AP European History
Tom Miron Instructor
2011-2012
Objectives
This course is designed to be a rigorous survey class of modern European history. Upon
successful completion of the course, the student will:
- Have a solid understanding of the fundamental factual narrative of the European
experience from approximately the Renaissance to the present.
- Have a solid understanding of the historical concept of causation and how change
over time fits into this narrative.
- Be able to trace significant themes across the narrative; including, but not limited
to, political, social-cultural, diplomatic, and economic.
- Have a clear understanding of the significance of geography in the European
experience, and be geographically literate in regard to the Europe, Africa, and
Asia.
- Be adept at writing persuasively about historical topics.
- Be adept at historical research.
- Understand the concept of historiography and be clear on various strands of
historical interpretation as it relates to European history.
- Be able to interpret a wide variety of primary source materials and to place these
in context and be aware of potential bias, etc.
- Be prepared for the nationally administered AP Exam in May.
Texts
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Palmer, Colton, et al. A History of the Modern World.
Kramnick, Isaac, editor. The Portable Enlightenment Reader.
Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. The Communist Manifesto.
Fitzgerald, Sheila. The Russian Revolution.
Baycroft, Timothy. Nationalism in Europe 1789-1945.
Content
The course will be divided into the following units. A grade will be assigned to each
student for the unit’s work, although a variety of assessment methods will be used to
determine the grade. In addition to unit grades, there will be a graded DBQ each quarter
and a cumulative semester exam each term.
Unit One
Unit Two
Unit Three
Unit Four
Grand Theory: Guns, Germs, and Steel Summer Reading
European Geography unit, Methodology, Historiography
Chronology 1450-1763
Chronology 1763-1815
Unit Five
Chronology 1815-1871
Unit Six
Unit Seven
Unit Eight
Unit Nine
Unit Ten
Asia and Africa Geography Unit
Chronology 1871-1919
Chronology 1919-1945
Chronology 1945-Present
Independent Study: European Art, Architecture, and Music
1st Semester
Unit
Time
Frame
Summer,
Week 1
Assignments
Methodology
Assessment
One
Summer
Reading
Two
Week 1,2
Geography,
Methodology,
Historiography
Read Guns, Germs,
Steel w/ reading notes
Class Discussion
Geo worksheet
Europe
Map work
Lecture- The impact
of geography upon
history
Practice DBQ
exercise with
extensive
instruction/practice
on fully assessing
primary source
materials (including
maps, graphs, charts,
statistics, cartoons,
works of art, etc.)
Explanation of
historiography and
overview of what to
look for as the course
progresses
In-class essay assessing
the validity of Diamond’s
thesis
In-class geography test
Three
1450-1763
Lectures1. The Rise of Europe
2- Upheaval in
Shapin- The Scientific
Christendom 1300Revolution
1560
3-The Transformation
Primary source
of Eastern Europe
materials/historiography 1648-1740
packet reading
4- Progress and
Culture
Weeks
Chambers Chs.
2,3,4,5,6,7,8 15,16,17,18
Mini-research
projects on cultural
history topics
Timelines
1st Quarter DBQ (from
2006 exam- The role of
organized sports 18691940)
Take home essay on one
aspect of change over
time in Europe from
1500s to mid-1700s.
Choices include the
impact of the scientific
revolution, the transition
from a religious society
to a more secular one, the
transformation of Eastern
Europe, or the transition
from feudalism to
capitalism
Four
1763-1815
Weeks
Enlightenment Reader
8,9,10,11,12 p.350-670
Lectures1- Enlightened
Despotism
Chambers Chs. 19,21
2- The French
Revolution
Primary source
3- The Congress of
materials/historiography Vienna
packet reading
Independent research
on the Enlightenment
In-class test- Multiple
choice culled from
previous AP exams and
identifies
Take home essay on how
the Enlightenment
provided the intellectual
underpinnings for the
French Revolution
In-class test - Multiple
choice culled from
previous AP exams and
identifies
Field trip to the
Frazier Museum of
International History
Timelines to visit
British Royal
Armouries collection
and see drama
presentation on
Catherine the Great
Five
1815-1871
Weeks
13,14,15
Chambers Chs. 23,24
Primary source
materials/
historiography packet
reading
Week 16
Review
Timelines
Lectures1- Europe 1815-1848
Reaction v. Progress
2- The Consolidation
of Nation-States
1859-1871
3- The advent of Isms
Timelines
Review
2nd Quarter DBQ
(Germanic states prior
1848)
In-class test culled from
previous AP exams
Multiple choice, essay
Semester Exam Full
Mock AP
2nd Semester
Unit
Six
Geography
Seven
1871-1919
Time Frame
Week 1
Week
2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Assignments
Geo worksheets
Africa, Asia
Chambers Chs. 25,26
The Communist
Manifesto
Fitzgerald
The Russian
Revolution
Primary source
materials/
historiography packet
reading
***
Example of this
unit’s selectionMill- from The
Subjugation of
Women
Shaw- from Mrs.
Warren’s Profession
Himmelfarb- from
Poverty and
Compassion
Bakunin- Anarchism
Popp- from A factory
Girl
Comte- from The
Age of Ideology
Pope Leo XIIIRerum Novarum
Nietzsche- from The
Age of Ideology
George Eliot- Essay
of Margaret Fuller
and Mary
Wollstonecraft
Eight
Weeks
Chambers Ch. 28,29
Methodology
Map work, independent
study
Lectures1- European
Civilization 1871-1914
A- Society and Culture
B- Economics and
Politics
C- The Belle Epoque
D- Imperialism
(w/maps)
Assessment
In-class test
3rd Quarter DBQ (IrishEnglish from 1994 exam)
Russian Revolution
Research assignment
Take home essay test on
WWI using the
causes/practices/effects
paradigm
World War I
propaganda posters
evaluation
World War I BBC
video series
Lectures-(derived from
In-class test
1919-1945
9,10,11
Primary source
materials/
historiography
packet reading
Hobsbawm’s An Age of
Extremes)
1- The Short Twentieth
Century
2- The Age of Total
War
3- The World
Revolution
4- Into the Economic
Abyss
5- The Fall of Classical
Liberalism
6-Against the Common
Enemy
Multiple choice,
identification, and essay
Timeline
Nine
1945-present
Weeks
12,13,14
The World at War
Video series
Chambers Ch.30
Lectures1- European
Primary source
Background to the Cold
materials/
War
historiography packet 2- The End of
reading
European Empire
3- The End of Really
Existing Socialism
4- Art, Culture, and
Faith in 20th Century
Europe
5- Europe: Whither
Hence?
4th Quarter DBQ (from 20
exam)
In-class test
Multiple choice,
identification, and essay
Timeline
Ten
Art,
Architecture,
and Music
Week 15
Week 16
Week 17
Independent Study:
European Art,
Architecture, and
Music
Review
Review
The Cold War video
series
Independent Study
Review
Review
Submit a power point
presentation on a specific
aspect studied
AP Exam
Semester Exam Thematic
Essays