Free World History Courses

Epidemic diseases have been as important as war in their devastating effects on human society through the ages. This series of lectures looks at them in their relation to society, the economy, culture and ideas, and the state.

In this course, Peter Kenez, Professor Emeritus at UC Santa Cruz, explains the events of modern Russian history and introduces its most significant actors-from Vladimir Lenin to Vladimir Putin.

A comparative survey of six major geographical and cultural areas (West Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Africa, Europe, and Meso-America) from 4000 B.C. to c.e. 1500.

A lecture course that explores the evolution of the interaction between the United States and the world from 1914 to the present...

This course details the nature and development of economies from pre-history to the Industrial Revolution.

This is a survey of modern history from a global perspective. Part One begins with the political and economic revolutions of the late 1700s and tracks the transformation of the world during the 1800s.

This course consists of an international analysis of the impact of epidemic diseases on western society and culture from the bubonic plague to HIV/AIDS and the recent experience of SARS and swine flu.

Water. It caresses and comforts us, provides sustenance and refreshment, is something that humanity has cherished since the beginning of history, and means something different to everyone else.

The Holocaust was an inconceivable historical event, which forever robbed Western culture of its innocence.

This is a survey of modern history from a global perspective. Part Two begins early in the twentieth century, as older ways of doing things and habits of thought give way.