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AP European History Essays, 1977-present
Renaissance
’77: To what extent and in what ways may the Renaissance be regarded as a turning point in the
Western intellectual and cultural tradition?
‘85: To what extent is the term “Renaissance” a valid concept for a distinct period in early
modern European history?
’94: Explain the ways in which Italian Renaissance humanism transformed ideas about the
individual’s role in society.
’96: Discuss how Renaissance ideas are expressed in the Italian art of the period, referring to
specific works and artists.
’03B: To what extent and in what ways did women participate in the Renaissance?
’04: Analyze the influence of humanism on the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance. Use at
least THREE specific works to support your analysis.
’93 DBQ: Renaissance Education
Exploration and New Monarchs
’78: Why were Europeans able to achieve economic and political control over many nonEuropean peoples between 1450 and 1650?
’79: European monarchs of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries are often referred to as
the “New Monarchs.” What was “new” about them? Do their actions warrant this label?
’80: Explain how economic, technological, political, and religious factors promoted European
’89: “In the fifteenth century, European society was still centered on the Mediterranean region
but by the end of the seventeenth century, the focus of Europe had shifted north.” Assess the
validity of the statement above with reference to economic and political developments in this
period.
’92: Analyze the changes in the European economy from about 1450 to 1700 brought about by
the voyages of exploration and colonization. Give specific examples.
’97: Focusing on the period before 1600, describe and analyze the cultural and economic
interactions between Europe and the Western Hemisphere as a result of Spanish and Portuguese
exploration and settlement.
’03: Explain how advances in learning and technology influenced fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury European exploration and trade.
’05: Using examples from at least two different states, analyze the key features of the “new
monarchies” and the factors responsible for their rise in the period 1450 to 1550.
’06: Analyze the effects of the Columbian exchange (the interchange of plants, animals, and
diseases between the Old World and the New World) on the population and economy of Europe
in the period 1550 to 1700.
Reformation and Religious Wars
’79: The chalice on the left was used by a sixteenth-century Roman Catholic priest in the
celebration of the Mass; the wooden cup shown on the right is what he used to celebrate the
Lord’s Supper after he left the Church and became a follower of Martin Luther. How does the
new cup reflect the theology and ideals of the Protestant Reformation?
’80: How did the disintegration of the medieval church and the coming of the Reformation
contribute to the development of nation-states in western Europe between 1450 and 1648?
’81: Evaluate the relative importance of religious rivalries and dynastic ambitions that shaped
the course of the Thirty Years’ War.
’83: “Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative.” Evaluate this statement with respect
to Luther’s responses to the political and social questions of his day.
’85: What were the responses of the Catholic authorities in the 16th century to the challenges
posed by the Lutheran Reformation?
’86: The Reformation was a rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Discuss.
’87: “The Protestant Reformation was primarily an economic event.” By describing and
determining the relative importance of the economic, political, and religious causes of the
Protestant Reformation, defend or refute this statement.
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’88: Describe and analyze the ways in which the development of printing altered both the
culture and religion of Europe during the period 1450-1600.
’90: In 1519 Charles of Habsburg became Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Discuss and
analyze the political, social, and religious problems he faced over the course of his imperial reign
(1519-1556).
’91: Describe and analyze the ways in which sixteenth-century Roman Catholics defended their
faith against the Protestant Reformation.
’92: The pictures below show the interiors of a Protestant church and a Roman Catholic church
as each appeared in the first half of the seventeenth century. Using these pictures as a starting
point, explain how these interiors reflect the differing theologies and religious practices of
Protestantism and Catholicism at that time.
’95: Compare and contrast the attitudes of Martin Luther and John Calvin toward political
authority and social order.
’96: Assess the extent to which the Protestant Reformation promoted new expectations about
social roles in the sixteenth century. Refer to at least TWO social groups in your assessment.
’98: Compare and contrast the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Reformation of the
sixteenth century regarding the reform of both religious doctrines and religious practices.
’99: Discuss the relationship between politics and religion by examining the wars of religion.
Choose TWO specific examples from the following: Dutch Revolt, French wars of religion,
English Civil War, Thirty Years’ War.
