AP European History
Semester One Research Paper
Write a five to seven page analytical paper on one of the following topics. You can combine
questions to make your own prompt as well. Be sure to analyze the topic -- use specific facts in
support of your thesis – do not simply report them. The long strings of questions given below are
intended as suggestions you might pursue in developing your ideas on the topic – you do not have
to address all of them.
Palmer 2
1. What socio-economic, political, and environmental developments in the fourteenth century undermined
the prosperity and stability of medieval society?
2. Compare and contrast the Italian Renaissance with the northern Renaissance. What were the lasting
contributions of each?
3. How did conceptions of the human experience during the Renaissance compare with early Christian
ideas?
4. How did the secular philosophy of the Renaissance influence the arts?
5. How did Machiavelli’s political philosophy reflect the political weaknesses of Renaissance Italy? How
did Machiavelli propose to resolve those weaknesses?
6. What strategies did the Tudors, the Valois, and Ferdinand and Isabella share in undertaking the
consolidation of their rule? How did the Habsburg empire present different challenges to consolidation
than those facing the other major European monarchies?
7. What was the significance of the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism? What did both events
indicate about problems within the Roman Catholic church?
8. What beliefs did the Protestant groups have in common? How did they differ? What were the bases for
their differences?
9. What was the role of Lutheranism in the social upheavals that occurred in Germany on the heels of
Luther’s revolt against Rome? How did Luther react to the demands of those participating in the
upheavals?
10. Compare and contrast the impact of the Renaissance on the lives of women to that of the Reformation.
11. The Roman Catholic church had accommodated reformers before Martin Luther. Why could it not do so
between 1515 and 1560?
Palmer 3
1. How, after decades of civil war, were prosperity and stability restored to France between 1590 and 1640?
2. What led to the decline of Germany relative to the states of western Europe before 1650?
3. How important were nationalist feelings as compared to religious and feudal loyalties in the Thirty
Years’ War and the revolt of the Netherlands?
4. Discuss Spain’s “Golden Age” with respect to politics, economics, and culture. What factors contributed
to Spain’s greatness? What caused its decline?
5. In what ways did the period stretching from 1560 to 1648 mark Europe’s transition from feudalism to the
modern age? Consider changes in social structures in your response.
6. How did the opening of the Atlantic and explorations in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries stimulate
the commercial revolution?
Palmer 4
1. Discuss the concept of the balance of power in the last half of the seventeenth century, using the policies
of William of Orange and Louis XIV to demonstrate the idea of balance.
2. What were the political, economic, and social reasons for the tremendous prosperity of Holland in the
seventeenth century?
3. Oliver Cromwell established an effective government in England, but his republic was neither stable nor
durable. Why not?
4. In seventeenth century England, the parliament defeated the king and established a workable form of
government. Why did royal absolutism fail in England between 1600 and 1689?
5. Compare and contrast the English treatment of Irish Catholics and the French treatment of the Huguenots
during the seventeenth century.
6. What was the relationship of Scotland and Ireland to England in the seventeenth century?
7. How did Louis XIV succeed in establishing an absolute monarchy in France?
8. Evaluate Louis XIV’s reign. How did his reign benefit France? What harm did it cause?
9. What were the causes and the consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession?
Palmer 5
1. Both Louis XIV and Peter the Great established royal absolutism in their countries. Compare and
contrast their policies, methods, and the results.
2. What role did the military play in the emergence of Russia and Prussia as major powers in the 17th and
early 18th centuries?
3. To what extent did Peter carry out a “revolution” in Russia? Be sure to examine the social, political, and
economic aspects of his policies.
4. Describe the means by which, between 1648 and 1711, the house of Habsburg managed to rebuild its
power and refound its empire after the disastrous losses of the Thirty Years’ War.
5. Consider the Holy Roman Empire or the Ottoman Empire. How did the failure to become more
“modern” lead to decline?
Palmer 6
1. Explain and contrast the method of deductive reasoning widely practiced in the Middle Ages with the
inductive approach to the study of knowledge championed by Bacon and others.
2. Discuss the contributions of Bacon and Descartes to modern thought. Did their thinking contain any
important weaknesses or gaps?
3. Describe the traditional view of the cosmos, based on the thinking of Aristotle and Ptolemy. How did the
seventeenth-century scientific revolution change the traditional view?
4. Describe the evolution of astronomical thought from Copernicus to Newton. What was Newton’s great
achievement of synthesis?
5. What influence did the new interest in science and evidence have upon the study of history? What new
branches of historical investigation were created or perfected in the seventeenth century?
6. Compare and contrast the views of Hobbes and Locke.
7. Discuss the major features of John Locke’s scientific and political thought. How did his scientific notions
influence his political conceptions?
