AP European History Syllabus
Instructor: Joshua Bocock
Email: jbocock@henry.k12.va.us
Room: 27
Blocks: 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Blocks
Course Summary: This course is a survey of European history from 1450 to the present day.
Starting with the Renaissance, we will explore the evolution of European political systems,
economics and social structure through the past half century. As we will see, Europe during this
time period will undergo massive changes, which will consequently impact everyone throughout
the planet. Some of these changes will be for the benefit of humankind, however, we will also
see in Europe some of the worst atrocities every perpetrated by humans. Throughout this course,
we will critically analyze and evaluate the progress of Europe during the past half century, with
the goal of understanding how the history of this period has shaped our modern world.
Course Expectations: Since this course is an Advanced Placement course, it will be taught as a
college course. Therefore, there will be certain expectations and demands placed on you, the
student, you may not have in other high school courses.
1. Reading: In order to successfully complete this class, you will be required to read assigned
primary and secondary sources. You will be expected to not only comprehend the assigned
readings, but also analyze and interpret them as well.
2. Writing: Along with reading assigned materials, college history courses require students to
write analytical essays as well. You will be expected to write frequently in this course, and
by the end you should be well practiced in writing acceptable college level essays.
3. Discussions: One of the wonderful parts of history is that there is no such thing as a historical
“Truth”. Interpretation of history allows us to look at a historical event, and get different
meanings from it. In order to be successful in this class, you will be required through oral and
written discussions to factually interpret the various historical events and themes we cover
throughout the year.
4. Analysis of Sources: One thing that differentiates a high school level history course from a
college level course is the analysis of sources. In other words, it is not enough to just the
facts, but be able to take those facts and interpret the meaning of them, and determine the
significance of historical events. Throughout the year, you will be asked to read and analyze
numerous amounts of printed primary and secondary sources at home. Also, in class each
day, you will be exposed to visual sources, maps, charts and graphs during the lecture that
you will be asked to analyze as well.
5. AP Exam: In order to receive college credit for this course, you will have to take the AP
Exam at the end of the year (early May) and earn a passing score. It is the expectation that
every student taking this class take the AP Exam. This test requires more of you, the student,
than the state end of course tests you are used to (SOLs). However, everything we do
throughout the year will prepare you for the AP Exam, so you will be prepared for the more
rigorous test when the time comes.
Books:
A History of Western Society, 10th ed., John P. McKay
Sources of Western Society, 2nd ed., Amy Caldwell
Materials:
 Notebook for notes
 Blue or Black ink pens
 Pocket Dictionary
 AP Exam Review Book (can be found at any major book retailer)
Grading: The following is a breakdown of how you will be graded in this course.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tests: 30%
Quizzes: 20%
Essays: 20%
Reading Discussion Responses: 20%
Class Participation: 10%
Assignment Description
1. Tests: You will have two tests every six weeks. Tests will follow the same format throughout
the year: Multiple Choice, Identifications and Essay Questions. In addition, you will have a
Final Exam at the end of the year. Attendance is required on test days; only students with
excused absences will be allowed to make up tests. If allowed to make-up a test, the student
will be required to come before school on the Tuesday after the test. No other make-up time
will be allowed unless approved of in advance. If tests are not retaken, then you will receive
a grade of zero for the test.
2. Quizzes: On weeks where there is no test, you will have a short quiz on the material covered
during the week. Quizzes will be between 4-5 questions long, and they will be in short
answer format. Attendance is required for quizzes, and the same policy mentioned above for
tests applies for quizzes as well.
3. Essays: Writing is an important part of college level history, and you will be expected to
write analytical historical essays throughout the year. For each test, you will be required to
write at least one Free-Response essay question. You will also work on writing Document
Based Questions (DBQs), which require you to read and analyze a selected group of sources
in a written response. Since they are timed on the AP exam, these will be completed in class,
once per grading period (3 times).
4. Discussions: Every night, you will be assigned a reading to complete at home. The next day
in class, you will be given a discussion question to respond to that pertains to the previous
nights’ reading. You are encouraged to be an active reader and take notes while you read, and
any notes you do take you can use in crafting your response the next day. These discussion
questions will be the basis of the next day’s lesson, and guide our discussion of the subject
for that day. Responses are expected to be one collegiate paragraph in length (8-12
sentences), and will require you to think analytically about the reading and not to simply
summarize what was read.
