Introduction to AP European History 2009-2010
Welcome to AP European History, a course which will allow you to receive your
required World History credit here at NHS and possibly three (to six) credits at a future
college of your choice! Here is the run down:

All AP (or Advanced Placement) classes are run by The College Board (the same
lovely people behind the SATs). Each spring, all AP classes across the globe take the
same standardized test for their respective class, receiving a grade for their
performance. The grading scale runs from one (no recommendation) to five (highly
qualified).

Generally, for most colleges, a three or four on an AP test will merit the admissions
department to award you with at least three credits for the corresponding course upon
admission. A five, at some institutions will merit additional credits. For more
information about what your “first choice” college accepts, check out their
admissions website(s) on your own.

The AP European History Exam is three hours and five minutes in length and split
into two different sections:
Section I
Section II
% of Grade
50
50
Number of Questions
80 Multiple Choice
1 DBQ, 2 FRQs
Time Allotted
55 minutes
130 minutes

Section II of the exam tests for two different types of Free Response answers. Part A
is the DBQ (Document Based Question), which represents 45% of the Section II
score. Generally, seven to eight primary sources are given in order for students to use
the documents to answer the question. During the course of the year, students will
complete a minimum of 1 DBQ’s per marking period.

In Part B, students will have to answer two FRQs (Free Response Questions).
Unlike the AP Government and Politics exam (in which students have to answer all
questions), students only have to answer one question out of three – twice.

The AP European History Exam for the 2009-2010 school year will be held on
Friday, May 7th in the afternoon.

This class will be divided into six distinct units of roughly five weeks each.
Questions dealing with the time period 1450 to 1789 (Units I and II) represent 50% of
the exam, while 1789 to the present (Units III thru VI) represent the remaining 50%.

During each unit, students will examine Intellectual and Cultural History, Political
and Diplomatic History, and Social and Economic History for the time period. Each
"theme" is reflected as one third of the questions found on the AP exam.

From now until the beginning of May we will be involved in “learning” the material
in each of the six units, with exams, assignments, readings, and projects. The full
course information is available online at www.apcentral.com.
Course Requirements:
This is not to scare you, but this will be a very demanding course requiring a
concentrated effort for the entire school year. This is NOT a class where waiting to the
last minute to read, finish assignments or write papers is a viable option due to the
amount of work involved. Being a standardized exam, you must be prepared for anything
to appear on it. This is the reason why the READINGS are so important. Doing well on
my assignments and my exams may not translate to the actual exam unless you know the
information inside and out. No matter the amount of time we spend in class on content,
chances are certain exam questions will cover information only found in your textbook.


You will be provided with a textbook to use (and read) by the School District. Failure
to turn in the textbook prior to the end of the school year will constitute an unmet
(and could prevent you from walking at graduation).
Failure to turn any work in on time without a valid excuse will result in points
deducted from your assignment grade for each day it is late (generally a letter grade).
Course Materials:
Will Be Provided
 A copy of The Western Heritage (7th Edition), known as the “Kagan”
Materials You Need to Succeed
 A two subject notebook with college ruled paper for class notes and/or book notes
 A spiral bound binder to put handouts into
 An AP review guide for this course (not required by heavily recommended)
AP European History Course Unit Guide
Unit I


1450 to 1648: The Renaissance, Reformation, and the Wars of Religion
25% of exam
Unit II


(January – February)
1848 to 1914: Realism and Materialism
12.5% of exam
Unit V


(November – January)
1789 to 1848: Revolution and the New European Order
12.5% of exam
Unit IV


(October – November)
1648 to 1789: Bourbon, Baroque, and the Enlightenment
25% of exam
Unit III


(September – October)
(February – March)
1914-1935: World War I and Europe in Crisis
12.5% of exam
Unit VI
(March – April)
 1935-2008: World War II, the Cold War, and a New World Order
 12.5% of exam
Readings, Textbook Correlation, Projects, and Exams
Readings
Each unit will feature anywhere from three to five chapters from The Western Heritage.
Students are to complete the chapter assigned at intervals that match the classroom lesson
of the teacher designated “important material/concepts” from the chapter. Therefore,
students will start reading the Renaissance chapter prior to the first classroom lesson on
the subject and finish the chapter by the last classroom lesson (roughly one calendar week
per chapter).
To prove the assigned readings are being completed in-step with the lessons being taught
in the classroom, students will be assigned to take notes on each chapter. These notes can
be done in various styles, but need to be done at a 5:1 ratio (for each five textbook pages,
students should have notes filling at least one side of a sheet of college ruled paper).
Since most chapters are between 25 and 30 pages long, students need about three full
sheets of paper (both sides) of notes in order to receive full credit.
Textbook Correlation
The chapters from The Western Heritage match this course’s units as follows:






