AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Questions 1-3 refer to the image below by Dutch artist Pieter de Hooch entitled Figures in a
Courtyard behind a House, c. 1663-1665
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
1. The lifestyle shown in the above image flourished most directly as a result of which of the
following developments in the 17th century?
(A) An overall decline in standards of living
(B) Technological advances in agricultural production
(C) An expanding global trade network
(D) Massive unemployment among the lower classes
2. The image best serves to support the rise of which significant socio-economic trend by the early
17th century in western Europe?
(A) Consumption in excess of basic needs
(B) Increasing displays of public intoxication
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(C) Combining of both private and social spheres
(D) The affluence of the rising middle class to almost aristocratic levels
3. The painting is reflective of which socio-economic development in the 17th century?
(A) Continued centrality of religious life in European society
(B) Increasing emphasis on glorification of royal power
(C) Increasing mercantile and imperialistic government policies of the European nations
(D) A rising commercial and bourgeois social class
Questions 4-6 refer to the passage below.
“…freedom of men under government is, to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that
society, and made by the legislative power erected in it; a liberty to follow my own will in all things,
where the rule prescribes not; and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of
another man: as freedom of nature is, to be under no other restraint but the law of nature.”
John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government, Ch. IV, sec. 22, 1689
4. Locke’s view regarding government most clearly reflects which of the following ideas?
(A) Government based on divine providence
(B) Self-government by reasonable people
(C) Government through enlightened monarchs
(D) Authority based on historical traditions
5. The political philosophy expressed in the passage most clearly reflects which of the following
movements?
(A) Absolutism
(B) Socialism
(C) Republicanism
(D) Liberalism
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
6. Which tenet of the philosophical movement of which Locke was a part is most evident in the
above passage?
(A) The power of representative authority
(B) Tolerance of repressive institutions
(C) The rights of the individual
(D) Submission to the state
Questions 7-9 refer to the image below of a print by Irish painter William Hincks, 1791
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-11219]
Print by Irish painter William Hincks, 1791
7. The above image most clearly offers evidence of which economic development that grew in the
18th century?
(A) Cottage industry
(B) Factory system
(C) Indentured servitude
(D) Trade associations
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
8. Which of the following most directly resulted in the growth of the type of economic activity
shown in the above image?
(A) The decline of industrialization
(B) Lack of capital for commercial enterprise
(C) Growth of commercial agriculture
(D) A stagnant money market economy
9. Which of the following best describes the capitalists’ impetus for growing the economic system
depicted in the above image?
(A) The breakdown of the nuclear family as an economic unit
(B) The opportunity to break the guild system
(C) Reinforcement of women’s traditional gender roles
(D) Raising the standard of living for the lower classes
Questions 10-12 refer to the passage below.
“In matters of internal administration Louis XIV had inherited the policy of centralization. The conduct of
the nobles and of the provinces during his minority when they plunged the country into civil war left him
with no alternative but to insist upon an absolutist régime and to seek his ministers among the middle
classes. But a highly centralized absolutist government depends upon the life of one individual; and when
that individual is a hereditary monarch, the chances of the system breaking down are considerable.”
Maurice Ashley, historian, Louis XIV and the Greatness of France, 1965
10. Which of the following best expresses how supporters most justified absolutist monarchs like
Louis XIV?
(A) A king’s divine power could be used arbitrarily.
(B) The king’s right to rule came from God.
(C) Royal power need not be reasonable and just.
(D) The will of a sovereign king was the law.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
11. Louis XIV’s absolute sovereignty was challenged most directly by which of the following?
(A) Regional courts of law
(B) Poverty stricken peasantry
(C) The land owning middle class
(D) Ecclesiastical councils
12. In the passage Maurice Ashley outlines the deteriorated nature of the relationship between Louis
XIV and the French nobility and its connection to absolutism. Which historical evidence best
supports Ashley’s argument?
