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AP World History: Modern

2026 AP World DBQ: Twentieth-century military conflicts and the role of women

The task (paraphrased)

Evaluate how much military conflicts in the twentieth century changed the role of women in society.

Exact wording and all 7 documents: official College Board PDF

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The 7 documents

  1. Yuan Luanyu, Chinese villager, oral-history interview about the 1899–1901 Boxer Rebellion, 1960
  2. Lady Frances Balfour, British women's rights activist, article supporting India's contribution to the British war effort, 1915
  3. Strike committee of women workers at a Russian uniform factory, proclamation to soldiers, 1915
  4. “The Parisian Woman Worker—Before the War / During the War,” Le Petit Journal cover, 1916
  5. Margarita Robles de Mendoza, Mexican women's rights activist, The Evolution of the Mexican Woman, 1931
  6. Muthoni Kirima, Kenyan woman, interview about the 1952–1960 Mau Mau uprising, 2019
  7. Anonymous Soviet woman, interview recalling service as an army nurse in Afghanistan (1979–1989), 1990

To earn both document points, use at least 4 of these to support your argument - not just summarize them.

Contextualization ideas

  • Nineteenth-century industrialization drew women into factory work and gave rise to organized suffrage and feminist movements.
  • Twentieth-century total war required mobilizing entire populations, including women, for the war effort.

Describe one of these in 2-3 sentences and connect it to the prompt - a passing mention won't earn the point.

Evidence beyond the documents

  • Britain's Representation of the People Act (1918) giving many women the vote after the First World War
  • Soviet women serving as pilots, snipers and medics in the Second World War
  • Women in U.S. war industries in the Second World War (“Rosie the Riveter”)
  • Women fighters in the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962)

Pick one, explain it specifically, and use it to support your argument.

A sample defensible thesis

Twentieth-century military conflicts changed women's roles to a significant extent by pulling them into industrial work, combat support and anticolonial struggle, but many of those gains were temporary, as postwar societies often pushed women back toward traditional roles.

Written by us as an example of the structure that earns the point (a claim plus a line of reasoning) - write your own.

Sourcing (HIPP) example

Kirima was interviewed in 2019, decades after the Mau Mau uprising, so her account reflects how the conflict is remembered in independent Kenya - a point of view that may emphasize women's heroism more than wartime records would.

Do this for at least 2 documents to earn the sourcing point.

A route to the complexity point

Compare the effects of world wars in industrial states with anticolonial wars in Africa and Asia, or distinguish lasting legal gains (such as voting rights) from wartime changes that were reversed.

More AP World DBQs

2025 AP World DBQ (Set 1)Transportation and communication technology in Africa, c. 1850–19602025 AP World DBQ (Set 2)Industrialization and women's opportunities, c. 1850–19502024 AP World DBQ (Set 1)Communist rule in Soviet and Chinese society, c. 1930–19902024 AP World DBQ (Set 2)Economic motives and Japanese imperialism, c. 1900–19452023 AP World DBQ (Set 1)Foreign involvement and the collapse of the Qing Empire2023 AP World DBQ (Set 2)Muslim women challenging social norms, c. 1850–1950
The 7-point DBQ rubric, explainedAP World History: Modern DBQ grader

The question and documents are published by the College Board. The task above is our paraphrase; the coaching notes are DBQGrader's own. DBQGrader is not affiliated with or endorsed by the College Board.