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Advanced Placement European History
Syllabus
Course Description
In addition to reviewing facts, dates, and figures, the goals of this course will be:
1. Develop the ability to analyze historical evidence.
2. Develop an understanding of the major themes in modern European history
3. Develop the ability to express the understanding of major themes in modern European history and
analysis of historical evidence in writing in an effective manor.
Students in this course are expected to demonstrate knowledge of basic chronology and major trends and
events from approximately 1450 to the present. Within that chronology, the themes of cultural-intellectual,
political-diplomatic, and socio-economic history form the course basis.
Emphasis in this course will be placed on student development of academic and intellectual skills,
including:
1.
2.
3.
4.
effective note-taking
precise and clear expression in writing
analysis of primary sources such as documents, maps, pictorial evidence, maps, and graphic
evidence
the ability to reach conclusions by weighing evidence on the basis of facts.
The course is divided into four quarters. Each quarter consists of four units. Each unit will be concluded
with a multiple-choice quiz and a thematic essay. I will use items and essay prompts from released AP
Exams, the resources provided with your textbook, and original items and prompts. In each quarter
students will write one DBQ and one thematic paper. In the fourth quarter students will complete a visual
(self –produced or Movie Maker, etc.) project following the Advanced Placement Exam.
Text: Kagan, Donald, Steven Osment, and Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage.
9th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2007.
Historical and primary source readings from various readers including:
Kishlansky, Mark A. Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, 6 th ed., Volumes I and II
(Pearson Longman) by Mark Kishlansky.
Rogers, Perry M. Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History, 5 th ed., Volumes I and
II (Pearson Prentice Hall) by Perry M. Rogers.
Lehning, James R., and Megan Armstrong. Europeans in the World, Volumes I and II
(Prentice Hall) by James R. Lehning and Megan Armstrong.
This syllabus does not attempt to show everything we do in class; rather it is meant to be a guide to the
course’s pacing, units, and readings. The principle textbook and readers are listed above, but this course
will also rely on other readings and information throughout the class.
There are a selection of several short primary and secondary sources, or excerpts from them, for most units
rather than the entire work in order to allow students to have contact with many (and sometimes differing)
points of view and voices from each time period.
First Quarter
DBQ Choices:
The Plague
European Vision of the New World in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
The Protestant Reformation
Henry IV, Religious Toleration, and the Edict of Nantes
Quarter Paper: Interpretive Biography
Primary source readings including: Castiglione, Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Council of Trent, Henry VIII,
Elizabeth I, James I, Louis XIV, Peter the Great
Medieval and Renaissance Art Lecture and Slide Show: Works of art from the medieval period as well as
the Italian and Northern Renaissance.
Unit 1: The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300-1453)
The Black Death
1. Preconditions and Causes
2. Popular Remedies
3. Social and Economic Consequences
The Hundred Years’ War and the Rise of National Sentiment
1. Causes of the War
2. Three major stages of development- Edward III, Treaty of Troyes, Joan of Arc and
Conclusion
Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival: The Late Medieval Church
1. Papal developments in the Thirteenth century
2. Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair- Royal Challenges to papal authority and papal
response
3. The Avignon Papacy
4. John Wycliffe and John Huss
5. The Great Schism and Concilliary Movement
Medieval Russia
1. Greek Orthodox Conversion
2. Social Divisions
3. The Khan invasions
Unit 2: Renaissance and Discovery
Generic description of the Renaissance- Burckhardt
The Renaissance in Italy- Why here first?
1. The Italian City-State
2. Medicis and Florence
3. Despotism
Humanism
1. The heavy hitters- Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio
2. Educational reform
3. The Florentine Academy and Platonism
Renaissance Art
1. Goals of Renaissance Art
2. Linear perspective and Giotto and Masaccio
3. The heavy hitters of the High Renaissance- DaVinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello
Italy’s Political Decline- The French Invasions
1. Charles VII
2. Alexander VI and the Borgias
3. Julius II
4. Machiavelli and the way to rule
Revival of Monarchy in Northern Europe
1. France
2. Spain
3. England
4. Holy Roman Empire
Northern Renaissance- Comparison between the Northern and Italian Renaissances
1. The Printing Press and its effects
2. Northern Humanism- Erasmus
3. Humanism and Reform- Germany, England, France, Spain
Voyages of Discovery and the New Empires in the West and East
1. The Portuguese
2. The Spanish- intended and unintended consequences
3. The Spanish Empire in the New World- Aztecs, Incas
4. Exploitation of New World- mining, agriculture, labor
5. Impacts on Europe
What was new and what was ―reborn‖ in the Renaissance?
