AP EUROPEAN HISTORY – Course Syllabus
- MR. W.B. BROOKS
Course Description: The Advanced Placement European History course is considered the equivalent of a full-year,
freshman college survey course in Western Civilization. It is designed to prepare students for the AP European
History Exam in May. Students who pass the exam (3 or better out of 5) may earn college credits.
What sets this course apart from an “honors” course is extensive reading of college level texts, combined
with a heavy emphasis upon analytical skills that include forming and substantiating various historical hypotheses.
Major themes of the course include the basic chronology and major events and trends in European history from
approximately 1350 to the present, as well as various interpretations of the European past. Significant emphasis is
given to political and diplomatic history, intellectual and cultural history, and social and economic history.
®
In addition to providing a basic exposure to the factual narrative, the goals of the AP European History
course are to develop: (1) an understanding of the principal themes in modern European history (2) the ability to
analyze historical evidence, and (3) the ability to express that understanding and analysis effectively in writing.
[C1, C2, C3, C4]
C1—The course emphasizes
relevant factual knowledge
about European history from
1450 to the present to
highlight intellectual,
cultural, political,
diplomatic, social, and
economic developments.
C2—The course teaches
students to analyze evidence
and interpretations presented in
historical scholarship.
C3—The course includes
extensive instruction in
analysis and interpretation of a
wide variety of Texbook and
Textbook and Primary sources,
such as documentary material,
maps, statistical tables, works
of art, and pictorial and graphic
materials.
C4—The course provides
students with frequent
practice in writing analytical
and interpretive essays such
as document-based questions
(DBQ) and thematic essays
(see the AP European
History Course Description
for more information).
All students enrolled in AP European History will take the AP European History exam in May. There is an
assistance program to help students in need cover some, if not most, of the $80+ cost.
th
Texts: Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. 10 ed. Upper Saddle River,
N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2009. This will be our Texbook and Textbook and Primary textbook; however, I use a selection
of short Texbook and Textbook and Primary and secondary sources, or excerpts from them, for each unit rather than
entire works
Assignments: All necessary forms may be obtained from the class website on the District Website
Class Structure: A combination of lecture, discussion, group presentation, project work, and independent
study along with various multi-media outlets will be used in class. My goal is to provide the best vehicle
possible for you to understand the content. Any suggestions you have to improve the class performance will be
appreciated. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED ACCORDING TO AP STANDARDS.
IF YOU NEED TO MAKEUP AN ASSIGNMENT, THEN YOU MUST EARN A HOMEWORK PASS FROM THE BLOG
SITE AFTER DOING THE MISSED ASSIGNMENT (Example, you did not turn in Unit 1, Homework Assignment #2;
therefore, you must do the assignment for zero credit and then earn a homework pass from the blog site to eliminate the zero
in the gradebook).
Absence/Missed Work Policy:
Attendance in this class is essential. Much of the material for success is provided through
lecture/discussion. Missing class can create problems. Work missed due to an excused absence may be made
up within 5 school days (per district and school policy). All work not made up will result in a grade of ZERO.
**If a student is absent the day of a test or essay, it will be taken the first day you return as the assignments are
posted on the board in two week increments.**
If you are present when a test, essay, or quiz is assigned, you will be expected to take it at the assigned
time (unless new material was covered during an excused absence). Project due dates are non-negotiable. If
you are absent on a project due date you will be expected to turn in the completed project and/or present your
project on the day you return to school.
Classroom Expectations
•
Responsibility: Responsibility is the key to success, and the remedy for failure. No excuses - ever!
•
Respect: Respect the person and property of those around you.
•
Right: Right action, right effort, right speech, and right thought.
•
Late homework will NEVER be accepted without a full-day excused readmit.
•
No credit will be given for incomplete or sloppy homework. If you’re tardy, so is your homework.
•
Neatness, spelling, and grammar ALWAYS count!
•
The Windsor’s Academic Policy on cheating policy will be strictly enforced - no exceptions
Scoring & Assessments for AP European History
Based Upon One Semester
Summative Assessments (75% of Grade)
Unit Tests (Points Vary)
Each unit test will include 30-40 AP quality multiple choice questions worth two points each. If any question is
missed by more than half of the class, I will add back one point per question.
Free Response Questions (Points Vary per unit)
Along with each unit test, there will be 2-4 AP quality free response questions. These questions will ask students to
use the root knowledge from each unit and evaluate or analyze it. Each question will be worth either 10 or 20
points.
Chapter Quizzes/Tests (Points Vary)
Each Quiz will include 5 short answer questions worth 5 points each from the chapter that is being covered. At the
end of each semester, I will drop each student’s lowest score.
Formative Assessments (25% of Grade)
Various Class Projects, Assignments, Homework (points vary per unit)
Throughout the year, the class will engage in several projects to enrich the material Points for these projects will
vary between 50 and 100 points and scored as formative assessments.
Article Summaries ((points vary per unit)
Students will be give one article per unit to read, summarize, evaluate and reflect upon. Reponses will be one to two
Chapter(s) and typed. We will discuss these articles in class.
Current Events Journal ((points vary per unit)
Students will keep a journal throughout this class. Throughout the class, students will be required to watch, read and
listen to the news. They will then document articles or stories in their journals and reflect upon them. Possible
sources include CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek, The Post Dispatch, the New York Times and many
more. Students will be graded on the number, quality and reflections of each article. We will use these journals to
enlighten class topics.
Participation (Non-graded)
While participation will not be officially graded, it will be required. Class discussion and lectures will be based
around student participation and to truly master the material, total engagement will be necessary
Chapter Notes and Outlines (Non-graded)
Students will be required to read each chapter on a scheduled basis and will be quizzed over each. It is also
suggested that each student outline each chapter (the first one or two may be required) to keep in their notes. If
students do complete these chapter outlines they will be allowed to use them periodically on quizzes and will always
be guaranteed a “C-” grade on quizzes. While I am not requiring most of these outlines, they are critical to your
success. Also, there are sufficient incentives for you to complete them.
Grading
Grading Scale
A 90 % – 100%
C 70% - 79%
F 59% and below
B
D
80% – 89%
60% - 69%
Grading Breakdown
75%: Tests
25%: All other assignments (i.e. homework, projects, class work,
quizzes, etc.)
Semester Final: 20% of Semester Grade
Grading: Students will not be exempt for the semester final (Therefore, No Renaissance Exemptions)
Tests: We will have at least 3 major unit tests each semester.
Essays: About every other week, an essay will be due related to topics of European History. They will be due on Friday
at the beginning of the period. They may be emailed earlier than the due date.
Projects, Homework, and Current Events: From time to time, we will have class projects, group discussions, quizzes,
and homework related to your readings and topics. They are always due at the beginning of class. I do not accept late
work.
Semester & Final Exams (20% of grade) Students will not be allowed to exempt out of either of these exams.
The first semester final will be a cumulative test covering all units from the first semester.
Themes in Modern European History
 Intellectual and Cultural History










