AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
1. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: European overseas exploration and colonization, especially in the Americas, gave
Europe access to more products and created new wealth through available capital. Higher
standards of living changed the way people spent their money.
Key Concept: 2.2.II.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
2. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Access to overseas products helped to create a consumer culture beginning in 17th
century Europe. People not only had more money, but more goods available to buy. Luxury
items such as tobacco, rum, sugar, tea and coffee were readily available for consumption.
Key Concept: 2.2.II.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
3. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Instead of central emphasis on religious themes or royal glorification, art, such as that
of many Dutch painters in the 17th century, began to depict common people in everyday life
situations. Artists of the time not only depicted ordinary people but reflected the growing culture
of consumerism and the values associated with the resulting economic and social changes.
Key Concept: 2.3.V.B
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-10
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
4. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: John Locke believed that people in a “state of nature” are reasonable and able to get
along absent of public authority. He saw government as authority by contract with mutual
obligations for each side.
Key Concept: 2.3.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-9
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
5. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Liberalism as a political and philosophical movement rejected traditional forms of
authority such as absolutism. It embraced the notion of freedom and equality. These ideas of
natural rights were a direct challenge to repressive institutions paving the way for the
development of constitutional government.
Key Concept: 2.3.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-4
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
6. Correct Answer: C
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
Feedback: Locke’s belief in self-government also included the individual rights of life, liberty
and property. He believed that individuals cannot protect these rights on their own and that
government’s role was to enforce observance of the rights for all individuals.
Key Concept: 2.3.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
7. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: The opening of global markets caused an expansion of the putting-out or cottage
industry system. Within this system, people would be supplied raw materials by a manager or
entrepreneurs from which they would create a finished product in return for wages.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-7
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
8. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: Merchants and entrepreneurs created a system that not only diverged capital from
labor, it also moved the centers of industry away from towns and guilds to rural household
settings, by taking advantage of an available labor supply due to the loss of self-sufficient farms
or the decreased need for farm laborers, arising from the spread of commercial agriculture.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-7
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
9. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Trade guilds used restrictive practices to control urban industry. Merchants, by
moving industry to rural settings, worked to avoid these restrictions. These new commercial
enterprises weakened the guilds and their economic influence while creating new processes for
production of goods and the accumulation of capital.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.A
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-7
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
10. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Monopolization of judicial and military power was the basis of absolutism. This was
supported, in theory, by the Divine Right of Kings. However, even those rights had to submit to
the will of God.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.A
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-9
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
11. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Even in an absolute monarchy, the ruler needed the cooperation of the social classes.
Parlements were regional courts of law that upheld fundamental laws which even the king was
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
not allowed to overstep. These local liberties created complications and challenges to Louis
XIV’s quest for absolute sovereignty.
Key Concept: 2.1.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
12. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Louis XIV continually faced financial issues during his reign. Part of the issue
originated from his reluctance to share power with the nobles and they in turn found loopholes to
avoid paying taxes. This was a major weakness of Louis XIV’ regime.
Key Concept: 2.1.I.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argumentation
Historical Thinking Skill: Interpretation
13. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: King Louis XVI found himself in a financial crisis over (non)taxation of the
privileged classes. When nobles forced the summoning of the Estates General, Louis threw in his
lot with the nobility, angering the lower classes of the Third Estate and creating an atmosphere
ripe for social conflict.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.A
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-10
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
14. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: After the execution of the monarch, the revolutionaries now faced the Girondins
(who had opposed execution) and other counterrevolutionaries. Thus started a “Reign of Terror.”
Jacobin member Robespierre and the Committee for Public Safety believed that terror was a
legitimate tool against enemies of the Revolution. Thousands of people died during the Reign of
Terror as the guillotine became the symbol of the French Revolution. After the execution of the
monarch, those who had voted for execution could never allow the restoration of the monarchy,
for their own personal safety.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.C
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-11
Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
15. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Not only did the execution of the king cement a split in the Jacobins, but it greatly
intensified factional fighting within the revolution, as well as spread doubt and weakened
sympathy for the Revolution, particularly outside of France.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.G
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-11
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
16. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Louis XIV had a vigorous foreign policy even prior to 1700. His ongoing quarrels
with the Habsburgs combined with a weak Spanish nation set the stage for French expansion into
surrounding territories.
Key Concept: 2.1.III.C
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-15
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
17. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Europe reacted to Louis XIV’s aggression by forming military coalitions to oppose
him. Although Louis found success in individual battles, he was unable to overcome the
combined forces against him and eventually asked for peace.
