hISTORY CURRICULUM
The World History Curriculum chronologically covers world history from the Ancient Historic period till today. Chronological approach to history is central to classical education. The students see the broad sweep of history from its beginning and then fit their own time and place into the pattern. History study is completed in five years, and is divided into the following four periods:
· Ancient Greece
· Ancient Rome
· Medieval/Early Renaissance, 400-1500
· Late Renaissance/Reformation and Exploration; modernity 1500-1750
· American History, 1492-1870
· Modern Times, 1914-Present
We spend one year on each period, starting with the Ancients and working way up to Modern Times, beginning in the third grade.
In addition to the basic text, lots of supporting materials are used. Students write book reports and compositions, do projects, color maps, and recreate battles. Children begin to read sources such as Iliad and the Odyssey, and original documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers.
1. Classical Civilizations of the Ancient World
a) Early Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Jewish history
b) The Trojan War and Homer
c) Athenian democracy;
d) Spartan monarchy;
e) The Persian Wars;
f) The Age of Pericles; The Greek culture: theatre, arts, poetry.
g) The Peloponnesian War.
h) Alexander the Great and the spread of Hellenism
2. Ancient Rome
a) The Story of Aeneas – (based on Virgil’s Aeneid)
b) The founding of Rome – Remus and Romulus
c) The early kings and the evil Tarquins
d) Rome becomes a Republic
e) The Punic Wars and Hannibal
f) Marius and Sulla
g) The 1st Triumvirate: Caesar, Pompey, Crasus
h) The Rise and the Death of Julius Caesar
i) Marc Anthony and Cleopatra; the Rise of Octavian
j) The reign of Augustus
k) Roman culture, religion, poetry, theatre.
l) The Post-Augustan Emperors (Tiberius, Nero, Claudius, etc., etc., )
m) The Fall of the Roman Empire
3. Growth of Agricultural and Commercial Civilizations; Medieval/Early Renaissance
n) The Byzantine Empire: institutions, religion, and culture
o) The origins of Islam and its consequences for Europe
p) Components of early European civilization: Roman, Christian, invaders
q) Western feudalism, manorialism
r) Kiev and Muscovy; Russia and the Mongol Empire.
s) Europe in the high Middle Ages; monarchs, parliaments, and culture
4. Late Renaissance, Reformation, The age of Exploration, and modernity
a) The Italian Renaissance: economic, social, and political bases
b) Works and legacies of Renaissance artists and humanists
c) Leaders, ideas, contending forces, and change in the Reformation era
d) European expansion and exploration; economic and technological forces
e) Absolute monarchy in France
f) The French Revolution
g) The rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and his Empire
5. American and New European History
a) Colonization of America
b) French and Indian Wars
c) Origins, stages, and consequences of the American Revolution; The Founding Fathers.
d) The American Constitution
e) The War of 1812.
f) The American North (urban economy) vs. The American South (plantations and slavery; lack of technology)
g) Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Consequences of the War for the South
6. Modern World
a) World War I: causes, military course, and consequences
b) The Russian Revolutions of 1917; ideas and practices of Bolsheviks
c) Paris Conference, Versailles Treaty; aims and conflicts of divided Allies
d) After-effects of war and colonialism, West and East
e) The Great Depression: causes and worldwide consequences
f) International Communism; Leninist/Stalinist totalitarianism in Russia
g) International Fascism; Italy, Spain; Nazi totalitarianism in Germany
h) World War II: geography, leaders, military factors, and turning points
i) The Holocaust
j) Postwar Europe and Japan
k) Cold War in Europe; Marshall Plan; NATO; Iron Curtain, Warsaw Pact
l) Wars in Korea and Vietnam
m) Collapse of the Soviet Empire The changing world economy