HIST 1500 - Discovering World History
Fall 2026 Syllabus, Section 07, CRN 43532,
Credit hours: 3
Course Meeting Times
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Instructor
William O'Brien
Email: wdobrien@ysu.edu
Course Description
1500. Discovering World History. Introduction to the methods, problems, and content of world history from Antiquity to the present. Emphasizes the relevance of past events and developments to the modern world. 3 s.h.
Course Readings
| Group | Title | Author | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Required | The Silk Road | National Geographic Society | |
| Required | Concerning the Palace of the Great Kaan | Excerpt: Marco Polo | |
| Required | Emperor Quin Lang, Letter to George III | E. Backhouse and J. O. P. Bland, Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914), pp. 322331 | |
| Required | The Outbreak of WWI | Imperial War Museums | |
| Required | Willy and Nicky Telegrams | Isaac Don Levine, ed., with an introduction by N.F. Grant. London, Hodder and Soughton Ltd, 1920 | |
| Required | Jan Hus at the Council of Constance | https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/hus.htm | |
| Required | The 95 Theses | Martin Luther | |
| Required | The Expulsion of the Jews From France, 1182 CE | From the Gesta Philippi Augusti, monk Rigord | |
| Required | Maiden Speech to Parliament, 1969 | Bernadette Devlin | |
| Required | A Brief History of the Troubles | Restorative Justice and Peace in Northern Ireland, an address by Brendan McAllister (SPI ’96 & ’98) at the European Forum for Restorative Justice in Barcelona, June 16, 2006. | |
| Required | I Saw The Black Death | History of England by Henry Knighton, in Source Book of English History, by E.K. Kendall. | |
| Required | Report of the Paris Medical Faculty, 1348. | R. Hoeniger, ed., Der Schwarze Tod (Berlin, 1882), appendix III, pp. 152-6 | |
| Required | How Smallpox Devastated the Aztecs - And Helped Spain Conquer an American Civilization. | Richard Gunderman, professor of medicine, liberal arts and philanthropy, Indiana University | |
| Required | Aztec Account of the First Smallpox Epidemic. | Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, General History of the Things New Spain, Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, trans, book 12, The Conquest of Mexico (Santa Fe: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1975). | |
| Required | Evidence Before The Sadler Committee | Readings in European History Since 1814, edited by Jonathan F. Scott and Alexander Baltzly (Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1930.) The headnotes preceeding each sections are by Scott and Baltzly. | |
| Required | Pericles Funeral Oration | Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): Peloponnesian War, Book 2.34-46 | |
| Required | Declaration of Independence | Jefferson, Thomas, et. al. National Archives | |
| Required | Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen | Avalon Project, Yale University | |
| Required | What is to be Done? | Translated by Jane Scales | |
| Required | Peace in our Time | Excerpted from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer | |
| Required | Disaster of the First Magnitude | Winston Churchill speech before Parliament, Oct. 5, 1938 | |
| Required | The Women's Land Army | National Archives, United Kingdom | |
| Required | Speech on Release from Prison | Nelson Mandela | |
| Optional | The Crime of Galileo | Modern History Sourcebook |
There is no dedicated text for this course. Instead the readings are excerpts from mostly primary documents accessible online.
The course readings are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances, research developments, current events, and/or to ensure better learning.
Assignments/Assessments
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Schedule of Topics and Assignments
| Week of | Reading(s) | Proposed Topic | Due/To Prepare for Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/24 | Video: Kublai Khan: China's Mongol Emperor The Silk Road Concerning the Palace of the Great Khan |
The Mongol Empire, Trade, and the Silk Road | 8/29 11:59 PM |
| 8/31 | Emperor Qian-Long: Letter to George III | The Emergence and Rise of European Empires | 9/5 11:59 PM |
| 9/7 | How The World Went to War Willy and Nicky Letters |
Empire and World Conflict | 9/12 11:59 PM |
| 9/14 | John Hus and the Council of Constance 95 Theses: Luther |
The Early Reformation | 9/19 11:59 PM |
| 9/21 | Expulsions of the Jews from France, 1182 CE | Expulsions and Intolerance in the Middle Ages | 9/26 11:59 PM |
| 9/28 | Brief History of the Troubles Maiden Speech to Parliament: Bernadette Devlin |
Religion, Political Rights, and Northern Ireland | 10/3 11:59 PM |
| 10/5 | I Saw The Black Death Report From the Paris Medical Faculty |
The Great Plague and its Impact. | 10/10 11:59 PM |
| 10/12 | How Smallpox Devastated the Aztecs Excerpt: General History of New Spain |
The Columbian Exchange and Aftermath | 10/17 11:59 PM |
| 10/19 | Video: The Children Who Built Victorian Britain Testimony Before the Sadler Commission |
Health, Welfare and Environment in the Industrial Revolution | 10/24 11:59 PM |
| 10/26 | Pericles Funeral Oration Video: The Golden Age of Athens |
Greek Political Institutions | 10/31 11:59 PM |
| 11/2 | Declaration of Independence Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen Video: Crash Course French Revolution |
The American and French Revolutions | 11/7 11:59 PM |
| 11/9 | Excerpt: What is to be Done? Video: Crash Course, The Russian Revolution |
The Russian Revolution | 11/14 11:59 PM |
| 11/16 | Video: The Munich Conference Peace in Our Time Churchill Speech Before Parliament, Oct. 5, 1938 |
The Munich Crisis and Coming of WW II | 11/21 11:59 PM |
| 11/23 | Visuals: The Women's Land Army | The Home Front in Europe | 11/28 11:59 PM |
| 11/30 | Video: Mandela: One Man Mandela Speech on Release from Prison |
Post-colonial South Africa | 12/5 11:59 PM |
| 12/7 | The Crime of Galileo | Scientific Revolution - Bonus Essay Finals Week | 12/9 11:59 PM |
The course schedule, policies, procedures, and assignments in this course are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances, by mutual agreement, and/or to ensure better learning.