’00: “Leadership determines the fate of a country.” Evaluate this quotation in terms of Spain’s
experience under Philip II.
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’01: Assess the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half
of the sixteenth century.
’02: Compare and contrast the religious policies of TWO of the following: Elizabeth I of
England, Cathine de Médicis of France, Isabella I of Spain.
‘02B: To what extent did political authorities influence the course of the Protestant Reformation
in the sixteenth century?
’05: Compare and contrast the motives and actions of Martin Luther in the German states and
King Henry VIII in England in bringing about religious change during the Reformation.
’06: Analyze the aims, methods, and degree of success of the Catholic Reformation (CounterReformation) in the sixteenth century.
‘06B: How and to what extent did the methods and idea of Renaissance humanism contribute to
the Protestant Reformation?
‘07B: Evaluate the influence of Renaissance humanism on Catholic reforms and the Protestant
Reformation.
‘08B: Analyze the reasons for the decline of the Holy Roman Empire as a force in European
politics in the period 1517 to 1648.
DBQ ‘04B: Pilgrimage of Grace in England
Early Modern Society
’02: Analyze at least TWO factors that account for the rise and TWO factors that explain the
decline of witchcraft persecution and trials in the period from 1580 to 1750.
’05B: Account for the growth and decline of European witch hunts in the period 1500 to 1650.
‘08B: Analyze the impact of TWO cultural and/or technological developments on European
education in the period 1450 to 1650.
’80 DBQ: Witchcraft
’95 DBQ: Plague from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries
’00 DBQ: Festivals and rituals in traditional European life
’04 DBQ: Attitudes toward the poor from 1450 to 1800
’07 DBQ: Assumptions about children and child-rearing practices in early modern Europe
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’08 DB Q: German Peasants’ Revolt
Absolutism and the Commercial Revolution
’78: By 1700 it had become evident that western and eastern Europe were moving in opposite
directions in terms of their basic social structures. Discuss.
’82: In the seventeenth century, what political conditions accounted for the increased power of
both the Parliament in England and the monarch in France?
’85: In seventeenth-century England the aristocracy lost its privileges but retained its power; in
seventeenth-century France the aristocracy retained its privileges but lost its power. Analyze the
reasons for these developments.
’86: In the seventeenth century, how did England and the Dutch Republic compete successfully
with France and Spain for control of overseas territory and trade?
’87: Analyze the ways in which both the theory and practice of monarchy evolved in England
from 1603 (accession of Stuarts) to 1688-89 (Glorious Revolution).
’88: Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) built the Escorial and Louis XIV of France (1643-1715) of
France built Versailles. Starting with the pictures of these palaces, analyze the similarities and
differences in the conception and practice of monarchy of these two kings.
’89: Analyze the major ways through which Tsar Peter the Great (1689-1725) sought to reform
his society and institutions in order to strengthen Russia and its position in Europe.
’91: Analyze the military, political, and social factors that account for the rise of Prussia
between 1640 and 1786.
’93: Describe and analyze the changes in the role of Parliament in English politics between the
succession of James I and the Glorious Revolution.
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’93: In 1490 there was no such country as Spain, yet within a century it had become the most
powerful nation in Europe and within another had sunk to the status of third-rate power.
Describe and analyze the major social, economic, and political reasons for Spain’s rise and fall.
’94: Between 1450 and 1800, many women gained power as rulers, some as reigning queens,
others as regents. Identify two such powerful women and discuss how issues of gender, such as
marriage and reproduction, influenced their ability to obtain and exercise power.
’95: Analyze the influence of the theory of mercantilism on the domestic and foreign policies of
France, 1600-1715.
’99: Machiavelli suggested that ruler should behave both “like a lion” and “like a fox.” Analyze
the policies of TWO of the following European rulers, indicating the degree to which they
successfully followed Machiavelli’s suggestion: Elizabeth I of England, Henry IV of France,
Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick II of Prussia.
’99: Analyze the ways in which the contrasting styles of these two paintings reflect the different
economic values and social structures of France and the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
’01: Describe and analyze how overseas expansion by European states affected global trade and
international relations from 1600 to 1715.
