Note: This textbook is currently being created and is a ROUGH DRAFT. We will remove this rough draft notice when it’s finished.
Are you ready to learn world history?
Get ready to learn about world history in this absolutely FREE book! Why do are we offering a free book? Have a look at our About Us page, and you’ll get a sense of who we are and why we care about homeschoolers like we do. Having said that, please consider using Guest Hollow as your source for other curriculums and materials. Despite being a tiny mom-and-pop, our company has a lot to offer, and it’s growing all the time. Please explore our site as well as our social media presence and let us know what you think!
This FREE book is designed to be used with Guest Hollow’s Whirlwind World History Curriculum, but anyone is free to use it.
Reading tip: When reading the online textbook, you can click on some of the images to see them larger. This may be useful when you want to see the details on maps! Also, don’t forget that most browsers will allow you to increase the font size of the page you are reading (if that’s something you need to make the reading more comfortable). 🙂
Note: This textbook is currently being created and is a ROUGH DRAFT. We will remove this rough draft notice when it’s finished. Topics may be removed or added as we work on this page.
Welcome to the Whirlwind World History online textbook! We used the word “whirlwind” because there is a LOT of material to cover, and we’re going to whip through it at a quick pace in Guest Hollow’s Whirlwind World History Curriculum! Think of this as an “overview” of world events – a year-long trip through thousands of years across the globe.
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS!
Note: Individual pages are listed in bold. Titles with a star are sections on a single page. Topics are listed for easier reference.
Video tip: You can change the speed of YouTube videos. You can click settings on the YouTube video player and pick a faster playback speed up to 2x the speed. I watched a lot of the longer informational videos at this speed with no loss in understanding or retention. You may want to try it as well, if you are short on time and if you can process the audio at a faster speed. 😉
- Ancient Civilizations and the Rise of Empires (Prehistory to 500 CE)
- Agriculture Brings About Civilizations
- The Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia
- Ancient Egypt
- Ancient India
- Persia and the Greek Wars
- Classical Greece (480 BCE to 338 BCE)
- The Hellenistic Age
- The Maurya Empire of India (322 BCE – 184 BCE)
- The Celts
- Rome
- The Roman Empire (began in 27 BCE)
- The Han Dynasty in China (202 BCE – 220 CE)
- ⋆ The Empire Ends
- The Late Empire and Christianity
- The Indian Subcontinent
- The Medieval World (400 -1450)
- The Americas
- ⋆ Maya
- Byzantium
- The Origins of Russia
- Islam and The Caliphates
- Early Medieval Europe (500 to 1000)
- Africa in the Middle Ages
- The Ghana Empire
- The Mali Empire
- Mansa Musa (ruled from c.1312 to c.1337)
- Great Zimbabwe
- Asia in the Middle Ages
- China
- The Tang Dynasty (618-907)
- The Song Dynasty (960-1270s)
- The Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)
- Marco Polo and the Silk Road (1271–1295)
- Japan
- Asuka period (538–710)
- Nara period (710–794)
- Heian period (794–1185)
- Feudal Japan
- Kamakura period (1185–1333)
- Muromachi period (1333–1568)
- Southeast Asia
- Khmer Empire (802–1431)
- China
- The Early Modern World (1420-1700s)
- Europe
- The Renaissance (1400-1600)
- Economics
- Political Setting
- The Great City-States
- Venice
- Florence and Rome
- The Printing Press (1440’s)
- Patronage
- Humanism
- Important Thinkers
- Dante (1265 – 1321)
- Petrarch (1304 – 1374)
- Christine de Pizan (1364 – 1430)
- Desiderius Erasmus (1466 – 1536)
- Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
- Art and Artists
- Botticelli (1445 – 1510)
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
- Michelangelo (1475 – 1564)
- Politics: The Emergence of Strong States
- War and the Gunpowder Revolution
- Financial Revolution
- The New Kingdoms
- Spain
- England
- France
- The Holy Roman Empire
- The Renaissance (1400-1600)
- The Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia
- Exploration and Conquest
- Africa and India
- Spain, Columbus (1492), the Great Dying, and the Columbian Exchange
- The Conquistadors
- Cortes and the Aztecs (1519-1521)
- Pizarro and the Incas (1532)
- New World Wealth
- Reformations
- Indulgences
- Lutheranism (started in 1517)
- Calvinism (started in 1519)
- The English Reformation
- The Effects of the Reformation
- The Inquisition (started in 1473) and the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
- The Jesuits
- The Songhai Empire in Africa (c. 1464–1591)
- Religious Wars
- The Little Ice Age
- The French Wars of Religion
- Spain and the Netherlands
- England
- The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
- Asia
- Mughal Empire (1526-1857)
- China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
- Japan and the Tokugawa (Edo) Period (1603-1867)
- Absolutism
- France
- Richelieu (r. 1628 – 1642)
- Louis XIV – the Sun King (1643 – 1715)
- Prussia
- Austria
- Spain
- The Stuarts and the English Civil War (1642–1651)
- The Glorious Revolution (1688)
- The Overall Effects of Absolutism
- France
- Trade Empires
- Early Capitalism
- Overseas Expansion
- The Netherlands
- Britain and the Slave Trade
- Around the Globe
- The Scientific Revolution
- Astronomy
- Copernicus (1473 – 1543)
- Kepler (1571 – 1630)
- Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)
- Isaac Newton
- Medicine
- The Philosophical Impact of Science
- Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)
- Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662)
- Astronomy
- The Enlightenment
- Enlightenment Philosophes
- John Locke: 1637 – 1704
- Voltaire: 1694 – 1778
- David Hume: 1711 – 1776
- Adam Smith: 1723 – 1790
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778)
- Politics and Society
- Implications of the Enlightenment
- The Age of Revolutions (Mid 1700’s-1800’s)
- The Society of Orders
- Social Orders and Divisions
- The Nobility
- The Common People
- The Great Powers
- Russia
- Wars
- Seven Year’s War
- American Revolution and Birth of a New Nation
- Social Orders and Divisions
- The French Revolution
- The Causes
- Events
- Equality
- The Radical Phase and the Terror
- Napoleon
- The Rise of Napoleon’s Empire
- Military Strategy
- Civil Life
- The Fall
- Russia, Elba, and Waterloo
- The Aftermath
- The Rise of Napoleon’s Empire
- The Industrial Revolution
- Geography of the Industrial Revolution
- Transportation and Communication
- Social Effects
- Gender
- Cultural Effects
- Political Ideologies and Movements
- Conservatism
- Romanticism
- Nationalism
- Liberalism
- Socialism
- Social Classes
- The Politics of the Nineteenth Century
- The Congress of Vienna
- Revolts and Revolutions
- The Revolutions of 1848
- National Unifications
- Germany
- Russia
- Culture, Science, and Pseudo-Science
- Victorian Culture
- Darwin
- Mass Culture
- Culture Struggles
- New Zealand and Australia
- Civil War in America (1861-1865)
- Imperialism (1870-1914)
- The Modernization of Japan
- The Modern World (1914 to the present)
- World War 1
- The Russian Revolution of 1917
- Mexican Revolution
- The Great Depression
- China and Japan
- Soviet Union and Stalin
- World War 2
- The Holocaust
- Israel
- Partition of India
- Communist China
- The Cold War
- African Colonies Gain Independence
- Space Race
- Vietnam
- Communism Collapses
- The Gulf Wars
- Towards the Present