Advanced Placement European History
Syllabus and Course Requirements
Course Description: Advanced Placement European History is designed to increase the
student’s understanding of European History from 1450 through the present. This course
places attention upon understandings equivalent to those gained in a college-level
introductory course. The emphasis is on the general European narrative of European
history but also includes an examination of the political and diplomatic, intellectual and
cultural, and social and economic history of Europe. In covering these themes it is a goal
of the course that the students develop an appreciation for the rich cultural contributions
made by those who created our Western heritage, to reveal the problems faced by people
at any given time in history, to relate these problems to the present, to investigate the
attempts to find remedies for these problems, and to plot the path toward the future, and
to develop an awareness of the consequences of European contacts with other areas of the
world.
The goals of this course will be realized through a variety of activities designed to use
and develop the student’s higher order cognitive skills including
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the ability to read historical documents in a discriminating way
to develop the ability to see the facts of history in context
distinguish courses of movements or trends
to develop the ability to weigh evidence and reach conclusions on the basis of
facts, not prejudices.
These goals are facilitated by a heavy emphasis on the development of writing skills.
At the conclusion of this course, the student will be prepared to take the Advanced
Placement test in European history.
I. Course Texts—Palmer, R.R. and Joel Colton. A History of the Modern World. New
York: Alfred A Knopf, 1984
Weber, Eugen. The Western Tradition: From the Renaissance to the
Present. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1990.
II. Supplies Needed (Everyday)
Paper
Pen
Colored Pencils
Textbook
Notebook
****Notebook: Each student must maintain an AP European notebook. The notebook
must be a large
Three-ring binder with a set of dividers. It must be organized into the following fashion:
Section 1—Homework and class notes (dated with the correct heading)
(more on note-taking later)
Section 2—Tests quizzes and review sheets
Section 3—Worksheets and handouts
Section 4---Maps
Section 5—Art
****Notebooks will be checked and evaluated at the instructor’s discretion
III.
Evaluation Process—Throughout the length of this course you will be evaluated
periodically on the basis of tests, quizzes, participation in role plays, simulations
and trials, essays, document based questions, class participation, and homework.
You will be informed at the time of the assignment the weight given to each
assignment. Your final quarter grade will be based on the following formula:
Grades will be reported numerically for all work assigned during the
designated marking period.
Mid-Term Exam—This exam is a rigorous as it is intended to challenge students
at the AP level. It is designed to give students experience with the types of
multiple-choice questions, free response questions, and document-based questions
that appear on the AP European History exam.
Final Exam—Students will be exempt from the final exam if they choose to take
the AP exam in European History. Otherwise, the format of the final exam is the
same as the mid-term.
1. Grades for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd marking periods and the midterm exam are
numerical representations of earned grades with a minimum reported score of
50.
2. The 4th marking period grade and the final exam grade are reported as earned.
IV.
V.
3. Final grades for year long courses are computed as follows:
a. Find the sum of all four marking period grades.
b. Multiply the sum of the four marking periods by 2.
c. Add the mid-term and final exam grade to the product.
d. Divide the sum by 10.
e. The quotient is the final grade.
Extra Help—I am available after school on Mondays until 3:15. If you need to
see me and cannot find me check the Social Studies Workroom before leaving.
Days other than Monday I am also usually available just let me know ahead of
time.
Make-Up Work—It is your responsible to see me for work missed during an
absence. You will be given a calendar at the beginning of each unit with the work
assigned and the due dates—please follow that if you are absent.
VI.
VII.
Now for few rules
1. You are expected to spend about one hour outside of class preparing for each
class period. If after two weeks you find yourself spending more than one
hour, please notify your instructor
2. You must submit work on time. I will not accept late assignments without a
penalty
3. Each student is to do any work independently unless otherwise directed. The
submission of a paper, map exercise, examination, or quiz attests that the
writer has not received help
4. You are expected to contribute to class discussion
5. You are expected to learn how to write an analytical essay
6. You are expected to develop skills in interpreting maps, charts, graphs, and
various kinds of statistical data
Note taking—Note-taking is a vital skill. I encourage you to read and take notes
for each assignment in the following manner. You will actually be taking two
sets of notes—one from your homework reading and second from filling in those
notes during class lecture and discussion. I suggest you choose two colors to
take your notes in (one for homework and one for class discussion—stick with
these colors or you will get hopelessly confused)
1. Write the lesson number and title of the reading at the top of a piece of paper.
2. Do not taking running notes. Instead identify what generalization is being
made and write
Down. As you continue reading the section identify the supporting details for
your generalization and write them down.