Changes in religious thought and institutions
Secularization of learning and culture
Scientific and technological developments and their consequences
Major trends in literature and the arts
Intellectual and cultural developments and their relationship to social values and political events
Developments in social, economic, and political thought
Developments in literacy, education, and communication
The diffusion of new intellectual concepts among different social groups
Changes in elite and popular culture, such as the development of new attitudes toward religion, the family, work, and
ritual
Impact of global expansion on European culture
 Political and Diplomatic History









The rise and functioning of the modern state in its various forms
Relations between Europe and other parts of the world: colonialism, imperialism, decolonization, and global
interdependence
The evolution of political elites and the development of political parties, ideologies, and other forms of mass politics
The extension and limitation of rights and liberties (personal, civic, economic, and political); majority and minority
political persecutions
The growth and changing forms of nationalism
Forms of political protest, reform, and revolution
Relationships between domestic and foreign policies
Efforts to restrain conflict: treaties, balance-of-power diplomacy, and international organizations
War and civil conflict: origins, developments, technology, and their consequences
 Social and Economic History












The character of and changes in agricultural production and organization
The role of urbanization in transforming cultural values and social relationships
The shift in social structures from hierarchical orders to modern social classes: the changing distribution of wealth and
poverty
The influence of sanitation and health care practices on society; food supply, diet, famine, disease, and their impact
The development of commercial practices, patterns of mass production and consumption, and their economic and
social impact
Changing definitions of and attitudes toward mainstream groups and groups characterized as the "other"
The origins, development, and consequences of industrialization
Changes in the demographic structure and reproductive patterns of Europeans: causes and consequences
Gender roles and their influence on work, social structure, family structure, and interest group formation
The growth of competition and interdependence in national and world markets
Private and state roles in economic activity
Development and transformation of racial and ethnic group identities
AP European History Units
Theme
Chapter(s)
Days
10
6
Semester One
Qtr
1st
2nd
1
The Renaissance and Age of Discovery (Voyages East and West)
2
The Reformation, Counter Reformation, Religious Wars
11, 12
10
3
13, 15
8
4
Political Philosophy and Organization in the 16th and 17th
Centuries
Society, Science, and Philosophy in the 16th through 18th Centuries
14, 16, 17
12
5
French Revolution, Napoleon, and Romanticism
18, 19
20
6
Nationalism and The Conservative Order
20
7
7
Post-Napoleonic Europe (Industrial Rev) to Mid-Century, 1815-50
21, 22
12
13 Chapters
75
23, 24, 25,
26
20
26
5
7 Units
8
Unification, Imperialism, Society & Culture (Up To WWI)
9
World War I and the Russian Revolution
10
Interwar Era and World War II
27, 28
15
11
Cold War, and Post-Cold War Europe
29, 30
18
12
Review Unit
ALL
20
9 Chapters
78
Semester Two
3rd
4th
4 Units
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 1
The Renaissance and Age of Discovery




Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:
Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 10
Niccolo Machiavelli “The Prince”;
Baldesar Castiglione “The Book of the Courtier”
Heinrich Kramer “The Hammer of Witches”
Secondary Sources
“Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy”
Peter Burke, “The Myth of the Renaissance”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Visual Sources
The School of Athens: Art and Classical Culture Raphael
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride: Symbolism and The
Northern Renaissance – Jan van Eyck
Wealth, Culture, and Diplomacy – Hans Holbein
The Assets and Liabilities of Empire – Frans Fracken II
The Conquest of Mexico as Seen by the Aztecs








Unit Focus
The politics, culture, and art of the Italian Renaissance
Political struggle and foreign intervention in Italy
The powerful new monarchies of northern Europe
The thought and culture of the northern Renaissance
The Portuguese chart the course
Spanish voyages of Christopher Columbus
The Church in Spanish America
The economy of exploitation
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 2
Reformation Counter Reformation, Religious Wars
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:








Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 11, 12
John Tetzel, The Spark for the Reformation: Indulgences”
Martin Luther, “Justification by Faith”
Martin Luther, “Condemnation of Peasant Revolt
John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion: Predestination”
“Constitution of the Society of Jesus”
Teresa of Avila, “The Way of Perfection”
Peter Paul Rubens, “Loyola and Catholic Reform”
Secondary Sources
John C. Olin, The Catholic Reformation”
Steven E. Ozment, “The Legacy of the Reformation”
Marilyn J. Boxer and Jean H. Quataert, “Women in the Reformation”
•
•
•
•
•
Visual Sources
Luther and the New Testament
Luther and the Catholic Clergy Debate – Sebald Beham
Loyola and Catholic Reform – Peter Paul Rubens
War and Violence – Jan Brueghel and Sebastian Vrancx
Germany and the Thirty Years’ War








Unit Focus
The social and religious background to the Reformation
Martin Luther’s challenge to the church and the course of the Reformation in Germany
The Reformation in Switzerland, France, and England
Transitions in family life between medieval and modern times
The war between Calvinists and Catholics in France
The Spanish occupation of the Netherlands
The struggle for supremacy between England and Spain
The devastation of central Europe during the Thirty Year’s War
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 3
Political Philosophy and Organization in the
16th and 17th Centuries
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:





Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 13, 15
John Locke, {Second Treatise of Civil Government: Legislative Power”
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Domat, “On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy”
Secondary Sources
G. Durand, “Absolutism: Myth and Reality”
Visual Sources
• The Early Modern Chateau
• Maternal Care – Pieter de Hooch













Unit Focus
The factors behind the divergent political paths of England and France in the 17th
The conflict between the Parliament & king over taxation and religion in early Stuart
England, the English Civil War, and the abolition of the monarchy
The Restoration and the development of Parliament’s supremacy over the monarchy in the Glorious
Revolution
The establishment of an absolutist monarchy in France under Louis XIV
Religious policies of Louis XIV
The wars of Louis XIV
The Dutch Golden Age
French aristocratic resistance to the monarchy
Early 18th century British political stability
The efforts of the Habsburgs to secure their holdings
The emergence of Prussia as a major power under the Hohenzollerns
The efforts of Peter the Great to transform Russia into a powerful centralized nation
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 4
Society, Science, and Philosophy in the 16th through 18th Centuries
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:







Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 14, 16, 17
Rene Descartes, “Discourse on Method”
Galileo Galilei, “Letter to Christina of Tuscany: Science and Scripture”;
Sir Isaac Newton, “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”; “
Voltaire, “Philosophical Dictionary: The English Model”
Mary Wollstonecraft, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
Secondary Sources
Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser, “Women in the Salons”
Visual Sources
• A Vision of the New Science
• A Frontispiece of the Encyclopedie
• Experiment with an Air Pump – Joseph Wright
• Propaganda and the Enlightened Monarch – Joseph II of Austria
Unit Focus
 The astronomical theories of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton and the emergence of the
scientific worldview
 Impact of the new science on philosophy
 Social setting of early modern science
 Women and the scientific revolution
 Approaches to science and religion
 Witchcraft and witch hunts
 The varied privileges and powers of Europe’s aristocracies in the Old Regime and their efforts to
increase their wealth
 The plight of rural peasants
 Family structure and family economy
 The transformation of Europe’s economy by the agricultural and industrial revolutions
 Urban growth and the social tensions that accompanied it
 The strains on the institutions of the Old Regime brought about by social change
 Europe’s mercantilist empires
 Spain’s vast colonial empire in the Americas
 Africa, slavery, and the transatlantic plantation economies
 The wars of the mid-eighteenth century in Europe and the colonies
 The struggle for independence in Britain’s North American colonies
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 5
French Revolution, Napoleon, and Romanticism
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:




Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 18, 19
Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman”
Maximilien Robespierre, Speech to the National Convention, 1794: “The Terror Justified”
Joseph Fouche, Memoirs: Napoleon’s Secret Police”
Secondary Sources
Ruth Graham, Loaves and Liberty: “Women in the French Revolution”
William Doyle, “An Evaluation of the French Revolution”;
Visual Sources
• Allegory of the Revolution – Jeaurat de Betray
• Internal Disturbances and the Reign of Terror
• Napoleon Crossing the Alps Jacques Louis David
• Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims at Jaffa Antoine Jean Gros









Unit Focus
The financial crisis that impelled the French monarchy to call the Estates General
The transformation of the Estates General into the National Assembly, The Declaration of the Rights of
Man and Citizen, and the reconstruction of the political and ecclesiastical institutions of France
The second revolution, the end of the monarchy, and the turn to more radical reforms
The war between France and the rest of Europe
The Reign of Terror, the Thermidorian Reaction, and the establishment of the Directory
Napoleon’s rise, his coronation as emperor, and his administrative reforms
Napoleon’s conquests, the creation of the French Empire, and Britain’s enduring resistance
The invasion of Russia and Napoleon’s decline
Romanticism and the reaction to the Enlightenment
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 6
The Conservative Order & Nationalism
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:
Textbook and Primary Sources
 Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 20
Secondary Sources
Selected Works of Poetry
Visual Sources
•






Unit Focus
Emergence of nationalism
Early political liberalism
Conservative outlooks
Congress System
Independence in Latin America
Great Reform Bill in Britain (1832)
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 7
Post-Napoleonic Europe (Industrial Rev) to Mid-Century, 1815-50
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:
Textbook and Primary Sources
 Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 21, 22
Secondary Sources
The Congress of Vienna – Hajo Holborn
Western Liberalism – E.K. Bramsted and K.J. Melhuish
The European Revolutions, 18481851 – Jonathan Sperber
The Revolutions of 1848 JohnWeiss
Visual Sources
• Abbey Graveyard in the Snow Caspar David Friedrich
• The Genius of Christianity – Rene de Chateaubriand
• Liberty Leading the People: Romanticism and Liberalism – Eugene Delacroix
• Working Class Disappointments: Rue Transnonian, April 15, 1834 – Honore Daumier









Unit Focus
The challenges of nationalism and liberalism to conservative order in the early 19th C.
The domestic and international politics of the conservative order from the Congress of
Vienna through the 1820’s
The wars of Independence in Latin America
Revolutions of 1830 on the Continent and the passage o’ Great Reform Bill in Britain
Development of industrialism and its effects on the organization of labor and the family
The changing role of women in industrial society
The establishment of police force and reform of prisons
The revolutions of 1848
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 8
Unification, Imperialism, Society, and Culture
(Up To WWI)
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:







Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 23, 24, 25, 26
Giuseppe Mazzini, “The Duties of Man”
Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden”
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man”
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Communist Manifesto”
Emmeline Pankhurst, “Why We Are Militant”
Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors”
Secondary Sources
Frederic Morton, Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913–1914
Alan Palmer, Twilight of the Habsburgs
Visual Sources
• Imperialism Glorified – George Harcourt
• American Imperialism Asia: Independence Day 1899
• Imperialism North Africa
• The Hatch Family: The Upper Middle Class – Eastman Johnson
• Lunch Hour: The Working Class – Kathe Kollwitz
• The Stages of a Worker’s Life – Leon Frederic
Unit Focus
 The unification of Italy and Germany
 The shift from empire to republic in France
 The emergence of a dual monarchy in Austria-Hungary
 Reforms in Russia, including the emancipation of the serfs
 The emergence of Great Britain as the exemplary liberal state and its confrontation with Irish nationalist
 The transformation of European life by the Second Industrial Revolution
 Urban sanitation, housing reform, and the redesign of cities
 The condition of women in late 19th century Europe and the rise of political feminism
 The development of labor politics and socialism in Europe to the outbreak of WWI
 Industrialization and political unrest in Russia
 The dominance of science in the thought of the second half of the 19th century
 The conflict between church and state over education
 Effect of modernism, psychoanalysis, and the revolution in physics on intellectual life
 Racism and resurgence of anti-Semitism
 Late 19th century and early 20th century developments in feminism
 The economic, cultural, and strategic factors behind Europe’s New Imperialism in late 19th and early
20th century
 Formation of alliances and the search for strategic advantage among Europe’s powers
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 9
World War I and the Russian Revolution
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:
Textbook and Primary Sources
 Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 26
 Woodrow Wilson, “The Fourteen Points”
Secondary Sources
Charles L. Mee Jr., The End of Order, Versailles, 1919
Robert K. Massie, Castles of Steel
Orlando Figes, People’s Tragedy
Visual Sources
• World War I: The Front Lines
• World War I: The Home Front and Women
• Revolutionary Propaganda
Unit Focus







