Age of Revolutions: Causes and Effects of Global Events — Skinny¶

Standard: WH.6_12.5 — Analyze causes and effects of global events using primary and/or secondary sources Era/Unit (if SS): Era 3 — Age of Revolutions (~1400–1900 CE) ELA Crosswalk: 9-10.W.4 — Argument writing; 9-10.IR.1–5 — Research and source evaluation NDSBL Target: 3.0 score Estimated Time: 60–90 minutes Subject: World History + ELA crosswalk

Official proficiency scale — the source of truth for scoring

Scoring follows the official NDSBL World History Proficiency Scales — not the examples on this page. Proficient (3.0) for Era 3: Age of Revolutions means:

Explain the causes and global effects of religious division.
Explain the global connections developed during this era because of exploration.
Examine and explain the influence of revolutions on social and political aspects of individuals’ lives.
Explain advancements related to science and technology and the global impact of these advancements.

What You Need to Know (Score 2.0)¶

Era 3's revolutions and global transformations were deeply interconnected — the American Revolution inspired the French Revolution; the French Revolution's ideology fueled the Haitian Revolution; the Industrial Revolution caused European imperialism. Understanding Era 3 means tracing the chains of cause and effect that crossed oceans and continents.

Immediate Cause vs. Underlying Cause: An immediate cause is the direct trigger; an underlying cause is the deeper condition that made the event possible. Example: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause of WWI — but the underlying causes (imperial competition, alliance system, nationalism) made the assassination the trigger for a war that would have started eventually anyway.
Columbian Exchange: The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World after 1492. Effects: European diseases killed ~90% of the indigenous American population; New World crops (potatoes, corn, tomatoes) fed European population growth that fueled industrialization and empire.
Atlantic Slave Trade (~1500–1800): The forced transportation of ~12 million enslaved Africans to the Americas. Causes: European demand for labor on sugar, tobacco, and cotton plantations; European military advantage; profit motive. Effects: decimation of West African societies, foundation of New World economies, emergence of racial ideology to justify slavery.
Industrial Revolution Causes: Multiple converging causes: coal and iron resources in England; labor supply from enclosure movement; capital from colonial trade; patent law incentivizing invention; demand from colonial markets; political stability.
Primary Source Reliability in Era 3: Abundant sources survive from Era 3: pamphlets (like Common Sense), government documents, personal letters, newspapers, political cartoons. Evaluating these requires identifying: Who wrote it? What was their purpose? What audience were they writing for? What did they have to gain?
Corroboration: Comparing multiple sources to verify claims. A revolutionary pamphlet will describe the government differently than a loyalist pamphlet describing the same government. Both are primary sources; corroborating them helps you understand what actually happened vs. what each side wanted people to believe.
Imperialism: The policy of extending a nation's power through colonization, military force, or economic dominance. European industrialization produced the military and economic advantage that drove 19th-century imperialism: by 1914, European powers controlled ~84% of the Earth's land surface.

Basic Processes: - [ ] Distinguish between immediate and underlying causes for at least one Era 3 revolution. - [ ] Explain how the Columbian Exchange connected European population growth to American indigenous population collapse. - [ ] Identify at least two causes of the Industrial Revolution and explain why they converged in England specifically. - [ ] Evaluate a primary source from Era 3 for reliability — identify author, purpose, audience, and potential bias. - [ ] Explain the causal chain connecting the Atlantic Slave Trade to the racial ideology used to justify it.

A student who can score a 2.0: A student who can state that the French Revolution was caused by inequality and Enlightenment ideas — without yet tracing the multiple underlying causes (fiscal crisis, food shortage, political exclusion of the bourgeoisie, failure of reform) or analyzing how sources from the period reveal different perspectives on those causes.

The Standard (Score 3.0)¶

WH.6_12.5 — Analyze causes and effects of global events using primary and/or secondary sources (Era 3)

To meet this standard, you must trace multi-step causal chains that cross civilizations, and use primary or secondary sources as evidence. In Era 3, the central causal chains cross the Atlantic Ocean: the Columbian Exchange, the slave trade, the revolutions, and the Industrial Revolution are all connected.

3.0 Example: A student achieves a 3.0 by tracing the causal chain from the Columbian Exchange → New World crops in Europe → European population growth → labor supply for Industrial Revolution → Industrial Revolution → European military advantage → 19th-century imperialism. The student explains each link: New World crops (especially the potato) allowed larger populations to survive on less land, which drove people off farms into cities, which provided the factory labor supply the Industrial Revolution needed; the Industrial Revolution produced cheap manufactured goods and military technology (steamships, rifles) that enabled European powers to conquer large parts of Africa and Asia. The student uses a primary source at some point — perhaps Thomas Paine's Common Sense to show how revolutionary rhetoric about rights coexisted with the slave trade, or Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to show the economic ideology that justified both industrialization and empire.

The Difference: A 2.0 student can list causes and effects of the French Revolution. A 3.0 student traces a causal chain across multiple events and civilizations — and uses a source as evidence for at least one link in the chain.

Going Further (Score 4.0)¶

To reach a 4.0, you must evaluate competing interpretations of causation and assess the quality of the sources used to support them.