(A) Attempts by the nobility to gain power through selling government offices
(B) Economic repression of the nobles by the middle classes
(C) Conflicts between the peasants and nobles over unequal tax laws
(D) The government’s continuing inability to obtain revenues from the nobles
Questions 13-15 refer to the 1793 image below by Isaac Cruikshank entitled The Martyrdom of
Louis XVI, King of France.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-ppmsca-05528]
13. Which of the following best describes the basic underlying cause of conflict between Louis XVI
and the French people?
(A) Long held economic and social grievances among the lower classes
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(B) Legislative attempts by Louis XVI to reform the guild system
(C) Continuing resistance by the middle classes regarding taxation
(D) Louis XVI’s support of the lower classes against the nobles
14. The execution of Louis XVI could best be viewed as a turning point in the history of the French
Revolution in which of the following ways?
(A) Legislative measures designed to repress the privileged classes began to be passed.
(B) The Jacobins reversed the policy of enacting economic controls to lower prices and raise
wages.
(C) The Jacobins began to harshly repress opposition through arrest and public execution of
suspected enemies.
(D) At that time, equal political participation among the social classes was enabled.
15. The image seems to convey an ambivalence toward the execution of Louis XVI, provoking
sympathy but also seeming to mock the king. Which of the following best describes a
development regarding the French Revolution, which can be attributed to the decision to execute
Louis XVI and which is supported by the image?
(A) Following the execution, toleration for peaceful Christians was codified.
(B) The French Revolution became significantly disunified and lost the sympathy of many who
might have otherwise supported it.
(C) The extremist factions of the French Revolution became united in their complete support of
dechristianization.
(D) The other European powers formally reiterated their support for the French Revolution.
Questions 16-18 refer to the passage below.
“Louis benefited greatly from general distraction of other European powers by the Ottoman assault on
Vienna. Characteristically, he had then overreached in his demands. His brutal seizures of Imperial free
cities and subsequent denial of their traditional liberties and formal treaty rights to religious protection
(under terms of the Peace of Westphalia, of which France was a formal guarantor), permanently
frightened other German states.”
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Cathal J. Nolan, historian, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715, 2008
16. The brutal nature of Louis XIV’s wars, as stated in the above passage, and his foreign policy is
best explained by which of the following?
(A) Conflicts with Spanish territories surrounding France
(B) Louis’ persecution of religious minorities
(C) Military incursions by the Turkish Empire
(D) Aggressive foreign policies to expand French interests
17. European powers’ basic strategy against Louis XIV’s policies like those referenced in the above
passage was
(A) Fighting and generating conflict amongst themselves
(B) Forming military alliances in opposition to France
(C) Appeasement of Louis XIV through diplomacy
(D) Instituting economic measures to limit trade with France
18. Which of the following developments during the reign of Louis XIV could be seen as a
significant point in European history by adding a new dimension to European warfare?
(A) Warfare took on a global nature, with the involvement of overseas colonies.
(B) Religious affiliations among European states became a singular cause for war.
(C) Civilian populations first came to make up the standing armies.
(D) Traditional historic alliances between sovereign states became uncommon.
Questions 19-21 refer to the Currier and Ives image below of a cotton plantation on the Mississippi,
1884.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-DIG-pga-00675]
Currier and Ives image below of a cotton plantation on the Mississippi, 1884
19. Which of the following best describes 17th and 18th century economic developments in Europe
which most directly established such activities as depicted in the above image?
(A) High levels of industrial production throughout Europe
(B) General economic decline among the European population
(C) Colonization and advancement of mercantilist principles
(D) Failure of transoceanic enterprises
20. The image shows a legacy most directly of which development in European economies in the 17th
and 18th centuries?
(A) Importation of labor-intensive agricultural products from the Americas
(B) European manufactures being exported to Asia
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(C) Spices being imported from the Americas
(D) Raw goods being exported to Africa
21. The establishment of global trade markets led most directly to which of the following in 18th
century western Europe?
(A) Rising prices for popular commodities
(B) Decline in private wealth
(C) Goods accessibility for consumers
(D) Stabilization of standards of living
Questions 22-24 refer to the passage below.