’02: In what ways and to what extent did absolutism affect the power and status of the European
nobility in the period 1650 to 1750? Use examples from at least TWO countries.
‘02B: Compare and contrast the goals and major policies of Peter the Great of Russia (ruled
1682-1725) with those of Frederick the Great of Prussia (ruled 1740-1786).
’03: Louis XIV declared his goal was “one king, one law, one faith.” Analyze the methods the
king used to achieve this objective and discuss the extent to which he was successful.
‘03B: Explain why Europe saw no lasting peace in the period between the Peace of Westphalia
in 1648 and the Peace of Paris in 1763.
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‘04B: Explain the reasons for the rise of the Netherlands as a leading commercial power in the
period 1550-1650.
’05: Analyze the economic, technological, and institutional factors responsible for western
Europe’s domination of world trade from 1650 to 1800.
‘05B: Discuss the economic policies and institutions that characterized mercantilist systems
from 1600 to 1800.
‘06B: How and to what extent did the Commercial Revolution transform the European economy
and diplomatic balance of power in the period from 1650 to 1763?
’07: Analyze the factors that prevented the development of a unified German state in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
’07: Britain and France were engaged in a geopolitical and economic rivalry during the
eighteenth century. Identify the factors that contributed to this rivalry, and assess the results for
both countries over the period 1689 to 1789.
‘07B: Using the two Dutch paintings above and your historical knowledge of the period, discuss
how the paintings reflect the economy and culture of the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
’08: Analyze the methods and degrees of success of Russian political and social reform from the
period of Peter the Great (1689–1725) through Catherine the Great (1762–1796).
‘08B: Compare and contrast the political ideas of Hobbes and Locke.
’96 DBQ: Challenges to Dutch security, unity, and prosperity
‘07B DBQ: Concepts of nobility in France from late 16th to late 18th century
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Scientific Revolution
’78: “Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in the night, God said, ‘Let Newton be’ and all was
light.” The couplet above was Alexander Pope’s way of expressing the relationship between the
Scientific Revolution and Christianity. What was the effect of seventeenth-century science on
Christianity, and how did each react to the other?
’84: How did the developments in scientific thought from Copernicus to Newton create a new
conception of the universe and humanity’s place within it?
’91: Describe the new astronomy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and analyze the
ways in which it changed scientific thought and methods.
’00: Explain the development of the scientific method in the seventeenth century and the impact
of scientific thinking on traditional sources of authority.
’04: Assess the impact of the Scientific Revolution on religion and philosophy in the period
1550 to 1750.
’97 DBQ: Women and the Scientific Revolution
’05B DBQ: Influences on scientists in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Enlightenment and 18th-Century Society
’77: Trace the evolution of religious toleration as a political practice and assess the factors
behind its development from the Reformation through the Enlightenment.
’80: How did social and political conditions in eighteenth-century western Europe prior to 1788
influence the ideas of the Enlightenment?
’82: Compare and contrast the cultural values of the Enlightenment with those of the sixteenthcentury Renaissance.
’83: In what ways did Enlightenment thinkers build on or make use of the ideas of Newton and
Locke?
’84: Compare and contrast the views of Machiavelli and Rousseau on human nature and the
relationship between government and the governed.
’88: “In the eighteenth century, people turned to the new science for a better understanding of
the social and economic problems of the day.” Assess the validity of this statement by using
specific examples from the Enlightenment era.
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’90: Analyze the ways in which specific intellectual and scientific developments of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contributed to the emergence of the religious outlook
known as “Deism.”
’94: Analyze the ways in which Enlightenment thought addressed religious beliefs and social
issues in the eighteenth century.
’95: To what extent did the Enlightenment express optimistic ideas in eighteenth-century
Europe? Illustrate your answer with references to specific individuals and their works.
‘02B: Compare and contrast two theories of government introduced in the period from 1640 to
1780.
‘02B: Both Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) and Adam Smith (1723-1790) sought to increase
the wealth of their respective countries. How did their recommendations differ?
