AP European History

Syllabus

I. Course Objective

The objective of this course is to facilitate the student’s comprehension of the relationships between European political, social, economic, and intellectual history.  Studying history assists in the development of skills that will aid students in their college careers; in fact, throughout their lives.  Objectively, this course will help students improve on the following skills:

1.     Critical reading of primary and secondary sources

2.     Constructing and evaluating historical interpretations

3.     Essay writing and oral communications

4.     Cause and effect relationships

5.     Comparative analysis

6.     Making historical analogies

7.     Inductive and deductive reasoning

II. Course Purpose

The AP European history course is a college level survey course that introduces students to the rich political, cultural, social, and intellectual heritage of Europe.  It is part of a cooperative endeavor by high schools, colleges, and the College Board to provide highly motivated students the challenge and opportunity to earn college credit during their high school years.  Performance on the AP European Exam determines a student’s ability to earn college credit.  Course curriculum, materials, and expectations are designed to prepare students for success with this three-hour exam.  The overall purpose of this course; however, extends beyond the possibility of earning college credit by providing students the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge that will form a foundation for their continuing educational endeavors.

III. Course Description and Course Themes

 The study of this period in history will add to the student’s ability to make connections between people, places and events.  Analyzing primary documents and reading critical narratives is woven into the time-line view of European history.  Utilizing Kagan, Donald, Ozment, and Turner. The Western Heritage; 9th edition, Prentice Hall 2006, this course begins with the Renaissance and ends with the decline of communism in Eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany, and the rise of global terrorism.

Course Themes

1.     The growth in power of the state and competition among nation-states

2.     Individualism as a force for progress and its conflicts with the demands of society

3.     The impact of economic innovation the standard of living and the traditional ways of life

4.     The struggle by women, workers, peasants, and ethnic minorities for emancipation and power

5.     The drive and destructiveness resulting from Europe’s quest for mastery of its natural and human environments

IV. Course Format

This class will be taught in a formal classroom manner.  Organized note- taking is required. The student is responsible for the completion of outside readings in order to further analyze the selected literature during the class period.  Students will be required to reflect and respond in writing to assigned document-based questions and support their view in classroom discussions.  

V. Exams and Quizzes

Within each 8 week marking period, students will take at least two tests covering material from the textbook, supplemental readings, discussions, and lectures.    The design of each will be multiple-choice and essay questions.  A mid-term and a final exam will be given.  Both will consist of multiple choice and essay questions. Short quizzes will be given to measure each student’s understanding of the reading.  Exams measure the student’s ability to understand factual information and concepts.  Taking notes provides the student with a valuable overview of text material.  Notebooks will be assessed periodically and graded.  Students are responsible for completing all assignments on time.  15 points per day will be deducted from the final grade of late assignments.  

VI. Grading

Grade Scale

A       (93-100)

B       (85-92)

C       (77-83)

D       (70-76)

F       (69 or less)

Tasks

Percentage of Grade

Tests

30%

Quizzes

20%

Notebook checks

15%

Exams

35%

 

 

 

Fall Semester

Page numbers from the text are in parenthesis. 

Literary excerpts for document based questions are listed in italic, and found in the course packet.

Week 1

Mon. Aug. 27

Course introduction, materials school, and class policies

Tues.

 The Renaissance in Italy (Kagan text, 316-327)

Wed.

Leonardo Plots the Perfect Man (328-333)

Thurs.

Revival of the Monarchy in Northern Europe (335-341)  10.2  Machiavelli: from “The Discourses”              

Fri.

The Northern Renaissance (338-341)                            

 

Week 2

Mon. Sept.3

Holiday

Tues.

Voyages of Discovery and New Empires in the East and West (342-349)

Weds.

Quiz/ The Age of Reformation: Ch 11, Martin Luther and the German Reformation (352-356)

Thurs.

The Attack on Indulgences (358-362)                                11.2  Luther’s “Ninety-Five Theses”                             

Fri.

The Reformation Elsewhere (364-371)

Week 3

Mon. Sept. 10

Document Based Question (DBQ)

Tues.

The English Reformation to 1553 (371-374)

Weds.

Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation (374-381)

Thurs.

Ch 12: The Age of Religious Wars (388-396)                   12.4  The Peace of Westphalia, 1648

Fri.

Imperial Spain and Philip II (397-403)

Week 4

Mon. Sept 17

The Thirty Years War (407-413)

Tues.

Test

Weds.

Constitutional Crisis and Settlement in Stuart England  (420-427)

Thurs.

The Rise of Absolute Monarchy in France (428-437)

Fri.

Central and Eastern Europe (438-440)

Week 5

Mon. Sept. 24

Russia Enters the European Political Arena (443)

Tues.

Test

Weds.

Ch 14: New Directions in Thought and Culture…(452-458) 13.1  Francis Bacon: from “First Book of Aphorisms”

Thurs.

Philosophy Responds to Changing Science (459)

Fri.

DBQ

Week 6

Mon. Oct. 1

Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke (459-464)

Tues.