“After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-fourths of the city of Lisbon, the sages of that country
could think of no means more effectual to preserve the kingdom from utter ruin than to entertain the
people with an auto-da-fé, it having been decided by the University of Coimbra, that the burning of a few
people alive by a slow fire, and with great ceremony, is an infallible preventive of earthquakes.
In consequence thereof they had seized on a Biscayan for marrying his godmother, and on two Portuguese
for taking out the bacon of a larded pullet they were eating; after dinner they came and secured Dr.
Pangloss, and his pupil Candide, the one for speaking his mind, and the other for seeming to approve
what he had said…Candide was flogged to some tune, while the anthem was being sung; the Biscayan
and the two men who would not eat bacon were burned, and Pangloss was hanged, which is not a
common custom at these solemnities. The same day there was another earthquake, which made most
dreadful havoc.”
M. De Voltaire, Candide, or The Optimist, 1759
22. Which group would most applaud the author’s point-of-view being conveyed in the above
passage?
(A) Those who believed that most people were good but corrupted by society.
(B) Those who believe that superstition filled people with bigotry and intolerance.
(C) Those who believed that reason and science had no place in the affairs of man.
(D) Those who believed that despotism was the only rational form of political power.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
23. Which 18th-century idea regarding social progress would be supported by Voltaire, based upon
the above passage?
(A) Progress through social traditions
(B) Progress through study of the Ancients
(C) Progress through piety and faith
(D) Progress through the powers of the human mind
24. As supported by the above passage, Voltaire advocated for which view of religion, as opposed to
traditional Christian teaching at the time?
(A) That belief in God and morality were products of reason
(B) That religion was most reasonably accomplished through institutional organization
(C) That God was knowable only through revelation
(D) That morality was determined by sages through whom God spoke
Questions 25-27 refer to the passage below.
“As early as 1664, a coffeeman on Bread Street was obtaining parliamentary news from a clerk of the
House of Commons and selling access to it at his coffeehouse. A few years later, the Italian visitor
Lorenzo Magalotti commented that English coffeehouses generally contain “various bodies or groups of
journalists where one hears what is or is believed to be new, be it true or false.” Manuscript newsletter
writers began to turn coffeehouse gossip into news stories sent out to their subscribers.”
Brian Cowan, historian, The Social Life of Coffee: The
Emergence of the British Coffeehouses, 2008
25. What was significant about the social development being discussed in the above passage?
(A) Attempted government censorship of written materials
(B) The creation of secret intellectual societies
(C) Falling literacy rates among the middle classes
(D) The emergence of civic venues for public discussions
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
26. Which of the following best expresses the most significant political ramification for Western
history resulting from the evolution of the kinds of activities described in the above passage?
(A) Expansion of knowledge through private household spheres
(B) A decrease in the public demand for written materials
(C) Development of social forces arising out of critical review, such as public opinion
(D) Growing public spheres limited by social class
27. Which of the following was a notable characteristic of venues or establishments like that
referenced in the above passage?
(A) The increasing cultural influence and role of women within the institutions
(B) The beginnings of opposition to liberalism within the institutions
(C) The rise of Catholic religious revivalism that began in the institutions
(D) The decline of enlightened despotism precipitated by the institutions
Questions 28-31 refer to the passage below.
“The increase sought in productivity was achieved by a more rapid abandonment of the old open-field
strip system that had characterized the earlier centuries and by the gradual substitution of elaborate crop
rotation by which land was not allowed to lie idle to regain its fertility. Such crops as turnips, lucerne
(alfalfa), and clover, the latter especially valuable, were used to restore soil fertility. Productivity was also
increased by a more general use of marl, which individual ownership made more practical, and animal
manures, made more available by the additional cattle supported on the turnips, lucerne, and clover.”
Naomi Riches, historian, The Agricultural Revolution in Norfolk, 1967
28. How did wealthy landowners in the 18th century take advantage of developments such as that
being described in the above passage?
