AP European History Course Syllabus
Course Objective:
AP European History is designed to give high school students an experience similar to
that of a college level survey course on European History. This course is designed to aid
students in learning the concepts of European History that are essential in understanding
the complex developments throughout its history. Students will discover the political,
social, economic, and intellectual history that have helped to shape European History
from 1450 through present day.
Individual Student Objectives:
- Analysis of primary source documents and their contributions and influences on a
specific time period. (ex. Documents, maps, pictures, etc.)
- The ability to write a clearly understood document that showcases depth of
understanding and critical analysis. (ex. DBQ, FRQ)
- Effective time management skills along with productive note taking skills (ex. Note
cards, pacing exercises for DBQ, FRQ)
Required Texts:
McKay, John, et al. A History of Western Society, 9th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins. 2008
Primary and Secondary Sources:
Required texts will be accompanied by several outside primary and secondary sources,
provided by the instructor, and will be essential to aiding students in developing a deeper
knowledge European History. These sources will be a compilation of excerpts and
complete documents. Sources will be analyzed to understand multiple points of view and
bias. Along with these sources, Maps, Statistics, Art Work, and Graphs will be used to
analyze changes in European economies, politics, artistic movements, literary
movements, society, and geographic changes.
A reading list will be given out at the beginning of each week because of school events
and unforeseen changes to the yearly calendar.
Exams:
Students will be tested after each unit. Unit exams will consist of multiple choice
questions and Free Response Questions in order to prepare students for their AP Exam.
Document Based Questions:
Students will also be given DBQ’s to practice throughout the year. Each quarter we will
have 1 or 2 practice DBQ’s. Document based Questions will be explained in further
detail in class.
Homework and Readings:
Students will be assigned several homework and reading assignments throughout the
year. Each assignment is essential to the required information to be learned in this course.
Readings will be accompanied by an in depth discussion in class. Discussions of primary
and secondary source material will be used to provide students with an adequate analysis
of historical information, showing point of view and bias in the material.
Notebook:
Each student is required to have a notebook in which they will write down their daily
notes, outline their chapters and take discussion notes from class. Essay questions will
also be written in the student’s notebook. The Notebooks will be a part of your grade,
they need to be organized and neatly kept.
Grade Breakdown:
Student grades will be calculated based on the following areas: (1) Daily Grades
(Homework, Participation, Quizzes, In-Class Work, Notebooks); (2) Unit Tests; (3)
Papers, (Essays, Reviews, etc.); (4) Project; (5) Midterm and Final Exam
Make-Up Work:
Students who are because of an excused absence may make up any work they missed in
class. Students are to write the day of the absence at the top of the assignment when it is
turned in. 2 days are allowed for each day a student is absent from class.
Late Work:
Students may not turn in homework assignments late for credit. Projects may be turned in
late with a penalty of 10 percent off per day it is late.
Weekly Schedule for 2013-14 AP European History:
Unit
Weeks
Unit Topic/Concepts
Readings/Primary Sources
2&½
The Renaissance
*Development of the Renaissance/
Why Italy?
