I am giving this 3 stars for one reason. Although the instructor was terrific and the subject matter interesting, you cannot take the quizzes/tests without purchasing the course (I like to test my retention of the material). As I am an elderly and retired audit-only student and have NO interest in getting a certificate or using the course for college credit, I found that off-putting and dropped the class. Hopefully, other Coursera courses are not going to adopt the same requirement.

The best Modern World History course. I wish professor had a book on the course written by himself, he explains every event from a number of perspectives, which is absolutely great.

There is much to praise: nice mapwork, a steady and organized march through time, and some interesting case studies (I especially enjoyed the lecture on Henry Adams).

However, the title is a complete misnomer, as the course is regrettably white bread history. I found the approach stale and western-centric, as the content actually covers western Europe and the stretch of its influence through the time period. I also found myself questioning the veracity of many conclusions, as the lecture often had difficulty citing more than a couple specific points of evidence for his arguments.

In the 10 years, I reckon I've spent about as much time doing courses as being asleep... I've done University degrees (graduate degree, 2 masters and a PhD), personal development courses, courses on sports and activities (sailing, long distance swimming, gliding) and, in the last few monts, I must have done about 11 MOOCs.

This course goes straight into my top 10 all time favorite courses list, and is definitely the one I enjoyed the most in 2017. The course helped me understand how societies and economies have evolved over the years, which is a prerequisite for appreciating the basis on which modern societies are built on. The course is delivering by a prominent academic who knows what he's talking about. There is a good flow from lecture to lecture and the presenter makes a solid effort to presents facts, rather than his own (or others') judgements.

All in all, I felt this is a great, eye-opening and thought provoking course, and I'd recommend everybody with an interest in politics, society and modern history to give it a shot.

Such an informative course, and it linked together different regions & events; that's something only top-level sources of education does. I will no doubt continue on with the course to Part 2.

This is a terrific course, amazing prevention,

but it does lack reading material that Virginia's full online course has,

it would be nice to have a deeper engamente with the subjects.

It does not let it show as completed unless you purchase the course and take the quizzes. Quizzes cannot be taken unless you purchase the course.

An excellent synthesis of history. The teacher explains the topics very well and is entertaining. As a Latin American, I miss that nothing is mentioned about the history of independence and Spanish power at that time. It is logical that there are always topics left. Although the English and Americans have built the world since 1700, there are good stories from the Latin American side. No mention was made of the great inflation unleashed in Europe by Spanish gold. It would also be interesting to include the big scams that happened and some characters in France, who shaped capitalism. You could go deeper into banking and other characters like Robert Owen who I think was the first true socialist. But as I said the subject is extensive and I learned a lot. I am a 53 year old Colombian who studied by general culture. Convey the most sincere congratulations and thanks to the professor. A hug.

Una excelente síntesis de la historia . El profesor explica muy bien los temas y es entretenido. Como latinoamericano extrañe que no se menciona nada de la historia de la independencia y del poderío español en esa época. Es lógico que siempre se quedan temas. si bien los ingleses y los norteamericanos han construido el mundo desde 1700 hay buenos relatos del lado latinoamericano. No se menciono nada de la gran inflación que se desató en Europa por el oro Español. Seria interesante también incluir las grandes estafas que ocurrieron y algunos personajes en Francia, que moldearon el capitalismo. Se podría profundizar en la banca y en otros personajes como Robert Owen que creo que fue el primer verdadero socialista. Pero como dije el tema es extenso y aprendí mucho. Soy un colombiano de 53 años que estudio por cultura general. Transmitanle al profesor mis mas sinceras felicitaciones y gracias. Un abrazo.

I never studied world history in school, and this course has been a great remedy. It's a great basic, introductory course. It gives an overview of modern world history from a white western perspective, and I'm okay with that, because that perspective dominates a lot of the world's discourse. I do understand that in order to gain more minority perspectives on history I will have to turn to different material, and that's fine. At times the course covered lots of ideas and events quickly, which made it superficial and not as interesting, but this is an overview course so I didn't mind. The professor is pleasant, explains events concepts clearly and mostly neutrally, and repeats main points. I hoped that paying for the course and accessing the quizzes would make me more committed, and it did. I reviewed my notes before every quiz. I find myself thinking about the material throughout the week, and it has helped me think more critically about current affairs. Thank you!

I completed both parts of this course--a lot of work, but well worth the effort. My last formal history course was a two-semester sequence called "Modern Civilization," which I took as an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill back in the late 1960s. It's amazing how much my perspective on history and studying history has changed over a half century.