The origins of World War I
Goals and expectations of each combatant in 1914
Goals and expectations of the USA
How the war was fought and won
Relative importance of the different causes of the war
The Russian Revolution
The peace treaties ending World War I
Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 10
Interwar Era and World War II
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:





Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 27, 28
Benito Mussolini, “The Doctrine of Fascism”
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf”
Joseph Stalin, “Problems of Agrarian Policy in the USSR: Soviet Collectivization”
Secondary Sources
Newsreel footage of the War
Three Stooges – War propaganda short clips
Visual Sources
• Decadence in the Weimar Republic –George Grosz
• Unemployment and Politics in the Weimar Republic
• Unemployment During the Great Depression, 19301938
• Unemployment and the Appeal to Women
• Nazi Mythology – Richard Spitz
• Socialism Realism – K.I. Finogenov
• Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism 19191937
Unit Focus
Economic and political disorder in the aftermath of World War I
The Soviet Union’s far-reaching political and social experiment
Mussolini and The Fascist seizure of power in Italy
French determination to enforce the Versailles Treaty
First Labour government and general strike in Britain
The development of authoritarian governments in all the successor states to the Austrian
Empire except Czechoslovakia
Reparations, inflation, political turmoil, and the rise of Nazism in the German Weimar Republic
Financial collapse and depression in Europe
The emergence of the national Government in Great Britain and the Popular Front in
France in response to the political pressures caused by the depression
The Nazi seizure of power, the establishment of a police state, and the imposition of racial laws in
Germany
 Planned industrialism, agricultural collectivization, and purges in the Soviet Communist
 Party and the Soviet army under Stalin












Sources & Unit Focus
Unit 11
Cold War, and Post-Cold War Europe
Documents selected for instruction may include but are not limited to:






Textbook and Primary Sources
Kagan, The Western Heritage. Ch: 29, 30
Newspaper articles and newsreel items;
Shoah Foundation - concentration camp survivor accounts
Winston Churchill, Iron Curtain speech at Fulton, Missouri
Mikhail Gorbachev, Restructuring the Party’s Personnel Policy
Lyubov Sirota, Chernobyl Poems
Secondary Sources
John Lukacs, “The Short Century—It’s Over”
Raymond L. Garthoff, “The End of the Cold War”
Carol Skalnik Leff, The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe”
Robert J. Donia, “War in Bosnia and Ethnic Cleansing”
Visual Sources
Newsreel War footage
War Propaganda posters


















Unit Focus
The origins of World War II
The course of the war
Racism and the Holocaust
The impact of the war on the people in Europe
Relationships among the victorious allies and the preparations for peace.
Social impact of state violence on women, Russian peasants, and Polish Jews
Migration in the 20thCentury Europe
Changing status and role of women in Europe
New Cultural forces and continuing influence of Christianity
The impact of computer technology
Origins of the Cold War and the division of Europe into Eastern and Western blocks following WWII
Decolonization and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam
Political and economic developments in Western Europe during the Cold War
Polish protests against Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
Perestroika and glasnost in the Soviet Union
The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
The civil war in Yugoslavia
Europe in the 21st century
Sources & Unit Focus
12 Review Unit
Couse Review For AP Exam
Possible Unit DBQ’s and/or FRQ’s
When answering DBQ’s, your essay must address the following:
• Provides an appropriate, explicitly stated thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question and does NOT
simply restate the question.
• Discusses a majority of the documents individually and specifically.
• Demonstrates understanding of the basic meaning of a majority of the documents.
• Supports the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents.
• Analyzes point of view or bias in at least three documents.
• Analyzes the documents by explicitly grouping them in at least three appropriate ways.
When answering FRQ’s, your answers must include the following:
Make your selection carefully, choosing the question that you are best prepared to answer thoroughly in the time
permitted. You should spend 5 minutes organizing or outlining your answer. Write an essay that:
• Has a relevant thesis.
• Addresses all parts of the question.
• Supports thesis with specific evidence.
• Is well organized.
For students to write effective answers to free-response questions, they must understand clearly the meanings of
words, such as the following, that tell them how to present the material:

Analyze. Determine their component parts; examine their nature and relationship. "Analyze the
social and technological changes that took place in European warfare between 1789 and 1871."

