Top 3 Resources to Learn World History, for Beginners

History is a subject that many may find dull. If you fall in this category, ask yourself - why do you find it dull?

Maybe you've had dull history teachers in that past, and you associate history with dullness. You ask, why should I have to memorize dates and events? Why should I memorize the names of my country's leaders?

Good news! History is fascinating, if taught in the right setting, by the right people, and told in an engaging way. History is not just memorizing things that happened. It's about understanding why the world is the way it is today, why we have the laws we do, why some countries have gone to war, and if you have a good teacher, insights into solving modern day problems.

Think of any major world event, whether a global event (e.g. WWII, COVID-19 pandemic) or national/local event (e.g. a major event in your country's history), and imagine how the world would be different if the event didn't happen, or if the event turned out differently. What if COVID-19 had a 50% mortality rate? What if the Nazis won WWII? There are endless ways to analyze how history shaped our world today.

There's a famous quote (with a lot of similar variations) floating around the internet: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

This quote by George Santayana (The Life of Reason, 1905) provides us with a key idea. It's important for us to understand the past successes/failures of humankind so that we innovate rather than repeat ourselves. Rightfully, this quote is often associated with war. What other historical events could you associate with this quote?

If you had boring history teachers in gradeschool, then I have good news for you. Learning history on your own, at your own pace, is far more rewarding (and fun)! There's no shortage of history resources on the internet, and in this article, we'll discuss several resources that will both educate and entertain.

1. Crash Course World History - Youtube

A lot of college students know of Crash Course. You know, that Youtube channel you start binge watching around exam time to cram important concepts, rather than actually set aside time to study?

No judgement here, because we've all procrastinated before exams. Crash Course to the rescue!

Their courses are chock full of good information, engaging content, and are both educational and entertaining. World History was one of their earlier courses, and quickly became one of the Humanities courses that helped skyrocket their growth.

Their courses are perfect for interested learners and students alike. Expect their content to follow typical college/university course syllabi, so even if you aren't a student, you can still get the college experience.

However, it's worth noting that all Crash Course videos are very high-level overviews. This is what they specialize in (and it works), but you won't gain indepth knowledge on a topic. You'll learn a bit about the key ideas and concepts, and if you would like to dig deeper, you'll have to use other resources. Nonetheless, Crash Course is an awesome starting point for all learners!

• Price: Free
• Paid Option : No
• Difficulty Level: Beginner
• Flexible schedule: Yes

Who should take this course? This is a good option for complete beginners who want to prepare for university-level courses, who want a quick refresher on key historical concepts, and overall, Crash Course serves as an awesome starting point for any of their offered subjects.

Link to the course - Crash Course World History

2. The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 - Coursera

Perhaps the most interesting parts of history are from the ancient world. Ancient Egypt, Romans vs Spartans, the downfall of Ancient Greece, the wars between ancient Chinese Dynasties.. the list goes on. For most ancient civilizations, there's a free course out there.

But, learning history isn't just about learning the quirks of your favourite ancient empire. So much has happened within the last few hundred years, and this period of history is largely what shapes our modern world. For example, how did democracy evolve in modern countries? What major wars shaped modern countries? How did industrialism shape our current cities? These are questions that historians examine when illustrating "how we got here", so to speak. Breakthroughs within the last few hundred years have shaped our societies today, and it's quite interesting to learn these connections.

This course covers just that. What major breakthroughs/events in the last several centuries shaped who we are today? This course covers many bases for anyone asking: why is society the way it is today?

• Price: Free
• Paid Option : Yes
• What the paid option offers: Course certification
• Difficulty Level: Beginner
• Flexible schedule: Yes

Who should take this course? This is a good option for beginners who want to learn important historical events that shaped our modern world.

Link to the course - The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910

3. Constitute

This resource is a bit different. Constitute is a website that curates the Constitutions of countries, and contains other resources to learn about current political climates and general political info. Their About page neatly summarizes the services and information they offer, and we highly recommend checking it out of you plan to use their website.

Constitutions are documents that outline how a country is governed, the fundamental principles that the government promises to it's citizens (and vice versa), outline divisions of power between different government divisions, and many other things.

Many constitutions are not updated often, and when they are, the changes are often revolutionary. For example, Canada's original 1867 constitution had it's first major update in 1982, with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This act described fundamental rights and freedoms, Aboriginal rights, legislative independence from The British Parliament (only legislative, not full independence), and quickly reshaped legal precedence in Canada.

How constitutions are used depend entirely on how the country operates. Some countries may heavily rely on the constitution to make legal decisions, while some many rely on legal precendent that continually build (but the earlier cases would have likely directly cited the constitution). Nonetheless, knowing your country's constitution and how it's used by leaders is something that we should all understand.

Constitute provides resources to help us achieve this, without needing to read our costitutions word-for-word and rely on our own interpretion of it. Understanding constitutions and constitutional law can be quite difficult, but having even foundational knowledge will further add to your historical knowledge.

Try to find your constitution on Constitute, and read through it. When you find sections that interest you, research further! You will likely find legal commentary of your constitution online. If you're only finding articles behind paywalls, such as academic journals, try talking to someone at your local libraries. Many libraries use their funding to assist public access to such resources.

• Price: Free
• Paid Option : No
• Difficulty Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Flexible schedule: Yes

Who should take this course? This is an excellent resource for individuals looking to learn about the fundamental principles that shaped their country, or other countries. After learning about your country's constitution, there are neverending follow-up resources depending on the sections that interest you. A deep dive into constitutions will surely teach you a lot more than the constitutions alone!

Link to the course - Constitute

3. National Geographic

• Price: Free
• Paid Option : No
• Difficulty Level: Beginner
• Flexible schedule: Yes

Who should take this course? Rather than a course, the National Geographic website provides historical insights into a huge range of topics. We recommend reading articles on their website if you're looking to learn a broad range of topics, and fun historical facts.

Link to the course - National Geographic

What's Next?

History is vast, and no list will ever cover an entire learning path of history. Rather, your learning path should be built by you, and depends entirely on your interests! Maybe you're primarily interested in ancient history, or prehistorical history, or history of modern worlds. The choice is yours, and likely, there are free resources out there.

If you're not quite sure what to study next, we recommend revisiting CrashCourse, and viewing their history playlists. They have a number of different topics, such as US History, European History, the History of Science, and so on. Again, CrashCourse only provides high level overviews, so once you find a topic that interests you, don't be afraid to explore it further further.

If you're having trouble finding free resources on your favourite topics, don't sweat it. Chances are your local library offers a wide variety of reading material. Best of all, a library card is free or very cheap. Contact your local university libraries as well, as some offer similar services for the public!

Final Thoughts

If you were taught that learning history is memorizing important dates and people, then you were taught wrong. History is one of the most important subjects you can learn, as it helps us understand complex issues by examining the past. It looks at what has worked, and what hasn't worked, and uses these references to tackle modern problems.

Everything has history, including other academic disciplines. As one example, every scientific field has a history. It's interesting to read about older scientific methods, and how modern methods gradually improved as technology improved. If you were to curate a book called The History of Neuroscience, your research into historical Neuroscience research would show how both the research methods and primary scientific beliefs evolved over time, and if you spend enough time researching this, you may draw new insights by learning from the past. What if a highly insightful line of research from the early 20th century was stopped because computers weren't invented yet, and it was too difficult to perform that research at the time?

Learning history serves an important purpose, and considering that basically and scientific field or school of thought has it's own history, it shows that we should not only preserve history, but also use it to drive insightful modern solutions.