Key Concept: 2.1.III.C
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-15
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
18. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: The War of the League of Augsburg began in 1688 and ended with the Peace of
Ryswick in 1697. The larger question outside the warring and negotiations was one regarding the
empire of Spain. Europe would find itself at war again in 1702 and this time involving the
overseas world as the wars among the powers of Europe became global in nature.
Key Concept: 2.1.III.C
Key Concept: 2.1.III.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-15
Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
19. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: As the world economy grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, driven and controlled by
Europeans, states sought to capitalize and profit from the commercial expansion through
colonization and mercantilism.
Key Concept: 2.2.II.A
Key Concept: 2.2.II.B
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-1
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
20. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: After 1650, plantation economies in the New World expanded. Their need for forced
labor caused slavery to become an important economic institution and the use of the transatlantic
slave trade. Around 5 million Africans were sent to the Americas in the years 1700 – 1800.
Key Concept: 2.2.II.B
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-1
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
21.Correct Answer: C
Feedback: The social consequences of a worldwide economic network were many. Some
classes became wealthier, others were worse off. The main advantage for all was declining prices
and greater availability of commodities. This was the beginnings of a European consumer
culture.
Key Concept: 2.2.II.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
22. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Voltaire, using satire, criticized societal values based on superstitious fear. He
advocated, along with humanists, the development of a rational, critical mind based on science
and the powers of observation. Voltaire presented a purely secular view of the world.
Key Concept: 2.3.I.A
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-5
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
23. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Eighteenth-century Europe was a time of faith of a non-religious nature. There was a
belief that people and society could move forward, make better lives for future generations
through the powers of human reason and science.
Key Concept: 2.3.I.A
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-5
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
24. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: After 1740, Voltaire became a crusader for religious toleration. He opposed
superstition and the power of the clergy. Voltaire argued for “natural religion” and “natural
morality” based on reason rather than supernatural revelation.
Key Concept: 2.3.IV.A
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Comparison
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
25. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: As imported coffee became widely enjoyed in 18th century Europe, coffeehouses
sprang up. They became popular meeting places and also gathering areas for discussions, gossip
and arguments regarding social events. This aided the spread of Enlightenment ideals.
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
Key Concept: 2.3.II.A
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
26. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: The idea of public opinion arose out of the new civic venues such as coffeehouses
and salons. This expanding public sphere provoked debates over literature, art, music and from it
emerged an educated middle class capable of critical independent thought.
Key Concept: 2.3.II.A
Key Concept: 2.3.II.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-12
Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
Historical Thinking Skill: Synthesis
27. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Along with coffeehouses, salons became meeting places but with a difference.
Salons in Paris were organized and conducted by women. They represented the changing roles of
women in social and literary circles. Although some of this influence was lost after the French
Revolution, some female run salons continued to survive and thrive.
Key Concept: 2.3.II.A
Thematic Learning Objective: IS-9
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
28. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: Wealthy British landowners were looking to make money, taking advantage of
commercial agriculture. They needed a way to consolidate and control land ownership. The
enclosure acts created private ownership of land in the hands of a small wealthy minority. This
led to increased food and livestock production.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.B
Key Concept: 2.2.I.D
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
29. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: As land productivity increased and labor needs declined, rural populations sought
other types of employment such as spinning or weaving for merchants in a cottage industry
system.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.B
Key Concept: 2.2.I.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-7
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
30. Correct Answer: D
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
Feedback: As fewer people were needed for farm labor and workers found other means of
support, English men and women became wage earners. Daily wages would become increasingly
important as Britain became more industrialized in the early 19th century.
Key Concept: 2.2.I.B
Key Concept: 2.2.I.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-2
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-7
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
31. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: By the mid-18th century, Europeans were living longer, healthier lives. Increased
food supplies due to higher agricultural production also helped communities avoid devastating
famines that had often plagued 17th century Europe.
Key Concept: 2.4.I.A
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
32. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: The early stages of the French Revolution created nationalization of the church.
Church property and its revenues now belonged to the state. Measures were also taken to abolish
the practice of solemn vows and to close monasteries to be sold for state profit.
Key Concept: 2.I.IV.B
Thematic Learning Objective: OS-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argumentation
33. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Attempts at social reform began with the abolishment of feudalism. The landed
aristocracy gave up its inherited rights and privileges bringing an end to the system of serfdom.
Legal privilege was being replaced by legal equality and rights of the individual.
Key Concept: 2.I.IV.B
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-4
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argumentation
34. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: Although the Declaration of the Rights of Man was meant to apply to all people,
legally it did not apply to women. A great number of women were active in the Revolution and
some lobbied for equal rights. The leaders of the Revolution opted for women’s exclusion
maintaining that the world of law and politics were a masculine venue.