Assess/Evaluate. Judge the value or character of something; appraise; evaluate the positive points
and the negative ones; give an opinion regarding the value of; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of.
"'Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative.' Evaluate this statement with respect to Luther's
responses to the political and social questions of his day."

Compare. Examine for the purpose of noting similarities and differences. "Compare the rise of
power of fascism in Italy and Germany."

Contrast. Examine in order to show dissimilarities or points of difference. "Contrast the ways in
which European skilled artisans of the mid-18th century and European factory workers of the late 19th
century differed in their work behavior and in their attitudes toward work."

Describe. Give an account of; tell about; give a word picture of. "Describe the steps taken between
1832 and 1918 to extend the suffrage in England. What groups and what movements contributed to the
extension of the vote?"

Discuss. Talk over; write about; consider or examine by argument or from various points of view;
debate; present different sides of. "Discuss the extent to which 19th-century Romanticism was or was not a
conservative cultural and intellectual movement."

Explain. Make clear or plain; make clear the causes or reasons for; make known in detail; tell the
meaning of. "Explain how economic, political, and religious factors promoted explorations from about 1450
to about 1525."
 Source: College Board Website – “Exam Tips – AP European History”
Unit
1
Unit
The Renaissance and Age of Discovery (Voyages East and West)
Chapter
DBQ
or
FRQ
10
Contrast Renaissance Florence with Reformation Geneva with respect to religion,
government, and everyday life.
FRQ
Analyze the causes of and the responses to the peasants’ revolts in the German states,
1524–1526.
Historical Background: In late 1524, peasants, craftsmen, and poor soldiers formed bands
and pillaged throughout a large area of the Holy Roman Empire. During the revolt, some
of the rebel bands authored statements of grievances called Articles.
Although most bands did not coordinate their activities, several groups met in
Memmingen, Swabia, during March 1525 at a gathering known as the Peasant
Parliament. After a series of battles, the authorities managed to suppress the revolts.
More than 100,000 rebels and others were killed.
DBQ
Document 1
Source: Leonhard von Eck, Chancellor of Bavaria, report to Duke Ludwig of Bavaria,
February 15, 1525.
This rebellion has been undertaken to repress the princes and the nobility and has its
ultimate source in Lutheran teaching, for the peasants relate the majority of their
demands to the Word of God, the Gospel, and brotherly love. The peasants are blinded,
led astray, and made witless. If these peasants promised today that they would give their
lords no further trouble, they could change their minds within an hour.
Document 2
Source: Sebastian Lotzer, craftsperson and lay preacher, and Christoph Schappeler,
preacher from Memmingen, Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants, March 1, 1525.
We will not allow ourselves hereafter to be oppressed by our lords but will let them
demand only what is just and proper according to the agreement between lords and
peasants. Lords should no longer try to force more services or other dues from peasants
without compensation. Peasants should, however, help lords when it is necessary and at
proper times when it does not disadvantage the peasant and for a suitable compensation.
Document 3
Source: Peasant Parliament of Swabia to the Memmingen Town Council, from Articles
of the Peasants of Memmingen, March 3, 1525.
Hitherto we have been held as your poor serfs, which is pitiable, given that Christ has
purchased and redeemed us with His precious blood, just as He has the Emperor. But it is
not our intention to reject all authority. We will be obedient to all authority appointed by
God in all fair and reasonable matters, and we do not doubt that as Christian lords you
will release us from serfdom.
2
The Reformation, Counter Reformation, Religious Wars
11, 12
DBQ
Analyze the influence of ideas about gender on the reign of Elizabeth I and explain
how Elizabeth responded to these ideas.
Historical Background:
Elizabeth I of England (reigned 1558–1603) was the daughter of Henry VIII and his
second wife, Anne Boleyn. Following the reigns of her half siblings, Edward VI and
Mary I, Elizabeth I ascended to the throne at the age of twenty-five.
Document 1
Source: John Knox, Scottish religious reformer, First Blast of the Trumpet Against the
Monstrous Regiment of Women, 1558.
To promote a Woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any Realm,
Nation, or City, is against all Nature . . . it is the subversion of good order, of all equity
and justice. . . . And that the Holy Ghost does manifestly express, saying: “I suffer not a
woman to usurp authority above the man.” . . . So both by God’s law and the
interpretation of the Holy Ghost, women are utterly forbidden to occupy the place of God
in the offices aforesaid . . . .
Document 2
Source: Nicholas Heath, archbishop of York, in a debate before the House of Lords,
1558.
To preach or minister the holy sacraments, a woman may not. . . . A woman in the