Unit I – Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12
Unit II – Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 18
Unit III – Chapters 17, 19, 20, and 21
Unit IV – Chapters 22, 23, 24 and 25
Unit V – Chapters 26, 27 and 28
Unit VI – Chapters 29, 30, and 31
In addition, during each unit students will be asked for homework to read selections of
primary (and in some cases secondary) source documents and answer questions about
their formulation and interpret them. The works selected are found in each unit plan and
often the students have the ability to pick amongst a few possible “selections” within the
work.
Projects
In addition to the work required to follow the chronological flow of the class, students
will also have a project for each marking period that represents continual learning. Those
projects include writing a research paper, reading and analyzing a historical reading,
constructing and giving an oral presentation, and the construction of an “AP Style” exam.
The goal of all projects is to promote not just growth in an individual student but also
growth that expands the dialog and learning within the classroom.

Marking Period 1 project – Reading and Analyzing a historical reading
o Students will be given a choice of reading various historical works available
for free on Project Guttenberg (such as Machiavelli’s The Prince, Dante’s
Inferno, Voltaire’s Candide, Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of
the World, and Locke’s Two Treatises of Government). Students will then be
asked to analyze the purpose behind the writing of the book, its impact on past
and present society, and to use sections of the reading to underscore those
purposes. This type of writing is intended to prepare students for using
primary source documents to make a point – exactly like the DBQ on the
exam. The final product should be no less than five pages double spaced.

Marking Period 2 project – Constructing and giving an oral presentation
o As a way of preparing for the midterm exam, students will be assigned to
small groups and given a country to research. The groups will be assigned to
research the major chronological events and people that contributed to their
assigned country up to the time period being currently studied (generally
around the mid-18th century). For example, the group assigned to research the
country of England would have to include many key events and people,
ranging from the Black Death to James I to the spinning jenny, and place
these items on a timeline. Then, students will present their research to the
class and the entire class will debate which country has had the biggest impact
thus far in the course as well as on Europe today. The grade will be
determined by a rubric provided for the presentations as a whole AND based
around results from the debate.

Marking Period 3 project – Writing a research paper
o Students will be asked to pick a particular historical event or topic to write
about (specific like the “Tennis Court Oath”, not broad like the “French
Revolution”). Students are to use no less than five secondary sources and two
primary sources in researching their chosen topic. The final paper itself
should be no less than eight pages long and give a “well-rounded” view of the
topic from multiple perspectives in order to meet state and AP guidelines on
multiple perspectives.

Marking Period 4 project – Construction of an “AP style” exam
o Students will be assigned into groups and be asked to construct their own AP
Exam, featuring 80 multiple choice questions, seven essays, and one DBQ.
Once completing their final product, the exams will be given in class and
students will take other constructed exams as a group (so they can share
knowledge and correct misconceptions). Students will be graded on how their
group does collectively on the exams AND on how well constructed their
exam was.

Holiday Break Projects – Art Interpretation
o During both the Winter Break and Spring Break, students will be assigned the
following project. Students will be instructed to research, interpret, and
evaluate a style of art from the time periods covered thus far in the course (for
the Winter Break, this will cover form 1450 to approximately 1812, and for
the Spring Break this will cover from 1812 to approximately 1989). Upon
their return to class from break, students will present their research. This
research should include: examples of art/architecture, relevance of art to
moments in history, evolution of art, impact of art on culture/society, and
comparison to two other styles of art. Students will be graded on the quality
of their research as well as the effectiveness of their presentations.
Exams
Each marking period, students will take two unit exams. Those exams will focus ONLY
on the unit just completed and include 80 Multiple Choice questions and either a DBQ or
a choice of three free response essays (in which the students will have to answer just
one). The multiple choice questions will be taken from actual questions released by the
AP Board and from the textbook test bank for the chapters covered. The DBQ and the
essay choices will be also taken directly from the released essay/DBQ questions found at
apcentral.com in order to acclimate the students to the AP Testing rubric, timing, and
style of questioning. Students will be timed on the two sections just as they will see
when taking the AP Exam (55 minutes for the multiple choice about 25 minutes for the
essay).
Expectations
During each unit, students will examine Intellectual and Cultural History, Political and
Diplomatic History, and Social and Economic History. Each "theme" is reflected as one
third of the questions found on the AP exam. Those themes defined are found below…
Intellectual and Cultural History