(A) By enforcing villagers’ land rights under English Common Law
(B) By increasing in the number of land-holding farmers
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(C) By controlling and expanding their ownership of land through Parliamentarian enclosure acts
(D) By subdividing existing land blocks among poor, small farmers
29. Which of the following developments in the 18th century was most enabled by the Agricultural
Revolution?
(A) The rise of cottage industries
(B) Labor shortages in rural areas
(C) Increased economic mobility among the social classes
(D) A decline in urban populations
30. What was a direct impact on labor arising from developments such as those discussed in the
above passage?
(A) Strengthening of the nuclear family as an economic unit
(B) Stabilization of commodity prices
(C) Increased accessibility to capital for wealthy land owners
(D) Growing working class dependency on wages
31. A long-term effect of the Agricultural Revolution on the general western European population
was
(A) Decreasing poverty levels among the lower classes
(B) Stagnation of technological discoveries
(C) Rising populations with better hygiene
(D) A overall decline in standards of living
Questions 32-34 refer to the passage below.
“The role of the nobility had correspondingly declined; and the clergy, as the ideal which it proclaimed
lost prestige, found its authority growing weaker. These groups preserved the highest rank in the legal
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
structure of the country, but in reality economic power, personal abilities and confidence in the future had
passed largely to the bourgeoisie. Such a discrepancy never lasts forever.”
George Lefebvre, historian, The Coming of the French Revolution, 1947
32. What evidence from the time period of the French Revolution best supports Lefebvre’s prediction
in the above passage regarding the fate of the church in France?
(A) Restoration of the church’s special position within the state
(B) State protection of monasteries and the inhabitants
(C) Division among the French Catholics regarding the independence of the clergy
(D) State control of church revenue and property
33. Lefebvre argues that the discrepancy between the legal social structure and the new economic
order was destined to lead to a revolution of some kind. Which historical evidence from the early
stages of the French Revolution best lends support to Lefebvre’s case?
(A) Nobles began to surrender their feudalistic rights.
(B) Peasants became burdened with manorial fees.
(C) Aristocratic tax privileges were strengthened.
(D) The systems of personal servitude among the lower classes continued.
34. Ironically, which was a discrepancy in the legal status of women and their role in the French
Revolution, itself?
(A) Women were active participants, and the revolution gave them equal legal status to men.
(B) Women could not participate, but could be supportive of the revolution through political
clubs only.
(C) Many women were active participants without equal legal or political rights.
(D) The women of the revolution were active only within traditional gender spheres.
Questions 35-37 refer to the passage below.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
“Migration levels would probably have been even higher than they were had town and city officials
allowed them to be, since many urban governments did not eagerly welcome all newcomers at all times.
Local legislation, as in the case of many early modern German towns, regional statutes regulating the
numbers and qualities of migrants admitted to Italian towns, and national laws, such as England’s Tudor
Poor Laws, enabled authorities to expel migrants for reasons ranging from poverty or immoral conduct to
officials’ fear of unemployment and disorder.”
Katherine A. Lynch, Individuals, Families, and Communities in Europe,
1200-1800:The Urban Foundations of Western Society, 2003
35. In the 18th century, which of the following most led to a migration pattern similar to that being
discussed in the above passage?
(A) A rising demand for labor within the cottage industry
(B) Changes in agricultural technology and production
(C) A sharp rise in consumerism and the growth of a middle class flocking to the cities
(D) High mortality rates caused by epidemic diseases
36. Which of the following was a characteristic of European cities in the 17th and 18th centuries most
directly as a result of migration patterns as referred to in the above passage?
(A) Sharper visibility between poverty and wealth
(B) Blurring of distinctions between the intellectual and popular cultures
(C) The growth of slums due to rapid government housing construction
(D) Generally lower food prices
37. City legislative responses to the pattern of urban migration, as referenced in the above passage,
best reflect governmental attempts to
(A) Allow unconditional charity for the poor
(B) Regulate and control poverty
(C) Blur class distinctions to promote Enlightenment ideals of equality
(D) Spur private groups to form organizations for helping the poor migrants
Questions 38-40 refer to the map below of Napoleonic Europe, 1810.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Napoleonic Europe, 1810
38. As the map indicates, Napoleon’s military conquests disrupted which major European state goal
or policy regarding foreign affairs?
