European History AP 2013-2014
Syllabus
Instructor: Ms. E. Breault
Email: ebreault1@pghboe.net
Email: erinbreault@gmail.com
Overview
The Advanced Placement program, administered by the College
Board, is an opportunity for students to study college-level
material while still in high school. It is a bridge from high school
to college. The culmination of the course is the Advanced
Placement European History exam, which is currently held in May.
Students who successfully complete the exam may be eligible for
college credit, as well as being able to place out of the introductory
level course, depending on the college or university they attend.
The primary focus of Advanced Placement European History
course will be to provide students with a critical and analytical
survey course. Like an introduction to European history course at
the college level, this AP course covers more than 550 years of
history – from the Renaissance through the modern period – in 32
weeks of study!
The focus of the course is to teach students to analyze and
understand European history from an intellectual/cultural,
political/diplomatic, and social/economic standpoint; master a
significant amount of historical information; and write critical
essays. Skills covered are critical, expository essay writing, and
analyzing primary sources for use in research projects and on
exams.
The course is broken up into a series of units from the renaissance
through the modern era. For each unit, students are expected to
read a significant amount on their own, as well as be prepared for
discussions and activities that will enhance their learning and
comprehension of European history. Each unit will conclude with
an exam that includes Advanced Placement-style multiple-choice
questions and either a free response essay or a document-based
question. In addition, several short writing assignments and one
major research project will be completed over the course of two
semesters. The research paper will be in an area of interest to the
student.
This course is open to any student who has successfully completed
World History and United States History with a “B” or better, or
the permission of the instructor.
Requirements:
You are also strongly encouraged to purchase a flash drive (aka
thumb or jump drive) for this course and to back up all materials so
that when your computer's hard drive crashes. . .
Primary Text Book
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization Since 1300. 8th Ed.
Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012.
Supplemental Readings
Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, and Frank M. Turner. The
Western Heritage. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Lualdi, Katharine J. Sources of The Making of the West: Peoples
and Cultures. Vol. 22: Since 1340. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
Additional articles and primary sources will be distributed
throughout the course to augment the texts mentioned above.
The AP Exam
This class is an elective. As such, your decision to sign up for this
experience is a tribute to your quest for knowledge and willingness
to challenge yourself in a college-level course in this, your senior
year. With that said, this course is designed to prepare you for the
College Board’s Advanced Placement® European History exam.
All of the readings, exercises, and exams are constructed with an
eye towards making you prepared to be successful on this
particular exam. As such, you will need a very good reason for not
taking the AP exam in May 2014. The expectation is that you will
take the exam. However, even if you do not sign up for the exam,
ALL students will take a full practice exam one week prior to the
scheduled exam.
Grading
Grades are calculated using a weighted point system. All
assignments, quizzes, essays, projects, and tests are given a point
value. Assessments and extended work are worth 60%;
Classwork/Participation are worth 20%; Homework assignments
are worth 20%. Grades for the marking period are determined
based on the following:
• A = 100-90%;
• B = 89.99-80.00%
• C = 79.99-70.00%
• D = 69.99-60.00%
• E = 59.99% or less
• Exams Each unit of study will conclude with an exam.
Exams will train students in the AP- style of writing and to
familiarize them with AP questions. To that end, exams are
administered in two class periods. Day one will consist of
either a Free Response Question (FRQ) or a DocumentBased Question (DBQ) from a released AP exam; day two
will consist of a selection of released AP multiple-choice
questions and other comparable multiple-choice questions
from other sources. As such, students will have an
opportunity to write approximately six FRQs and four DBQs
under exam conditions during the course.
Projects
Students will be required to do several minor and major projects
throughout the course. These projects will include, but are not
limited to, analyzing document-based questions, incorporating
primary sources into a critical essay, analyzing primary sources,
writing as an historical figure, DBQ practice, take-home essays,
and researching major social, political, and economic events of
specific time periods.
In addition to the above, students will be required to write a review
of two articles from a history periodicals during each semester and
a research paper that will conclude during the second semester.