*Social and Economic Aspects
*Impact of New Ideas on Art
*Political Evolution of Nation-States
2&½
Reformation and Religious Wars
*Causes of the Reformation
-Religious and Political
*Uniqueness of English Reformation
*Movement of Reformation Ideas
*Catholic Response to Reformation
*Consequences of Religious Wars
Chapter 13 McKay
Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince
Thomas More: Utopia
Leonardo da Vinci: The Painter
Lorenzo de Medici: Paternal Advice to a Cardinal
Christine de Pizan: Advice from a Wise Princess
Giorgio Vasari: Michelangelo's David
Michel de Montaigne: On Cannibals
Selected Artists Work: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,
Raphael, Jan Van Eyck, Sandro Botticelli, Verrocio
Balance of Power/Italian City-State Maps
Spread of Renaissance Ideas Map
Growth of Printing Map
Reconquista Maps and Statistics
Chapter 14 McKay
Desiderius Erasmus: On Popular Religious Practice
Martin Luther: 95 Theses
Imperial Edict of Worms
Erasmus and Luther Debate
Discovery and Reformation: Religious Wars
Contemporary Descriptions of Anne Boleyn
Thomas Cramner’s letter of Henry VIII’s Divorce
Henry VIII 1535 Executions
Execution of Anne Boleyn
Execution of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Dudley
Peace of Augsburg, Select Documents
Select Letters to and from Mary Queen of Scots
Maps: Spread of the Reformation, Christianity
Religious Wars Statistics and Maps
1&1/2
Age of Exploration and Conquest
*Comparisons Pre/Post Columbus
*Columbian Exchange
*Effects of overseas Expansion on
conquered peoples
*Change in Culture and Art
4
Absolutism and Constitutionalism
*Level of Achievement for
Absolutism
*Absolutism and Constitutionalism
Culture
*Emergence of English and Dutch
Constitutionalism
*Cause and Effects of English Civil
War
*Effect of Absolutism and
Constitutionalism on Social and
Economics in Europe
*How did Austria and Prussia
succeed in Absolutism
*Uniqueness of Russia and Ottoman
Empires
Chapter 15 McKay
Ducas: The Fall of Constantinople
Voyages of Zheng He
Alvise da Ca’ da Mosto: Description of Capo Bianco, 15th
century African Slave Trade
1492: An Ongoing Voyage
Columbus' letter to the King and Queen of Spain, 1494
Account: Vespucci’s First Voyage 1497
John Cabot: Voyage to North America
Vasco de Gama: Round Africa to India
Hernando Cortes: Letters on the Conquest
An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
Magellan’s Trip around the World
Michel de Montaigne: Fallibility of Human Understanding
Instructions for the Virginia Colony
John Cotton on the Just Price
Geographic Discovery, Progress of Mapping
New Navigational Technologies
New World Maps, Before and After Columbus, Population
Statistics Before and After, Global Trade Maps/Statistics
Columbian Exchange Graphs
Chapters 16, 17 McKay
King James I: True Law of Free Monarchies
Henry IV: Limited toleration of Huguenots
House of Commons reply to King James
The Monteagle Letter
Thomas Hobbes: The Citizen
Oliver Cromwell: Letter to his brother in law
Jean Baptise-Colbert: Memorandum on Trade
Moliere: From Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Habeas Corpus Act
An Invitation to William of Orange
Declaration of William of Orange as King of England
English Bill of Rights
John Locke: Second Treatise of Civil Govt.
Toleration Act
Social Conditions in 17th Century France
Ludwig Fabritius: The Revolt of Stenka Razin
Letters between Fredrick II and Fredrick William I
Peter the Great: Imposing Western Style on Russians
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Dining With The Sultana, 1718
Jean Rousset de Missy: Russians in Western Dress
The Division of Poland
Select Articles from Treaty of Utrecht
The Destruction of Magdeburg
Select Art and Music from Baroque Period:
Gianlorenzo Bernini (Architecture and Sculpture)
Versailles, Schönbrunn, the Winter Palace
Select Paintings from: Carvaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego
Velazquez, Artemisia Gentileschi
Dutch Style: Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jan Vermeer
French Classicism: Nicolas Poussin, Jean Racine, Jean-Baptise
Moliere
Baroque Music: Claudio Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, George
Fridric Handel
2
1
Scientific Revolution,
Enlightenment, and 18th Century
Europe
*Causes of Scientific Revolution
*What was Revolutionary in the New
Attitudes of the Natural World?
*What Challenges did the Scientific
Revolution face from the Church.
*Compare and Contrast Opposing
Views of the Enlightenment
*What Impact did the Enlightenment
have on Government
Commercial Revolution and
Changing Life
*Identify Reasons for Population
Rise
*What were the Causes and Effects
of the Agricultural and Commercial
Revolution
*Changes in Marriage and Family
*Evolving Ideas on Child Rearing
*Analyze New Medical Practices
*Cultural and Educational Changes
Chapter 18 McKay
Select work from Scientific Revolution Figures:
Francis Bacon, Tycho Brahe, Isaac Newton
Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei
Heliocentric vs. Geocentric Maps
Astronomical Maps
Planetary Photos: Moons, Rings, Sun Spots, etc.