The Sciences and the Arts (472-475)

Weds.

Quiz / Ch 15: Society and Economy…(480-482)

Thurs.

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century (497-501)  15.6  Peter the Great: Correspondence with His Son

Fri.

Ch 16:The Transatlantic Economy…(514-519)

Week 7

Mon. Oct. 8

No School

Tues.

Test

Weds.

Ch 17: The Age of Enlightenment…(550-562)

Thurs.

The Enlightenment and Society (564-569)                         18.4  The Encyclopedie

Fri.

Enlightened Absolutism (580-588)

Week 8

Mon. Oct. 15

Ch 18: The French Revolution (592-596)

Tues.

The Revolution of 1789 (596-603)  19.4  Robs

Weds.

DBQ

Thurs.

Quiz / The Reconstruction of France (603-610)

Fri.

Europe at War with the Revolution (612-613)                   19.6  Edmund Burke: The Moral Imagination

Week 9

Mon. Oct. 22

The Reign of Terror (615-622)                                                 19.4  Robespierre:  Justification of Terror

Tues.

Test

Weds.

The Rise of Napoleon (628)

Thurs.

The Congress of Vienna and the European Settlement (640)

Fri.

The Romantic Movement (643)

 

Week 10

Mon. Oct. 29

Mid term

Tues.

Ch 20: The Conservative Order and the Challenges of Reform (656-664)

Weds.

Conservative Governments: The Domestic Political Order (662-671)                                                                             20.3  The French View

Thurs.

The Conservative Order Shaken in Europe (678-683)

Fri.

Ch 21: Economic Advance and Social Unrest (688-704)

Week 11

Mon. Nov. 5

Early Socialism (705-719)                                                  21.5  Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto

Tues.

Test

Weds.

Ch 22: The Age of Nation States; German Unification    (738-741)

Thurs.

France: From Liberal Empire to the Third Republic        (743-747)

Fri.

DBQ

Week 12

Mon. Nov. 12

Holiday

Tues.

Great Britain: Toward Democracy (752-756)

Weds.

Ch 23: The Building of European Supremacy (760-765)

Thurs.

Varieties of Late 19th Century Women’s Experiences   (772-780)                                                                          24.3  Sexual Science

Fri.

Labor, Socialism, and Politics to Word War I (781-785)

Week 13

Mon. Nov. 19

Quiz / Ch 24: The Birth of Modern European Thought    (794-802) 

Tues.

Toward a 20th Century Frame of Mind (805-818)

Weds.

Test

Thurs.

DBQ

Fri.

Ch 25: Imperialism, Alliances and War (826-830) 

Week 14

Mon. Nov. 26

The Scramble for Africa (830)                                                 25.1  Confessions of Faith, Cecil Rhodes

Tues.

Emergence of the German Empire…(838-841)

Weds.

World War I (843-848)

Thurs.

The Russian Revolution (854-856)

Fri.

The End of World War I (858-862)

Week 15

Mon. Dec. 3

The Settlement at Paris (862)                                                 26.9  Georges Clemenceau Presents the French Demands at the Paris Peace Conference

Tues.

The Peace (862-867)

Weds.

Quiz / Ch 26: Political Experiments of the 1920’s                                                 The Soviet Experiment Begins (880-883)

Thurs.

The Fascist Experiment in Italy (886-890)

Fri.

Joyless Victors (891-892)

Week 16

Mon. Dec. 10

 DBQ

Tues.

The Weimar Republic in Germany (898-899)

Weds.

Hitler’s Early Career (899-903)                                                                  28.3  Adolf Hitler: from Mein Kampf

Thurs.

Quiz / Ch 27: Europe and the Great Depression of the 1930’s (906-910)

Fri.

Germany: The Nazi’s Seizure of Power (915-916)

Week 17

Mon. Dec. 17

Stalin’s Soviet Union (926-932)

Tues.

Test

Weds.

Christmas Break

Thurs.

Christmas Break

Fri.

Christmas Break

Week 17 (continued)

Mon. Dec. 31

Christmas Break

Tues.

Christmas Break

Weds.

Christmas Break

Thurs.

Ch 28: World War II (938-948)                                                                     29.1  Adolf Hitler: The Obersalzberg Speech

Fri.

Preparations for Peace (972-974)

Week 18

Mon. Jan. 7

Ch 29: The Cold War Era and the Emergence of a New Europe (978-988)

Tues.

The Khrushchev Era in the Soviet Union (989-992)

Weds.

The Brezhenev Era (993-995)

Thurs.

The Turmoil of French Decolonization (1000-1002)

Fri.

Test

Week 19

Mon. Jan. 14

The Collapse of European Communism (1003-1004)                                   30.3  Bosnia: The Two Faces of War

Tues.

Collapse of the Berlin Wall (1008-1009)

Weds.

The Rise of Political Islamism (1015-1018)

Thurs.

Ch 30: The West at the Dawn of the 21st Century (1024)

Fri. Jan 18

Final Exam