VIII. Marking Period Projects (Writing Assignments)
For each of the four quarters, students will write a minimum of one DocumentBased-Question (DBQ) and complete one short research paper. For the fourth
quarter students will complete a visual closure project.
DBQ Topics:
First Quarter: Renaissance Education, Did Women Have a Renaissance?,
Witchcraft, Dutch Wars
Second Quarter: Gin Laws, Dutch Wars
Third Quarter: Corn Laws, Juvenile Crime in England, Peterloo Massacre,
German Nationalism—1848, Manchester
Fourth Quarter: Civil Peace in Germany, Attitudes Toward Russian Peasants,
Pan-Slavism, Attitudes About EU
First and Second Quarter Papers:
For AP Euro Social and Cultural History or Interpretive Biography From 14501648 (First Quarter) or from 1648-1789 (Second Quarter)
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Five pages with normal type and margins,
Minimum of five sources and evidence of their use within the paper.
Primary sources are considered a big plus
Footnotes or endnotes
100 points
Social and Cultural History
Find out a lot about an experience in everyday life of Early Modern Europe. Choose
from among various classes, genders, and ages under various conditions in different
countries. The idea is to understand the experience from the point of view of those who
were living it, AND ALSO to put the experience in a broader context—to interpret it as a
reflection of the values and limitations of the times, and the trends of change it may
represent. That’s a lot of thinking and learning! Then choose an assertion you know is
true and want to prove to your reader: that’s your THESIS!
In general the longer you think about your project, and the more you talk about it, the
better your question will be, the better your understanding will be, the better your thesis
will be, and therefore, the better your paper will be.
Interpretive Biography, or The Life and Times of…
Find out a lot about a person who interests you who was relevant to European History
between 1450 and 1648 or between 1648-1789. Your essay will INTERPRET the
person’s life: discussing it in the context of his/her times, evaluating his/her importance,
judging his/her contributions, successes, failure by his/her own standards or by modern
ones. You will explain the MEANING of your subject’s life, interpret his/her actions, or
otherwise explain something significant about him/her to your reader. That means,
naturally, that you will need a thesis about what that meaning is. Of course, you will
NOT use the first person in your writing.
Use the life of the person you study to enrich your understanding of the period in which
he/she lived and worked. Be sure to consider the appropriate social, political, economic,
religious or military events/issues he or she lived through.
Third Quarter Paper
For AP Euro Historians and Historiography
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Five pages with normal type and margins,
Minimum of five sources and evidence of their use within the paper.
Primary sources are considered a big plus
Footnotes or endnotes
100 points
Your goal is write an essay discussing different historians’ treatments or one topic in
European History from the 1450-1991 OR the body of work of ONE historian. Make
your choice from the list I provide or talk with me about your own ideas.
For Historiography
Historiography is the history of history. How have people thought about and written
about an historical person or event over the course of time.
After reading and pondering the works you choose, you will write a paper discussing our
topic in light of the similarities and differences in the works you read. OR you will write
a paper discussing the historical debate surrounding the event or issue you choose.
You may try to discover a trend in historical interpretation or to trace how the different
interpretations of you topic changed over time. If you are really good you can relate the
historiographical changes to the other cultural ideas of the period in which they were
written. Sometimes historians will argue over interpretation of events or personalities.
Discuss their different positions. How do the combatants use the same evidence, or
different evidence to make their points?
Here are some ideas, not an exhaustive list, to consider as you read and prepare to
write:
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What is each author’s thesis
Author’s political, social, religious, or economic biases
Context in which each work was written
Do the authors consciously argue with each other or refer to each other
Are the authors doing the same kind of history
How does each work contribute to an understanding of the topic
Do any of the authors contradict each other
If they do, what sense can you make of the disagreement
Authors motives
Are any of their interpretations generally accepted
Have any interpretations been accepted in the past but are now discredited
What evidence does each author use
What questions remained unasked or unanswered
For Historians:
You will read several of his/her works and you will also read assessments by other
historians of his/her work. Your paper will discuss his/her contributions to scholarship,
personal point of view, changes in how his/her work is perceived by historians, ways in
which the work reflects the time in which it was written, or ways in which the work
reflects the ideological biases of the author
Fourth Quarter Project
Visual Closure Project for Euro
Devise and be able to defend a visual project worth 100 points relevant to European
History from 1450-2005. It is supposed to be a learning tool, for you and for others.
