Euro LEQs Questions and Evidence

Analyze the various effects of the expansion of the Atlantic trade on the economy of Western Europe in the period circa 1450-1700

- stimulating the development of commercial capitalism:-Boosted mercantilism, leading to increased wealth for European nations through the import of goods like sugar and tobacco, and enhanced maritime commerce.

-integrating Europe into a global economic system that redistributed wealth and power across the continent: contributed to the rise of powerful trading companies and shifts in labor systems, increase in the transatlantic slave trade.

Analyze the impacts of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation on the social order of 16th century Europe.

-challenging traditional religious authority: challenging the authority of the Catholic Church, weakened papal authority, rise of state

-disrupting traditional societal structures: spurred greater individualism, shattered Europe’s religious unity

-fostered conflicts such as the Thirty Years' War.

Analyze the reasons for the decline of the Holy Roman Empire as a force in European politics in the period 1517 to 1648.

• Appeal for protestant ideas - Martin Luther, challenged religous unity

• Power of princes - taxation armies, ect

• Centralized monarchies e.g. France

• Thirty years war

Evaluate the most significant effect of the Enlightenment on European society during the period 1688 to 1815.

-promoting reason, scientific inquiry, and individual rights → questioning traditional authority and the establishment of modern democratic principles
- fostered revolutions, such as the American and French Revolutions
-reshaped societal norms around governance and personal freedoms

Evaluate the extent to which the political consequences of Britain’s Glorious Revolution differed from the political consequences of the French Revolution.

-Glorious Revolution led to constitutional monarchy

-French Revolution resulting in the rise of republicanism

-Britain experienced a gradual shift towards parliamentary democracy

-France faced violent upheaval and radical shifts in power, contrasting paths of political evolution.

Analyze the ways in which the arts of the Renaissance period reflected new conceptions of the individual.

1. Donatello sculpted David, the first nude sculpture since the Roman Empire and allowed individuals to become more open about the muse of the human body.
2. Michelangelo's Last Judgment contained over 300 individual faces and thus, opened the artworks of the time to become more focused on individuals rather than a constant of non-sentient faces.
-Raphael's "School of Athens" also advocated individuality in society as well as art and intelligence through worshipping knowledge.
4. The concept of humanism rose to prominence largely thanks to philosophers like Castiglione and his "Book of the Courtier". This became even more highlighted due to the rescinding power of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.
5. Mirandola's "Oration of the Dignity of Man" advocated individuality by claiming that a man's will to choose is what makes them God's greatest gifts to Earth.
6. In Bottocelli's "Primavera" or "The Birth of Venus", the painting is centered on the focus of the birth of the goddess Venus and it depicts her in the nude. This work is a major contributor to the early stages of the Renaissance as it focuses on an indivdual person and moves further from a religious sense.
7. Durer's "4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse" furthers themes of the common man in the North by carrying negative space in his artwork.

Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular culture in the eighteenth century.

Elite culture

• Salons

  • Hosted by elite women (e.g., Madame Geoffrin)

  • Centers for intellectual exchange among philosophers and aristocrats

• Philosophes

  • Voltaire: religious tolerance, free speech

  • Montesquieu: separation of powers

  • Rousseau: social contract

• Education and Learning

  • Growth of academies, universities, scientific societies

  • Emphasis on secular learning and rational inquiry

• Political Thought

  • Influence on enlightened absolutists (Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, Joseph II)

Popular culture
Encyclopédie spread knowledge beyond elite circles

• Religion

  • Growth of Deism and religious skepticism

  • Decline in unquestioned church authority

• Social Practices

  • Increased emphasis on education and literacy

  • Spread of rational approaches to medicine, law, and punishment

Evaluate the most significant motivation for the European voyages of discovery and exploration in the period 1450 to 1600.

Gold: Mercantilism, Desire for Asian spices and luxury goods

• Goal of bypassing Muslim and Italian middlemen

• Mercantilist belief in accumulating gold and silver

• Spanish conquest of the Americas focused on extracting bullion

  • Aztec and Inca empires targeted for wealth

• Portuguese trading posts established to control spice trade
  Glory: Monarchs sought prestige and international power

• Competition among European states (Spain vs. Portugal)

• Explorers sought personal fame and titles

• Naming and claiming lands for monarchs
  God: Desire to spread Chrsitianity,Reconquista in Spain, Papal support (Treaty of tordesillas)

Analyze various ways in which government policies during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era contributed to a greater sense of French national identity in the period 1789 to 1815.

Revolutionary era - French people joined together to fight for one cause, and became unified with what they believed were the proper French ideals.
Napoleonic era - Napoleon led France to becoming the most powerful empire in Europe at one point, which boosted the self-confidence of the French people.

Evaluate the extent to which the development of political ideologies was affected by industrialization during the period from 1815 to 1914.

-Marxism/Socialism
Bourgeousie proletariat, commhnist manifesot, utopia
-Conservatism/nationalism
Tradition,religon, mass politics and railroads