Unit 3: The Age of Reformation and Family Life in Early Modern Europe
Society and Religion
1. Social and Political Conflict- Compare and contrast the New Monarchies of England,
France, and Spain- foreign and domestic policy
2. Popular Religious Movements and Criticism of the Church- causes of the Reformation
Martin Luther and the German Reformation to 1525
The Reformation Elsewhere
Political Consolidation of the Lutheran Reformation
The English Reformation to 1553
Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation- consequences of the Reformation- political and
religious
The Council of Trent
The Social Significance of the Reformation in Western Europe
1. Changes in Religious Practices and Institutions
2. The Reformation and Education
3. The Changing Role of Women
Family Life in Early Modern Europe
1. Effects on marriage
2. Effects on family life- birth control, family size, etc.
Literary Imagination in Transition
1. Political and Cultural Changes brought on by Calvinism, Puritanism, Lutheranism as well
as Catholic reform
2. Cervantes and Shakespeare- the Rejection of Idealism and Drama of the Day.
Unit 4: The Age of Religious Wars
Renewed Religious Struggle
The French Wars of Religion (1562-1598)
1. Appeal of Calvinism
2. Catherine de Medicis and the Guises
3. The Rise to Power of Henry of Navarre
4. The Edict of Nantes
Imperial Spain and the Reign of Philip II (r. 1556-1598)
1. Pillars of Spanish Power- New World Riches- Political, economic, and technological
causes for the exploration of the New World
2. Golden Age of Spain
3. Commerical Revolution- bullionism, mercantilism
4. Revolt of the Netherlands
England and Spain (1553-1603)
1. Mary I
2. Elizabeth I- Internal Religious quarrel, external troubles with Spain
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
1. Preconditions for war- Causes
2. Stages (4 Periods) of 30 Years War
3. Effects of the 30 Years War
4. Peace of Westphalia
Second Quarter
DBQ Choices:
The American Revolution as a European Conflict
The Enlightenment as a bastion of political, social, and cultural reforms
Louis XIV and the qualities of and effective monarch
Galileo: the relationship between science, theology, and classical scholarship
The Role of Women in the Eighteenth Century Economy
Spanish Control of their New World Empire
The Enlightenment and Spread of Enlightenment Ideas
Quarter Paper: Historiography
Primary Source Readings including: Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Paine, Wollstonecraft, Paine, Montesquieu,
Goethe, Voltaire
Art Lecture: Baroque, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism in art
Unit 5: Growth of the State: European State Consolidation in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries
The Netherlands: Golden Age to Decline
1. Urban Prosperity
2. Economic Decline
Two Models of European Political Development
1. Parliamentary monarchy- what does it consist of? Where practiced? Effects?
2. Political absolutism- What does it consist of? Where practiced? Effects?
Constitutional Crisis and Settlement in Stuart England
1. James I battles the Puritans- political, economic, and religious problems
2. Charles I and the road to Civil War- political, economic, and religious problems
3. The Long Parliament and Civil War
4. Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Republic- effects on England
5. Charles II and the Restoration of the Monarchy
6. The ―Glorious Revolution‖
7. Changes in Religious toleration in England and movement towards constitutionalism
8. The Age of Walpole
Rise of Absolute Monarchy in France
1. The World of Louis XIV-Versailles and Divine Right
2. role of Mazarin, the Fronde, and the nobles
3. Louis’ Early Wars
4. Religious repression under Louis XIV
5. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes- effects on religious structure
6. Louis’ later wars
 The Nine Years’ War
 The War of Spanish Succession
7. Definition and examples of absolutism under Louis XIV
8. Social and Economic problems of Louis XIV
9. France after Louis XIV- Effects of Louis’ reign
Central and Eastern Europe
1. Poland
2. The Hapsburgs and the effects of the Pragmatic Sanction
3. Prussia and the Hohenzollerns
Russia Enters the European Political Arena
1. The Romanov Dynasty
2. Peter the Great- achievements in reform and westernization economically, politically, and
religiously and their effects on Russia
The Ottoman Empire
1. Religious toleration and the Ottoman Government
2. Ottoman Expansion- the end
Unit 6: Scientific Revolution: New Directions in Thought and Culture in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