’03: Identify the features of the eighteenth-century Agricultural Revolution and analyze its
social and economic effects.
‘03B: Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular
culture in the eighteenth century.
’06B: Analyze the intellectual foundations of religious toleration in eighteenth-century Europe.
’08: Describe and analyze the changes that led to Europe’s rapid population growth in the
eighteenth century.
’78 DBQ: Education of women from Renaissance to Enlightenment
’82 DBQ: Child-rearing attitudes and practices from sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in England
’87 DBQ: Literacy in Old Regime France
’88 DBQ: Gin Act in England
’01 DBQ: Greek struggle for independence and philhellenic movement
French Revolution and Napoleon
’81: Napoleon I is sometimes called the greatest enlightened despot. Evaluate this assessment in
terms of Napoleon I’s policies and accomplishments. Be sure to include a definition of
enlightened despotism in your answer.
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’84: “The essential cause of the French Revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising
bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges.” Assess the validity of this
statement as an explanation of the events leading up to the French Revolution of 1789.
’86: To what extent and in what ways was the French Revolution during the period 1789
through the Reign of Terror (1794) an attempt to create a government based on Enlightenment
ideals?
’89: “Political leaders committed to radical or extremist goals often exert authoritarian control in
the name of higher values.” Support or refute this statement with reference to the political and
cultural policies of Robespierre during the French Revolution.
’92: “Napoleon was a child of the Enlightenment.” Assess the validity of this statement. Use
examples from both the Enlightenment and Napoleon’s attitudes and policies.
’96: Identify the major social groups in France on the eve of the 1789 Revolution. Assess the
extent to which their aspirations were achieved in the period from the meeting of the EstatesGeneral (May 1789) to the declaration of the republic (September 1792).
’03: How and to what extent did Enlightenment ideas about religion and society shape the
policies of the French Revolution in the period 1789 to 1799?
’07: Identify the grievances of the groups that made up the Third Estate in France on the eve of
the French Revolution, and analyze the extent to which ONE of these groups was able to address
its grievances in the period 1789 to 1799.
’08: Analyze the ways in which the events of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period
(1789–1815) led people to challenge Enlightenment views of society, politics, and human nature.
’79 DBQ: Reign of Terror
’91 DBQ: Slavery during Enlightenment and French Revolution
‘08B DBQ: French Revolutionary calendar
Industrial Revolution and Age of Ideologies
’77: There were a number of factors that delayed the industrialization of eastern Europe.
Discuss them and then compare them with the factors that encouraged the earlier
industrialization of western Europe.
’79: Discuss the extent to which nineteenth century Romanticism was or was not a conservative
cultural and intellectual movement.
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’80: Contrast the ways in which European skilled craftsmen of the mid-eighteenth century and
European factory workers of the early nineteenth century differed in their work behavior and in
their attitudes toward work.
’82: Identify and explain the similarities and differences between socialism and liberalism in
nineteenth-century Europe.
’83: Identify the social and economic factors in preindustrial England that explain why England
was the first country to industrialize.
’89: Between 1750 and 1850 more and more western Europeans were employed in cottage
industry and in factory production. Analyze how these two types of employment affected
employer-employee relations, working conditions, family relations, and the standard of living
during this period.
’90: In February 1848, the middle classes and workers in France joined to overthrow the
government of Louis Philippe. By June the two groups were at odds in their political, economic,
and social thinking. Analyze what transpired to divide the groups and describe the consequences
for French politics.
’91: Between 1815 and 1848 the condition of the laboring classes and the problem of political
stability were critical issues in England. Describe and analyze the reforms that social critics and
politicians of this period proposed to resolve these problems.
’92: Describe and analyze the issues and ideas in the debate in Europe between 1750 and 1846
over the proper role of government in the economy. Give specific examples.
’93: Describe the ways in which conservative political and social views shaped the peace
settlement of the Congress of Vienna. Explain the consequences of the peace settlement for the
period 1815 to 1848.
’97: Describe and analyze the economic, cultural, and social changes that led to and sustained
Europe’s rapid population growth in the period from 1720 to 1850.
’97: Discuss some of the ways in which Romantic artists, musicians, and writers responded to
the political and socioeconomic conditions in the period 1800-1850. Document your response
with specific examples from discussions of at least TWO of the three disciplines: visual arts,
music, and literature.
’00: Discuss three developments that enabled Great Britain to achieve a dominant economic
position between 1700 and 1830.
’02B: Describe and analyze the differences in the ways in which artists and writers portrayed the
individual during the Italian Renaissance and the Romantic era of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries.
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‘03B: Compare and contrast political liberalism with political conservatism in the first half of
the nineteenth century in Europe.
’03: Analyze three examples of the relationship between Romanticism and nationalism before
1850.
‘04B: Analyze the shifts in the European balance of power in the period between 1763 and
1848.
‘04B: To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and of
the natural world?
‘05B: Compare and contrast Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between
God and the individual.
’05: Analyze how economic and social developments affected women in England in the period
from 1700 to 1850.
‘06B: Discuss how the two structures shown above reflect the societies and cultures that
produced them.
Arch of Triumph, Paris, 1806-1836
Crystal Palace, London, 1850-1851
‘07B: Referring to specific individuals or works, discuss the ways in which TWO of the
following expressed the concept of nationalism in the nineteenth century: artists, composers,
writers.
’81 DBQ: Middle-class and working-class attitudes toward industrialization
’83 DBQ: Flemings and Walloons in Netherlands/Belgium
’98 DBQ: Social, economic, and political issues in Germany before revolutions of 1848
’02 DBQ: Problems and responses to growth of Manchester
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Nationalism and Imperialism
’82: Compare and contrast the motives for European overseas expansion during the Age of
Discovery (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) and during the Age of New Imperialism (nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries).
’89: Analyze and compare the effects of nationalism on Italian and Austro-Hungarian politics
between 1815 and 1914.
’90: How and in what ways were economic and political factors responsible for intensifying
European imperialist activity in Africa from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the
First World War?
’95: Analyze the key developments that characterized the European economy in the second half
of the nineteenth century.
’97: Analyze the policies of THREE European colonial powers regarding Africa between 1871
and 1914.
’02: Compare and contrast the foreign policy goals and achievements of Metternich (1815-1848)
and Bismarck (1862-1890).
’04: Contrast the impact of nationalism in Germany and the Austrian Empire from 1848 to 1914.
’06: In the period 1815-1900, political liberalization progressed much further in western Europe
than in Russia. Analyze the social and economic reasons for this difference.
‘07B: To what extent did the Russian government and society affect its economic development
in the eighteenth and nineteenth century?
’08B: Analyze the similarities and differences in the methods used by Cavour and Bismarck to
bring about the unification of Italy and of Germany, respectively.
’86 DBQ: Great Britain and Sudan Crisis
’92 DBQ: Pan-Slavism
’94 DBQ: Irish Question, 1800-1914
Crisis of Modernism
’77: Discuss the decline of the aristocracy in western Europe. When did the decline occur, what
forms did it take, and what factors caused it?
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’77: Discuss the origins and evolution of European liberalism as a political movement during the
nineteenth century.
’78: By 1900 the artist had either to be a critic of his time or develop art for art’s sake. Discuss.
’79: What political and social changes in western and central Europe account for the virtual
disappearance of revolutionary outbreaks in the half-century following 1848?
’84: Describe the steps taken between 1832 and 1918 to extend the suffrage in England. What
groups and movements contributed to the extension of the vote?
’84: To what extent and in what ways did intellectual developments in Europe in the period
1880-1914 undermine confidence in human rationality and in a well-ordered, dependable
universe?
’85: To what extent did Marx and Freud each challenge the nineteenth-century liberal belief in
rationality and progress?
’85: Evaluate the effectiveness of collective responses by workers to industrialization in
Western Europe during the course of the nineteenth century.
’87: How and in what ways did the writings of Karl Marx draw on Enlightenment concepts of
progress, natural law, and reason?
’87: These two pictures suggest technological and urban transformations characteristic of
modern Europe. Using the pictures as a starting point, describe the extent of these changes and
their effects on working- and middle-class Europeans in the second half of the nineteenth
century.