5. Class Participation: Although the smallest portion of your grade, it is essential that you
participate in the class. This includes active note-taking, participation in class and
“attendance” in class (both mind and body).
Academic Honesty (Plagiarism)
Plagiarism is a serious offense in all college classes, and will be policed strictly in this course. In
all assignments you are expected to do your own work, and not give or receive unauthorized
assistance on the assignment. Furthermore, when completing writing assignments, you are to
give credit to anyone whose ideas or content you borrow from, and any direct quotations. All
essays and papers are required to use MLA citations, and any paper turned in that does not fully
cite sources will receive a failing grade. The punishment for plagiarism is as follows:
 A zero for the assignment
 A discipline referral to the office
 Parents will be called
 Academic honor societies (BETA, NHS, etc.) will be notified
Edmodo
Throughout this year, we will use the website Edmodo as an Internet resource for this class. If
used correctly, Edmodo is a wonderful tool that will allow everyone in the class to communicate
with one another, submit assignments online, and so much more. Use of Edmodo is not required
in this class, but students have found it very helpful in helping to stay abreast of everything that
goes on throughout the year. Before being allowed access to the class, you must read and sign a
code of conduct for proper Edmodo use.
Student Comments: The following are comments made by students from last year who survived
AP European history. Read through all of these comments; they are designed to be words of
wisdom about what it takes to make it through your first AP course in your academic career.
-Take notes that you will be able to learn and understand content. Also actually study the
notes; not skim over or review briefly.
- READ THE BOOK! (made an A)
-PAY ATTENTION! Even when you do not want to! It will help you more in the long run!
-Study way before the exam, like at the beginning of the year, not a week before the exam,
and do not be afraid to ask for help.
-Don't think you can get by without doing the essays like I did. I was scrambling at the end
of the semester to barely pass, and I did just that, barely passed, but no one wants to barely
pass. (made a D)
-Study! It will help, don't be stubborn and not study because you never study in other
classes! You will NEED to study and not be lazy.
-As a 9th grader, I took the challenge to take AP classes my 10th grade year. It was scary at
first because I was not used to the AP level class. After the semester started, I realized it
was not that hard and I could do it. If I can do it, you upcoming 10th graders can too. Good
luck, and it's worth all the hard work :)
-Go over everything like reviewing and stuff during the year, not only the last week before
the test.
-You need to read! Take notes when you read! I would put post-it notes all over my book!
Take detailed notes! Everything he says is important! The most ridiculous things can be on
the AP exam.
-If he assigns a reading assignment, read it; listen to what he is saying during class and if
you are someone who has trouble understanding then take notes on what he says instead of
what he puts on the board.
-Don't take the class if you don't plan to study. You NEED to read. (made a C)
-This class will be hard, but if you pay attention to Mr. Bocock and actually read you will
be fine. (made an A)
-Take the class seriously (I didn't at first) (made a C)
-Study, read, don't think that you can get by in the way you did in a non-AP class (made a
B)
-Do not be lazy and do not procrastinate! This class is a challenge, but getting the grade
you want is not impossible. (made an A)
-Time Management, always study but not just the day before a test/quiz.
Course Outline
1. Late Middle-Ages Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 338-370
Primary Sources
Giovanni Coccaccio: The Decameron: The Plauge Hits Florence
The Anonimalle Chronicle: The English Peasants’ Revolt
Jean Froissart: The Sack of Limoges: On Warfare Without Chivalry
The Confession of Agimet of Geneva, Chatel, October 20, 1348
The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1349.
