AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION 1
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1–7. This question is
designed to test your ability to apply several historical-thinking skills simultaneously—i.e., interpretation,
historical argumentation, and appropriate use of relevant historical evidence. Your response should be
based on your analysis of the documents and your knowledge of the topic.
Write a well-integrated essay that does the following:
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

States an appropriate thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question.
Supports the thesis or an appropriate argument with evidence from all or all but one of the
documents AND your knowledge of European history beyond/outside the documents.
Analyzes a majority of the documents in terms of such features as their intended audience,
purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and/or social context as appropriate to the
argument.
Places the arguments in the context of broader, regional, national, or global processes.
1. Analyze the effect of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection on Europe in the
period 1860–1900.
Learning Objective
Main Historical
Thinking Skills
Key Concepts in the
Curriculum
Framework
OS-8 Explain the emergence, spread, and
questioning of scientific, technological, and
positivist approaches to addressing social
problems.
Interpretation
3.6.II.B
IS-7 Evaluate how identities such as ethnicity, race,
and class have defined the individual in relationship to
society.
Appropriate Use
of Relevant
Historical
Evidence
IS-10 Analyze how and why Europeans have
marginalized certain populations (defined as “other”)
over the course of their history.
ANSWER
Historical
Argumentation
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Thesis
Possible thesis statements could include the following:
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
Darwin’s theory of natural selection profoundly impacted progress in all of the sciences and
society.
Darwin’s ideas had a profoundly positive impact upon the field of science, but had a negative
impact through its attempted application in human society.
Analysis of Documents
To earn full credit for analysis of documents, responses must offer at least one of the following for all or
all but one of the documents: intended audience, purpose, historical context, author’s point of view. The
analyses must also support the stated thesis or a relevant argument:
Document 1
Source: Samuel Wilberforce, English bishop and writer, “Darwin’s Origin of Species,” 1860.
First, then, he [Mr. Darwin] not obscurely declares that he applies to his scheme of the action of the
principle of natural selection to Man himself, as well as to the animals around him. Now, we must say at
once, and openly, that such a notion is absolutely incompatible not only with single expressions in the
world of God on that subject of natural science with which it is not immediately concerned, but, which in
our judgment is of far more importance, with the whole representation of that moral and spiritual
condition of man which is its proper subject-matter. Man’s derived supremacy over the earth; man’s
power of articulate speech; man’s gift of reason; man’s free-will and responsibility; man’s fall and man’s
redemption; the incarnation of the Eternal Son; the indwelling of the Eternal Spirit,—all are equally and
utterly irreconcilable with the degrading notion of the brute origin of him who was created in the image of
God, and redeemed by the Eternal Son assuming to himself his nature.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: The general reading public
Purpose: To refute Darwin’s theories
Historical context: Written amidst the furor caused by the publication of Darwin’s Origins of the
Species
Author’s point of view: Wilberforce views Darwin’s theories as incompatible with Christian
religious doctrine and, as a result, incorrect.
Document 2
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Source: Clemence Royer, translator of Darwin, anthropologist, and feminist, Preface to Origin of the
Species, 1866.
The doctrine of Mr. Darwin is the rational revelation of progress pitting itself in its logical antagonism
with the irrational revelation of the fall*. These are two principles, two religions in struggle, a thesis and
an antithesis which I defy the German who is most proficient in logical developments to find a synthesis.
It is quite a categorical yes and no between which it is necessary to choose, and whoever declares himself
for the one is against the other. For myself, the choice is made: I believe in progress.
*A reference to the account of original sin given in the Old Testament.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: the general reading public and scientists in particular
Purpose: to discuss the debate over Darwin’s theories versus the religious ideals of the time
Historical context: In the wake of the publication of Darwin’s findings there was a great deal of
literature and debate about his theories. Many religious leaders viewed it as an affront to theology
and scripture, while the scientific community viewed it as a profound breakthrough.
Author’s point of view: Royer agrees that religious faith and scientific progress are incompatible.
However, she chose progress as the right path to follow.
Document 3
Source: Walter Bagehot, British journalist and economist, The Use of Conflict, 1872.