’88: Describe and compare the differences among utopian socialists, Karl Marx, and revisionist
socialists in their critiques of nineteenth-century European economy and society.
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’90: Analyze what the differences in leisure activities shown in the two paintings reflect about
the social life of peasants in the sixteenth century and of urban dwellers in the nineteenth
century.
’91: Describe and analyze the ways in which Marxism, Freudianism, and the women’s
movement challenged traditional European beliefs before the First World War.
’93: Discuss the effects of the industrial economy on western European peasant women and
working-class women from 1830 to 1914.
’95: Discuss the ways in which European Jews were affected by and responded to liberalism,
nationalism, and anti-Semitism in the nineteenth century.
’96: Describe the physical transformation of European cities in the second half of the nineteenth
century and analyze the social consequences of this transformation.
’98: Compare and contrast the roles of British working women in the preindustrial economy
(before 1750) with their roles in the era 1850-1920.
’99: Contrast how a Marxist and a Social Darwinist would account for the differences in the
conditions of these two mid-nineteenth century families.
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’00: “Man for field and woman for the hearth: Man for the sword and for the needle she: Man
with head and women from the heart: Man to command and woman to obey.” How accurately
do the lines of poetry above reflect gender roles for European men and women in the late
nineteenth century?
’00: Evaluate how the ideas of Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud challenged Enlightenment
assumptions about human behavior and the role of reason.
’01: Analyze how and why western European attitudes toward children and child rearing
changed in the period from 1750 to 1900.
‘03B: Describe and analyze responses to industrialization by the working class between 1850
and 1914.
‘04B: Contrast the ways in which the paintings shown below express the artistic and intellectual
concerns of the eras in which the works were created.
Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
Raphael, School of Athens, 1509-1511
’05: Historians speak of the rise of mass politics in the period from 1880 to 1914. Define this
phenomenon and analyze its effects on European politics in this period.
‘05B: Discuss the impact of industrialization and urbanization on working-class families from
1750 to 1900.
’06:
Compare and contrast the relationship between the artist and society in the
Renaissance/Reformation period to the relationship between the artist and society in the late
nineteenth century.
’07: Analyze the problems and opportunities associated with the rapid urbanization of western
Europe in the nineteenth century.
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‘07B: “In the second half of the nineteenth century, most European governments were
conservative.” To what extent is the quotation above an accurate statement? Use specific
examples from at least TWO countries.
’08: European women’s lives changed in the course of the nineteenth century politically,
economically, and socially. Identify and explain the reasons for those changes.
’08: Analyze the major factors responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in nineteenth-century
Europe.
‘08B: Analyze the ways in which TWO of the following groups challenged British liberalism
between 1880 and 1914: Feminists, Irish nationalists, Socialists.
’85 DBQ: Juvenile delinquency in nineteenth-century Britain
’89 DBQ: Women’s Suffrage
’06 DBQ: Rise of organized sports, 1860-1940
First World War and Russian Revolution
’80: What aspects of Russian society and institutions were most changed and what aspects least
changed by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917? Limit your discussion to the first ten years
(1917-1927) of the new regime and account for the changes your note.
’81: Analyze the major social, political, and technological changes that took place in European
warfare between 1789 and 1918.
’83: In what ways and why did Lenin alter Marxism?
’84: To what extent did the emancipation of Russian serfs and other reforms in the nineteenth
century contribute to the modernization of Russia before the First World War?
’85: Compare and contrast the roles of the peasantry and of urban workers in the French
Revolution to those of the peasantry and or urban workers in the Russian Revolution.
’87: “The tsarist regime fell in 1917 because it had permitted tremendous change and progress in
some areas while trying to maintain a political order that had outlived its time.” Assess the
validity of this statement as an explanation of the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917.
’88: Assess the extent to which the First World War accelerated European social change in
work, sex roles, and government involvement in everyday life.
’94: Describe and analyze the long-term social and economic trends in the period 1860 to 1917
that prepared the ground for revolution in Russia.
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’98: To what extent and in what ways did nationalist tensions in the Balkans between 1870 and
1914 contribute to the outbreak of the First World War?
