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AP® European History

Syllabus

Course Essential Questions

  • What role did economic development and the development of capitalism play in Europe's history?
  • What significant effects did the creations and transmission of knowledge have on European and world societies?
  • How did European states and nations organize society and consolidate political power?
  • How did economic, political, and cultural factors influence family, class, and social groups in European history?
  • How have definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national and European identity developed and been challenged over time?
  • How have scientific and technological innovations increased efficiency, improved daily life, and shaped human interactions throughout European history?

Course Learning Objectives

  • Identify and explain historical developments and processes throughout European history.
  • Analyze sourcing and situation of primary and secondary sources.
  • Analyze arguments in primary and secondary sources.
  • Analyze the context of historical events, developments, or processes.
  • Analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes using historical reasoning processes (comparison, causation, continuity and change).
  • Develop an Argument.

Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration (Weeks 1-3)

Week 1: Getting Started in AP European History

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Understand the rules and policies of the course, and expectations of you as a contributing member of our learning community
  • Begin to build community by sharing important information with your teacher and classmates about yourself and your school, and creating a social contract together for guidelines on interacting throughout the class
  • Develop your skills for navigating the course environment and using the various course tools
  • Identify and explain what makes Europe, Europe.

Week 2: The Renaissance

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which the Renaissance and Age of Discovery developed.
  • Explain how the revival of classical texts contributed to the development of the Renaissance in Italy
  • Explain the political, intellectual, and cultural effects of the Italian Renaissance
  • Explain how Renaissance ideas were developed, maintained, and changed as the Renaissance spread to northern Europe.
  • Explain the influence of the printing press on cultural and intellectual developments in modern European history.
  • Explain the causes and effects of the development of political institutions from 1450 to 1648.

Week 3: Discovery and Exploration

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the technological factors that facilitated European exploration and expansion from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain the motivations for and effects of European exploration and expansion from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain how and why trading networks and colonial expansion affected relations between and among European states.
  • Explain the economic impact of European colonial expansion and development of trade networks.
  • Explain the social and cultural impact of European colonial expansion and development of trade networks.
  • Explain the causes for and the development of the slave trade.
  • Explain European commercial and agricultural developments and their economic effects from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain the causes and consequences of the Renaissance and Age of Discovery.

Unit 2: Age of Reformation (Weeks 4 - 5)

Week 4: The Reformation

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which the religious, political, and cultural developments of the 16th and 17th centuries took place.
  • Explain how and why religious belief and practices changed from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain how matters of religion influenced and were influenced by political factors from 1450 to 1648.

Week 5: The Age of Religious Wars

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the continuities and changes in the role of the Catholic Church from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain how economic and intellectual developments from 1450 to 1648 affected social norms and hierarchies.
  • Explain how and why artistic expression changed from 1450 to 1648.
  • Explain how the religious, political, and cultural developments of the 16th and 17th centuries affected European society from 1450 to 1648.

Unit 3: Absolutism and Constitutionalism (Weeks 6-7)

Week 6: Absolutism

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which different forms of political power developed from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain the causes and consequences of the English Civil War
  • Explain the continuities and changes in commercial and economic developments from 1648 to 1815.

Week 7: Constitutionalism

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how European states attempted to establish and maintain a balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how advances in technology contributed to a developing balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how absolutist forms of rule affected social and political development from 1648 to 1815.
  • Compare the different forms of political power that developed in Europe from 1648 to 1815.

Unit 4: Scientific, Philosophical, and Political Developments (Weeks 8-10)

Week 8: The Scientific Revolution

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment developed in Europe.
  • Explain how understanding of the natural world developed and changed during the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment.
  • Explain how European cultural and intellectual life was maintained and changed throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.

Week 9: The Enlightenment

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the causes and consequences of Enlightenment thought on European society from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain the influence of Enlightenment thought on European intellectual development from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain the factors contributing to and the consequences of demographic changes from 1648 to 1815.

Week 10: 18th Century Society and Economy

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how European cultural and intellectual life was maintained and changed throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how different forms of political power were influenced by Enlightenment thought from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how and why political and religious developments challenged or reinforced the idea of a unified Europe from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how and why the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment challenged the existing European order and understanding of the world.

Week 11: Review and Assessment Week Units 1-4

Unit 5: Conflict, Crisis, and Reaction in the late 18th Century (Weeks 12-14)

Week 12: The Struggle for Wealth and Empire

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which the European states experienced crisis and conflict from 1648 to 1815
  • Explain the causes and consequences of European maritime competition from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain the economic and political consequences of the rivalry between Britain and France from 1648 to 1815.

Week 13: The French Revolution

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the causes, events, and consequences of the French Revolution.
  • Explain how the events and developments of the French Revolution influenced political and social ideas from 1648 to 1815.

