Advanced Placement European History
Review: War & Diplomacy
I.
Dynastic Wars (The AP Exam will not focus on events prior to 1450, but you should be
aware of the following conflicts:
• 100 Years’ War
• War of the Roses
II.
Religious Wars – 16th & 17th Centuries
Centuries
Civil Wars in Germany
• Peasants’ War (1524-1526)
• Schmalkaldic League (est. 1531)
Peace of Augsburg – 1555
• Charles V's attempts to deal with Catholics and Lutherans (Calvinists and
Anabaptists not included)
• “Cuius regio, eius religio” (the ruler of the land would determine the religion
of the land)
Spanish Naval War v. England (Armada – 1588)
• Elizabeth I v. Philip II
Civil War in France
o St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572)
o Henry IV – Edict of Nantes (1589) ended the religious wars in France
between Huguenots & Catholics
• Huguenots were given freedom of religion
• Huguenots given equal political rights with the Catholics
• Huguenots could have military fortifications
• Huguenots were allowed self-government in 100 French cities
Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
• Religious Issue: Protestant repression in Bohemia by Catholics
• Political Issue: Protestant states v. Catholic HRE
• Participants: Catholic France + Protestant Sweden v. Catholic HRE +
Protestant Danes
• Final Stage: Bourbons v. Hapsburgs
Treaty of Westphalia (1648) ended the Thirty Years’ War
• Ended a century of religious conflict (religious extremism burned out the
populace of Europe)
• Broke Hapsburg power and ended their domination of Europe
• Balance of power emerged through a series of ever-changing political
alliances
• Center of political power shifted from Central Europe and the Mediterranean
to the nations of Atlantic coast
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Dutch Revolt against Spain (ends 1648)
• V. Philip II (Spain)
• Breugel Painting: Massacre of the Innocents
• Dutch establish a trading empire (Dutch East India Company → Africa, Asia;
Dutch West India Company → New World)
• Commercial rivalry with England until 1689 which Dutch when William
of Orange becomes King of England with Mary Stuart
III.
Absolutism
Louis XIV (France) – Quest to protect France’s “natural boundaries” (Alps, Pyrenees,
Rhine)
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685)
• War of Spanish Succession (1702-1713) – ended by Treaty of Utrecht (1713)
• Recognized all existing European dynasties
• Forbade the combination of the French & Spanish thrones
• Asiento to England; gave Britain the exclusive right to supply the Spanish
colonies with African slaves for 30 years
• Gallicanism Crusade: restriction of papal control & individual administrative
autonomy for each nation
War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) – Maria Theresa (Austria) v. Frederick the
Great (Prussia)
• Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle (1748)
Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 (France+Austria+Russia vs. Prussia+England)
Colonial Rivalries
Seven Years’ War (1756-1763): F+A+R v. E+P
• Treaty of Paris (1756) – French commercial and colonial dominance
passed to Britain
IV.
Napoleonic Era (1799(1799-1815)
French Revolution (1789-1799)
• Napoleonic victories in Italy, reverses in Egypt
Napoleonic Expansion (1803-1809)
• Austerlitz (1805): France defeats combined Austrian/Russian army (greatest
victory)
• Jena (1806): Prussia defeated, eliminated from Anti-French coalition
• Friedland (1807) → Treaty of Tilsit (Russia joins Continental System)
Napoleon’s Downfall
• Peninsular War (1808-1814): “Spanish Ulcer”
• Invasion of Russia (1812) – 500,000 French dead
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Wars of Liberation (1813-1814) – Battle of Leipzig results in French expulsion
from Prussia & Poland
Treaty of Paris (1814) – very generous to France
• Ended Napoleonic Wars
• Allowed France to keep 1792 borders
• Returned Bourbons to the throne
• Napoleon sent to Elbe
“100 Days” (1815) – Napoleon ultimately defeated at Waterloo, sent to St. Helena
Congress of Vienna (1815)
• Legitimacy: rightful, legitimate rulers deposed by the French Revolution or
Napoleon were restored to power
• Compensation: the nations that made important contributions to Napoleon's
defeat were compensated by territory
V.
Metternich – Age of Reaction
Quadruple Alliance (1815) – Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia (+France in 1818)
• “Concert of Europe”
• Holy Alliance – Austria, Russia, Prussia
• Avowed purpose was to promote the influence of Christian principles in the
affairs of nations
• Became a tool for conservatism and repression in central and eastern Europe
Aims: Maintain a “Balance of Power” in Europe and maintain the “Status Quo”
Revolts (Congress of Vienna ignored nationalism & liberalism)
• Spain (1820-1821)
• Italy: (Carbonari & Risorgimento)
• Latin America: 1820s
• Greece (1821-1829): Europe supported liberalism because it hurt Ottomans
• France (1830-1832): Charles X replaced by Louis Philippe (“The Citizen King”)
• 1848 (The entire continent except England and France)
• Significance
1. The spread of parliamentary governments
2. The extension of manhood suffrage in France (and briefly in Austria)
3. The abolition of manorialism in Central Europe
4. The beginnings of the German and Italian unification movements
5. The establishment of Hungary as an equal partner with Austria under
Hapsburg rule
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VI.
Post 1848
Wars of Unification
• Italy (1861)
• Germany (1871): Bismarck & the Franco-Prussian War
• Treaty of Frankfurt: ended Franco-Prussian War, but by treating France
harshly, Bismarck planted the seeds of hatred and revenge which helped lead
to World War I and to the harsh treatment of a defeated Germany after the
war
VII.
Twentieth Century
Russo-Japanese War (1905)
• Russian defeat led to Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolutions (1905, 1917): creation of socialist state, elimination of
Romanov dynasty
World War I (1914-1918)
• Allies vs. Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria)
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1917): signed with Bolsheviks, ends war on Eastern Front
• Treaty of Versailles (1919): Clemenceau, Wilson, Orlando, Lloyd George)
• Based upon “Fourteen Points”
o Reparations
o Article 231 – War Guilt Clause (Germany was held solely
responsible for starting World War I)
o Alsace-Lorraine
o Mandates for territory
o Polish Corridor
o Creation of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland
and Turkey as new nations
o Disarmament (prevent Germany from ever waging war again)
German army was limited to 100,000 volunteers
Conscription was forbidden
Rhineland was demilitarized
German navy reduced to a few small ships
Submarines, military aircraft, and war industries were
prohibited
World War II (1939-1945)
Germany vs. USSR
Germany vs. Western Powers
Ended by Unconditional Surrender of Germany (May 9, 1945)
Germany occupied, split into four sectors
• US, England & France unify to create West Germany (1948) initiating the Cold
War
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