degrees of Christ’s church is not called to be an apostle, nor evangelist, nor to be a
shepherd, neither a doctor or preacher. Therefore her Highness [Elizabeth I] cannot be
supreme head of Christ’s militant church, nor yet of any part thereof.
Document 3
Source: Parliament of England, Act of Supremacy, 1559.
The queen’s highness is the only supreme governor* of this realm and of all other her
highness’s dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or
causes as temporal, and no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath or
ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority,
ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm.
* The first Act of Supremacy in 1534 declared Henry VIII “Supreme Head” of the
Church of England.
Document 4
Source: John Aylmer, friend of Elizabeth I’s tutor, pamphlet, 1559.
The regiment of England is not a mere Monarchy. To be sure, if [Elizabeth] were a mere
monarch, and not a mixed ruler,* you might peradventure make me fear the matter the
more, and the less to defend the cause. But in England it is not so dangerous a matter to
have a woman ruler.
* a ruler who shares power with Parliament
3
Political Philosophy and Organization in the 16th and 17th Centuries
13, 15
4
Society, Science, and Philosophy in the 16th through 18th Centuries
14, 16,
17
FRQ
Analyze the ways in which the ideas of seventeenth-century thinkers John Locke and
Isaac Newton contributed to the ideas of eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers.
5
6
French Revolution, Napoleon, and Romanticism
18, 19,
20
Compare and contrast Enlightenment and Romantic views of nature, with reference to
specific individuals and their works.
FRQ
Analyze how the political and economic problems of the English and French
monarchies led to the English Civil War and the French Revolution.
FRQ
The Conservative Order
Analyze the extent to which conservatives in continental Europe were successful in
achieving their goals in the years between 1815 and 1851. Draw your examples from at
least two states.
20
FRQ
7
Post-Napoleonic Europe to Mid-Century, 1815-50
21, 22
DBQ
Analyze the debates over Italian national identity and unification in the period circa
1830–1870.
Historical Background: After the Congress of Vienna, Italy consisted of the following
states: the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the
Papal States (controlled by the pope), Parma, Modena, Tuscany (whose policies were
strongly influenced by Austria), and Venetia and Lombardy (both ruled directly by
Austria). Italy remained politically and culturally divided well into the nineteenth
century. Movements for the unification of Italy began in the 1820s and 1830s and
continued even after the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861. The peninsula finally
became politically unified in 1870.
Document 1
Source: Giuseppe Mazzini, attorney from Genoa, exiled from Piedmont in 1831,
manifesto, 1831.
Young Italy is the brotherhood of Italians who believe in a law of Progress and Duty, are
convinced that Italy is called to be a nation, and that Italy can make itself one through its
own strength. The secret of Italy’s strength lies in constancy and unified effort. Young
Italy stands for the republic and unity. Italy should be a republic because it really has no
basis for existing as a monarchy. Unity, because without unity there can be no true
nation, and without unity there is no strength.
Document 2
Source: Carlo Cattaneo, philosopher and political activist, Lombardy, 1836.
The dream of many people, but still a dream, is that a single law for all Italy can be
improvised by the wave of a magic wand. No! For many generations in Turin, Parma,
Rome, Naples, Sicily and elsewhere, signed contracts and customary rights based on
ancient and modern laws will continue. The result is that people cannot easily be
detached from their natural centers.
Whoever ignores this love of the individual regions of Italy will always build on sand.
Document 3
Source: Vincenzo Gioberti, priest from Piedmont, On the Moral and Civil Primacy of the
Italians, published in exile, 1843.
I believe that the principle of Italian association should be sought in what is concrete,
living and deeply rooted. That the pope is naturally, and should be effectively, the civil
head of Italy is a truth forecast in the nature of things, and confirmed by many centuries
of history. The benefits Italy would gain from a political confederation under the
moderating authority of the pontiff are beyond enumeration. Such a cooperative
association would increase the strength of the various princes without damaging their
independence; it would remove the causes of disruptive wars and revolutions at home,
and make foreign invasions impossible.
8
Unification, Industrialism, Imperial, Society & Culture (Up To WWI)
23, 24,
25, 26
Compare and contrast the goals and achievements of the feminist movement in the
period circa 1850–1920 with those of the feminist movement in the period 1945 to the
present.
FRQ
Analyze the ways in which the theories of both Darwin and Freud challenged
traditional European ways of thinking about religion, morality, and human behavior
in the period circa 1850–1950.
FRQ
Analyze the major factors responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in nineteenth
century Europe.
FRQ
9
World War I and the Russian Revolution
26
FRQ