Week 14: The Age of Napoleon

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the effects of Napoleon’s rule on European social, economic, and political life.
  • Explain the nationalist responses to Napoleon’s rule in Europe.
  • Explain how states responded to Napoleonic rule in Europe and the consequences of the response.
  • Explain how and why the Romantic Movement and religious revival challenged Enlightenment thought from 1648 to 1815.
  • Explain how the developments and challenges to the political order resulted in change in the period from 1648 to 1815.

Unit 6: Industrialization and its Effects (Weeks 15-17)

Week 15: The Industrial Revolution

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which industrialization originated, developed, and spread in Europe.
  • Explain the factors that influenced the development of industrialization in Europe from 1815 to 1914
  • Explain how innovations and advances in technology during the Industrial Revolutions led to economic and social change.
  • Explain how industrialization influenced economic and political development throughout the period from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain the causes and consequences of social developments resulting from industrialization.

Week 16: The Conservative Order and its Challenges

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how the European political order was maintained and challenged from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how and why various groups reacted against the existing order from 1815 to 1914.

Week 17: Social Change and Unrest

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how and why different intellectual developments challenged the political and social order from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain the various movements and calls for social reform that resulted from intellectual developments from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how and why governments and other institutions responded to challenges resulting from industrialization.
  • Explain the influence of innovations and technological developments in Europe from 1815 to 1914.

Unit 7: 19th Century Perspectives and Political Developments (Weeks 18-20)

Week 18: Nationalism and the Unification of Germany and Italy

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which nationalistic and imperialistic sentiments developed in Europe from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how the development and spread of nationalism affected Europe from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain the factors that resulted in Italian unification and German unification.
  • Explain how nationalist sentiment and political alliances led to tension between and among European powers from 1815 to 1914.

Week 19: The Rise of Modern European Thought

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how Darwin’s theories influenced scientific and social developments from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how science and other intellectual disciplines developed and changed throughout the period from 1815 to 1914.

Week 20: Imperialism in Africa and Asia

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the motivations that led to European imperialism in the period from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how technological advances enabled European imperialism from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain how European imperialism affected both European and nonEuropean societies.
  • Explain the continuities and changes in European artistic expression from 1815 to 1914.
  • Explain the influence of nationalist and imperialist movements on European and global stability

Unit 8: 20th Century Global Politicas (Weeks 21-24)

Week 21: The War to Change all Wars

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which global conflict developed in the 20th century
  • Explain the causes and effects of World War I.
  • Explain how new technology altered the conduct of World War I.
  • Explain how the developments of World War I changed political and diplomatic interactions between and among nations.

Week 22: War and Revolution

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the causes and effects of the Russian Revolution.
  • Explain how and why the settlement of World War I failed to effectively resolve the political, economic, and diplomatic challenges of the early 20th century
  • Explain the causes and effects of the global economic crisis in the 1920s and 1930s.

Week 23: The Interwar Years

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the factors that led to the development of fascist and totalitarian regimes in the aftermath of World War I.
  • Explain the consequences of Stalin’s economic policies and totalitarian rule in the Soviet Union.
  • Explain how and why various political and ideological factors resulted in the catastrophe of World War II.

Week 24: World War II

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how technology and innovation affected the course of World War II and the 20th century
  • Explain how and why cultural and national identities were affected by war and the rise of fascist/totalitarian powers in the period from 1914 to the present.
  • Explain how the events of the first half of the 20th century challenged existing social, cultural, and intellectual understandings.
  • Explain how economic challenges and ideological beliefs influenced prior conceptions about the relationship between the individual and the state.

Week 25: Review and Assessment Week Units 5-8

Unit 9: Cold War and Contemporary Europe (Weeks 26-30)

Week 26: Post-War Europe

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the context in which the Cold War developed, spread, and ended in Europe.
  • Explain how economic developments resulted in economic, political, and cultural change in the period after World War II.

Week 27: The Cold War

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain the causes, events, and effects of the Cold War in the period following World War II.
  • Explain the economic and political consequences of the Cold War for Europe.
  • Explain the causes and effects of mass atrocities in the period following World War II to the present.

Week 28: The Fall of the Soviet Union

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain state-based economic developments following World War II and the responses to these developments.
  • Explain the causes and effects of the end of the Cold War.
  • Explain the various ways in which colonial groups around the world sought independence from colonizers in the 20th and 21st centuries.
  • Explain how the formation and existence of the European Union influenced economic developments throughout the period following World War II to the present.

Week 29: Immigration, Globalization, and Technology

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how the European Union affected national and European identity throughout the period following World War II to the present.
  • Explain the causes and effects of changes to migration within and immigration to Europe throughout the period following World War II to the present.
  • Explain how innovation and advances in technology influenced cultural and intellectual developments in the period 1914 to the present.

Week 30: Feminism and Culture

Weekly Learning Objectives

  • Explain how women’s roles and status developed and changed throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
  • Explain how and why European culture changed from the period following World War II to the present.
  • Explain how the challenges of the 20th century influenced what it means to be European.

Unit 10: AP Exam Practice and Review (Weeks 31-33)

Week 31: AP Practice Exam

Week 32: AP Practice Exam Review

Week 33: Final Reflections on AP European History