Along with the major research paper, students will present their
paper to their class colleagues following the Advanced Placement
exam in May.
Select an article from the list below OR from the list I gave you for
extra credit. Prepare and deliver to your classmates a 15-minute
presentation on the article. Submit a three- page analysis of the
article to the lone adult in the room.
FIRST-SEMESTER READINGS
1.
Bernard, George. W. “The Fall of Anne Boleyn.”
2.
Darnton, Robert. ‘Workers Revolt: The Great Cat Massacre."
3.
Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. “Women and the Enlightenment.”
4.
Gillis, John R. "Courtship Rituals and the Basis of Marriage."
5.
Gould, Stephen J. “The Upwardly Mobile Fossils of
Leonardo’s Living Earth.” From: Leonardo’s Mountain of
Clams and the Diet of Worms.
6.
Graham, Ruth. “Loaves and Liberty: Women in the French
Revolution.”
7.
Ives, E. W. “The Fall of Anne Boleyn Reconsidered.”
8.
Jones, Chris. “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindications and their
Political Tradition.”
9.
Kelly-Gadol, Joan. “Did Women Have a Renaissance?”
10. Kennedy, Emmet. “Revolutionary Festivals” and “DeChristianization.” From: A Cultural History of the French
Revolution.
11. Kleinbaum, Abby. “Women in the Age of Light.”
12. Larner, Christina. “Who Were The Witches?”
13. Levy, Darlene Gay, and Harriet Branson Applewhite.
“Women and Political Revolution in Paris.”
14. McManners, John. "Death’s Arbitrary Empire."
15. O’Neill, Daniel. “John Adams vs. Mary Wolstonecraft on the
French Revolution and Democracy.”
16. Rudé, George. “The French Revolution: The Political Riot;
The Food Riot; The Labor Dispute.” From: The Crowd in
History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and
England, 1730-1848.
17. Sharpe, James. “Witchcraft.”
18. Wilson, Peter H. “The Causes of the Thirty Years War.”
SECOND-SEMESTER READINGS
1.
Aries, Philippe. “The Twentieth Century Way Of Death”.
2.
Bridenthal, Renate. “Something Old, Something New:
Women Between The Two World Wars”.
3.
Brown, Kenneth D. “Toys And War”
4.
Corbin, Alain. “A Redefinition Of Disgust.”
5.
Cronin, Mike. “Projecting the Nation Through Sport and
Culture: Ireland, Aonach Tailteann, and the Irish Free
State, 1924-32.”
1. Doherty, Gabriel. “National Identity and the Study of Irish
History.”
6.
Fisher, Marc. “Fire And Ash”.
7.
_____. “Germans And Jews”.
8.
Goubert, Jean-Pierre. “The Rise Of Modern Medicine”.
9.
Hauner, Milan. “Did Hitler Really Want World Dominion?”
10. Koontz, Claudia. “Mothers In The Fatherland: Women In
Nazi Germany”.
11. McBride, Theresa M. “A Woman’s World: Department
Stores And The Evolution Of Women’s Employment,
1870-1920”.
12. McKendrik, Neil. “The Origins Of Consumerism”.
13. McKibbon, Ross. “Why Was There No Marxism in Great
Britain?”
14. Mosse, George. “Friendship and Nationhood: About the
Promise and Failure of German Nationalism.”
15. _____. “The Mystical Origins Of National Socialism”.
16. _____. “Nationalism And Respectability: Normal and
Abnormal Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century.”
17. Murray, Williamson. “The Gathering Storm: From World
War I to World War II.”
18. Omissi, David. “Europe Through Indian Eyes: Indian
Soldiers Encounter England and France, 1914-1918.”
19. Parrella, Anne. “Murder And The Family”.
20. Poiger, Uta G.. “Music And Gender In Postwar Germany:
Rock ‘N’ Roll”.
21. Rosenthal, Bernice Glatzer. “Love On The Tractor: Women
In The Russian Revolution And After”.
22. Townshend, Charles. “The Irish Republican Army and the
Development of Guerrilla Warfare, 1916-1921.”
