Putnam High School
AP European History
Course Syllabus
Mr. Driscoll
DriscollT@putnam.k12.ct.us
860-963-6905 ext. 3145
http://driscoll-class.wikispaces.com/AP+European+History
COURSE DESCRIPTION
AP European history is a challenging yet rewarding course that offers students greater
opportunity to master the subject and to explore it in greater depth. The course
emphasizes relevant factual knowledge about European History from 1450 through 2001
while examining historical issues based upon three broad themes:
(1) Intellectual and Cultural History
(2) Political and Diplomatic History
(3) Social and Economic History
The course includes extensive instruction in the analysis and interpretation of a wide
variety of written primary sources. Emphasis is also placed upon analysis and
interpretation of other primary sources, including pictorial and graphic material such as
maps, statistical tables, and works of art. Another key focus of the course is to teach
students to analyze evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship.
This course will also provide students with frequent practice in writing analytical and
interpretive thematic essays called Free-Response Questions (FRQs). In addition, students
will regularly practice writing essays based on analysis and interpretation of primary
source materials called Document-Based Questions (DBQs).
All students enrolled must take the AP European History examination in May sponsored by
the Education Testing Service. Passing this test could result in the student receiving three
college credits.
COURSE RESOURCES
Although we will be engaging with a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, the
following texts will serve as a foundation for the course:
Kagan, Ozment, and Turner. The Western Heritage. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 2007.
Kagan, Ozment, and Turner. Documents Workbook: The Western Heritage Since 1300, AP
Edition.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007.
Lualdi, Katharine. Sources of The Making of the West: People and Cultures . Volume II: Since 1500.
Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, 2009.
Sherman, Dennis, ed. Western Civilization: Sources, Images, and Interpretations Volume I: To 1700.
8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Sherman, Dennis, ed. Western Civilization: Sources, Images, and Interpretations, from the
Renaissance to the Present. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
The Course Outline below provides readings from the textbook as well as other primary
and secondary sources and interpretations. Along with those specifically listed, we will be
analyzing various other sources such as maps, graphs, paintings, political cartoons, films, and
more.
COURSE FORMAT
Guided Reading
The Kagan text, although a great resources, can prove challenging to comprehend. We will
therefore engage in guided reading practices throughout the year. This will require you to
take “Collins” notes, answer guided reading questions, and create flashcards for important,
people, places, events, and historical developments.
Primary Source Analysis
Throughout each unit, you will be expected to read, analyze, and interpret a wide variety of
primary sources such as:
 Written Sources (letters, journal entries, government documents, newspapers, etc.)
 Maps
 Statistical Tables
 Works of Art
You will do this through a variety of activities and assessments, such as: “SOAP the Doc,”
Bias and Point of View (POV) Analysis, In-Class Discussion Round-tables, and the Online
Discussion Forum.
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
We will also move beyond the textbook and examine historical scholarship of the various
historical eras. You will also practice analyzing and evaluating various viewpoints to
develop your own historical interpretation.
APEH Writing
Each unit will offer instruction and practice writing the DBQ and FRQ essays. Some
assignments will be peer reviewed, while others will be timed writing assessments that will
mirror the AP exam.
Simulations & Debates
Students will regularly engage in class simulations, debates, and other activities that
require active participation, critical thinking, collaboration, and group problem solving.
AP-Style Tests
Each unit will include a summative assessment based upon the AP Exam. These tests will
include AP-style multiple-choice questions as well as timed FRQ and DBQ essays.
COURSE OUTLINE
The Course Outline below provides an overview of the course’s themes, readings, activities
and assessments that correspond to each unit of study.
Semester One
UNIT 1: The Renaissance
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 10: Renaissance & Discovery
Primary Sources
Kagan Documents
 Niccollo Machiavelli, from “The Discourses”
Workbook (DW)
 Raphael, School of Athens
 Bartholomew De Las Casas, from “Very Brief Account of the
Desctruction of the Indies”
Kagan
 Leonardo da Vinci, “Vitruvian Man”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Jacob Burckhardt, “The Civilization of the Renaissaince in Italy”
 Peter Burke, “The Myth of the Renaissance”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 1 Test
 Renaissance DBQ
 “Columbus on Trial” Simulation
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 2: The Reformation, Religious Wars, and State Consolidation
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 11: The Age of Reformation
 Chapter 12: The Age of Religious Wars
 Chapter 13: European State Consolidation in the 17th & 18th
Centuries.