Changes in religious thought and institutions
Secularization of learning and culture
Scientific and technological developments and their consequences
Major trends in literature and the arts
Intellectual and cultural developments and their relationship to social values and
political events
Developments in social, economic, and political thought, including ideologies
characterized as "-isms," such as socialism, liberalism, nationalism
Developments in literacy, education, and communication
The diffusion of new intellectual concepts among different social groups
Changes in elite and popular culture, such as the development of new attitudes toward
religion, the family, work, and ritual
Impact of global expansion on European culture
Political and Diplomatic History







The rise and functioning of the modern state in its various forms
Relations between Europe and other parts of the world: colonialism, imperialism,
decolonization, and global interdependence
The evolution of political elites and the development of political parties, ideologies,
and other forms of mass politics
The extension and limitation of rights and liberties (personal, civic, economic, and
political); majority and minority political persecutions
The growth and changing forms of nationalism
Forms of political protest, reform, and revolution
Relationship between domestic and foreign policies


Efforts to restrain conflict: treaties, balance-of-power diplomacy, and international
organizations
War and civil conflict: origins, developments, technology, and their consequences
Social and Economic History











The character of and changes in agricultural production and organization
The role of urbanization in transforming cultural values and social relationships
The shift in social structures from hierarchical orders to modern social classes: the
changing distribution of wealth and poverty
The influence of sanitation and health care practices on society; food supply, diet,
famine, disease, and their impact
The development of commercial practices, patterns of mass production and
consumption, and their economic and social impact
Changing definitions of and attitudes toward social groups, classes, races, and
ethnicities within and outside Europe
The origins, development, and consequences of industrialization
Changes in the demographic structure and reproductive patterns of Europeans: causes
and consequences
Gender roles and their influence on work, social structure, family structure, and
interest group formation
The growth of competition and interdependence in national and world markets
Private and state roles in economic activity
What to Expect Each Marking Period:
1st Marking Period: Unit I:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2004 DBQ, 2004 DBQ (Test B)
 Unit I course pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit:
 Divine Comedy by Dante
 The Decameron by Boccaccio
 In Praise of Folly by Erasmus
 Utopia by Thomas More
 The Prince by Machiavelli
 95 Theses by Martin Luther
 Act of Supremacy by Henry VIII
Lecture Topics: These topics are all “fair game” for thematic essay topics on quizzes and
tests!
















Renaissance: Art and Education
Italy in the 14-15th centuries
The Black Death or The Wrath of God?
The Great Schism
100 Years War
The Fight for Flanders
John Burckhardt
Reformation, Reformation Everywhere!
Henry VIII
Augsburg: Diets and Peace
John Calvin
Counter Reformation
Thirty Years War
Peace of Westphalia: political, religious, and social effects of a peace treaty
Commotion in France: War, Peace, Calvinists, Catholics, and Kings
Baroque Art
2nd Marking Period: Units II and III:
Unit II:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2005 DBQ (Test B)
 Unit II course pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit (one is read in its entirety for the MP#1 Project):
 Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World by Galileo
 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
 Two Treaties of Government by John Locke
 Candide by Voltaire
 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
 English Bill of Rights
Unit III:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2001 DBQ
 Unit III Course Pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit:
 Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
 Declaration of Independence and United States Bill of Rights
 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
 Declaration of the Rights of Women by Olympe de Gouges
 The Tennis Court Oath
 What is the Third Estate? by Abbe Sieyes
 Napoleonic Code
Lecture Topics: These topics are all “fair game” for thematic essay topics on quizzes and
tests!

