23. Veitch, Colin. “’Play Up! Play Up! And Win The War!’
Football, The Nation, And The First World War, 1914-15”.
24. Walvin, James. “The Rise Of Sports.”
Caveats and Fair Warnings
While I will make every effort to adhere to the timetable and
assign within this syllabus, please note that changes and alterations
are bound to occur. I reserve the right to substitute, add, or drop
reading assignments as I see fit during the course of the year. I
appreciate your willingness to be flexible.
Unit Content
Unit I: The Later Middle Ages, Renaissance,
Reformation and Religious Wars
(3 September - 3 October)
This introductory unit is our entrée into modern Europe. Generally
speaking, the renaissance is considered by most historians the
beginning of the modern period. To that end, we will be examining
the end of feudal politics and the reasons for the rise of this
‘awakening’ among the various classes of late medieval Europe. In
particular, the concepts of individualism and humanism as
espoused by major thinkers of the time like Petrarch, Bruni, and
Erasmus will be investigated. In addition we will compare and
contrast the Southern Renaissance (i.e. Italy) to that of the
Northern Renaissance through religion, art, and family. This unit
will conclude with a lengthy look at the causes of and reaction to
the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter- Reformation
through the writings of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Loyola; their
affect on European politics; and the outcome of more than 90 years
of religious conflict.
• Readings:
• Western Civilization, Ch. 11 pp. 306-315; 315-325; 326-337; Ch.
12 pp. 341-347; 347-352; 352-366; 366-373; Ch. 13 pp. 377389; 389-396; 396-398; 398-402; 402-410
• Sources of The Making of the West, The Black Death, pp. 1-4.
• Stuard, Susan, “The Dominion of Gender: Women’s Fortunes in
the High Middle Ages”, p. 153. Becoming Visible: Women in
European History, 2nd Ed.
• The Western Tradition, Part I. Annenberg/CPB Collection/PBS
Home Video, Program 23 and 24, “The Late Middle Ages”
and “The National Monarchies”.
• Craft, Dominique, “About the Essays: The Document-Based
Question (DBQ) and Free Response Questions”, p.7.
Teacher’s Resource Guide.
• Sources of Western Tradition, pp. 6-20
• Other readings (including, but not limited to)
•
A Reformation Debate
•
Obedience to "Our Holy Mother, the Hierarchical Church"
(Ignatius Loyola)
•
The Act of Supremacy (Henry VIII of England)
•
TULIP: The Five Points of Calvinism
•
Ordinances For The Regulation of the Churches (John
Calvin)
•
The Treaty of Westphalia
•
Against the Spanish Armada (Queen Elizabeth I of
England)
•
Eye Witness Account of the St. Bartholomew's Massacre
Major Concepts/Ideas
• Overview of feudalism and its problems
•Individualism and humanism
• Machiavelli and politics
•Southern Renaissance – Why Italy? •Northern Renaissance – How
does it differ from the Renaissance in Italy? • Changes in art,
architecture, and literature (Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rafael,
Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and more)
Luther, Calvinism, and the Catholic Church
Causes of
reform
The Catholic Church and the counter Reformation
English Reformation
French, Spanish, and English religious wars; Thirty Years War;
Treaty of Westphalia
Unit II: The Emergence of Early Modern NationStates and European Expansion
October
We refresh our memories about the age of exploration in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and its impact on global (and
specifically European) trade. In particular, we will examine the
reasons for some countries getting a quick jump over their
competitors and the reasons for why they could not hold on to the
lead. In addition, we will look at the regional issues around power
consolidation and the reasons behind why each area developed as it
did, with particular emphasis on England and France, and Prussia
and the Holy Roman Empire.