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “The Act of Supremacy: The Church of England”
 “A Protestant Woman Argues for Tolerance”
 “The Edict of Nantes”
 ‘The Peace of Westphalia”
 “Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity”
 “Louis XIV: Memoires for the Instruction of the Dauphin”
Kagan
 “Zwingli Lists the Errors of the Roman Church”
 “Theodore Beza Defends the Right to Resist Tyranny”
 “King James I Defends Popular Recreation Against the Puritans”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Steven Ozment, “The Legacy of the Reformation”
 Marilyn Boxer and Jean Quataert, “Women in the Reformation”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 2 Test
 Reformation FRQ
 “Trial of Martin Luther” Simulation
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 3: Society, Science & Philosophy in the 16th Through 18th Centuries
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 14: New Directions in Thought & Culture in the 17th and
18th Centuries
 Chapter 15: Society & Economy Under the Old Regime in the 18th
Century
 Chapter 16: The Transatlantic Economy, Trade Wars, and
Colonial Rebellion
 Chapter 17: The Age of Enlightenment
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “Rejecting Aristotle: Galileo Defends the Heliocentric View”
 “Rethinking the Bible: Galileo Confronts his Critics”
 “Burning Witches”
 “Thomas Paine: From Common Sense”
 “The Encyclopedie”
Kagan
 “Galileo Discusses the Relationship of Science to the Bible”
 “Why More Women Than Men Are Witches”
 Portrait “An Aristocratic Couple”
 “A Slave Trader Describes the Atlantic Passage”
 “Immanuel Kant Defines the Enlightenment”
 “Rousseau Argues for Separate Spheres for Men and Women”
 “Mary Wollstonecratf Criticizes Rousseau’s View of Women”
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan”
 Excerpt from John Locke, “The Second Treatise of Government”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Steven Ozment, “The Legacy of the Reformation”
 Marilyn Boxer and Jean Quataert, “Women in the Reformation”
Mintz, Sidney
 Excerpt from “Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in
Modern History.”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 3 Test
 Enlightenment FRQ
 “Enlightenment Salon” Simulation
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 4: French Revolution and The Age of Napoleon
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 18: The French Revolution
 Chapter 19: The Age of Napoleon and the Triumph of
Romanticism
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”
 “Robespierre: Justification of Terror”
 “A View from the Other Side: A British Soldier”
 “Coronation of Napoleon”
Kagan
 “The National Assembly Decrees Civic Equality in France”
 “French Women Petition to Bear Arms”
 “The Paris Jacobin Club Alerts the Nations to Internal Enemies of
the Revolution”
 “Napoleon Makes Peace with the Papacy”
 “Hegel Explains the Role of Great Men in History”
Jacques-Louis David
 Various paintings from his lifetime
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Ruth graham. “Loaves and Liberty: Women in the French
Revolution”
 Louis Bergeron, “Napoleon: Napoleon as Enlightened Despot”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 4 Test
 Art of the French Revolution DBQ
 “Estates General” Simulation
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 5: Post-Napoleonic Europe
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 20: The Conservative Order and the Challenges of
Reform
 Chapter 21: Economic Advance and Social Unrest
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “Child Labor Inquiry”
 “Simon Bolivar’s Political Ideals”
Kagan
 “Mazzini Defines Nationality”
 “Thomas Babington Macaulay Defends the Great Reform Bill”
 “Women Industrial Workers Explain Their Economic Situation”
 “Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Describe the Class Struggle”
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Friedrich Engels, “Draft of a Communist Confession
of Faith.”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Jonathan Sperber, “The European Revolutions, 1848-1851”
 John Weiss, “The Revolutions of 1848”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 5 Test
 Industrial Revolution FRQ
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
Semester Two
UNIT 6: Nation Building and Modern European Thought
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 22: The Age of Nation-States
