AP European History Exhaustive Study Notes

Eight Keys for Success on the AP European History Exam

Understanding the APEURO Scale: * Each APEURO exam contains a total of $180$ points: $90$ from multiple-choice and $90$ from free-response questions. * 2004 Released Exam Score Range: * 5: $126-180$ ( $70\%$ right minimum). * 4: $106-125$ ( $58\%$ right minimum). * 3: $77-105$ ( $42\%$ right minimum). * 2: $60-76$ ( $33\%$ right minimum). * 1: $0-59$ ( $0-32\%$ right).
Understanding APEURO Topical Themes: * Test writers follow an outline with three equal themes: * Intellectual and Cultural History: approximately $1/3$ of questions. * Political and Diplomatic History: approximately $1/3$ of questions. * Social and Economic History: approximately $1/3$ of questions. * Emphasis is on key figures, agreements, and policies; specific battles and dates are generally omitted.
Understanding Importance of Released Exams: * The College Board has released exams for $1984$ , $1988$ , $1994$ , $1999$ , and $2004$ . These contain over $520$ multiple-choice questions showing predictable patterns (e.g., Karl Marx, Edict of Nantes, and mercantilism appear frequently).
Understanding Key Topics (Based on $2004$ and $1999$ Exams): * Key Terms: Generated $12$ ( $2004$ ) and $15$ ( $1999$ ) questions. * Key Treaties and Agreements: Generated $7$ ( $2004$ ) and $8$ ( $1999$ ) questions. * Key Intellectual Figures: Generated $9$ ( $2004$ ) and $11$ ( $1999$ ) questions. * Russian History: Generated $6$ ( $2004$ ) and $7$ ( $1999$ ) questions.
Understanding the Free-Response Questions (FRQs): * Document-Based Question (DBQ): Mandatory, worth $40.5$ points. * Thematic Essays: Two sets of three questions; students choose one from each set. Each is worth $24.75$ points ( $49.5$ total).
Chronological Split of Multiple-Choice: * High Renaissance to French Revolution: $50\%$ ( $40$ questions). * Nineteenth Century: $25\%$ ( $20$ questions). * Twentieth Century: $25\%$ ( $20$ questions). * There are no questions before $1450$ .

Key Terms

I. Europe in Transition, 1450-1650

Humanism: Scholarly interest in classical texts, values, and styles of Greece and Rome; promoted liberal arts based on rhetoric, history, and the classics.
Christian Humanism: Northern European branch of humanism; studied classical texts but added specifically Christian content. Figures like Desiderius Erasmus were committed to piety and institutional reform.
Vernacular: Everyday language of a country. Writers like Cervantes, Chaucer, Dante, and Luther wrote in vernacular; Erasmus continued using Latin.
New Monarchs: European monarchs creating professional armies and centralized bureaucracies while negotiating new church relationships. Key monarchs: Charles VII, Louis XI, Henry VII, Ferdinand, and Isabella.
Taille: Direct tax on the French peasantry; primary income source for monarchs until the French Revolution.
Reconquista: Christian reconquest of Spain from Muslims, ending in $1492$ with the fall of Granada.
Indulgence: Certificate granted by the pope in exchange for a fee, stating that the purchaser's soul (or that of a relative) would have time in purgatory reduced or canceled.
Anabaptist: Protestants advocating adult baptism and complete separation of church and state.
Predestination: Doctrine by John Calvin stating God has known since the beginning who will be saved and who will be damned.
Huguenots: French Protestants following John Calvin's teachings.
Politiques: Rulers who put political necessity above personal beliefs (e.g., Henry IV of France, Elizabeth I of England).
Columbian Exchange: Interchange of plants, animals, diseases, and populations between the Old and New Worlds.
Mercantilism: Economic philosophy of government regulation to build a strong, self-sufficient economy by maximizing exports and accumulating gold/silver.
Putting-out System: Preindustrial manufacturing where entrepreneurs brought materials to rural workers at home to avoid guild regulations.
Joint-Stock Company: Business where investors raise large sums for ventures, sharing profits in proportion to investment; used to finance New World colonies.