First. In every particular state of the world, those nations which are strongest tend to prevail over the
others; and in certain marked peculiarities the strongest tend to be the best.
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Secondly. Within every particular nation the type or types of character then and there most attractive tend
to prevail; and the most attractive, though with exceptions, is what we call the best character.
Thirdly. Neither of these competitions is in most historic conditions intensified by extrinsic forces, but in
some conditions, such as those now prevailing in the most influential part of the world, both are so
intensified.
These are the sort of doctrines with which, under the name of ‘natural selection’ in physical science, we
have become familiar; and as every great scientific conception tends to advance its boundaries and to be
of use in solving problems not thought of when it was started, so here, was put forward for mere animal
history may, with a change of form, but an identical essence, be applied to human history.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: The educated elite and the reading public
Purpose: to extend Darwin’s principles to the human history
Historical context: In the decade after Darwin’s publication of Origins of the Species his ideas
gained greater acceptance and began to be applied to other fields of study.
Author’s point of view: Bagehot believes that the concept of natural selection can be applied to an
understanding of human history. He views history as a series of struggles with the strongest and
most attractive winning out.
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Document 4
Source: Charles Darwin, biologist and developer of doctrine of natural selection in evolution,
Autobiography, 1876.
Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt
no distress.
Although I did not think much about the existences of a personal God until a considerably later period of
my life, I will here give the gauge conclusions to which I have been driven. The old argument from
design in Nature, as given by Paley*, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law
of natural selection has been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of
a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There
seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings, and in the action of natural selection,
than in the course which the wind blows. But I have discussed this subject at the end of my book on the
Variation of Domesticated Animals and Plants, and the argument there given has never, as far as I can
see, been answered.
. . . I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of
all things is insoluble by us, and I for one must be content to remain Agnostic.
*William Paley was an early nineteenth-century natural theologian who devised a famous argument for
intelligent design.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: The reading public
Purpose: To explain Darwin’s own life and ideals
Historical context: Written well after the publication of his theories on evolution; however, it was
still a controversial topic
Author’s point of view: Darwin states that he sees no evidence for an active personal God in
nature nor signs of design in biology. As a result, he views agnosticism as a reasonable stance
since the beginnings of the universe cannot be explained.
Document 5
Source: Thomas H. Huxley, British biologist and popularizer of science, Evolution and Ethics and Other
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Essays, 1893
The practice of what is ethically best—what we call goodness or virtue—involves a course of conduct
which, in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In
place of ruthless self-assertion, it demands self-restraint, in place of thrusting aside or treading down, all
competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help, his fellows . . . It
repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence. . . . Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of
curbing the cosmic process, of reminding the individual of his duty to the community, to the protection
and influence of which he owes, if not existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
savage.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: The reading public
Purpose: attempts to explain evolution in relation to human society and ethics
Historical context: As the concepts of evolution and natural selection continued to be applied to
new fields, people questioned their validity relative to human society.
Author’s point of view: Huxley feels that humans have the ability to mitigate the impact of
natural selection in society through charity and caring, aspects of human life that distinguish
humans from animal development.
Document 6
Source: Herbert Spencer, British philosopher and sociologist, Social Statics, 1896.
Pervading all nature we may see at work a stern discipline, which is a little cruel that it may be very kind.
. . . Meanwhile the well-being of existing humanity, and the unfolding of it into this ultimate perfection,
are both secured by that same beneficent, though severe discipline, to which the animate creation at large
is subject . . .
It seems hard that a labourer incapacitated by sickness from competing with his stronger fellows, should
have to bear the resulting privations. It seems hard that widows and orphans should be left to struggle for
life or death. Nevertheless, when regarded not separately, but in connection with the interests of universal
humanity, these harsh fatalities are seen to be full of the highest beneficence—the same beneficence
which brings to early graves the children of diseased parents, and singles out the low-spirited, the
intemperate, and the debilitated as the victims of an epidemic.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: the general reading public
Purpose: to explain his concepts in the context of the impact of Darwinism on human society
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
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Historical context: As Darwinism gained acceptance its ideas began to be applied to fields further
from biology, including human society.