The Scientific Revolution- causes
1. What was revolutionary about the Scientific Revolution?
2. Copernicus rejects and Earth-Centered Universe
3. Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo- the heavy hitters and new ideas
4. Isaac Newton- an apple changes the world
Philosophy Responds to Changing Science
1. Political, military, and economic implications of the Scientific Revolution
2. Nature as Mechanism
3. Bacon’s Empirical Method
4. Réné Descartes and Rational Deduction
5. Thomas Hobbes and Absolutism
6. Locke: Liberty and Toleration
7. Compare and contrast Hobbes and Locke
New Institutions of Expanding Natural Knowledge
Women in the World of the Scientific Revolution
The New Science and Religious Faith
1. Religious implications of the Scientific Revolution
2. The Condemnation of Galileo- Effects
3. Pascal- Reason and Faith
4. The English approach to science and Religion
Continuing Superstition
1. Effects on Scientific Revolution
2. Village Origin
3. Influence of the Clergy
4. Witch Hunts and their effects.
Changes in Art due to Science- Baroque Period
Unit 7: Eighteenth Century Old Regime and Industrial Society- Society and
Economy under the Old Regime in the Eighteenth Century and the Transatlantic
Economy, Trade Wars, and Colonial Rebellion
Major Features of Life in the Old Regime
The Aristocracy
1. Aristocratic Privileges
2. Aristocratic Resurgence
The Land and Its Tillers
1. Peasants and Serfs- obligations and rebellions
Family Structures and Family Economy
1. Differing households throughout Europe
2. The Family Economy- Economic Effects
3. Women’s role in the Family Economy
4. Children’s role in the Family Economy
The Revolution in Agriculture
1. New Crops and New Methods- changing the way Europe eats
2. Population Expansion- effects on economy, political, and social structure
The Industrial Revolution of the Eighteenth Century- political and economic changes and effects
1. Increasing Consumption
2. The effects of new technologies and industries: Textiles, the Steam Engine, Iron
Production
3. Impact of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions on Working Women
The Growth of Cities
1. What was it like before?
2. The Emergence of the Urban Classes
3. Urban Riot
The Jewish Population: The Age of the Ghetto
Periods of European Overseas Empires- economic ramifications
Mercantile Empires
1. Mercantilist Goals
2. French and British Rivalry
The Spanish Colonial System
1 Colonial Government
2. Trade Regulation
3. Colonial Reform under the Spanish Bourbon Monarchs
Black African Slavery, the Plantation System, and the Atlantic Economy
1. The African Presence in the Americas- social, political, and economic impact
2. Slavery and the Transatlantic economy
3. The Slavery Experience
Mid-Eighteenth Century Wars- political, social, and economic ramifications
1. The War of Jenkins’s Ear
2. The War of Austrian Succession
3. ―Diplomatic Revolution‖ of 1756
4. The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) and its consequences
The American Revolution and Europe
1. Resistance to the Imperial Search for Revenue
2. The Crisis and Independence
3. American Political Ideas- how they led to Revolution and changed the political
landscape
4. Events in Great Britain that pushed towards war
5. Broader impact of the American Revolution
Unit 8: Enlightenment and Social Change: The Age of Enlightenment- EighteenthCentury Thought
Formative Influences of the Enlightenment
1. Define the Enlightenment/Age of Reason
2. Economic and Demographic changes in the 18 th Century
3.
4.
5.
Ideas of Newton and Locke
The Example of British Toleration and Political Stability
The Emergence of a Print Culture- How did widely dispersed printed material and
increased literacy effect the spread of ideas?
The Philosophes- Who were they and what did they say?
1. Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Kant, and Company
The Encylopedia
The Enlightenment and Religion
1. Changes in Religious thought due to Enlightenment thinking
2. Deism
3. Toleration
4. Radical Enlightenment and Criticism of Christianity
5. Jewish Thinkers in the Age of Enlightenment
6. Islam in Enlightenment Thought
The Enlightenment and Society-new ideas in political and social theory
1. The Encyclopedia: Freedom and Economic Improvement
2. Beccaria and Reform of Criminal Law
3. The Physiocrats and Economic Freedom- new economic theories, end of mercantilism
4. Adam Smith on Economic Growth and Social Progress- Laissez-Faire economics
Political Thought and the Philosophes
1. Montesquieu and the Spirit of the Laws
2. Rousseau: A Radical Critique of Modern Society
3. Enlightened Critics of European Empires
Women in the Thought and Practice of the Enlightenment
1. Views on Women by Enlightened thinkers
2. Wollstencraft
Enlightened Absolutism- Enlightened Despots
1. Frederick the Great of Prussia- Promotion Through Merit
2. Joseph II of Austria- political, religious, and economic reforms
3. Catherine the Great of Russia- Reforms and Territorial Expansion
4. Central Europe at the End of the Eighteenth Century
Changes in Art and Architecture: Rococo and Neoclassical styles in Art
1. Definitions of two movements- differences
2. Examples and artists from each style
Third Quarter
DBQ Choices:
The French Revolution: The Paris Commune
The French Revolution: The Role of the Third Estate
Romanticism: Views on nature, history, and religion
The Great Reform Bill of 1832
Women and the Industrial Revolution
Contrasting Views of Nineteenth Century Nationalism
Quarter Paper: Book Review
Primary Source Readings: Smith, Ricardo, Marx and Engels, Spencer, Metternich, Mill, Bismarck, Darwin,
and possibly Freud
Art Lecture: Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Symbolism
Unit 9: French Revolution and Napoleon: The Triumph of Romanticism
The Crisis of the French Monarchy
1. French Society before the Revolution
2. Seeking new taxes
3. Necker’s Report, Calonne’s Reform Plan, and the Assembly of Notables
4. Deadlock and the Calling of the Estates General
The Revolution of 1789- causes, chronology, and periodization
1. The Estates General becomes the National Assembly
2. Tennis Court Oath
3. Fall of the Bastille
4. The ―Great Fear‖
5. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
6. Parisian Women march on Versailles
The Reconstruction of France- Political, Economic, and Religious Reforms
1. Political Reorganization
2. Changing Economic Policy
3. Civil Constitution of the Clergy
4. Counterrevolutionary Activity
The End of the Monarchy: A Second Revolution
1. The Jacobins
2. Sans-Culotttes
3. Execution of Louis XVI
Europe at War with the Revolution- How does Europe react?
1. Burke attacks
2. Suppressing Reform in Britain
3. Poland and the East
The Reign of Terror- the Committee on Public Safety
1. War with Europe
2. The Defense of the Republic
3. Robespierre's justification
4. De-Christianization
5. The End of the Terror and the Fall of Robespierre
The Thermidorian Reaction
The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte- causes and consequences
1. How did Napoleon rise?
2. Early Military Victories
3. The Constitution of the Year VIII
The Consulate in France (1799-1804)- the beginning of Napoleon’s legacy
1. Suppression of foreign enemies and domestic opposition
2. Concordat with the Catholic Church
3. The Napoleonic Code and its effects
Napoleon’s Empire (1804-1814)- Napoleon’s foreign and domestic policy
1. Conquering of his Empire- What areas were affected?
2. The Continental System
European Response to the Empire
1. German Nationalism and Prussian Reform
2. The Wars of Liberation in Spain and Austria
3. The Invasion of Russia
4. Formation of European Coalition- Metternich
The Congress of Vienna and the European Settlement- the birth of Nationalism
1. Territorial Adjustments after Napoleon’s defeat
2. The Hundred Days- Napoleon Returns- and the Quadruple Alliance
The Romantic Movement- Change is in the air
1. Basic Ideas
Romantic Questioning of the Supremacy of Reason
1. Rousseau and Education
2. Kant and Reason
Romantic Literature
1. Basic Ideas
2. English Romantic Writers- Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron
3. German Romantic Writers- Schlegel and Goethe
The Romantic Art
1. The Cult of the Middle Ages and Neo-Gothicism
2. Nature and the Sublime
Religion in the Romantic Period
1. The Rise of Methodism
2. Religion on the Continent takes a new direction
Romantic Views of Nationalism and History
1. Herder and Culture
2. Hegel and History
3. Islam, the Middle East, and Romanticism
Unit 10: Nationalism and Liberalism: The Conservative Order and the Challenges
of Reform (1815-1832)
The Challenges of Nationalism and Liberalism
1. Definitions of Nationalism and Liberalism
2. The Emergence of Nationalism- Opposition to the Vienna Settlement
3. Creating Nations and the meaning of Nationhood
4. Early Nineteenth-Century Political Liberalism- political and economic goals
5. Relationship of Nationalism to Liberalism
Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order
1. Ancient institutions as pillars of Conservatism- monarchies, aristocracies, and churches
2. effects these institutions had on political, social, and governmental life
3. Resistance of Liberalism and Nationalism in Austria and the Germanies
4. Repression in Great Britain
5. Restoration of the Bourbons in France
The Conservative International Order- how policy effected change
1. The Congress System- successes and failures
2. The Spanish Revolution of 1820
3. Revolt Against Ottoman Rule in the Balkans
The Wars of Independence in Latin America
1. The French Revolution and Napoleon spark desire for independence
2. Revolution in Haiti
3. Wars of Independence on the South American continent
a. Argentina
b. Venezuela- Bolivar
4. Independence in ―New‖ Spain
The Conservative Order Shaken in Europe
1. Liberalism expands to Europe proper
2. Russian Decembrist Revolt of 1825
3. French Revolution of 1830
4. Independence of Belgium (1830)
5. Great Britain- The Great Reform Bill (1832)
Unit 11: Industrial Society and Revolution: Economic Advance and Social Unrest
(1830-1850)