Key Concept: 2.I.IV.B
Thematic Learning Objective: IS-6
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
35. Correct Answer: B
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
Feedback: The Agricultural Revolution created more food using fewer people, partly due to new
farming technology and partly due to changes in farming practices. Rural laborers found
themselves less needed and in search of other types of employment. Workers moved to cities in
search of new jobs and new opportunities.
Key Concept: 2.4.IV.A
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-6
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-9
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
36. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Urban governments were concerned over migration levels and many attempted,
through legislation and laws, to discourage or prevent migrants from arriving. They feared the
effects these masses of people would represent on the structure of society. The influx of migrants,
poor and in search of work, some homeless, brought into greater prominence the issue of poverty.
Key Concept: 2.4.IV.A
Key Concept: 2.4.IV.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-13
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
37. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Many cities began to deal with multiple poverty issues as the influx of migrants-poor and in search of work, some homeless--brought into greater prominence the issue of poverty.
Key Concept: 2.4.IV.B
Key Concept: 2.4.IV.C
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-13
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
38. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Napoleon as a commander of the army became independent of Paris politics. His
military tactics allowed him to use unrest at home and conquests abroad to consolidate his power
and secure a dictatorship based on control of the military.
Key Concept: 2.1.V.B
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-13
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
39. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Under Napoleon, France became a revolutionary force outside its borders. Napoleon
promoted ideas of the French Revolution to counter what he perceived to be caste-ridden societies
in adversarial nations.
Key Concept: 2.1.V.B
Thematic Learning Objective: PP-10
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
40. Correct Answer: D
Feedback: Going back to 1792, the French encountered resistance within occupied countries.
Nationalism developed in many countries as a force against the policies of the Napoleonic
Empire. The national movement in Germany was a rebellion against military occupation and
French culture.
Key Concept: 2.1.V.C
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-17
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
41. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: The civilian government in Paris requested on more than one occasion that the armies
help in restoring order. Bonaparte, like other generals, soon became independent from the
government and started on a campaign based on his own notion of foreign policy--expansionism.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.G
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-11
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
42. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: When Napoleon invaded northern Italy, he set off a chain reaction with the Italian
states. Napoleon established a Cisalpine Republic in the Po Valley. In the following months,
revolutionary republicanism spread through much of Italy and led to the creation of new
republics.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-11
Historical Thinking Skill: Comparison
43. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: The Second Coalition consisting of Austria, Russia and Great Britain was an alliance
against Napoleon’s military aggression. The war went unfavorably for France but Napoleon was
able to use this to his advantage and stage a Coup d’Etat in 1799.
Key Concept: 2.1.IV.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-16
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
44. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: 18th century Poland was the largest state in Europe. It also had an older political
structure that failed to develop as a modern, centralized government. Infighting from internally
divided groups further weakened the state making it a potential target for diplomatic
maneuvering.
Key Concept: 2.1.I.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
45. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: Part of Poland’s governmental weakness was the power given to nobles and their
constant conflict with each other. Without a strong central government and by having an
ineffectual constitution, Poland continually found itself in a state of anarchy and confusion.
Key Concept: 2.1.I.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
46. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: 18th century enlightened rulers not only praised the partition of Poland but justified it
on several levels such as replacing anarchy with government, preventing war between themselves
and putting an end to a source of international rivalry. The truth was that these powers used their
might to destroy a weaker state and literally wiped it off the map.
Key Concept: 2.1.I.D
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-2
Historical Thinking Skill: Synthesis
47. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 set the stage for the dynastic ambitions of Prussia
and Austria. By the time the Third Partition of Poland took place, the balance of power in Europe
had shifted east, away from France’s influence. The three rising states of Prussia, Austria and
Russia became the new powers that would dominate the nature of European politics for the next
200 years.
Key Concept: 2.1.III.A
Thematic Learning Objective: SP-15
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
48. Correct Answer: A
Feedback: Commercial rivalries among European powers were directly linked to the global
trade market. The two biggest 18th century rivals were Britain and France, each carving out a
niche in the age of commercial expansion.
Key Concept: 2.2.III.A
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
49. Correct Answer: C
Feedback: Many East India companies were established by different European nations. Most
failed due to lack of military, naval and diplomatic support. Those that did survive had a strong
national backing as unassisted transoceanic business ventures did not.
Key Concept: 2.2.III.A
Key Concept: 2.2.III.B
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argumentation
AP European History Multiple Choice ANSWERS Period 2
50. Correct Answer: B
Feedback: As trade competition became fierce, most failures were due to merchants attempting
unassisted business enterprises. The Dutch, through commerce, shipping and finance, used
chartered trading companies to ensure the success and domination of their transoceanic ventures.
Key Concept: 2.2.III.A
Key Concept: 2.2.III.B
Thematic Learning Objective: INT-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization