1. In what ways were the world wars a motor for change in the history of the twentieth century?
2. To what extent were the world wars distinct and different conflicts, and in what ways were they related to each other? In particular, how did the First World War and its aftermath lay the foundations for World War II?
3. In what ways did Europe's internal conflicts between 1914 and 1945 have global implications?
4. In what different ways did the Soviet Union and China experience communism during the 20th century?
5. What was the global significance of the Cold War?
6. What is distinctive about twentieth-century communist industrialization and modernization compared to the same processes in the West a century earlier?
7. In what ways did the colonial experience and the struggle for independence shape the agenda of developing countries in the second half of the twentieth century?
8. To what extent did the experience of the former colonies and developing countries in the twentieth century parallel that of the earlier "new nations" in the Americas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
9. How would you compare the historical experiences of India and China in the twentieth century?