You may make a map or series of maps, create a piece of art, make a graph, table, pie
chart, creative “safety net” project, concept map, flow chart, family tree, cartoon or series
of cartoon, or something else with my approval.
You may choose to use other kinds of media such as videos, music videos, powerpoint
(not encourage) original art work (encouraged) or miscellaneous evidence of genius.
You must provide a bibliography showing the sources of your information.
XIV. Primary Source Readings—You will need to keep a separate spiral notebook for
your primary source readings—a “Document Log”. For each primary source reading you
are to include the following in your “document log”: (this is to be turned in at the end of the
chapter)
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2.
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Name of the document
Author
Time Period
Summary of content
The intent of the author
The significance of the document
Any historical events and personalities that influenced the writer
SYLLABUS
All assignments, readings, and time schedules are subject to change. You will be notified
well in advance of any changes. For each unit you will receive a calendar containing
assignments due on each day.
Unit One—The Renaissance (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 53-75
Readings: Machiavelli—The Prince
Erasmus—In Praise of Folly
Castiglion—The Courtier
Topics: The New Conception of Life
Humanism—“The Birth of Literature”
Politics
The Renaissance Outside of Italy
The new Monarchies
Art
Additional Reading: The Prince or Utopia
Unit Two—The Reformation, Religious Wars, and the Emergence of the Nation-State
(10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 106-140
Readings: Martin Luther
John Calvin
Council of Trent
Topics: Causes of the Protestant Reformation
The philosophies of Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII
The reaction of the Catholic Church and the Counter Reformation
Causes and effects of the series of religious wars
The Thirty Years’ War
Baroque art
Unit Three—The Age of Exploration (7 days)
Palmer and Colton
Readings: To be announced
Topics: Identify and trace various European explorers, their discoveries, and the impact
of their discovery
Compare the different motivations of the various European countries
Analyze the changing social structure
Compare the social differences between eastern and western Europe
Development of racism toward non-Europeans
Unit Four—The Politics of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: The Age of Louis
XIV, the Stuarts of England and the Transformation of Eastern Europe (15 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 161-245
Readings: Louis XIV, Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Letter to His Heir, Memoirs of
the Duke of
Saint Simon, Declaration of the Gallican Church (excerpts)
John Locke, Two Treatises on Government
Duc de Saint Simon, Historical Memoirs of the Duc de Saint Simon
Frederick II, the Great, Antimachiavelli
Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace
Topics: Explain and analyze the term “balance of power”
Trace the development of parliamentary rule in England
Identify the reasons for France’s ascendancy to power
Analyze the development of absolutism in France
Explain the political developments in the Eastern European nations of Austria,
Prussia and Russia
Analyze the different political development of eastern and western Europe
Unit Five—The Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 286-351
Readings: Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration
Galileo Galilei, The Starry Messenger, The Assayer
Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws
Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment
David Hume, A Treatise on Human Nature
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
Topics: Assess the role of science before the seventeenth century
List the people associated with the new scientific view of the world
Identify the new directions in political theory
Interpret the writings of the philosophes
Analyze the success or failure of the “enlightened monarchs
Relate new era revolutionary developments to the Enlightenment
Art of the Enlightenment
Oral Presentations
Enlightenment Salon will be held during this unit
Unit Six—The French Revolution and Napoleon (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 361-441
Readings: Abbe Sieyes, What is the Third Estate?
The National Assembly, The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Olympe de Gouges, The Declaration of the Rights of Women
William Wordsworth, The Prelude
Napoleon Bonaparte, Letters
Victor Hugo, To the Napoleon Column
Topics:Relate the Enlightenment ideas to the French Revolution
Analyze the French social structure
Compare the first to the second revolution
Evaluate the revolution
Map the organization of Napoleon’s Empire
Identify the resistance to the Napoleonic system
Assess the success or failure of the Congress of Vienna
Unit Seven—The Industrial Revolution and the Advent of the “Isms” (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages
pages 453-533
Readings: Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Hard Times, Great Expectations (excerpts)
Evidence Given Before the Sadler Commission
Evidence Given Before Lord Ashley’s Mine Conditions
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Jeremy Benthem, Utilitarianism
William Blake, Mock On
William Wordsworth, Tables Turned
Additional Reading: The Communist Manifesto
Topics: Causes of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain
Impact of the Industrial Revolution on social classes, roles in families, etc.