Topics
The Black Death
The Hundred Year’s War
Weakening of Catholic Church
Social Upheaval in Late Middle Age Europe
2. Renaissance Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 372-404
Primary Sources
Petrarch: Letter to Livy
Leonardo Bruni: Panegyric to Florence
Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince (excerpts)
Baldassare Castiglione: The Book of the Courtier (excerpts)
Christine De Pizan: The Book of the City of Ladies (excerpt)
Account of an Italian Jew Expelled from Spain
Leonardo da Vinci: Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
Michelangelo: David and Sistine Chapel
Raffaello Sanzio: The School of Athens
Donatello: The Virgin and Child
Jan van Eyck: The Arnolfini Marriage
Hans Holbein the Younger: Portrait of Henry VIII
Topics
Italy: Origin of Renaissance Though
Humanism
Renaissance Art
Social Status and Renaissance
Renaissance Politics
3. Protestant Reformation
Secondary Reading
McKay: 406-438
Susan Walters Schmid: Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Primary Sources
Martin Luther: Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences
Nicholas De La Fontaine: The Trial of Michael Servetus in Calvin’s Geneva
Ignatius of Loyola: Rules for Right Thinking
Topics
Martin Luther and Early Reformation
The politics of Reformation
Spread of Protestantism
Counter-reformation
Religious Wars
4. Exploration and Exploitation
Secondary Reading
McKay: 442-476
Primary Sources
Ducas: Historia Turcobyzantia: The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans
Christopher Columbus: Diario (Oct. 11-15)
Bartolome de Las Casas: The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account
Hernando Cortes: Two Letters to Charles V: On the Conquest of the Aztecs
King Nzinga Mbemba Affonso of Congo: Letters on the Slave Trade
Topics
World Trade Before European Exploration
Portuguese and Spanish Exploration and Conquest
European Colonization in New World
Columbian Exchange
Slave Trade
5. Absolutism and Constitutionalism
Secondary Reading
McKay: 478-516
Primary Sources
Henry IV: Edict of Nantes
Thomas Hobbes: excerpts from Leviathan
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet: Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture
Peter the Great: Edicts and Decrees: Imposing Western Styles on the Russians
John Locke: excerpts from Second Treatise of Civil Government
English Bill of Rights
Topics
Chaos and State Building in 17th Century Europe
Absolutism in France
Spanish Decline
Habsburg Austria
Prussian Consolidation and Absolutism
Modernization of Russia
Growth of Ottoman Empire
English Civil War and Glorious Revolution
Dutch Republic
6. Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
Secondary Reading
McKay: 518-550
Primary Sources
Francis Bacon: On Superstition and the Virtue of Science
Frederick the Great: Essay on the Forms of Government
Montesquieu: excerpt from The Spirit of Laws
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: excerpt from The Social Contract
Topics
Scientific Revolution
Enlightenment philosophies and impacts
Enlightened Monarchs
7. Economic Expansion and Social Change: 1650-1800
Secondary Reading
McKay: 552-614
Primary Sources
Adam Smith: excerpts from The Wealth of Nations
Edmond Williamson: Births and Deaths in an English Gentry Family
Mary Wortley Montagu: On Smallpox Inoculations
Topics
Agricultural Revolution
Population Growth
Mercantilism
Family Life
Education
Popular Culture and Consumerism
Religious Authority and Pluralism
Growing Medical Knowledge
8. French Revolution
Secondary Reading
McKay: 618-652
Primary Sources
Commissioners of the Third Estate of the Carcassonne: Cahier de Doleances
Edward Rigby: On the Taking of the Bastille and Its Aftermath
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Napoleonic Code
Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Black Revolutionary Leader in Haiti
Eugene Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People
Topics
Pre-revolution France
American Revolution and Impact
National Assembly
Reign of Terror
Napoleonic Europe
Revolution in Haiti
9. Growth of Political Ideologies and Revolt
Secondary Reading
McKay: 684-714
Primary Sources
Klemens Von Metternich: Political Confession of Faith
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles: Communist Manifesto
Topics
Congress of Vienna and Balance of Power
Metternich and Conservatism
Spread of Radical Political Ideologies
Romanticism
Political Reform Pre-1848
Revolutions of ‘48
Mid-Term
10. Industrial Revolution
Secondary Reading
McKay: 654-682
Primary Sources
John Aikin: Manchester Becomes a Thriving Industrial City
Friedrich Engles: The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
