produce a global conflict. The war marked a turning point in which industrial technology produced mass casualties and reshaped empires, borders, and political systems. The Treaty of Versailles and its consequences—especially conditions placed on Germany—are critical for understanding the road to WWII.
Key Points
- Alliance systems (Triple Entente vs. Triple Alliance) turned a regional assassination into a world war
- New industrial technologies (machine guns, poison gas, tanks, airplanes) created trench warfare stalemate and mass death
- The war accelerated the collapse of four empires: Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and German
- The Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed war guilt, reparations, and territorial losses on Germany, fueling resentment
An AP exam prompt asks: 'Explain how nationalism contributed to the outbreak of World War I.' A student cites the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, as the triggering event.
The student should go beyond the trigger and explain that Slavic nationalism in the Balkans threatened Austro-Hungarian imperial control, creating the underlying tension. Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia then activated alliance obligations, pulling in Russia, Germany, France, and Britain. This shows nationalism as a structural cause, not merely a spark—exactly the depth AP scorers reward.
2 World War II
Students must connect WWII to the unresolved tensions of WWI, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascist and ultranationalist regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The war was a truly global conflict fought across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, involving both Allied and Axis powers. Students should also understand the war's transformative outcomes: decolonization movements, the Cold War, the UN, and a US-dominated international order.
Key Points
- The Great Depression destabilized democracies and enabled the rise of authoritarian regimes (Hitler, Mussolini, militarist Japan)
- Appeasement (e.g., Munich Agreement 1938) failed to stop Nazi expansion; Germany's invasion of Poland triggered the war
- The Holocaust was a state-sponsored genocide of 6 million Jews and millions of others, organized by Nazi ideology
- WWII outcomes reshaped global order: US and USSR emerged as superpowers, leading directly to the Cold War
An AP Document-Based Question (DBQ) includes sources discussing the failure of the League of Nations and asks students to evaluate why collective security failed in the 1930s.
Students should argue that the League lacked enforcement power and US membership, leaving it ineffective against Japanese aggression in Manchuria (1931) and Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935). This pattern of unchecked aggression emboldened Hitler, showing that institutional weakness was a key cause of WWII. Connecting the League's failure to the later creation of the UN demonstrates the long-term consequences examiners look for.
3 Genocide
Students must be able to define genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, and recognize it as a recurring phenomenon of the 20th century. AP exams focus on the Armenian Genocide (1915–1916) and the Holocaust (1941–1945) as primary case studies, though Rwanda (1994) may appear in later units. Students should understand the conditions—state power, dehumanizing ideology, war—that enable genocide.
Key Points
- The Armenian Genocide (1915–16): Ottoman government systematically killed an estimated 1–1.5 million Armenians during WWI
- The Holocaust (1941–45): Nazi Germany used state bureaucracy, propaganda, and industrial methods to murder 6 million Jews and millions of Roma, disabled people, and others
- Both genocides occurred during wartime, when governments had expanded power and reduced international oversight
- The term 'genocide' was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin; the UN Genocide Convention followed in 1948 as a direct response to the Holocaust
An AP Short Answer Question asks: 'Describe ONE similarity between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.'
A strong answer identifies that both were state-sponsored and required government organization: the Ottoman CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) directed deportations and massacres, while the Nazi regime coordinated the Holocaust through the SS and Einsatzgruppen. The student should also note that both used wartime conditions as cover, reducing international intervention. This comparison demonstrates the structural conditions that make genocide possible, a key AP analytical skill.
4 Total War
Total war refers to a conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources—economic, industrial, human, and psychological—and in which the distinction between military combatants and civilians collapses. Students must understand how both WWI and WWII exemplified total war and how this changed the relationship between governments, economies, and societies. The concept is central to explaining home front mobilization, propaganda, rationing, and the deliberate targeting of civilian populations.
Key Points
- Governments took direct control of economies: nationalizing industries, rationing goods, directing labor toward war production
- Women entered the industrial workforce in large numbers (e.g., Rosie the Riveter in the US), though many gains were rolled back post-war
- Propaganda was used to build public support, dehumanize enemies, and suppress dissent (e.g., US internment of Japanese Americans)
- Civilian populations became direct targets: strategic bombing (Dresden, Tokyo firebombing, atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
An AP Continuity and Change Over Time (CCOT) prompt asks: 'Analyze how the nature of warfare changed between 1914 and 1945.'
A strong response argues that WWI introduced industrialized killing on a mass scale (trenches, poison gas) but still largely confined combat to military fronts, while WWII fully realized total war by systematically targeting civilians through aerial bombardment and genocide. The student should note continuity in the use of industrial technology and state mobilization, while emphasizing the change in the deliberate erasure of the combatant/civilian distinction. This structure directly addresses the CCOT rubric.
Questions, answered.
What is Global Conflict?
Global Conflict is Unit 7 of AP World History: Modern, covering World War I, World War II, genocide and total war.
How to study for AP World History: Modern Unit 7?
Start with the Quick Summary above, review the Key Concepts, then test yourself with our interactive study games. Aim for 80%+ accuracy before moving on.
How many questions are in this unit?
This unit has 35+ review questions across 5 different game modes.