Readings:
• Western Civilization, pp. 414-484
• Additional readings (including, but not limited to):
•
The Declaration of Rights (1689)
•
Jean-Baptiste Colbert on French Finances
•
Louis XIV Revokes the Edict of Nantes (1685)
•
Cardinal Richelieu, Political Testament
• Major Concepts/Ideas:
• European trade before Columbus; Columbian exchange; The
Role of the Slave Trade; Encomienda system; Mercantilism
Global trade in the era of exploration
• Oliver Cromwell, the English Civil War, and the Puritan
‘Republic’; The Restoration of the English monarchy; The
Glorious Revolution
• Richelieu, Louis XIII, and the rise of the absolute monarchy in
France; Le Roi Soleil, Louis XIV
• The maritime powers of England, France, and the Netherlands
• Life of the peasants and serfs; Impact of the first industrial
revolution (18th century) on society; Growth of cities
• Art and Literature – The rise and fall of the Dutch Masters
Unit III: Changes in Science, Thought, and
Society
November
We take a step back from politics to look at ideas. Ideas that
changed humankind's understanding of our place in the greater
scheme of things. In particular, the altered vision of nature and
mathematics as promoted by sixteenth and seventeenth century
natural philosophers, particularly the idea of the Earth revolving
around the sun. But wait, there's more. Individuals began to also
question the people's relationship to government, class, and each
other. Even monarchs decided to get into the game. The unit
concludes by examining the impact of these new concepts in
science and philosophy on the different strata of society,
commerce, and the family.
Readings:
Western Civilization, Ch. 16 pp. 488-511; Ch. 17 pp. 514-526;
526-536; p. 536-540; Ch. 18 pp. 543-554; 554-558; 558-565; 565572
E.P. Thompson, “The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the
Eighteenth Century”, p. 76-136
Sources of Western Tradition, pp. 30-56; 57-94
Additional readings:
David Hume, “On Miracles”;
Baron de
Montesquieu, “The Spirit of Laws”
Major Concepts/Ideas:
Was it a ‘Scientific Revolution’ or ‘Scientific Evolution?’
Causes of the Scientific Revolution
Copernicus, Galileo, Brahe, and the challenge to Church doctrine
Bacon, Descartes, and scientific methodology
Newton and gravity
Harvey and the circulatory system Defining
the Enlightenment
The Philosophes
The ideas of Locke,
Hobbes, Rousseau, Voltaire, and more!
• Deism
• The effects of Enlightenment thinking on society
•
“Enlightened” Absolutism: Frederick the Great (Prussia), Joseph II
(Austria), and Catherine the Great (Russia)
• Agricultural Revolution of the eighteenth century: The enclosure
movement; Population growth and urbanization; Spread of
elementary schools; Creation of a consumer society; First Great
Awakening (in England)
Unit IV: The French Revolution, the Napoleonic
age, and the Conservative Backlash
December
Once again Europe is rocked by tumult. In this case it is the French
Revolution, which upends traditional society in the name of liberty
and equality. We examine the overall effect of this revolution on
French and European society, but also its impact on the different
groups within France. We move on from the Revolution to the
successful consolidation of power through a coup d'etat by
Napoleon Bonaparte. In particular, we will consider the impact of
Napoleon’s polices that he instituted over Europe during his 15year reign. Finally, we finish by looking at the various reactions to
the dominant thought of the eighteenth century – the
Enlightenment – with a romp through the isms of the lateeighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Ideas that
ultimately shape events through the middle of the twentieth
century.
Readings:
• Western Civilization, Ch. 19, pp. 574-581; 581-588; 588-597;
597-601; 601-604
• Levy and Applewhite, “Women and Militant Citizenship in
Revolutionary Paris”, p. 79-98 in The Other Revolution
• Sources of The Making of the West, pp.45-51
• Sources of the Western Tradition, pp. 148-150
Main Concepts/Ideas:
• Long- and short-term causes of the French Revolution:
Economic, Societal, and Political
• Life under the Ancien Régime: the Aristocracy, the Church, the
tradesmen, and the peasants
• The Rights of Man (and women, and other groups)
• Conditions that brought Napoleon to power
• Napoleon’s domestic and foreign policy
• Use of Art to promote the Revolution and Napoleon – JacquesLouis David
Unit V: Nineteenth Century Europe –
Industrialization, Urbanization, and Political
Upheaval
January
The nineteenth century was another period of social upheaval and
political instability throughout Europe. The first industrial
revolution (1780-1850) and the second industrial revolution (18601920) created new densely packed urban centers that were not
equipped for the masses moving into them. As a result the
traditional family structure was fragmented, particularly among the
lower classes. New wealth was created, which undermined the
traditional structure of society with those of nobility at the top.