New Scientific Instruments: Telescope, Microscope,
Barometer, Thermometer, Pendulum Clock
Select Readings from Enlightenment Figures:
John Locke, Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith,
David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Baron de Montesquieu, Daniel
Defoe, John Wesley, Thomas Paine
Graph Comparisons: Life before and After Enlightenment
Expansion Maps: Seven Years War, War of Austrian
Succession, French and Indian War, Pugachev Rebellion
Chapters 19, 20 McKay
Anne-Robert Jacques Turgot: Abolishment of the French
Guilds
Captain William Bosman: On the Slave Trade in Guinea
Arthur Young: On the Expediency of Forming New Colonies
Abraham Crawley: Of Agriculture
John A. Mazis: The Potato
Leeds Woolen Workers’ Petition, 1786
Child Labor in Cotton Factories
Richard Guest: The Steam loom
Edmond Williamson: Births and Deaths in an English Gentry
Family
John Locke: Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Mary Wortley Montagu: On Smallpox Inoculations
John Wesley: The Grounds Rules for Methodism
Graph on the Changes in Society
Atlantic Economy Maps, Statistics, and Movement
Economic and Population Charts
Artistic Depictions of Old World impact on the New World
Maps and Statistic on Industrial Growth in Europe
Changes in European Social Life: Comparison Chart
Literacy Map of Europe
2
French Revolution and Napoleonic
Era
*Social, Economic, and Political
Reasons for Revolution
*French Society Before and After
Revolutions
*Impact of Colonies by French
Revolution
*Rise and Fall of Napoleon
* Napoleonic Polices (Home and
Abroad)
2
Industrial Society and Revolution
*Development of Industrial
Revolution
*Impact of Industrial Revolution on
Working Classes
*Development of Capitalism and
Socialism
*Challenge of Conservatism in
Greece, France, and Great Britain
*Romanticism and Important Artists
*1848 Revolutions
Chapter 21 McKay
4 August Decrees
Selections from the Cahiers
Decree of Abolishing the Feudal System in France
Storming of Bastille
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Petition of Women of the Third Estate to the King
Mary Wollstonecraft: From a Vindication of the Rights of
Women
Tennis Court Oath
Abbe Sieyes: What is the Third Estate
September Massacres: Eyewitness Accounts/ Newspaper
Articles
Edmund Burke: Death of Marie Antoinette
Napoleon: Proclamations to Troops, Account of the Empire,
Farewell to the Old Guard
Confederation of the Rhine
Baron Von Stein: Description of Battle of Leipzig
Return of Napoleon from Elba
Napoleon Bonaparte’s Will
Napoleonic Era Maps: Battles, Geographic/Political Changes
Propaganda/ Interpretation of Period Images
Chapters 22, 23 McKay
Child Labor in Factories
English Corn Laws
John Aikin: Manchester Becomes a Thriving Industrial City
Robert Owen and Sir Robert Peel: Report on Committee on
Children in Manufactories
Yorkshire Luddites Threaten an Owner of a Mechanized
Factory
Robert Owen: A New View of Society
Select Readings from Karl Marx
Select Poems from Romantic Poet’s
Friedrich Von Schlegel: German Romanticism in Philosophy
C Baudelaire: "What is Romanticism?"
R. William Steuart Trench: Misery of the Potato Famine
Metternich on the Censorship of the Press
Percy St. John: The French Revolution
Frankfurt Constitution of 1849
Growth of Labor/Industrialization Charts and Maps
Population Statistics
Economic Changes
Artist Depictions of Industry and Impact on Life
Sexual Division of Labor Statistics
Balance of Power Maps
Romanticism Literature: William Wordsworth, Samuel
Coleridge, Walter Scott, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Germaine
de Stael, Victor Hugo, Amadine Aurore Lucie Dupin
Art and Music: Eugene Delacroix, Joseph Turner, John
Constable, Franz Liszt, Ludwig Van Beethoven
2
Urban Society and Nationalism
*Urban Life Changes in the 1900’s?