It might be helpful for a student to have had some exposure to European and American history prior to taking this two-course sequence. A knowledge of world geography would also be beneficial. The quizzes in part 2 seemed to cover more material than the quizzes in part 1, which required me to change my study habits a bit. This two-part course, however, was well worth the time and money spent. In fact, I can't remember when I got so much out of such a modest purchase!

Dear Professor,

I am fascinated with week one, even though I work in the scientific side, also like history, nothing more rewarding than visiting and ancient place and know what happened... Thanks

Very interesting and fun course

Dr. Zelikow really captivates the attention of the students and brilliantly explains complex situations to the layman audience.

Look forward to Part II !

:)

"Events, dear boy": yes, yes, we know, but Professor Zelikow is determined to steer his students beyond events to a questioning of causality - to the whys as well as the mere whats. In addition, the course is very well structured, and pitched I would say absolutely perfectly for the curious generalist. Only cavil is that one or two lectures are perhaps a touch too compressed, even for such a brief course (week three, for example). Overall I would thoroughly recommend this course: I'm not sure I've ever spent €46 so well. On now to Part Two!

Excelente. Entretenido, contenido totalmente valioso, un tutor más que formado y experimentado. Muy ameno, intrigante. Muy recomendado para los interesados en historia de todo tipo, y particularmente a personas nuevas en Coursera. 10/10.

The explanation of the various historical events which shaped the world is beautifully explained and the transition from one era to another is very smooth, making it a wonderful experience.

The course was very informative. Teacher focused on ideas and ideologies rather than just facts.

The course helped me to know what shaped the world in the 18th and 19th century.

Interesting way of looking at History, I liked the 'What Happened' and 'Why' concept as it put specific parts of History in a different perspective. And no a dull summary of events, years, and 'famous' historical figures. It might be worthwhile to include in the Introduction a short summary like done in the end 'Big Picture Presentation' in order to set the overall structure of the course. Being a non-native English speaker it was somethings a challenge to see the overall structure and the connection between certain elements. The final big picture presentation with its summary was a real good overview. There was one presentation I thought was somewhat out of place and that was the 'Dynamo and the Virgin' presentation, I understand its basic concept BUT I feel it has not much significance in the bigger scheme of things. Overall a very good course. I really enjoyed it. Cheers

Being a professor as well (though in computer science), I know how hard it is to get the full attention of the students. I congratulate Prof. Zelikow for his achievements. This course has capture my attention and I was eager to watch the next presentation. I learned a lot and I just have a single point (actually a suggestion), which is that each module should finish with a list of literature for those seeking more info on particular topics. Apart from this, a well balanced course. Not easy to put together stuff about 250 years of History.

You have to pay to take the the tests. You might as well watch videos on YouTube or better yet get on Khan Academy. I did like the instructor. Even though he takes a while to warm up, he's really good at showing the big picture connections of why things happened.

This is a very "traditional" history class with huge blindspots and embarrassingly limited viewpoints.

An excellent history course and very thoughtfully presented. It doesn't rely on memorizing a bunch of dates and events but pulls it together in a story. Rather than focus on "What," "When," or "How," it focused on "Why." Its professor is a very learned and notable figure in both American Academia and Politic having lead the 9/11 commission but refusing to sanction the doctrine of pre-emptive strike. Frankly if they'd have taken his course, they'd have known why. I highly recommend this course to anyone who loves history and wants a different perspective or anyone who wants to know more or wants to pull together the facts they've had swimming around in their head for years!

Es el único curso de Historia general con el que cuenta actualmente Coursera para este periodo histórico.

La amplia variedad de temas que abarca, así como la diversidad de ideas y teorías empleadas en el curso, proporcionan al alumno una formación horizontal en el estudio de la disciplina histórica y a su vez, se le genera las ansias de conocer más de cada uno de los temas. Obviamente es un curso para iniciarse en el camino de este periodo histórico pero no por ello menos esencial e importante para futuros interesados o especialistas en la materia.

It took me a long time to finish this. By having an all-nighter, I continued learning different aspects of the world that shaped our today's world. The course materials are very informative and analyzed.

Muy buen curso, dedicado al repaso y al análisis de muchos acontecimientos que no se queda en los personajes o en las historias, sino en las causas subyacentes de el mundo que se vivió. 5/5

E​xcellent course with an excellent instructor- I am looking forward to taking the next course! Thanks!