Influence of the King: Parliament and Absolute Monarchies
Mercantilism
Columbian Exchange
Exploration of the New World
Industrial Revolution and women
Voltaire
Enlightenment Art
French Economy
Shakespeare
Copernicus and Newton
Scientific Revolution
Ottoman Empire
Hapsburg Empire
18th Century Russia
Prussian Empire
Tsars of Russia
Frederick, Frederick, and Frederick
Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau
Peter the Great
The French Revolution
Impact of French Revolution on Eastern Europe
Impact of French Revolution on Latin America
Absolutism and Baroque Architecture
“I say vs. I see” philosophers
Family life in 18th century Europe – Upper, middle, and lower classes
3rd Marking Period: Units IV and V:
Unit IV:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2002 DBQ and 1999 DBQ
 Unit IV course pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit:
 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
 An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus
 Manchester Primary Source Documents at
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ITmanchester.htm
 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
 Proclamation of 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi
 Nationalist Speech by Otto von Bismark
 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (translated selections)
Unit V:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2002 DBQ (Test B), 2003 DBQ, 2006
DBQ (Test B)
 Unit V Course Pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit:
 The White Man’s Burden by Rudyard Kipling
 Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by V.I. Lenin
 The Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Secondary Source Readings for Unit:
 Selections from Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
 Selections from The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in
History by John M. Barry
Lecture Topics: These topics are all “fair game” for thematic essay topics on quizzes and
tests!

















Romanticism
Napoleon’s foreign policy
Napoleon III
Franco-Prussian War
Age of Metternich
Italian City-States
German Unification
Bismarck
Liberalism
John Stuart Mill
Socialism, Liberalism, Feminism, Communism
Romantic Art Movement
Class Hierarchy
WWI, goals and expectations of each combatant
A piece of the Africa pie
Japan’s influence on Europe
The aftermath of WWI on Europe
4th Marking Period: Unit VI:
Unit VI:
DBQ Questions from previous AP Exams: 2003 DBQ (Test B), 2005 DBQ
 Unit VI Course Pack featuring AP Essay questions from 1999 to present
Primary Source Readings for Unit:
 Propaganda Posters of World War II (American and German)
 Dr. Seuss Goes to War (Library of Congress)
 “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” and “Iron Curtain” speeches by Winston
Churchill
 Text of the Marshall Plan



Text of the North Atlantic Treaty
Treaty of Rome
The Maastricht Treaty
Secondary Source Readings for Unit:
 Selections from The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
 Selections from Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth Davis
Lecture Topics: These topics are all “fair game” for thematic essay topics on quizzes and
tests!



























Vladimir Lenin
Josef Stalin
Five-Year Plans
Post WWI Germany
Pan-Slavism
Communism and Democracy
The Cold War
WWII
Hitler
Mussolini
Taylor Thesis
The European Union
Youth Movements of the 1960’s
Changing Economies after WWII
Existentialism
Post-Modernism
Comparing the Peace settlements of WWII and WWI
“de-Stalinization”
The Changing Role of Women in society, politics, and the economy
Environmental Movements
The Fall of the Wall
NATO
Yugoslavia
Russian economy post-communism
Kosovo
Anti-Terrorism (War on Terrorism)
Role/Impact of European countries in Iraq
September 1, 2009
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Keeping the lines of communication open is one the most important ways we, as a
school community, can support academic success. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to
inform parents/guardians about our expectations for learning. Particularly at this time of
accountability and state testing, it is important that the student, the parent/guardian, and
the educator work together in order to fulfill those goals.
This class is an accelerated course taught at the college level. The whole purpose
of this course is to introduce your student to the college academic experience in high
school while also providing the opportunity for your student to start college with a head
start. As a class being taught in preparation for a standardized test, your student will be
placed under conditions that could lead to a slight decrease (one letter grade) in their
“usual” grade for a Social Studies course. Any larger (or surprising) decreases should be
brought to my attention as soon as possible.
Before signing this sheet, I would like to ask you to look over the “Course
Description” handout your student was given along with this letter. On it, you will see
my expectations for the students (academically and behaviorally), the course
requirements, and a course outline.
Please review these handouts carefully. If you have any questions or concerns,
now or in the future, do not hesitate to contact me. My phone number at Newark is 6314700 (ext. 14352) and my e-mail address is millerj1@christina.k12.de.us.
Sincerely,
Justin Miller
I have read and I understand the expectations for my student in this class.
Parent/Guardian Signature ____________________________________
Date: ______
Student Name (print) ________________________________________
Date: ______
Parent Email: ____________________________________________________________
Student Email: ___________________________________________________________