Movement toward an Industrial Society
1. The Effects of the Industrial Revolution on Society
2. Changes in Population and Migration
3. Railways redefine transportation and economic possibilities
The Labor Force
1. Composition
2. Emergence of Wage-Labor- how did this affect the economy?
3. The beginning of working-class involvement in political action
Family Structures and the Industrial Revolution- What changes occurred?
1. The Family in the early Factory System
2. Child Labor concerns
3. Changing Economic role for the family
Women in the Early Industrial Revolution
1. Exploitation in Employment
2. Women in Factories
3. Women working on the land and in the Home
4. Changing expectations in the working-class marriage
Problems of Crime and Order
1. Historian debate over reasons for spike in crime rate
2. Emergence of new police forces- why were they formed and what was their
effectiveness?
3. Prison reform
Classical Economics
1. Prevalent views on economics at the time- role of the government/
2. Adam Smith
3. Political economists appeal to the Middle Classes
4. Malthus on population
5. Ricardo on wages
6. Government policies based on Classical Economics- France, Great Britain, and
Germany
Early Socialism- a reaction to social discord
1. Utopian Socialism- Saint-Simonianism, Owenism, and Fourierism
2. Anarchism
3. Marxism- Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and Revolution through Class Conflict
1848: The Year of Revolutions
1. Liberal and Nationalistic revolutions erupt
2. France: The Second Republic and Louis Napoleon- domestic and foreign policies
3. The Hapsburgs- Nationalism Resisted- Vienna Uprising, Magyars, Czechs, Northern
Italian revolt
4. Germany- Prussian Revolution and Frankfurt Parliament
5. How did these change the European landscape politically, economically, and socially?
Unit 12: Nationalism and Imperialism: The Age of Nation-States
The Crimean War (1853-1856)
1. Who, what, when, where, and why?
2. Peace settlement and long-term results
Reforms in the Ottoman Empire
1. Effects on political, economic, and social life
Italian Unification
1. Romantic Republicans
2. Mazzini, Cavour, Garibaldi and the Unification of Italy
3. The New Italian State- ramifications of unification
German Unification
1. Bismarck and the unification of Germany
2. Bismarck’s domestic policy, especially suffrage, kulturkampf, and socialism
3. Bismarck’s foreign policy before and after 1871
4. The Franco-Prussian War and the German Empire (1870-1871)
France: From Liberal Empire to the Third Republic
1. Franco- Prussian War, Paris Commune and formation of the Third Republic
2. Dreyfus Affair
The Hapsburg Empire
1. The Formation of the Dual Monarchy
2. National Unrest
Russia: Emancipation and Revolutionary Stirrings
1. Social and Political changes in Russia 1848-1881
2. Reforms of Alexander II
3. Revolutionaries stir up the pot
Great Britain: Toward Democracy
1. The Second Reform Act of 1867
2. Gladstone and Disraeli’s ministries
3. Changes on the social front
4. Increasing suffrage and social programs
Fourth Quarter
DBQ Choices:
Economic change and middle class women in the late nineteenth century
The influence of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution on racial thinking
Why was World War I a ―new war‖?
Factors that led to European Imperialism in the 19 th century
Women’s place in the new communist order of the Soviet Union
Themes of Nazi Propaganda and its appeal to the masses
Appeasement- why were France and Britain eager to avoid war?
Italy in Ethiopia- how did this affect the outbreak of World War II?
Anticolonialism movement after World War II
European Unification- what does it mean?