8. Discuss the implications of the seventeenth century scientific revolution for European society. Why did it
help form the basis for the concepts of progress and optimism?
Palmer 7
1. Discuss the most significant differences between elite culture and popular culture in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Was the gap between them narrowing or widening by the eighteenth century? Why?
2. To what extent was European prosperity dependent on extra-European contributions (either voluntary or
forced)? Specify the Asian, African, and American roles in the world economy of the eighteenth century.
3. Compare and contrast the political and economic development of Great Britain and France between 1715
and 1763.
4. Analyze the imperial conflict between Great Britain and France during the period 1714-1763 (the end of
the War of the Spanish Succession to the end of the Seven Years’ War).
5. Compare and contrast the causes and consequences of the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven
Years’ War. In what sense did they form a single conflict, the “Great War of the Mid-Eighteenth
Century”?
6. Compare and contrast the personalities and policies of Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa. Who
achieved more for his/her people?
7. How did the lower, or non-property owning classes make their influence felt in western European
politics during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
Palmer 8
1. In what sense was the eighteenth century an age of faith as well as an age of reason?
2. Compare and contrast the political ideas of two of the following: Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau.
Whose ideas do you think were the most influential?
3. Compare and contrast Joseph II and Frederick the Great as enlightened despots.
4. Was Catherine the Great an enlightened despot? Explain your answer.
5. In what sense is the period after 1760 rightly characterized as the era of “democratic” or “Atlantic”
revolutions? What are the difficulties in analyzing the era on such a basis rather than on a national one
(e.g., “the American Revolution”)?
6. Discuss the impact of the wars of the mid-eighteenth century on the internal governmental policies of
France and the Habsburg Empire. Which country found the better solution for its problems?
7. What was the role of women in spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment?
8. Discuss the response of Great Britain to the ideas of the Enlightenment.
9. How did the various outlying areas of the British Empire react to policies of centralization? What were
the long-term consequences of those reactions?
10. Select what you believe are two of the central ideas or attitudes of the eighteenth century Enlightenment.
Explain why you believe these ideas are so important and what impact they had on social and political
life in the eighteenth century.
11. What was the greatest defect of the pre-1795 Polish state? Using another seventeenth- or eighteenthcentury European state as a model, explain how this defect could have been remedied (or explain why it
was irremediable).
Palmer 9
1. Describe the financial problems of the French monarchy before 1789. How did the government try to
remedy the situation?
2. Discuss the following statement: The outbreak and much of the course of the French Revolution should
be understood as a struggle between the nobility and the middle class rather than between the king and
the people.
3. How crucial was the role of the peasants and working classes in the outbreak of the French Revolution?
Did the lower classes gain any advantages from the revolution?
4. Discuss the role of religious issues in determining the course of the French Revolution up to the year
1801.
5. What measures did Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety take in 1793-94 to save the
revolution? In your opinion, were these measures justified?
6. The Directory (1795-1799) lasted longer than any other French revolutionary government before
Napoleon. How do you account for its powers of endurance? What were its weaknesses?
7. Napoleon Bonaparte was perhaps the last and most eminent of the enlightened despots. Compare and
contrast his personal traits and political actions with those of earlier enlightened absolutists.
8. Discuss Napoleon’s reforms during the Consulate (1799-1804). In your opinion, did these reforms justify
his repression of French political freedom?
9. Compare and contrast the causes of the English Revolution and the French Revolution. Evaluate the
impact of each revolution on government, economy, and society.
Palmer 10
1. The French impact on Europe between 1792 and 1814 represented more than mere forcible subjugation.
Innovations of the kind made in France by revolution were brought to other countries by administrative
decree. Discuss these innovations and analyze their impact on Europe between 1792 and 1814.
2. Describe the rise and fall of the Continental System.
3. Four coalitions were created to contend with Napoleonic expansionism. Why was only the last
successful?
4. In your opinion, was Napoleon’s empire beneficial or harmful for Europe in the end?
5. Napoleon’s rise was meteoric, but his fall was equally dramatic. What were the major reasons for the
collapse of his empire?
6. How did Britain and Russia benefit from the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire?
7. The peace settlement of 1814-1815, including the Treaty of Vienna, the treaties of Paris, and the British
colonial settlement, was the most far-reaching diplomatic agreement between 1648 and 1919. What were
the major provisions of the peace settlement? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Did its benefits
outweigh its defects?
8. How did the Napoleonic period promote the rise of nationalism?
9. Describe the rise of nationalism in Germany at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
nineteenth centuries. What were the ideas of such major thinkers as Herder and Fichte about German
nationalism?