Finally, it created tensions within societies struggling to create a
new political reality and between peoples attempting to create a
sense of peoplehood (i.e. nation- state).
Readings:
Western Civilization: Ch. 20, pp. 607-616; 616-633; Ch. 21, pp.
637-647; 647-651; 651-657; 658-667
Sources of the Making of the West: pp. 53-64.
Sources of the Western Tradition: pp. 210-217; 232-233; and 236238
1) Chartist petition:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1838chartism.asp
2) The Chartist anthem
http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1177700/chumbawamba-chartist-anthemlyrics.html
3) Karl Marx on Chartism
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/08/25.htm
For this link scroll down to the section on Chartism:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/07/14.htm
4) Women's Suffrage:
Susan Kingsley Kent, Sex and Suffrage in Britain, 1860-1914, Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1987, chap VII, 184-219.
5) Antoinette Burton, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women and
Imperial Culture, 1865-1915, Chapel Hill & London: University of North
Carolina Press, 1994, Chap 2, 33-62.
• Other readings as assigned
Main Concepts/Ideas:
• Early industrialization
• Classical Economics
• Effects of industrialization on the family, women, and children
• Labor and factory legislation
• Mass migration to the cities
• Early socialism: Utopian, Anarchism, and Marx
• The Congress of Vienna
• Defining Romanticism
• Romanticism and Reason, a conflict?
• Romanticism’s influence on society and the arts
• Defining Liberalism
• Liberalism and Nationalism
• Resistance to liberal ideas, Conservative political systems
• Challenges to the conservative order
• Revolutions of independence (Spain, Greece, Serbia)
• Upheaval in Europe: the revolutions of 1848
The mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth
century witnessed a lot of change within European society. In
effect the rate of change increased, altering traditional society
faster than at any previous time in history. The population of
Europe continued to increase, and the nature of that population
moved from being mostly rural to that of an urban industrial
population. At the same time the idea romantic nationalism began
to take hold of peoples with common heritage and culture,
promoting the idea of national statehood. This is best exemplified
by the unification of Italy and Germany, and a sense of panSlavism in Eastern Europe. These ideas of nationalism were
challenged by a growing sense of alienation by the proletariat and
the alternative of socialism. The unit ends with European
imperialism and the uneasy alliances between the relatively new
nation-states that results in the calamity of the First World War and
(another) redrawing of the map Europe.
Readings:
Western Civilization, Ch. 22 pp. 671-676; 676-682; 682-688; 690692; 692-70; Ch. 23 pp. 705-713; 714-729; Ch. 24 pp. 729-734;
738-749; 749-758; 759-769; 769-772; Ch. 25 pp. 776-780; 780797; 797-804; 804-809
• Sources of Western Tradition, pp. 170-192; 242-268
• Chase, Workers, Society and the Soviet State, “Political
Aspiration and Political Necessity: Moscow and Its
Proletariat, 1918-1921”.
