Skip to content
Maps of History Start free

MAPS OF HISTORY · IB HISTORY · OLD COURSE

IB HISTORY · OLD COURSE · EXAMS IN MAY AND NOVEMBER 2027

IB History old course: notes for the 2027 exams

If your IB History exams are in May or November 2027, you sit the old course, the one first examined in 2017. Its Paper 1 has five prescribed subjects, its Paper 2 twelve world history topics, and Higher Level students add a regional option. The new course takes over from May 2028.

The newest atlases were written for the new course. Their IB notes also tag each chapter that serves an old-course topic, and this page brings those chapters together by topic. Each listing gives you a piece of evidence and a practice question. Chapter pages are free to read; in the atlas you also get the map, full IB notes and model essay plans.

Map from The Soviet Union under Stalin
THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN · CHAPTER 3
OPEN THE INTERACTIVE ATLAS →

WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Opening a new atlas uses one of them. Membership opens all 21 — Join.

Prescribed subject 4: Rights and protest

2 CHAPTERS · 1 ATLAS

Protest and Change

A few hundred radical feminists protested at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City on 7 September 1968. They burned nothing, yet the press invented the “bra-burner”, an image that made the movement famous and gave others an easy way to mock it.— Protest and Change, chapter 2: Organising for Equality

A question to practise: How effective were the methods women’s organisations used to seek equal treatment at work in the United States and Britain between 1963 and 1970? PROTEST AND CHANGE · CHAPTER 2 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

World history topic 7: Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005)

12 CHAPTERS · 1 ATLAS

The Industrial Revolution

Kenneth Pomeranz estimates that by about 1830 Britain’s imports of cotton, sugar and timber replaced what 25 to 30 million acres could have produced—more than the area of all its farmland. Colonies helped relieve a shortage of land in Britain itself.— The Industrial Revolution, chapter 1: Why Britain?

A question to practise: How far were economic factors the main reason industrialisation began in Britain? THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION · CHAPTER 1 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

World history topic 8: Independence movements (1800–2000)

5 CHAPTERS · 1 ATLAS

Two Roads to Independence

From 1919–20, the Native Registration Ordinance made the kipande compulsory for every African man over sixteen. The document recorded his fingerprints and employers, linking the labor market to police control.— Two Roads to Independence, chapter 7: The White Highlands

A question to practise: How did colonial rule in Kenya create grievances that later fueled nationalism between 1895 and 1939? TWO ROADS TO INDEPENDENCE · CHAPTER 7 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

World history topic 10: Authoritarian states (20th century)

16 CHAPTERS · 3 ATLASES

The Soviet Union under Stalin

By the Fourteenth Congress in December 1925, Stalin had weakened Trotsky and turned against former allies. Zinoviev and Kamenev’s Leningrad delegation was overwhelmingly outvoted, showing how quickly that change of alliance could take effect.— The Soviet Union under Stalin, chapter 1: The Succession

Protest and Change

Forced cooperatives under Ahmed Ben Salah encountered resistance at Ouardanine in January 1969. Bourguiba then abandoned collectivisation; Ben Salah was tried and jailed in 1970.— Protest and Change, chapter 7: Bourguiba’s Tunisia

The People’s Republic under Mao

The 1954 Constitution promised freedom of speech and residence. Under the household registration regulations of January 1958, however, peasants needed official permission to move to a city.— The People’s Republic under Mao, chapter 4: The Soviet Model

A question to practise: How far did control of the party apparatus account for Stalin’s rise to power by 1929? THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN · CHAPTER 1 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

World history topic 11: Causes and effects of 20th-century wars

3 CHAPTERS · 2 ATLASES

Uprooted

Nearly six million displaced persons had been repatriated from Germany’s western zones by the end of September 1945. Yet more than a million could not or would not go home; they became the “last million” of the camps.— Uprooted, chapter 1: Europe Uprooted

The People’s Republic under Mao

Mao suggested in early 1951 that executions should run at about one per thousand people. Yang Kuisong’s research in Party documents shows the center setting ratios for the campaign, then slowing the killing in late April 1951.— The People’s Republic under Mao, chapter 2: Korea and the Campaigns

A question to practise: Examine why the end of the Second World War in Europe led to mass displacement. UPROOTED · CHAPTER 1 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

World history topic 12: The Cold War: superpower tensions and rivalries (20th century)

5 CHAPTERS · 3 ATLASES

The Soviet Union under Stalin

After Tito refused to accept Soviet direction, Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform on 28 June 1948. Stalin responded with show trials of alleged “Titoists”, among them László Rajk in 1949 and Rudolf Slánský in 1952.— The Soviet Union under Stalin, chapter 11: High Stalinism

Uprooted

The original Convention definition covered events before 1 January 1951, and states could limit its geographic scope to Europe. Article 1D addressed people receiving other UN assistance, including the 700,000 to 750,000 Palestinian refugees under UNRWA; Article 1E addressed people with nationals’ rights in their country of residence, a provision relevant to German expellees.— Uprooted, chapter 5: From Relief to Rights

The People’s Republic under Mao

Henry Kissinger traveled secretly from Pakistan to Beijing in July 1971. A few months later, on 25 October, the UN General Assembly voted 76 to 35 to give China’s seat to the People’s Republic.— The People’s Republic under Mao, chapter 11: From Soviet Ally to Nixon

A question to practise: Compare and contrast how Stalin maintained control in the 1930s and after 1945. THE SOVIET UNION UNDER STALIN · CHAPTER 11 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

Higher Level · History of Asia and Oceania, section 15

5 CHAPTERS · 1 ATLAS

The People’s Republic under Mao

Land reform brought violence as well as land. “speak bitterness” meetings often ended in killings, and most estimates put the dead at between one and two million. Through that violence, villagers became complicit in the new order.— The People’s Republic under Mao, chapter 1: Consolidating Victory

A question to practise: Examine the reasons for the Chinese Communist Party’s success in consolidating its rule over China between 1949 and 1953. THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC UNDER MAO · CHAPTER 1 — the model plan is in the chapter’s IB notes in the atlas.

Atlases with study notes for the old course too

These atlases were written before the IB layer and have no IB notes yet, but their chapters cover much of the old course’s content, from the causes of the world wars to the Cold War, and each has an IB History page with study notes and essay questions:

Revision tools

Test yourself on the atlases whose IB notes tag old-course topics. Each atlas ends with a map quiz that asks you to find places and moments on the map itself; the quick quiz and the printable study guide are free pages on this site.

Maps of History is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Organization. IB course names describe alignment only; paper, theme and section names follow the new course outline and may change when the final guide is published.

THE DISPATCH

Get a printable atlas study guide of your choice free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul

NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME

← Paper 3 · EuropeIB History →