these questions are more general and span more than one period of history.
- select any two physical locations during a single period in history and discuss the daily life of an average person giving specific examples and justification for your description.
- explore the historical context and impact of human-caused climate change.
- compare the ideology and impact of any two leaders of china, the united states or the soviet union (and russia) between 1945 and today.
- is the death of minority languages significant from a historical perspective?
- where should the turning point in history be placed between prehistory and history?
- what is the historical defining moment of the beginning of human culture? why?
- * is written language necessary for history?
- what is the purpose of studying ancient human history?
- compare any two leaders of the same geographic region from two periods in history separated by at least a hundred years from a single perspective (culture, politics, society, popular culture, populism, nationalism, military, economics, etc).
- how has the internet shaped culture since its creation?
- what is the impact of technology on one specific period in history? give detailed examples and a chronology of its development.
- discuss one aspect of the history of writing and its impact on history and society.
- why are similar natural disasters so different in their impacts in countries with different cultures and socioeconomic situations? give at least three specific comparative examples.
- * what is the historical and cultural significance of the rise of english as a global language?
- explore gender roles through history in a specific location.
- trace the rise and fall of any commonly-spoken language (across multiple geographic regions) in its historical and cultural context.
- discuss one significant military development (change in technology, strategy, ideology, organization, etc) and its impact on later warfare.
- take the history of a country with a long and continuous history of warfare and discuss how its military history impacts its popular culture (afghanistan, the united states, myanmar, poland, russia, south korea, syria, congo, etc).
- why are natural disasters significant to history? give two specific examples and discuss their impacts on later events.
- trace the relationship between two cohabitating “races” in a specific physical location through a period of history of at least two centuries giving specific examples.
- select a country with a long history of being conquered (korea, afghanistan, morocco, poland, etc) and discuss how these events have shaped its culture.
- trace the shift through history of who decides what is “art”. what impact has this had on the development of culture?
- compare govenment systems during recent centuries of a major power with specific examples (china, russia, the united states, japan, germany, turkey, india, etc). discuss their successes and failures from the perspective of historical relevance.
- * explore the question of whether freedom is necessary for a population to experience happiness.
- select a developed country in the modern world and discuss the relevance of government to daily life. is it significant? compare this answer with a specific period in the distant past for the same region.
- what is the lasting impact of homer’s literature on later society? give specific, detailed examples from only one time period and physical location.
- select a leader popular culture classifies as “evil” and discuss the accuracy of that claim from a historical perspective.
- compare accepted conventions of warfare in the present with a specific historic period and location giving detailed examples.
- to what extent, if any, are international sports relevant to the study of history?
- discuss the history of queer rights and acceptance in a specific period of history and physical location. compare that with the same place today.
- has there ever been a safe time or place to be jewish? justify your answer with specific historical events.
- plot the rise of disposable/fast culture and its impact on history.
- is the development of high art relevant to the study of history or simply a side-effect of it?
- discuss the rise and fall of any major power in a previous age (persia, egypt, rome, mongolia, england, etc) and compare it to either the united states or china in the modern world.
- discuss the rise of terrorism in two different time periods.
- trace the death of a specific language and its impact on history and culture.
- have minority rights ever been historically-significant? justify your answer with specific examples.
- discuss a specific example of the impact of weather on history.
- plot the rise of the significance of popular culture to history with specific examples.
- * what is the historical significance of the role of the christian church in the development of art from early christianity to today?
- trace the spread of a language family through a period of at least one millennium with specific details.
- discuss the spread of buddhism from its origins with particular emphasis on the reasons for its successful penetration of multiple empires.
- what is the historical significance of the development of polyphony?
- discuss the importance of the personal automobile from its origins to today.
- what is the historical lesson gained from reading sophocles’ plays? how is this different from the cultural lesson?
- trace the significance of the horse in human civilization.
- select a major philosophical figure from before the common era (laozi, the buddha, confucius, aristotle, etc) and discuss their historical significance both to their time and today.
- discuss the difference in public awareness of history in two different time periods and explore its impact on events.
- discuss the extent of impact on daily life of one single mathematical or scientific discovery (calculus, laws of motion, thermodynamics, gravity, relativity, etc).
- discuss the significance of change in clothing on history using specific examples from a single geographic location.
- * how has citizens’ expectation of governments changed over time? discuss a specific geographic location through at least three separate time periods and plot a progression with detailed examples.
- * what is, if one exists, the historical role of organized religion or philosophy in the twenty-first century?
- discuss the historical significance of any artistic movement (fine arts, music, architecture, craft, etc).
- to what extent is urbanization responsible for human suffering?
- discuss the concept and impact of mutually-assured destruction in both historical and cultural terms.
- is there any ethical justification for the existence of a military?