 Chapter 23: The Building of European Supremacy: Society and
Politics to World War I
 Chapter 24: The Birth of Modern European Thought
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “The Church Weighs In: Rerum Novarum”
Kagan
 “Lord Acton Condemns Nationalism”
 “The People’s Will Issues a Revolutionary Manifesto”
 “Parnell Calls for Home Rule for Ireland”
 “An English Feminist Defends the Female Franchise”
 “Lenin Argues for the Necessity of a Secret and Elite party of
Professional Revolutionaries”
 “T.H. Huxley Criticizes Evolutionary Ethics”
 “H.S. Chamberlain Exalts the Role of Race”
 “Herzl Calls for a Jewish State”
 “Virginia Woolf Urges Women to Write”
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Charles Darwin, “The Descent of Man”
 Excerpt from Friedrich Nietzsche, “God is Dead”
 Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, “The Interpretation of Dreams.”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Eric Hobsbawn, “The Age of Empire”
 David Blackbourn, “German Unification”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 6 Test
 Nationalism DBQ
 “Evolutionary Ethics” Debate
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 7: World War I and the Russian Revolution
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 25: Imperialism, Alliances, and War
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier”
Kagan
 “Social Darwinism and Imperialism”
 “Bismark Explains His Foregin Policy”
 “The Kaiser’s Comments on the Outbreak of the World War”
 “The Outbreak of the Russian Revolution”
 “An Eyewitness Account of the Bolsheviks’ Seizure of Power”
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Fritz Franke and Siegfried Sasson, “Two Soldiers’
Views
 Excerpt from Vladimir Lenin, “Letter to Nikolai Aleksandrovich
Rozhkov”
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Kagan
 “War Propaganda and the Movies: Charlie Chaplin”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 7 Test
 World War I DBQ
 “WWI Trenches Simulation”
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 8: The Interwar Era
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 26: Political Experiments of the 1920s
 Chapter 27: Europe and the Great Depression of the 1930s
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 Excerpt from Adolf Hitler, “Mein Kampf”
 Excerpt from Benito Mussolini, “Political and Social Doctrine of
Fascism”
Kagan
 “Alexandra Kollontai Demands A New Family life in the Soviet
Union”
 “Mussolini Heaps Contempt on Political Liberalism”
 “Hitler Denounces the Versailles Treaty”
 “John Maynard Keynes Calls for Government Investment to Create
Employment”
 “An American Diplomat Witnesses Kristallnacht in Leopzig”
 “Stalin Calls for the Liquidation of the Kulaks as a Class”
Lualdi
 Except from Joseph Goebels, “Nazi Propaganda Pamphlet”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 1 Test
 Nazi Propagand FRQ
 “Causes of WWII” Debate
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 9: World War II
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 28: World War II
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “Nazi SS Officers”
 “Notes From the Warsaw Ghetto”
 “Rosie the Riveter”
Kagan
 “Hitler Describes His Goals in Foreign Policy”
 “Churchill’s Response to Munich”
 “Mass Murder at Belsen”
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Sam Bankhalter and Hinda Kibort “Memories of the
Holocaust”
 Excerpt from Michihiko Hachiya, “Hiroshima Diary”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 9 Test
 World War II DBQ
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
UNIT 10: Cold War to the Present
Textbook
Kagan
 Chapter 29: The Cold War Era and the Emergence of a New
Europe
 Chapter 30: The West at the Dawn of the 21st Century
Primary Sources
Kagan D. W.
 “Bosnia: The Two Faces of War”
Kagan
 “The Truman Doctrine Declared”
 “Gandi Explains His Doctrine of Nonviolence”
 “Gorbachev Proposes the Soviet Communist Party Abandon Its
Monopoly of Power”
Lualdi
 Nick Ut, Photograph
Secondary Sources & Interpretations
Sherman
 Raymond Garthoff, “The End of the Cold War”
 Carol Skalnik Leff, “The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe
Lualdi
 Excerpt from Amartya Sen, “A World Not Neatly Divided”
Activities & Assessments
 Unit 10 Test
 Cold War FRQ
 Online Discussion Forum
 In-Class Discussion Roundtable
 Primary Source Analysis (see above)
 Secondary Interpretations (see above)
REVIEW PERIOD (Approx. 2 WEEKS)
AP EXAM (TBA)