Coal wasn't the only fuel in use during the Industrial Revolution. First, Professor Harreld introduces you to other power sources that were in use at the time (including peat and animal power). Then, he takes you inside the dramatic evolution of the steam engine-a new power source that would have an irrevocable impact on the progression of the world economy.

In the late 19th century, Europe and the United States established control over much of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Examine the international treaties that decided the fate of nations and civilizations, the Opium Wars, theories of social Darwinism, and how nationalistic competition among industrialized countries came to dominate how the West interacted with the non-industrialized world.

Go back in time to examine the political economy of foreign trade (the relationships between markets and the state). Examine some of the various forms that international trade can take, including unilateralism and multilateralism, and study some of the modern world's most important, influential (and even controversial) trade organizations, including the Arab League and NAFTA.

Discover what Great Britain's burgeoning textile trade in the 18th century reveals about why this nation was the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Consider how the introduction of a popular new product generated significant market demand, how inventors solved problems, and why the steam engine is rightly considered the decisive factor that facilitated large-scale industrial production.

First, learn why Japanese domination of Manchuria did little to solve Japan's economic problems after the Great Depression. Then, take an intriguing comparative look at the economic motives of imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany-both of which adopted some Keynesian economic policies to get out of their respective economic depressions.

What did the age of exploration mean to the European economy? Find out in this lecture that covers the voyages of explorers like Columbus and Magellan, the reasons why Asians didn't succeed at discovering a sea route to the West, the new European commercial systems created in the Americas, and much more.

In this lecture, learn how our growing information economy is reshaping the way the world does business. Professor Harreld takes you back 500 years to reveal the evolution from a world when information was slow (and often out of date when it was received) to the 21st century, when information is instantly available and at a fairly low cost.

Turn now to some of the factors that affected late 19th-century industrialization and, in some cases, led to uneven economic development among different countries. You'll learn how this unequal power in economic relationships contributed to a significant resentment toward capitalist systems in the West, with some countries feeling that industrialization had exacerbated economic disparity.

Professor Harreld explains the socialist ideology of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which became the widely accepted variety of socialism in the early 20th century. You'll learn Marx's stages of development; how Lenin steered Russia on the path of war communism"; and how Stalin rejected the economic path laid out for Russia in favor of something much worse."

At the heart of many European colonies were plantations, an economic system that relies on one mass-produced cash crop and a large, inexpensive labor force. How did Europeans solve labor supply problems in the colonies they established around the world? When (and where) did race-based slavery begin? Why did it last for so long?