*Differences of life for Rich and
Poor during Urban Industrial Society
*The Changing Family of Europe
*New Ideas and Thoughts Influenced
by Urban Society
*Napoleon III and the Second
Republic
*German and Italian Unification
*Modernization of Russia and
Ottoman Empire
*Rise of Nationalism
*Marxism and Socialist Movement
1830 and 1848 Maps and Charts
Chapters 24, 25 McKay
Sir Edwin Chadwick: Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of
the Poor
Isabella Beeton: From Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household
Management
Clara Zetkin: Women’s Work and the Trade Unions
Charles Darwin: Origin of Species, Descent of Man
Herbert Spencer: Survival of the Fittest Applied to Human
Kind
Pope Pius X: The Oath Against Moderism
Documents of German Unification 1848-71
A War Correspondent in the Franco-Prussian War
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Nikolai Turgenieff: Emancipation of Russian Serfs
Franco-Sardinian Alliance
Jules Favre: Downfall of the Second Empire
The Three Emperors League
The Triple Alliance
October Manifesto
Leo Pinsker: A Russian Zionist Makes the Case for a Jewish
Homeland
Urban Life Statistics
Maps of City Growth
Working Class Photographs
Population and Death Rates Graphics
Quality of Life/Income Statistics and Graphs
Cultural Changes in Classes
Realism Literature Movement
Political Cartoons/Art and Evolution
Maps of German and Italian Unification
Artistic Depictions of Unification
Photographs of Leaders and Thinkers
Political Movements Posters
2
Imperialism and The Great War
*Effect of Imperialism on Africa and
Asia
*European Need to Build Political
Empires
*Colonial Responses and Challenges
to Imperial Powers
*Background Causes for World War
I
*Impact on the Home Front
*Revolution in Russia
*Failure of an Attempt at Peace
1
The Age of Anxiety
*New Ideas in Philosophy, Physics,
Psychology, and Literature
*Revolutions of Modernism
*Effects of Popular Culture
*Attempts to Establish and Sustain
Peace
*Worldwide Depression and
Attempts to Solve the Economic
Crisis
Chapters 26, 27 McKay
Attempts to Control Opium Trade
Africa Before the Scramble: Britain and the Niger Trade, 1841
Imperialism: A German Viewpoint, French Viewpoint
Sir Henry Morton Stanley: European Imperialism in Africa
Capt. F. D. Lugard:
The Rise of Our East African Empire, 1893
Sample of Native Treaty
The Boxers Declare Death to the Foreign Devils
White Man/Black Man’s Burden
J.A. Hobson: Imperialism
Select Treaties and Alliances
Bosnian Crisis, Morocco Crisis
Young Turks: Proclamation of the Ottoman Empire
Helena Swanwick: The War in It’s Effect Upon Women
Woodrow Wilson: Fourteen Points
Treaty of Versailles (excerpts)
Maps of Africa and Asia During Imperialism
Artistic Displays of Imperialism
Political Cartoons of Imperialism
European Growth and Investment Overseas Maps, Graphs and
Charts
Emigration Statistics
Maps and Graphs of European Alliances
Ethnic and Political Geographic Maps
Photographs, Videos, Interviews of World War I Veterans
Propaganda Posters and their Impact on the War Effort
Map of Geographic Changes After the War
Fall of Ottoman Empire Maps
Chapter 28 McKay
Select Readings from: Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud,
Albert Einstein, James Joyce, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf,
Oswald Spengler, Soren Kierkegaard
Select Artwork from early Modern Artists
John Maynard Keynes: An Analysis of the Versailles Treaty
Eduard Beneš: The Rationale for The Little Entente
General Ludendorff, On Overcoming the Consequences of the
Lost War
Select Readings on the Great Depression
Select Modern Art and Music: Architecture from Le Corbusier,
Louis H. Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Walter Gropius
Art From Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, Paul Cezanne,
Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso
Music from Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, and Arnold
Schonberg
Samples from Movies from the early 1900’s
Unemployment statistics and figures
Select Depression Images of the People
2
World War 2 Era 1919-45
*Analysis of Rise of Dictatorships
*Evolution of Staling and
Communist Party
*Causes and Action Leading to
World War Two
*Reasons for Allied Success
2
Cold War Era and Social
Transformations
*Causes of the Cold War
*Independence for Colonies
*Analysis of Social Changes for
Women, Children, Workers,
Students, Class
*Economic Struggles of the Late
Cold War Period
Chapter 29 McKay
Joseph Goebbels: Der Führer
Adolf Hitler: Select Documents, Videos, Speeches
Joseph Stalin: On the Death of Lenin
Benito Mussolini: What is Fascism?