Author’s point of view: Spencer argued that “survival of the fittest” applied to human society as
well as evolution throughout biology. Thus the death of the weak and sick, although regrettable,
was a part of the natural order of life.
Document 7
Source: Karl Pearson, British mathematician and scientist, professor of eugenics,” National Life From the
Standpoint of Science, 1900.
History shows me one way, and one way only, in which a high state of civilization has been produced,
namely, the struggle of race with race, and the survival of the physically and mentally fitter race. . . . The
struggle means suffering, intense suffering, while it is in progress; but that struggle and that suffering
have been the stages by which the white man has reached his present stage of development, and they
account for the fact that he no longer lives in caves and feeds on roots and nuts. This dependence of
progress on the survival of the fitter race, terribly black as it may seem to some of you, gives the struggle
for existence its redeeming features; it is the fiery crucible out of which comes the finer metal.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: the reading public
Purpose: to argue the role of “survival of the fittest” in the progress of civilization
Historical context: As Darwinism gained acceptance its ideas began to be applied to fields further
from Biology, including human society.
Author’s point of view: Pearson argues that racial conflict was the source of advancement in
civilization as stronger civilizations (European/white) have come to dominate lesser societies.
Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument
Possible examples of information not found in the documents that could be used to support the stated
thesis or a relevant argument could include the following:
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
Darwin’s works were, in part, rooted in the larger realm of positivist thought, that enough
empirical evidence can be accumulated to understand the world and society.
o The positivism of Auguste Comte and others stressed the idea of accumulating data so as
to understand the physical world which would then allow understanding of history and
human society.
o Darwin amassed decades of data before publishing his theories, following the positivist
approach of relying upon mountains of data to support a thesis.
Darwin’s works were part of a larger movement of important strides in scientific understanding of
the world, which combined helped to fundamentally change the understanding of our world.
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Pasteur’s germ theory and Mendeleev’s formulation of the periodic table combined to
change our understanding of biology and chemistry.
Darwin’s work spawned various pseudo-sciences and social science applications.
o The entire field of eugenics was based on the idea of biological evolution differences
between the races, typically with a focus upon proving racial superiority.
o The application of Darwin’s theories to sociology and history spawned theories such as
so-called Social Darwinism which was used to justify social and economic inequality.
Darwin’s ideas were a source of controversy between science and religion which persists to this
day.
o Many religious leaders have condemned Darwin’s ideas as being contrary to religious
doctrine.
o
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Contextualization
Students can earn a point for contextualization by accurately and explicitly connecting historical
phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical events and/or processes. These historical
phenomena may include, but are not limited to, the following:


Darwin’s contribution to science owed a great deal to the work of the Scientific Revolution.
The theories of evolution and natural selection built upon the works of other researchers such as
Hutton and Lamarck.
Synthesis
Students can earn the point for synthesis by crafting a persuasive and coherent essay. This can be
accomplished by providing a conclusion that extends or modifies the analysis in the essay, by using
disparate and sometimes contradictory evidence from primary and/or secondary sources to craft a
coherent argument, or by connecting to another historical period or context. Examples could include, but
are not limited to, the following:

Darwin’s ideas can be understood as a great leap forward in human knowledge and can be
compared to similar surges such as the Renaissance or post-World War II technology.
DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION 2
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1–7. This question is
designed to test your ability to apply several historical-thinking skills simultaneously—i.e., patterns of
continuity and change over time, historical argumentation, and periodization. Your response should be
based on your analysis of the documents and your knowledge of the topic.
Write a well-integrated essay that does the following:
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3




States an appropriate thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question.
Supports the thesis or an appropriate argument with evidence from all or all but one of the
documents AND your knowledge of European history beyond/outside the documents.
Analyzes a majority of the documents in terms of such features as their intended audience,
purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and/or social context as appropriate to the
argument.
Places the arguments in the context of broader, regional, national, or global processes.
2. Analyze to what extent modern art and philosophy represented continuity or change in
the intellectual and cultural life of Europe.
Learning Objective
Main Historical
Thinking Skills
Key Concepts in the
Curriculum
Framework
PP-14 Explain how industrialization elicited
critiques from artists, socialists, workers’
movements and feminist organizations.
Patterns of
Continuity and
Change over Time
3.6.II.D
OS-10 Analyze the means by which individualism,
subjectivity, and emotion came to be considered a
valid source of knowledge.
Historical
Argumentation
3.6.III.D
OS-12 Analyze how artists used strong emotions to
express individuality and political theorists
encouraged emotional identification with the nation.
3.6.III.A
Periodization
OS-13 Explain how and why modern artists
began to move away from realism and toward
abstraction and the non-rational, rejecting
traditional aesthetics.
ANSWER
Thesis
Possible thesis statements could include the following:
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

Modernist thought and art represented a dramatic departure from the ideals and tastes of earlier
periods.
Modernist art and philosophy was part of a natural progression from earlier pre-modernist
movements.
While modern art was a drastic change compared to prior art, modernist philosophy was firmly
rooted in the work of its predecessors.
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Analysis of Documents
To earn full credit for analysis of documents, responses must offer at least one of the following for all or
all but one of the documents: intended audience, purpose, historical context, author’s point of view. The
analyses must also support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.
Document 1
Source: Claude Monet, leading Impressionist painter, “The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil,” 1880.
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: Art enthusiasts
Purpose: artistic enjoyment
Historical context: The rise of Impressionism as seen in the works of Monet and others stressed
the feelings and “impressions” the artist received from an outdoor scene as opposed to the realism
captured by earlier artists.
Author’s point of view: Monet attempts to capture the beauty of this outdoor scene rather than its
precise appearance.
Document 2
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Source: Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher responding to the ideas of positivism, The Gay
Science, 1882.
That our actions, thoughts, feelings, and movements enter our own consciousness—at least a part of
them—that is the result of a “must” that for a terribly long time lorded it over man. As the most
endangered animal, he needed help and protection, he needed his peers, he had to learn to express his
distress and to make himself understood, and for all of this he needed “consciousness” first of all, he
needed to “know” himself what distressed him, he needed to “know” how he felt, he needed to “know”
what he thought. For, to say it once more: Man, like every living being, thinks continually without
knowing it; the thinking that rises to consciousness is only the smallest part of this—the most superficial
and worst part—for only this conscious thinking takes the form of words, which is to say signs of
communication, and this fact uncovers the origin of consciousness.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: the educated elite, particularly students of philosophy
Purpose: to refute the ideas of positivism
Historical context: The ideas of positivism had stressed the cataloguing of data and information
without necessarily drawing profound conclusions from it.
Author’s point of view: Nietzsche argues that human existence and understanding cannot be
reduced to a simple series of compiled notes and data. There is, in his view, much more to
humanity and society that cannot be fully comprehended let alone recorded.
Document 3
Source: Hamlin Garland, American novelist, recorded his reaction to his first encounter with
impressionist paintings at an 1893 Chicago exhibition (World’s Fair), 1894.
They select some moment, some centre of interest,—generally of the simplest character. This central
object they work out with great care, but all else fades away into subordinate blur of color, precisely as in
life.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
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Audience: The reading public and those interested in art
Purpose: To explain the importance and unique character of impressionist painting
Historical context: Impressionism was new and vibrant compared to the works of realism that
predated it in the nineteenth century.
Author’s point of view: Garland was impressed by the vibrant and emotional impact of
impressionism.
Document 4
Source: Max Weber, German sociologist responding to the possibilities of reason and logic,
“Objectivity” in Social Science and Science Policy, 1904-05.
Naturally, it does not imply that the knowledge of universal propositions, the construction of abstract
concepts, the knowledge of regularities and the attempt to formulate “laws” have no scientific
justification in the cultural sciences.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: Scholars and students of sociology and philosophy
Purpose: Weber sought to refute the ideas of positivism.
Historical context: In the nineteenth century many scholars and intellectuals favored positivism,
an approach focused upon the accumulation and cataloguing of as much information and data
about humanity and society as possible.
Author’s point of view: Weber argued that interpretation (objective analysis) was more important
in the study of society than empirical data alone.