• Other readings as assigned
Main Concepts/Ideas:
• Italian and German Unification
• From Napoleon III to the Third Republic
• Russia emancipates the serfs (and other liberal acts of the
Romanovs)
• Realpolitik
• Great Britain and democratic reform • The Second
Industrial Revolution
• Political reform, class differences, and the plight of the lower
classes
• Paris Commune
• Darwinism
• Cubism and the birth of “Modern Art”
• Realism and Nature in
Art and Literature • The birth of psychoanalysis
• Philosophy and
the reaction against realism
• The changing art scene: the rise of the Impressionists
• Rise of Feminism/Arguments for women’s suffrage
• Jewish emancipation, persecution, and the rise of Zionism
• Labor, Socialism, and the Rise of Marxism
• The scramble for Africa (and other parts of the world)
• Entangled alliances and the arms race
• Nationalism and the path to war(s)
• The Russo-Japanese war
• Bismarck and the emergence of the German empire
• World War I: the battle-front, new technologies, and life on the
home front
• The Treaty of Versailles and U.S. President Wilson’s 14 points
for everlasting peace
• The Revolution of 1905; Weak leadership and haphazard reform
• Causes of the Russian Revolution
; The Intelligentsia,
Mensheviks, the Bolsheviks, and other radical groups
• Lenin's policies
Unit VII: An Uncertain Peace, Extreme
Governments, and the Second World War
March – April
This unit examines a period in Europe often referred to as the
interwar period. In particular, it will look at the experiments in all
sorts of government from the socialist leaning democracy of
Czechoslovakia to the military dictatorship of a reconstituted
Poland to the totalitarian governments of fascist Italy, Spain and
Germany, and communist Soviet Union. Additionally, this unit
will explore elements of the Second World War including western
nations policy of appeasement, the course of WW II, the Holocaust
and consequences of WW II, the home front, and how the atomic
bomb transforms the world.
Readings:
Western Civilization, Ch. 26, pp. 813-816; 816-821; 821-839; 839842; 842-847; Ch. 27, pp. 849-857; 857-865; 865-872; 872-877;
877-882
• Sources of Western Tradition, Ch. 12 p. 359; p. 367
• Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and
Breaking of the Nazi Economy. (New York: Penguin, 2007)
Ch. 14, “The Grand Strategy of Racial War”, p. 461.
Main Concepts/Ideas:
• Stalin and the Great Terror
• The Weimar Republic
• The effects of the Treaty of Versailles
• Benito Mussolini and the rise of Fascism in Italy
• The new Eastern European states: from Democracy to
Totalitarianism
• The world economy
• Women in authoritarian regimes
• Anti-Semitism in Poland
• Expressionism
• Adolph Hitler and the Nazi state in Germany
• The Failures of Appeasement
• Technology and the War
• The
Home front in Britain and on the Continent
• The Holocaust • The Atlantic Charter, Potsdam, Yalta, and the agreements for a
post-war Europe
Unit VIII: The Modern World: From Cold War to
European Union (mostly)
April – May
We conclude our course with a look at the modern era from the
end of the Second World War through the beginning of the twentyfirst century. This is a fascinating period where Europe goes from
being divided between East and West throughout most of the latetwentieth century with the threat of nuclear war hanging over its
head to one of unification between former Soviet satellites and
NATO members (literally in the case of East and West Germany),
to disintegration and ethnic strife in the Balkan nations of the
former Yugoslavia. Aside from the political strife of the period,
there is tremendous change within many of the societies of Europe
due to the impact of decolonization. This includes North African
migration to France and Spain, Turkish workers migrating to
Germany, and a general increase in the Muslim population of
Europe as a whole. In the process a multi-cultural society is created
that is challenging European's sense of themselves and what it
means to be 'European'.
Readings:
Western Civilization: Ch. 28, pp. 886-894; 894-900; 900-907;
909-917; Ch. 29, pp. 921-925; 925-932; 932-937; 937-944; Ch. 30,
pp. 947-957; 957-960; 962-966; 968-978
• Sources of The Making of the West, pp. 107-113; 115-121
• Other sources to be determined
• Main Concepts/Ideas:
• Origins of the Cold War
• Cold War conflicts on the continent
• Economic recovery in the West and the rise of the European
Union
• Displacement of people
• Life in Eastern Europe
• Dismantling British and French colonial empires
• Charles de Gaulle and French assertions of power
• Post-Stalin USSR: Khrushchev & Brezhnev
• Youth movement of the 1960s
• Détente
• Collapse of the USSR
• Solidarity and other East
European revolutions of 1989
• German reunification
• Postmodernism in the arts and literature
• Maastricht Treaty (a 'United States of Europe'?)
• Formation of
the European Parliament • Introduction of The Euro
• Multiculturalism: Immigration and the challenges to European
self-image