Quarter Project: Visual Representation- Self-produced or Movie Maker project
Primary Source Readings: Woodrow Wilson, Treaty of Versailles, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Marshall Plan,
Charles DeGaulle, Churchill, Marx
Art Lecture: Impressionism, Postimpressionism, Cubism, Expressionism, Social Realism, Modernis m,
Postmodernism
Unit 13: Intellectual, Cultural, and Social Upheaval: The Building of European
Supremacy: Society and Politics to World War I and the Birth of Modern European
Thought
Population Trends and Migration- Where are people going and why?
The Second Industrial Revolution
1. Development of new industries- steel, chemicals, electricity, and oil
2. Economic difficulties- Europe and the New World
The Middle Classes in Ascendancy
1. Social Distinctions within the Middle Class
2. The Bicycle- precursor to the automobile
Late Nineteenth-Century Urban Life- social change
1. The redesigning of cities
2. Development of Suburbs
3. Urban Sanitation or lack thereof- impact of Cholera
4. Water and sewer systems and expanded government involvement in public health
5. Housing reform and middle-class values
Varieties of Late Nineteenth-Century Women’s Experiences
1. Social Disabilities of Women- property, family law, education
2. New employment patterns for women
3. Working-class women
4. Women, poverty, and prostitution
5. Middle-class women- Cult of Domesticity, sexuality and family size
6. The Rise of Political Feminism- increasing suffrage and social programs in England
7. Relationship of Socialism and Feminism- History of Feminism and arguments for
women’s suffrage
Jewish Emancipation
1. Differing degrees of citizenship
2. Broadened opportunities
3. role of anti-Semitism
Labor, Socialism, and Politics to World War I- Economic and Political Developments
1. Emergence of Trade Unions
2. Development of Democratic electoral systems
3. Karl Marx- The First International
4. Great Britain: Fabianism and early welfare programs
5. French rejection of Opportunism
6. Germany: Social Democrats and Revisionism
7. Russia: Industrial Development and the birth of Bolshevism- here comes Lenin
Compare and contrast the women’s movements in England, France, and Germany
Social and Cultural Changes in England, France, and Germany
The New Reading Public
1. Social effects of changes in education- advances in primary education
2. Reading materials for mass audiences-what did this provide?
Science at Mid-century
1. Shifts in thought- scientific prestige
2. Comte
3. Darwin reevaluates science and social thought- Social Darwinism
Christianity and the Church under Siege
1. The Challenging of Church rule and Doctrine- effects of nation-states and science on the
church
2. Intellectual skepticism in history, science, and morality
3. Conflict between the church and nation-states- Great Britain, France, Germany
4. Religious Revival
5. Roman Catholicism and the modern world- papal infallibility and struggles with nations
6. Islam and late Nineteenth-Century thought
Toward a Twentieth-Century Frame of Mind
1. Changes in thought- philosophy, science, art
2. The Revolution in Physics
3. Literature: Realism and Naturalism- Flaubert, Zola, Ibsen, Shaw
4. Modernism in Literature: Virginia Woolf, Proust, Mann
5. The Coming of Modern Art- Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Cubism- how do
these movements reflect the changing ideas of the time?
6. Friedrich Nietzsche and the Revolt Against Reason- a counterattack on the ideas of the
age
7. The Development of Psychoanalysis- ―Paging Dr. Freud‖- Intellectual changes in
psychology
8. Retreat from rationalism in politics- Weber, Durkheim, LeBon, etc.
9. Racism in ―Modern‖ Europe- including anti-Semitism and the birth of Zionism
Women and Modern Thought
1.
2.
3.
Women take a step back- Antifeminism in late Nineteenth-Century thought
New directions in feminism- challenging the double standard
Women begin to define their own lives- how did this affect the social and cultural
aspects of society?
Unit 14: World War I and Revolution: Imperialism, Alliances, World War and the
Resulting Political Experiments of the 1920s
Expansion of European Power and the New Imperialism
1. The Scramble for Africa
2. Other Imperialist Rivalries
3. Russo-Japanese War
4. How were the Economics of the New Imperialism different from before?
Emergence of the German Empire and the Alliance Systems (1873-1890)- The Arms Race
1. Nationalism’s role in provoking the war
2. The Balkans act as a powder keg
World War I
1. What were the goals and expectations of each nation in 1914?
2. The Schlieffen Plan
3. Plan 17
4. The causes of the war and their importance
5. How was the war fought? How was it different from before? How was it won?
The Russian Revolution
1. What happened to Russia before and during the war?
2. Domestic Polices of Alexander III
3. Agricultural and industrial conditions in Russia
4. Stolypin’s reforms and responses to the Revolution of 1905
5. Role played by the Intelligentsia
6. Radical Groups: Competing Ideologies
7. Events leading to Revolution: 1917
8. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks do it?