Document 5
Source: Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger, leading French Cubist painters, Cubism,* 1912
The artist, having discerned a form which presents a certain intensity or analogy with his pre-existing
idea, prefers it to other forms, and consequently for we like to force our preferences on others -- he
endeavours to enclose the quality of this form (the unmeasurable sum of the affinities perceived between
the visible manifestation and the tendency of his mind) in symbol likely to affect others.
* manifesto about Cubism
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: art enthusiasts
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
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Purpose: to explain to the world, which was unfamiliar with such art, the perspective and
approach employed in cubist painting
Historical context: Written to accompany the first major cubist art exhibition, this work attempted
to explain the break of cubist painters from the traditional realist and even impressionist art.
Author’s point of view: In cubism, the reality of an image is not important; rather, the focus is on
transferring the impact and symbolism of the artist’s experience to others.
Document 6
Source: Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet of Polish descent, friend and colleague of many leading
Cubist painters, pamphlet, 1913.
While the goal of painting is today, as always, the pleasure of the eye, the art-lover is henceforth asked to
expect delights other than those which looking at natural objects can easily provide.
Components of document analysis may include the following:
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Audience: art enthusiasts
Purpose: to explain the approach of cubist painters to the uninitiated
Historical context: In the wake of the furor following the introduction of cubism to the art world,
there were many who condemned it as nonsense or worse.
Author’s point of view: Apollinaire attempts to explain the intent of cubism for a wider audience.
Document 7
Source: Paul Klee, Swiss artist, lecture regarding the development of modern art and role of the artist,
1924.
First, he does not attach such intense importance to natural form as do so many realist critics, because, for
him, these final forms are not the real stuff of the process of natural creation. For he places more value on
the powers which do the forming than on the final forms themselves.
He is, perhaps unintentionally, a philosopher, and if he does not, with the optimists, hold this world to be
the best of all possible worlds, nor to be so bad that it is unfit to serve as a model, yet he says:
‘In its present shape it is not the only possible world.’
Components of document analysis may include the following:
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
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Audience: art students
Purpose: to explain the perspective and motivations of modern art
Historical context: In the decade following the arrival of cubism in the mainstream of art, many
debated the value of modern art versus classical conceptions of painting and beauty.
Author’s point of view: Klee suggests that the modern artist attempts to present possible
alternatives to reality.
Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument
Possible examples of information not found in the documents that could be used to support the stated
thesis or a relevant argument could include the following:



Modern art diverged from earlier artistic norms and their attempts to realistically present the
world.
o The Realism movement of the nineteenth century had attempted to get the most minute
details correct in their presentations of life and nature.
o Impressionist artists of the late nineteenth century, such as Manet and Monet, attempted
to convey the overall feeling and impression experienced by the artist.
o Modern artists attempted to present alternate views to reality.
 Cubists, such as Picasso and Matisse, attempted to present many perspectives of
an object at once.
 Dadaism as an art movement attempted to present modern life including its major
problems.
 Surrealists, such as Salvador Dali, attempted to combine reality and the imagined
world.
In literature, many writers moved away from conventional models of logical plot and story
structure.
o Modernist poets, such as Ezra Pound, Baudelaire ,and Rimbaud, broke with traditional
western ideals of rhyme and meter in poetry.
o Many authors, such as Joyce, Proust, and Woolf, experimented with stream of
consciousness in writing.
Modernism in philosophy and literature rejected many of the ideas of progress from the
enlightenment and positivism inherited from the liberal society of the nineteenth century.
Contextualization
Students can earn a point for contextualization by accurately and explicitly connecting historical
phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical events and/or processes. These historical
phenomena may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Modernism can be presented as a bridge between the early modern ideas of the Enlightenment
and the tenets of post-modernism of the mid to late twentieth century.
Synthesis
AP European History DBQ ANSWERS Period 3
Students can earn the point for synthesis by crafting a persuasive and coherent essay. This can be
accomplished by providing a conclusion that extends or modifies the analysis in the essay, by using
disparate and sometimes contradictory evidence from primary and/or secondary sources to craft a
coherent argument, or by connecting to another historical period or context. Examples could include, but
are not limited to, the following.

Linking the argument to earlier shifts in artistic and intellectual life such as the dawn of the
Renaissance, Baroque Art, or realism in ancient sculpture.