Geneva Convention on Chemical Weapons
The Nazi Party: Admission Requirements
Rudolph Hess: Oath to Hitler
Sterilization for "The Unfit": The Hitlerian Nightmare Begins
Benito Mussolini: Justification for Invasion of Ethiopia, Call to
Arms
Munich Agreement
Neville Chamberlain: Peace in Our Time
Winston Churchill: "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat"
Select Propaganda
Photographs of Labor Camps
Build Up Statistics and Graphs
Photographs of Leaders, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin
Maps Showing the Growth of Germany
Battle Maps, Growth and Fall of Germany, Japan
Holocaust Images and Maps of Camps
Images of War: Photographs, Videos, Paintings, etc.
Chapter 30 McKay
Winston Churchill: Iron Curtain Speech
Joseph Stalin: Reply to Iron Curtain Speech
Marshall Plan
Exchange of Notes on Berlin Wall
Select Readings from: John F. Kennedy, Nikita Krushchev,
Anwar el Sadat,
Declaration of Independence: Israel
France: The "Loi-Cadre"
Alexander Solzhenitsyn: The Stalinist Gulag
The Helinski Final Act: Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms Enunciated
Simone de Beauvoir: Existential Feminism
The "Twenty-One Demands": A Call for Workers' Rights and
Freedom in a Socialist State
Aftermath of WWII Photo’s
New Political Lines and Migrations of People Maps/Charts
New Governments, and Their Geographic Regions
Freedom in Africa and Asia, Maps, Pictures, Videos
Population Statistics
Women’s History/Rights Movement, Statistics, Photographs
Counterculture, Photographs, Videos
Economic Changes, Charts, Statistics
1
Revolution and Rebuilding
*Confrontation and Downfall of
Communism
*Analysis of Rebuilding After the
Fall of Communism
*Immigration and Human Rights
Issues
*Deterioration of Relations Between
the Western and Islamic Worlds
Chapter 31 McKay
Mikhail Gorbachev: New Thinking for Our Counter and the
World
Kofi Annan: The Fall of Srebrenica
Amartya Sen: A World Not Neatly Divided
John Lewis Gaddis: Rethinking the Cold War
Emir Suljagic: Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia
Iman Khomeni: The Necessity for an Islamic Government
Spread of Democracy Maps
Fall of USSR Maps
Modern Europe Map
Ethnic/Geographical Maps
Modern Economical Struggles Charts
Immigration Statistics/ Settlement Maps
East/West Maps, Islamic Struggles
The AP Exam: Wednesday, May 14, 2013
12 P.M.
The AP Exam is based on college-level course content. Students are to demonstrate
knowledge of basic chronology from the High Renaissance (about 1450) to the present.
You are expected to be conversant in three areas of historical inquiry:
political/diplomatic, social/economic, and intellectual/cultural. You should also be able to
demonstrate your proficiency in historical analysis.
The exam is divided into 2 sections:
Part I: Multiple Choice (80 minutes)
Part II: Free Response (130 Minutes)
A. 15 minute reading period
B. Document Based Question (45 minutes)
C. Free Response Questions (2) (35 Minutes)