Mike Abata’s FRQ
Prompt: Analyze the economic and social challenges faced by Western Europe in the period from
1945 to 1989.
Category: Debt
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Coming out of World War II
Major spending on the war cause
Marshall Plan was made as an attempt to bail out European nations
Cities and key economic places, such as natural resource locations, may have been
destroyed
Countries need to rebuild
Topic Sentence: World War II was a massive war where countries spent mass amounts of money,
now that the war is over their economy is in ruin due to debt. These countries found it hard to get
out of debt because of destroyed resource points and cities, however the Marshall Plan was devised
to help out these struggling nations.
Category: Women
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Worked in war factories while men were fighting
Found it difficult to return to the stereotypical domestic role
Women became more dominant in the workforce
Women had more influence on homelife
They wanted to be as important to society as men
Topic Sentence: While the men were away at war, women took jobs in the war factories. After war
was over women found it difficult to return to the stereotypical domestic role of the house wife.
They wanted to be as important as males and soon became more prominent in the workforce.
Category: Youth
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Western European youth losing faith in world after devastating war
Experiments with drugs
Youth becoming more rebellious
More promiscuous behavior, especially due to the prominence of birth control
Outlandish behavior as a response to the war, many calling for peace and love
Topic Sentence: After the war the youth of Europe began losing faith and hope in the world. The
war had caused innumerable amounts of death and destruction, this led to the youth calling for
peace and love also they began to experiment with drugs and promiscuousness.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
After the war Europe was very economically and socially different then before. Most nations
were in debt because of the war. While at war women became the dominant working force causing
them to become more prominent in the workforce after. At the same time teens were becoming
more rebellious and experimenting with things such as sex and drugs to find an escape from the
world that seems to be constantly at war.
Mike Abata’s FRQ
Prompt: Describe and analyze the changes that led to Europe’s rapid population growth in
the eighteenth century.
Category: Family
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With industrial revolution more opportunities to marry and start family younger
More illegitimate children
Capitalism led to the ability to support more children
Improved diet
Less likely to be victim of random crime/violence
Topic Sentence: The industrial revolution led to new opportunities for couples to marry younger
and start a family at a younger age, while the number of illegitimate children was rising, and with
capitalism families could now afford more children
Category: Agricultural Revolution
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New farming methods such as enclosing fields, crop rotation and using manure as fertilizer
led to great crop yeilds
New inventions such as Jethro Tull’s seed drill
Food supply more abundant
Potato become key crop
o single acre could feed a family for a year
Selective breeding of livestock
Topic Sentence: Due to the agricultural revolution families could be more easily fed because an
abundance of food thanks to new methods of farming such as crop rotation, new technology and
new key crops.
Category: The Industrial Revolution
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Families moving to cities
Machines helping to cut production times
Allowed population to grow due to the new ability to actually support children
Improved transportation to soften the effects of a famine
Creation of railroads to ships goods and stimulate more industrial growth
Topic Sentence: As the eighteenth century continued a new revolution was sweeping Europe. With
the industrial revolution there was more jobs to help support families and children, improved
transportation cut the devastating effects of a famine, these factors stimulated excellent conditions
for a population explosion.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
Many things led to excellent conditions for a large population expansion. New family ideals like
early marriage, the agricultural revolution making food more abundant to feed the families, and the
industrial revolution having the ability to actually support the new growth instead of it failing due to
death and famine.
Prompt: Analyze the degress of success of Russian political and social reform from the period of
Peter the Great (1689-1725) through Catherine the Great (1762-1796
Category: Peter the Great
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Created strong standing army
o Peasants conscripted
Educational reforms
o Western classics translated
Made attempt to westernize Russia
o Peasants become more burdened, peasants dislike western society
Russia turned into European power
Topic Sentence: During Peter the Great’s rule, Russia had a strong standing army to defend the
country , education was made better; at least for the nobility; and Russia was beginning to become
Westernized and making Russia a European power.
Category: Catherine the Great
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Proceeded to westernize Europe
Focused more on individuals pursuing their on endeavors
Established Free Economic Society
Relaxed Censorship
Encouraged noble AND middle class education
Supported of foreign economic investments in underdeveloped ares
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Gained lots of land and won two wars again the Ottoman Empire
Topic Sentence: Like Peter, Catherine continued to “westernize” Russia. She establish the Free
Economic Society, relaxed censorship, encouraged education, and had a successful army.
Category:Success
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Before these two Russia severely underdeveloped
Peter’s reform turn Russia into a European power
Burden’s increased on lower classes
Not total success
Catherine expanded territory
Topic Sentence: These two rulers can be considered a success because they took Russia, severely
behind most other nations, and turned it into a European power. The governments they ran might
now have been the best, but they improved the economy of the nation as well.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
Peter the Great started a series of reforms in Russia in attempt to modernize it. He conscripted an
army, improved education, and tried to westernize Russia. When Catherine the Great came to
power she continued the same types of reforms and also relaxed censorship and made substantial
territorial gain. They were successful rulers due to the fact that they had made Russia into a large
European economic and political power.