The End of World War I
The Settlement at Paris
1. Versailles Treaty
2. Consequences and Evaluation of the Versailles Treaty
3. Wilson’s 14 Points and self-determination
Political and Economic Factors after the Paris Settlement
The Soviet Experiment Begins
The Fascist Experiment in Italy
Joyless Victors
1. The punishment of the losers
Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe
The Weimar Republic in Germany- set up for failure
Unit 15: The Crisis of Democracy and World War II (1920-1945): Europe and the
Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II
Toward the Great Depression
1. World Economy in the Interwar Period
2. The Role of the Great Depression in leading to war
Confronting the Great Depression in the Democracies
1. What made France and Great Britain less susceptible to totalitarianism that Germany and
Italy?
Germany: The Nazi Seizure of Power
1. Was it possible to stop Hitler?
Italy: Fascist Economics
The Soviet Union: Central Economic Planning, Collectivization, and Party Purges
1. Lenin’s domestic and foreign policies
2. Succession of Stalin and Stalin’s domestic and foreign policies
3. Stalin vs. Trotsky- he won’t go down without a fight- consolidating Stalin’s dictatorial
powers
4. The Purges of the 1930s
5. The Five Year Plans
6. How were Lenin and Stalin following the ideas of Marx? Did they do it well?
The Road to War (Again) (1933-1939)
1. Events leading up to the outbreak of World War II
2. The Failure of Diplomacy
3. The Versailles Treaty’s role in leading to the war
4. Compare and contrast the reasons for World War I and the reasons for World War II
World War II- (1939-1945)
1. How the war was fought
2. How it was won
Racism and the Holocaust
The Domestic Fronts
Preparations for Peace
1. Peace settlements after World War II
2. Differences and similarities between the settlements from World War I and World War
II
Unit 16: Europe, 1945-Present: The Cold War Era and the Emergence of the New
Europe, the West at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
The Emergence of the Cold War
1. The causes and progression of the Cold War
2. Important Cold War Documents: Truman Doctrine, ―containment‖ policy, and Marshall
Plan
3. Economic recoveries of Great Britain, France, and Germany through the Marshall Plan
4. Domestic issues in Great Britain, France, and Germany- Compare and Contrast
5. Social and Economic policy in Great Britain, France, and Germany
6. United Nations Role
The Khrushchev Era in the Soviet Union
1. atomic/nuclear arms race
2. Opposition to Soviet domination in Eastern/Central Europe (Poland, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, etc.)
3. De-Stalinization
Later Cold War Confrontations
1. Military conflicts in the Cold War
The Brezhnev Era in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
Decolonization: The European Retreat from Empire
1. Great Britain
2. France
The Turmoil of French Decolonization
1. French politics in the 4th and 5th Republics
2. Role of DeGaulle
The Collapse of European Communism
1. Gorbachev- the winds of change
2. The Rise of the European Union
3. Movement towards economic unity in Europe
4. The collapse of the Soviet Union
5. Nationalism and desire for freedom in Eastern Europe and Russia
6. Reunification in Germany
7. The world economy from World War II to the millennium
The Collapse of Yugoslavia and Civil War
The Rise of Radical Political Islamism
A Transformed West
1. Youth movement in the 1960s
2. Nationalism in the New Europe
3. Environmentalism
The Twentieth-Century Movement of People
1. demographic changes
2. Racial tensions and problems with minorities
Toward a Welfare-State Society
New Patterns in the Work and Expectations of Women
1. The women’s movement
2. Changes in women’s roles in society, politics, and the economy
Transformations in Knowledge and Culture
1. Literature, music, theatre, and movies
2. postmodernism and deconstructionism
3. Existentialism
Art Since World War II
1. 20th century art
2. Postmodernism
The Christian Heritage
Late Twentieth-Century Technology: The Arrival of the Computer
The Challenges of European Unification
First Quarter Paper
Interpretive Biography from 1300-1648
Parameters:
No less than four pages with Times New Roman 12-point font and regular margins, doublespaced, plus annotated bibliography
Minimum of five sources (at least one ―print‖ source must be used) with citations of their use in
your paper.
Primary sources and secondary sources should both be used
MLA format for citations and bibliography
100 points- test/exam grade
Choose a person of interest to you who we’ve discussed in the time period of 1300 -1648.