Analyze the ways in which the policies of Joseph Stalin transformed the policies of
Vladimir Lenin.
10
Interwar Era and World War II
Analyze the factors that contributed to the instability of the Weimar Republic in the
period 1918–1933.
Historical Background: The German Empire collapsed at the end of the First World
War in 1918, and a new democratic government, known as the Weimar Republic, was
established. It was led by a coalition of centrist political parties, including the Social
Democratic Party, the German Democratic Party, and the Catholic Center Party.
Document 1
Source: Carl von Ossietzky, journalist, “Defending the Republic: The Great Fashion,” in
The Diary (a political journal), 1924.
Whoever has learned from the events of the past five years knows that it is not the
nationalists and the monarchists who represent the real danger but the absence of
substantive content and ideas in the concept of the German republic, and that no one
seems able to succeed in vitalizing that concept.
Our republic is not yet an object of mass consciousness. It is merely a constitutional
document and a governmental administration. Nothing is there to make the heart beat
faster. Around this state, lacking any ideas and with an eternally guilty conscience, there
are grouped a couple of so-called constitutional parties, likewise lacking an idea and with
no better conscience, which do not lead but administer.
Document 2
Source: Joseph Goebbels, National Socialist Party member of the Reichstag,
propagandist, speech to Nazi Party members, 1928.
We are entering the Reichstag in order that we may arm ourselves with the weapons of
democracy from its arsenal. We shall become members of the Reichstag in order that the
Weimar ideology should itself help us to destroy it. We are content to use all legal means
to revolutionize the present state of affairs. We come as enemies! Like the wolf falling
upon a herd of sheep, that is how we come.
Document 3
Source: Ernst von Salomon, writer and former member of a Free Corps* unit,
The Outlawed, novel, 1930.
Where is Germany? In Weimar? In Berlin? Once it had been on the front line, but then
the front fell apart. Then Germany was supposed to be at home, but home deceived. . . .
What do we now believe in? Nothing besides the possibility of action. Nothing besides
the feasibility of action. We were a band of fighters drunk with all the passions of the
world; full of lust, exultant in action. What we wanted we did not know. And what we
knew we did not want!
*Right-wing paramilitary units composed of First World War veterans
27, 28,
29, 30
DBQ
11
World War II, Cold War, and Post-Cold War Europe
Analyze views concerning immigration to Europe in the second half of the twentieth
century and explain how these views changed.
Historical Background: After the Second World War, many European governments
encouraged immigration. Migration into Europe from the rest of the world increased, in
part, because of decolonization and postcolonial economic and political conditions.
Migration into Europe was also stimulated by the rebuilding there following wartime
destruction, and by the European population decline and labor shortages resulting from
the Second World War.
Analyze the economic and social challenges faced by Western Europe in the period
from 1945 to 1989.
Analyze the ways in which Western European nations have pursued European
economic and political integration from 1945 to the present, referring to at least two
nations.
Document 1
Source: Enoch Powell, British Conservative Party politician, speech, England, 1968.
We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some
50,000 dependents, who are for the most part the material for the future growth of the
immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping
up its own funeral pyre. As I look ahead I am filled with foreboding. Only resolute and
urgent action will avert disaster.
Document 2
Source: Article in The New Factory, French business publication, 1970.
The presence of these immigrants gives our economy more flexibility since it is a
question of people who are extremely mobile, are willing to change firms and regions
and, if need be, to accept temporary unemployment. Immigration is therefore beneficial
to the French economy in that it allows the country to save on education costs, which are
incurred by the country of origin, and to help balance the nation’s budget. Since they are
young, the immigrants often pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
Document 3
Source: Jean-Jacques Martin, teenager of French descent born in Algeria, interview with
a foreign journalist, France, 1972.
When I first came to France, I tried. I wanted to be friends with the French kids, but they
avoided me. They treated me as if I were a sort of germ—a dangerous germ to be
avoided. I resented this treatment. So I fought, and I tried to make friends, and then I
fought again. The people here are narrow-minded. Because I was a pied noir* my teacher
said to my mother that I was an imbecile. She said that sending me to school was just a
waste of time. That is the French mentality. It is not politics or pride that makes them
hate us—it is the peasant mind.
The peasant says that you are French only if you are from his village.
*pied noir: a person of French descent born in North Africa.
29, 30
FRQ
FRQ
DBQ