(A) Balance of power
(B) Establishing a singular European religion
(C) Foreign policy based solely on peaceful negotiation and diplomacy
(D) Encouraging revolts and uprisings within rival European nations
39. One of Napoleon’s main goals of the military conquests depicted in the above map was
(A) to curb the influence of the Enlightenment
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(B) to promote radical Republicanism
(C) to gain Papal recognition and approval
(D) to spread his ideals of the French Revolution
40. Which of the following most closely reflects the reaction among European countries to the
Napoleonic conquests depicted in the above map?
(A) Embracing of traditional French culture
(B) Limited pockets of resistance confined to the German states
(C) A tide of popular protest against the deposed monarchy
(D) Rising anti-French nationalism
Questions 41-43 refer to the map below of France’s Sister Republics, 1792-1799.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
France’s Sister Republics, 1792-1799
41. Political conflicts in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution led most directly to which
of the following?
(A) The decline of royalist factions wanting to restore the monarchy
(B) A resurgence of extremist Jacobin groups
(C) A civilian government dependent on the army for support
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
(D) Factions from the Right seeking to establish a democratic republic
42. Which of the following best reflects the main goal of French expansionist policies within its sister
republics and annexed lands?
(A) The resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire
(B) The spread of revolutionary republicanism
(C) Persecution of religious minorities
(D) Territorial reconstruction throughout Europe
43. Which of the following best reflects the main goal and strategy of European nations facing
French incursions?
(A) Restoration of the balance of power through military coalitions
(B) Diplomatic measures seeking to contain French expansion
(C) Territorial acquisition of weaker European states
(D) Negotiations seeking terms of peace
Questions 44-47 refer to the map below of the Partitions of Poland, 1772-1795.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
Partitions of Poland, 1772-1795
44. Which of the following most led to the 1795 borders as depicted in the above map?
(A) War between Poland and its neighboring states
(B) A weak Polish population dominated by the lower classes
(C) A lack of centralized government structure within Poland
(D) Polish support of the ideals of revolutionary republicanism
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
45. Struggles among nobles and the monarchy within the above Partitions led most directly to which
of the following?
(A) Creation of kingship based on popular elections.
(B) A weakening of the political power of the nobles.
(C) A reinstatement of the economic system of serfdom.
(D) A harsh limiting of the power of the burgher classes.
46. European powers that participated in the political developments depicted in the map were most
likely motivated by which of the following?
(A) A desire by Central European monarchs to consolidate their power
(B) A desire to prevent the spread of French influence and culture
(C) A desire to stabilize an area prone to political anarchy
(D) A desire to create a buffer against incursions by the Ottoman Empire
47. Which of the following best summarizes the impact, on the overall European continent, of the
partitions depicted in the above map?
(A) The rise of radical nationalism as a political ideology
(B) Challenges to the European balance of power
(C) A surge in populist movements against the traditional social order
(D) Further weakening of older political structures and institutions
Questions 48-50 refer to the map below of European Colonization and Commerce, c. 1650-1740.
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
European Colonization and Commerce, c. 1650-1740
48. The development represented in the above image led most directly to which of the following in
18th-century Europe?
(A) International commercial competition between nations
(B) The creation of international free trade markets
(C) A decline in the importance of domestic trade
(D) Increases in workers engaging in agricultural practices
49. The map best supports the argument that a key component for success of international trading
companies in the 17th and 18th centuries was
(A) access to large amounts of capital
(B) high levels of domestic industrial production
(C) strong diplomatic and naval support
(D) suppression of independent capitalist merchants
AP European History Multiple Choice Questions Period 2
50. Of the following, which was most necessary to achieving commercial dominance in international
trade in the time period represented on the map?
(A) International trade agreements
(B) Strong national backing of individual business ventures
(C) An increase in mercantilist practices
(D) A lack of industrial production at home