The rebels forced the people pay land taxes them

AP® World History: Modern 2023 Free-Response Questions

WORLD HISTORY: MODERN

“The fall of the modern European empires was as rapid as their rise had been, and in most places the reasons for their downfall were similar. Ultimately all [empires] had maintained their rule through [acceptance by conquered peoples] rather than by force or the threat of force. . . . What had applied to the Roman Empire also applied to the British and the French, the German, and, ultimately, even the Russian: subject peoples were only to remain in subjection so long as at least a significant number of them could see some benefit to them in so doing.

Resistance to any kind of rule requires organization and courage. In the case of resistance to colonial rule, however, it also requires some vision of a better future in some postcolonial world. It requires an ideology capable of mobilizing those who might otherwise be prepared to accept the status quo as merely inevitable. Ironically, this ideology was provided by the same refashioning of society that had been the driving force behind most modern imperialism, namely nationalism.”

c. Explain how ONE development from the nineteenth or twentieth century could be used to challenge a claim that the author makes in the first paragraph.

The slave merchants bring them to Egypt in batch after batch. Then the rulers lodge them in the royal chambers, and give them a careful upbringing, including the study of the Qur’an. Then they train them in the use of the bow and the sword, in riding horses, and in fighting with the lance until they become tough and seasoned soldiers. When the rulers are convinced that they are prepared to defend and die for them, they increase their pay, lands, and incomes. Then they appoint them to high offices of state, and even sultans are chosen from them who direct the affairs of the Muslims.”

Source: Ibn Khaldun, Arab scholar and historian writing about the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, late fourteenth century

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3. Respond to parts a, b, and c.

a. Identify ONE reason for the increase in the movement of enslaved peoples across the Atlantic Ocean during the period circa 1450–1750.

b. Explain ONE way societies or governments reacted to industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

c. Explain ONE way human activity led to environmental changes in the twentieth century.

END OF SECTION I

Question 1 (Document-Based Question)
Suggested reading and writing time: 1 hour

It is suggested that you spend 15 minutes reading the documents and 45 minutes writing your response. Note: You may begin writing your response before the reading period is over.

• Use at least one additional piece of specific historical evidence (beyond that found in the documents) relevant to an argument about the prompt.

• For at least three documents, explain how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument.

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AP® World History: Modern 2023 Free-Response Questions

Your Excellency, last year you promised to send an army to suppress the rebels. We beg you, please have the army come immediately to exterminate the rebels and save the people. Our local militia has been fighting them for a long time and we fear that if the militia collapses, the rebels will run free and it will become impossible for the government to control them.

Source: Karl Marx, German political economist, “Revolution in China and in Europe,” article published in the New York Daily Tribune, 1853

The current formidable revolution that is taking place in China1 has unquestionably been caused by the British cannon forcing upon China the unlimited importation of opium. Faced with the might of the British arms, the authority of the Manchu [Qing] dynasty fell to pieces and China’s complete isolation from the civilized world came to an end.

Source: Qing China’s Foreign Office, policy letter addressed to all Chinese embassies abroad, 1878

Under the Treaties of Tianjin,1 foreigners in China are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Chinese imperial authorities. If they have disputes among themselves, their own consuls in China are to settle them; if they commit a crime in China, their own diplomats are to punish them according to their national laws. But in practice, foreigners claim much more than this: they interpret the treaties to mean that they may violate Chinese laws without consequences. To this we cannot agree—China never gave foreigners permission to disregard our laws.

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AP® World History: Modern 2023 Free-Response Questions

Document 5

Source: Chinese Alliance Association, a coalition of political organizations of young Chinese men studying in foreign countries, “Revolutionary Proclamation,” 1907

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AP® World History: Modern 2023 Free-Response Questions

In the images, the tiger represents China, and the men represent Western countries.

The images were labeled as follows:
[upper left image]: “China during the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors [seventeenth and eighteenth centuries],”
[upper right image]: “China during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi emperors [first half of the nineteenth century],”
[lower left image]: “China today,” and
[lower right image]: “China in the future.”

Document 7

Source: The abdication decree of the child emperor Puyi, issued by the regent empress Longyu on Puyi’s behalf, officially ending the Qing dynasty, 1912

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AP® World History: Modern 2023 Free-Response Questions

• Respond to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning. • Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.

• Support an argument in response to the prompt using specific and relevant examples of evidence.

3. In the period circa 1450 to 1750, rulers of land-based empires, such as the Mughal, the Ottoman, and the Safavid empires, used a variety of religious, political, and economic methods to legitimize and consolidate their power.

Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which a land-based empire successfully consolidated or expanded its power during this period.

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