Ned Ludd: Yorkshire Textile Workers Threaten a Factory Owner
Robert Owen: A New View on Society
Topics
Origins of Industrialization in Britain
Spread of Industrialization to the continent
Working Class Conditions
Labor/Management Relations
11. 19th Century Urban Society in Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 716-746
Primary Sources
Sir Edwin Chadwick: Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Poor
Clara Zetkikn: Women’s Work and the Trade Unions
Charles Darwin: The Descent of Man
Herbert Spencer: Social Statics: Survival of the Fittest Applied to Humankind
Topics
Urbanization in Europe
Unequal Distribution of Wealth
Urbanization and its Effects on Familial Relations
Rise of Scientific Thought
12. Rise of Nationalism in Europe and Reaction Within
Secondary Reading
McKay: 748-778
Primary Sources
John Leighton: Paris Under the Commune
Emile Zola: “j’Accuse” the French Army
Leo Pinsker: Auto-Emancipation: A Russian Zionist Makes the Case for a Jewish
Homeland
Topics
Napoleon III and Expansion of France
Italian and German Unification
Modernization of Russia
Decline of Ottoman Empire
Growth of Nation-States
Modern Anti-Semitism
Growth of Radicalism in Europe
13. The West and Empire
Secondary Reading
McKay: 780-812
Peter Donaldson: The Boer War and British Society
Primary Sources
Commissioner Lin Zexu: Letter to Queen Victoria
Jules Ferry: Speech Before the French Chamber of Deputies
Mark Twain: King Leopold’s Soliloquy
The Boxers Declare Death to “Foreign Devils”
J.A. Hobson: Imperialism
Topics
Industrialization and Need for Empire
Imperialism in Africa and Asia
Reaction against European Imperialism
14. “The Great War”: World War I
Secondary Reading
McKay: 814-850
William Mulligan: The Origins of the First World War
Primary Sources
Chancellor Theobald Von Bethmann-Hollweg: Telegram to the German
Ambassador at Vienna
Wilfred Owen: Dulce Et Decorum Est
Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth
Vladimir Lenin: What Is to be Done?
The Fourteen Points
A Defeated Germany Contemplates the Peace Treaty
Topics
Path to War
Outbreak of War and Stalemate (1914-16)
War and the Home-fronts
Russian Revolution
Spread of War (1917)
“Peace” and Treaty of Versailles
15. Modernization and Uncertainty in Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 852-884
Primary Sources
Friedrich Nietzsche: excerpts from The Gay Science
John Maynard Keynes: The Economic Consequences of Peace
Heinrich Hauser: With the Unemployed in Germany
Topics
Modern Philosophy and Science and Reaction
Modernism and Art
Consumerism
Post-War Political Uncertainty
Great Depression
16. A Crisis of Democracy: The Rise of Authoritarian and Totalitarian States
Secondary Reading
McKay: 886-907
Primary Sources
Vladimir Tchernavin: I Speak for the Silent (Stalinist Interrogation Techniques
Revealed)
Soviet and Nazi Propaganda Posters
Adolf Hitler: excerpt from Mein Kampf
Nuremberg Laws
George Orwell: Animal Farm
Pablo Picasso: Guernica
Topics
Origins of Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism
Stalin and Soviet Union
Fascism, Mussolini and Italy
Nazism, Hitler and Germany
Axis Aggression and path to War
17. World War II
Secondary Reading
McKay: 909-920
Primary Sources
The Atlantic Charter
Yalta Conference
UN Charter
Topics
Early German Victories
Europe Under Nazi Rule
Holocaust
Allied Push to Victory
Peace and the Punishment of War Criminals
18. West vs. East: The Cold War and Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 922-956
Primary Sources
George Marshall: An American Plan to Rebuild a Shattered Europe
Franz Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth
Simone Bolivar: The Second Sex
Topic
Postwar Europe and Origins of Cold War
Rebirth of Western Europe
The Eastern Bloc
De-colonization
Social Transformation (social class, women, youth movment)
19. 1960-1990: Reform, Reaction and End of Cold War in Europe
Secondary Reading
McKay: 958-992
Primary Sources
Editorials from London Times on Student Radical Movement
Solidarity Union: Twenty-One Demands: A Call for Workers’ Rights and
Freedoms in a Socialist State
Mikhail Gorbachev: Perestroika
Topics
Thawing of the Cold War
Student Movements of the 60s
Economic Stagnation in the West
Rise of Conservatism
Soviet Union’s Slipping Grip on the Eastern Bloc
Break-up of the Soviet Union
20. Europe and Globalization
Secondary Reading
McKay: 994-1024
Primary Sources
Tariq Ramadan: Western Muslims and the Future of Islam
Francis Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man
Topics
Change and Rebuilding in Eastern Europe
Globalization and the Digital Age
European Union
Growth of Multiculturalism in Europe
Challenges of the 21st Century