Transfer Tasks: 1. Who caused the Atlantic Slave Trade? Historians debate the primary causes: European demand, African participation in slave trading, or capitalism's logic of maximizing profit. Research this debate and evaluate which explanation is best supported by primary source evidence. What does each explanation conceal? 2. The domino effect of revolutions: Trace how the American Revolution affected the French Revolution, which affected the Haitian Revolution. At each step: What was borrowed? What was transformed? What was rejected? Use primary sources from each revolution to show the connections. 3. Cause or coincidence? The Industrial Revolution and European imperialism happened at roughly the same time. Some historians argue industrialization caused imperialism (it created demand for raw materials and markets). Others argue imperialism caused industrialization (the profits and materials from colonial trade funded industrial investment). Evaluate both arguments using specific evidence.

4.0 Example: A student argues that the standard causal account of the Industrial Revolution (England's coal + geography + institutions) is incomplete without including colonialism: the capital that funded early industrial investment came substantially from the Atlantic Slave Trade and colonial plantation agriculture. The student cites specific historical data (estimates of slave trade profits as a percentage of British investment capital) and evaluates the quality of that data — acknowledging that the precise numbers are contested. The student then argues that this complicates the standard "England was uniquely innovative" narrative and raises questions about who should be credited for industrialization's benefits.

CrashCourse Connection¶

Video: The French Revolution — CrashCourse World History #33 · Episode in reading library Also: Atlantic Slave Trade — CrashCourse WH #23 · Episode in reading library Also: Columbian Exchange — CrashCourse WH #24 · Episode in reading library

Key Timestamps (French Revolution ep): - [03:00]: The multiple causes of the French Revolution. Why it matters: The episode models good causal analysis — not just "Enlightenment ideas" but also fiscal crisis, food shortage, and political exclusion. Follow this model. - [12:00]: How the French Revolution's effects reached beyond France. Why it matters: The Revolution's effects weren't contained to France — Napoleonic wars, Latin American independence movements, Haitian Revolution were all effects.

Watch Prompt: For every cause mentioned in the video, classify it: immediate or underlying? For every effect, classify it: short-term or long-term, local or global? Build a cause-and-effect map as you watch.

Reading Library Connection¶

Common Sense — Thomas Paine (1776) — Use as a primary source to analyze the causes of the American Revolution from a revolutionary's perspective. What does Paine identify as the causes? What does he want his readers to conclude? How does his framing of causes shape his call to action?
Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) — Use as a source for analyzing effects: What did the Revolution's leaders claim they were creating? How do these claims compare to what actually resulted? The gap between stated intentions and actual outcomes is itself a historical cause-and-effect problem.
Wollstonecraft — Vindication (1792) — Use as a source that reveals an effect the French Revolution's leaders didn't intend: a feminist movement challenging the new order's exclusions.

Demonstration of Learning — Choose One¶

How will you show you know this standard? Pick one mode.

#	Mode	What You Do for This Specific Standard
1	Written Assessment	Choose ONE major Era 3 event (the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Atlantic Slave Trade, or the Columbian Exchange). Write a 3-paragraph analysis: (1) immediate and underlying causes, (2) effects across at least two civilizations, (3) use of at least one primary or secondary source as evidence.
2	Extended Writing	Write a 400–600 word essay tracing a causal chain that crosses at least two major Era 3 events (e.g., Columbian Exchange → Industrial Revolution → imperialism). Argue which link in the chain was most significant. Use at least two sources.
3	Verbal Conversation	Record a 3-minute analysis: (1) Identify a major Era 3 causal chain that crosses civilizations. (2) Explain each link in the chain. (3) Evaluate a primary source: What does it reveal about the causes or effects you traced? What might it conceal?
4	Visual/Creative	Create a "Global Cause-and-Effect Web" for one Era 3 event. Show causes (immediate and underlying) and effects (short- and long-term, global reach). Annotate at least two connections with a specific piece of source evidence.
5	Multimedia/Performance	Create a 2–3 minute "History Detectives" video. Present a major Era 3 event and investigate its hidden or overlooked causes. Challenge the most common explanation and offer your own better-supported analysis.
6	Portfolio Annotation	Select a previous project about Era 3. Write a 200-word reflection: Did your original work trace causes that crossed civilizations and time periods? What connections did you miss? What sources would you now use to support a more complete analysis?

Deliverable Ideas (Your Studio Product)¶

These are NOT the demonstration of learning. These are PBL artifact ideas.

"The Revolution That Caused Other Revolutions" — Trace how the American Revolution (1776) caused or influenced the French Revolution (1789), which caused or influenced the Haitian Revolution (1791). Create an annotated causal map showing the connections. For each revolution, identify one primary source that shows it was influenced by the preceding one.
Atlantic Slave Trade: A Cause-and-Effect Analysis — Research the Atlantic Slave Trade's causes and effects. Create a 2-page analysis: (1) multiple causes (European demand, African participation, economic incentives, racial ideology), (2) effects on West African societies, Caribbean plantation economies, North American culture, and Atlantic capitalism, (3) a source evaluation — whose primary sources survive, and whose don't?
Columbian Exchange Long-Term Effects Brief — Research the Columbian Exchange's most significant long-term effects. Build a 1-page argument: what was the single most important consequence of the Columbian Exchange — the population collapse of indigenous Americans, the New World crops that fed European growth, or the slave trade that built New World agriculture?

Scale Tasks¶

[ ] 2.0 task: Choose one Era 3 event. List: one immediate cause, two underlying causes, one short-term effect, one long-term effect. Identify whether each source you used was primary or secondary.
[ ] 3.0 task: Write a paragraph tracing a causal chain that connects at least two Era 3 events across different civilizations. Identify each link and explain the connection.
[ ] 4.0 task: Write a 200-word evaluation of two sources on the same Era 3 event or causal chain. Which interpretation is better supported? What does each source reveal and conceal?