’04: Compare and contrast the extent to which the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the
Russian Revolution (1917-1924) changed the status of women.
’84 DBQ: German aircraft industry during First World War
’99 DBQ: Russian peasants from 1861 to 1914
’03 DBQ: Civil peace in Germany during First World War
‘06B DBQ: Alsace-Lorraine national identity from 1870 to 1919
Interwar and Second World War
’78: “Every successful revolution puts on in time the robe of the tyrant it has deposed.”
Evaluate this statement with regard to the English Revolution (1640-1660), the French
Revolution (1789-1815), and the Russian Revolution (1917-1938).
’79: “Every war creates illusions and is conducted in the name of unrealizable ideals.” Evaluate
this statement by comparing the goals for which the First World War was fought and those for
which the Second World War was fought.
’80: The culture of the years between the two world wars (1918-1939) was marked by
experimentation and an interest in the irrational. Select any two European works of art or
literature from this period and describe their significance in terms of these characteristics.
’81: “1914-1918 marks a turning point in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe.”
Defend, refute, or modify this statement with reference to the generation before and the
generation after the First World War.
’81: Compare the economic roles of the state under seventeenth-century mercantilism and
twentieth-century communism. Illustrate your answer with reference to the economic system of
France during Louis XIV’s reign under Colbert and of the Soviet Union under Stalin.
’82: What policies of the Stalinist government perpetuated the essential features of the tsarist
regime under Nicholas II (1894-1917)?
’82: Why did Germany’s experiment with parliamentary democracy between 1919 and 1939
fail?
’83: Compare the rise to power of fascism in Italy and in Germany.
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’84: Compare and contrast the ways in which the works of art reproduced below express the
artistic styles and political issues of their times.
’86: To what extent and in what ways has twentieth-century physics challenged the Newtonian
view of the universe and society?
’87: Compare and contrast the efforts to ensure European collective security that were made by
the victorious powers between 1815 and 1830 (after the Napoleonic Wars) with those made by
the victorious powers between 1918 and 1933 (after the First World War).
’89: How and in what ways did European painting or literature reflect the disillusionment in
society between 1919 and 1939. Support your answer with specific artistic or literary examples.
’92: Contrast European diplomacy in the periods 1890 to 1914 and 1918 to 1939, respectively.
Include in your analysis goals, practices, and results.
’93: “Dictators in twentieth-century Europe have had much greater control over culture and
society than had divine right monarchs of earlier centuries.” Assess the validity of this
statement, using specific examples from each era to support your position.
’94: Discuss and analyze the political and economic reasons for the failure of parliamentary
democracy in Germany after First World War.
’95: Compare and contrast the extent to which Catherine the Great and Joseph Stalin were
“westernizers.”
’96: Compare and contrast the relationships between the great powers and Poland in the periods
1772-1815 and 1918-1939.
’96: Compare and contrast the patronage of the arts by the Italian Renaissance rulers with that
by dictators of the 1930s.
’97: Account for the responses of the European democracies to the military aggression by Italy
and Germany during the 1930s.
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’99: Compare and contrast the degree of success of treaties negotiated in Vienna (1814-1815)
and Versailles (1919) in achieving European stability.
’01: How did new theories in physics and psychology in the period from 1900 to 1939 challenge
existing ideas about the individual and society?
’02: Analyze the impact of the First World War on European culture and society in the interwar
period, 1919-1939.
’04: Analyze the ways in which technology and mass culture contributed to the success of
dictators in the 1920s and 1930s.
‘04B: Analyze the participation of European women in the economy and in politics from 1914
to 1939. Use examples from at least TWO countries.
‘04B: Compare and contrast the ways that seventeenth-century absolute monarchs and
twentieth-century dictators gained and maintained their power.
’05: Assess the extent to which the economic and political ideals of Karl Marx were realized in
postrevolutionary Russia in the period from 1917 to 1939.
’06: Considering the period 1933 to 1945, analyze the economic, diplomatic, and military
reasons for Germany’s defeat in the Second World War.