Compare the new political philosophies
Explain the new economic theories of Adam Smith and Jeremy Benthem
Explain the new philosophy of Romanticism and the art of the romantic age
Examine the impact of the revolutions of 1848 in France, Germany, and Italy
Assess utopian socialism and Marxist socialist theories
Unit Eight—The Rise of Nationalism and Nation-States (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 542-637)
Readings: Mary Wollenstonecraft, The Vindication of the Rights of Women
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
George Bernard Shaw, Fabian Manifesto
Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth
Topics: Explain the idea of a nation-state
Illustrate the new unified countries of Germany and Italy
Compare the methods of Otto von Bismarck and Camillo Cavour
Analyze the reasons for democratic growth in England
Compare the roles of Napoleon I and Napoleon III
Analyze the philosophies of Darwinism and Social Darwinism
Describe the art of the pre-modern era (realism, impressionism and postimpressionism)
Unit Nine—Europe’s World Supremacy (5 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 642-683
Readings: Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden
Daniel Achebe, When Things Fall Apart
Edward D. Morel, The Black Man’s Burden
David Livingstone, Cambridge Speech of 1857
Topics: Causes of European imperialism
Assess the impact of European colonization on indigenous peoples
Map the partition of Africa
Compare imperialism in Africa to imperialism in Asia
Relate European rivalry for colonies to the causes of World War I
Analyze the attitudes toward Third World peoples today and those attitudes at the
turn of the
Century
Unit Ten—World War I and the Russian Revolution (15 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 695-772
Readings: The Trench Poets of World War I
Ernest Junger, Storm of Steel
R. Scotland Liddell, On the Russian Front
The Treaty of Versailles
Woodrow Wilson, Fourteen Points
John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace
John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World
Alexandra Kollontai, The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated
Communist Woman
Additional Reading: All Quiet on the Western Front
Topics: Identify the causes of World War I
Chronicle the course of World War I
Evaluate the collapse of Russia and the intervention of the US on the course of
WWI
Compare a liberal democracy to a totalitarian system
Compare the two proposals for ending the war
Identify the events of the Russian Revolution
Analyze the international impact of communism
Unit Eleven—Between the World Wars—The Rise of Totalitarians (15 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 777-822
Readings: Benito Mussolin, The Doctrine of Fascism
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (excerpts)
Joseph Goebells, Nazi Propaganda
Bruno Bettleheim, Nazi Camps
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Topics: Analyze the problems of the post-war world as a catalyst for the rise of dictators
Assess the impact of the collapse of the world economy
Identify the reasons for continued democracies in England and the United States
Compare France with the United States and England in the post-war years
Identify the beliefs of fascism,
Trace the development of Germany into a totalitarian state
Unit Twelve—The Second World War (10 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 834-860
Readings: from Treaty of Non-Aggression Between Germany and the Soviet Union
Winston Churchill, Wars Are Not Won by Evacuation (excerpt)
Hilde Marchant, Women and Children Last: A Woman Reporter’s Account of
the Battle of
Britain (excerpt)
Anny Latour, The Jewish Resistance in France
From …The Nuremburg Trials
From… The United Nations Charter
Additional Reading: Night
t
Topics: Analyze the policy of pacifism
Construct a time-line of Axis victories
Analyze the events leading to the turning of the tide in World War II
Identify the events surrounding the end of World War II in Europe
Compare the European strategy to the Pacific strategy
Assess the political ramifications of the wartime conferences
Compare the Treaty of Versailles to the peace agreements ending World War I
Unit Thirteen—Postwar Europe: The Rise of the Superpowers and the Cold War (7
days)
Palmer and Colton pages 867-914; 978-1002
Readings: Winston Churchill, The Sinews of Peace
George C. Marshall, The Marshall Plan (excerpts)
Khruschev, Nikita, On the Cult of Personality of its Consequences
Reinhold Wagnleitner, Coca-Colonization and the Cold War
Topics: Identify the problems that led to the Cold War
Identify the attempts at the economic restructuring of Europe
Analyze the policies designed to avoid economic nationalism
Relate events in the USSR t the rise of dictatorships in Eastern Europe
Analyze the manifestations of the Cold War
Unit Fourteen—A World Transformed—The Collapse of Communism and a United
Europe (5 days)
Palmer and Colton pages 1011-1057
Readings Margaret Thatcher, Speech to the Conservative Party Conference
Jean-Yves Potel, The Promise of Solidarity: Inside the Polish Workers’
Struggle
Mikhail Gorbachev, On Restructuring the Party’s Personnel Policy
Treaty on European Union
Simon de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Topics: Identify the events in the Soviet Union, which led to the revolution of 1991
Relate the events in the USSR to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe
Design an integrated economic and political system of the countries of Europe
Analyze contemporary European intellectual and social development