You will write an essay that will discuss this person’s life in terms of its importance to
their time. You will be asked to interpret their importance, discuss their failures and
successes in terms the standards of their time or by modern standards. You will explain
the meaning your person’s life and what was significant about them and their actions.
This is your insight into their life.
You must have a thesis statement about what the meaning of their life is
and then back it up with your sources!
NEVER write in first person or second person!! “I” and “You” = Zero!!!!
Use the appropriate social, economic, cultural, political, religious, or military events that
this person lived through to help you understand the era in which they lived.
Remember, you must use citations for crediting sources—if you use it, cite it!
Sample Subject:
DaVinci’s work as a representation and/or promotion of Renaissance ideals
Second Quarter Paper
Histiography
Parameters:
No less than four pages with Times New Roman 12-point font and regular margins, doublespaced, plus annotated bibliography
Minimum of five sources (at least one ―print‖ source must be used) with citations of their use in
your paper. Watch your source validity!!!
Primary sources and secondary sources should both be used
MLA format for citations and bibliography
100 points- test/exam grade
Histiographies are histories of history. How have historical persons or events been
written or thought about throughout time?
You will write an essay discussing different historians’ views of one topic in European
history from the period of 1450- the Enlightenment.
You will choose at least five sources from different historians discussing the same topic.
After reading and pondering your sources, you will write your essay. In your essay, you
should discuss your chosen topic in terms of differences and similarities between your
historians’ views. You may also choose instead to discuss (if present) the historical
debate surrounding your topic.
One way to look at it is to see if there is one trend in the interpretation of your topic or to
look at how interpretations of your topic have changed over time. You can also relate
these changes in view to the time periods in which the authors were writing. Do cultural
biases play in? How do historians use the same evidence to reach different conclusions?
Things to think about as you read and write:
Author’s thesis
What are the author’s biases- political, social, religious, or possibly economic?
What is the context in which the work was written? Primary? Secondary?
Are your authors doing the same kind of history?
Do your authors contradict each other? If so, how and why do you believe they
disagree?
Are their views generally accepted? Were they at one time?
What is their evidence for their opinion?
Third Quarter Paper
Book Review
Parameters:
You will choose a book written by an historian over some historical topic in European history
from the period 1450-2001. You may choose from the list I give or pick a book of your
choosing, but I must approve your book before you start!!!!!!!!
Review should be at least 4 pages
MLA format with in-text citations.
12-point Times New Roman font with regular margins, double-spaced
100 points- test/exam score
Once you have chosen and read your book on your topic, construct a review of your
book. Begin by briefly describing why you chose this particular book on this topic.
Briefly summarize your book and its main topics. This is not a book report. Once you
finish summarizing, discuss the historical context of the book; where is the author coming
from and what view of the events does he put forth? Does the author’s viewpoint
coincide with the accepted viewpoint of historians? As you read the book, what new
information did you discover about your chosen topic?
Overall, what were your impressions? How did this book make you think about this
historical period/event? Did it change your perceptions? Would you recommend it?
Remember, choose wisely. Pick a book you’re actually interested in reading, not simply
something that is short or can be found on Sparknotes or Cliff’s Notes. I will know if
you have read your book or not.
Fourth Quarter Project
Visual/ Movie Maker Project
Parameters:
Must be a cohesive representation of the topic chosen
Must be educational to others about European history
Must draw from multiple sources
Must be visually attractive and well put together.
Citations must be included in the form of a bibliography
100 points
Devise and be able to present and defend the relevance of a visual project over some facet
of European History from 1450-2001. It needs to be a learning tool for yourself and
others, so simply throwing a bunch of images and music in some quickie movie won’t cut
it.
You may choose to do any of the following (Power Point is a no-no!):
create a piece of art representative of an event, period, art style etc. and defend it
to the class
create a family tree (not of yourself)  and explain its importance to European
history
create a series of maps representing a period of time (create…not print)
create a series of political cartoons depicting some facet of European history
create a movie about some aspect of European history
create a visual timeline
Or you may create something totally different with my approval.
Again, your project must come from legitimate sources and there must be an
accompanying bibliography to back up the information presented. You will present to
the class your project. This is your opportunity to be the teacher and review
events/inspire the interest of your classmates.
For example, if you were doing impressionism, you may design your own impressionist
painting. Then in your presentation, you would be expected to give some background
information about impressionism, discuss the style, important artists, and the attributes
that make impressionism what it is and how what you’ve produced represents that.