‘06B: Analyze anti-Semitism in Europe from the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s to 1939.
’07: Analyze the impact of the rise of militarism and the Second World War on the lives of
European women. In your answer consider the period 1930 to 1950.
‘07B: Analyze how the Balkan crises from 1903 to 1914 and the crises in central and eastern
Europe from 1935 to 1939 threatened Europe’s balance of power.
’77 DBQ: Purge of S.A. in Nazi Germany
’90 DBQ: Spanish Civil War
‘02B DBQ: Women and Italian Fascism
‘03B DBQ: Marshal Petain and Vichy France
Post-1945 Europe
’77: “Every age projects its own image of man onto its art.” Assess the validity of this statement
with reference to two representative twentieth-century European works in either the visual or
literary arts.
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’81: Compare the ways in which the two works of art reproduced below express the artistic,
philosophical, and cultural values of their times.
Michelangelo, David, 1504
Giacametti, Man Pointing, 1947
’86: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the economic revival of Western Europe between
1945 and 1970.
’87: Analyze the ways in which the Cold War affected the political development of European
nations from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the construction of the Berlin Wall in
1961.
’91: Describe and analyze the changing relationships between the Soviet Union and Eastern
European countries from 1945 to 1970.
’91: Analyze the ways in which technology was an issue in European social activism between
1945 and 1970. Be sure to include THREE of the following: environmentalism, peace
movements, student protests, women’s movements, workers’ movements.
’92: Analyze criticism of European society presented by European authors in the period 1940 to
1970. Be sure to discuss at least two works.
’93: Compare and contrast the attitudes toward science and technology held by Enlightenment
thinkers with the various attitudes held by European artists and intellectuals in the twentieth
century.
’94: Analyze the common political and economic problems facing Western European nations in
the period 1945-1960 and discuss their responses to these problems.
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’95: Identify four specific changes in science and technology, and explain their effects on
Western European family and private life between 1918 and 1970.
’96: Compare and contrast the women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries with the European feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
’97: Describe and analyze resistance to Soviet authority in the Eastern bloc from the end of the
Second World War through 1989. Be sure to include examples from at least TWO Soviet
satellite countries.
’98: Using specific examples from Eastern and Western Europe, discuss economic development
during the period 1945 to the present, focusing on ONE of the following: A) Economic recovery
and integration, B) Development of the welfare state and its subsequent decline.
’99: Contrast the historical context, beliefs, and behavior of European youth represented by
these two photographs.
’00: Compare and contrast the political and economic policies of Joseph Stalin in period before
the Second World War and those of Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991).
’01: Compare and contrast the political and economic effects of the Cold War (1945-1991) on
Western Europe with the effects on Eastern Europe.
’02: Many historians have suggested that since 1945, nationalism has been on the decline in
Europe. Using both political and economic examples from the period 1945 to 2000, evaluate the
validity of this interpretation.
‘02B: Between 1945 and 1970, virtually all European colonies achieved independence. Discuss
the changes within Europe that contributed to this development.
’03: Analyze three reasons for the end of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe.
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‘03B: Compare and contrast the relationship between artists and society in the Baroque era and
in the twentieth century. Illustrate your essay with references to at least TWO examples for each
period.
’04: Analyze the factors working for and against European unity from 1945 to 2000.
‘05B: Compare and contrast the victorious Allied powers’ treatment of Germany after the First
World War with their treatment of Germany after the Second World War. Analyze the reasons
for the similarities and differences.
‘05B: Analyze the factors responsible for decolonization since the Second World War.
’06: Compare and contrast the social and economic roles of the state in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Europe (before 1789) to the social and economic roles of the state in Europe
after the Second World War.
‘06B: Describe and analyze economic policies in Eastern and Western Europe after 1945.
’07: Considering the period 1953 to 1991, analyze the problems within the Soviet Union that
contributed to the eventual collapse of the Soviet system.
’08: Analyze the economic and social challenges faced by Western Europe in the period from
1945 to 1989.
‘08B: Contrast late-nineteenth-century European attitudes and policies about race to those after
1950.
’05 DBQ: European unity, 1946-1989
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