II. The Age of Kings, 1600-1789

Absolutism: System where the ruler claims sole, uncontestable power not limited by constitutional restraints.
Divine Right of Kings: Idea that rulers receive authority from and are answerable only to God (e.g., Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet's defense for Louis XIV).
Intendants: French royal officials supervising provincial governments in the king's name.
Fronde: Rebellions against French royal authority ( $1649-1652$ ) that influenced Louis XIV to build Versailles.
Robot: System of forced labor in Eastern Europe (peasants owed $3$ or $4$ days per week); abolished in $1848$ .
Junkers: Prussia's landowning nobility who supported the monarchy in exchange for power over serfs.
Scientific Method: Use of inductive logic and controlled experiments to discover natural laws described by math.
Philosophes: $18$ th-century writers stressing reason, freedom of expression, and religious toleration.
Deism: Belief that God created the universe but allowed it to operate through natural laws discoverable by reason.
General Will: Concept by Jean-Jacques Rousseau referring to the desire or interest of the people as a whole; identical to the rule of law.
Enlightened Despotism: Absolute rule used for the good of the people (e.g., Joseph II, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great).
Enclosure Movement: Process where British landlords fenced in common lands to increase cash crop production.
Agricultural Revolution: Farming innovations starting in Holland/England, replacing open-field systems with scientific, mechanized methods.
Physiocrats: French economists (led by François Quesnay) criticizing mercantilism and advocating free trade.
Invisible Hand: Adam Smith's phrase for the self-regulating nature of the free market.

III. Revolution and Reaction, 1789-1850

Parlements: French regional courts dominated by hereditary nobles; Parlement of Paris registered royal decrees.
Girondins: Moderate republicans in the French Revolution favoring the export of the revolution beyond borders.
Jacobins: Radical republicans (led by Robespierre) who unleashed the Reign of Terror.
Sans-Culottes: Working people of Paris supporting radical politics.
Levée en Masse: French policy of conscripting all males into the army; fully mobilized the economy for war.
Thermidorian Reaction: Reaction against the radicalism of the French Revolution ending the Reign of Terror.
Legitimacy: Restoring rulers driven from thrones back to power (e.g., Bourbons in France after Napoleon).
Balance of Power: Equilibrium strategy where weak countries join to match the power of a stronger country.
Liberalism: Advocacy for representative government, minimal government economic interference, and civil liberties.
Conservatism: Support for legitimate monarchies, landed aristocracies, and established churches; favored gradual change.
Nationalism: Belief that a nation consists of people sharing tradition, history, language and should be sovereign.
Romanticism: Movement stressing emotion and nature over Neoclassical reason.
Chartism: British workers' program demanding universal manhood suffrage and secret ballots.
Zollverein: Free-trade union among German states established in $1834$ .
Carbonari: Secret society working for Italian unification in the $1820$ s.
Luddites: British textile artisans protesting displacement by Industrial Revolution machinery.
Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham's theory of "the greatest happiness for the greatest number."
Utopian Socialists: Socialists hoping to replace capitalism with planned, cooperative communities (e.g., Fourier, Blanc).
Marxism: History as class conflict ending in the triumph of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie.

IV. Toward the Modern World, 1850-1914

Second Industrial Revolution: Late $19$ th-century wave characterized by steel, chemicals, electric power, and railroads.
Social Darwinism: Use of "survival of the fittest" to justify success of business leaders and nations.
Realpolitik: "Politics of reality" based on practical power rather than idealism (Cavour and Bismarck).
Syndicalism: Movement to bring industry/government under labor union control via strikes and sabotage.
Autocracy: Government with unlimited, arbitrary power (e.g., Romanovs in Russia).
Duma: Russian parliament created after the $1905$ revolution.
Imperialism: Extending rule over other lands by conquest or economic domination.
Sphere of Influence: Region dominated but not directly ruled by a foreign nation.

V. The "Second Thirty Years' War": World Wars I and II

Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson's peace aims emphasizing self-determination and freedom of the seas.
Bolsheviks: Revolutionary Marxists led by Lenin who seized power in Russia in $1917$ .
New Economic Policy (NEP): Lenin's revival of limited capitalism in agriculture/light industry to stimulate recovery.
Existentialism: Philosophy that individuals must create meaning in an absurd, hostile world, reflecting $20$ th-century alienation.
Relativity: Einstein's theory that time and space are a continuum dependent on the observer.
Totalitarianism: Government with total control over individual lives.
Fascism: System combining authoritarianism, glorified leadership, and a corporate economy while repressing liberties.
Kulaks: Prosperous Russian peasants "liquidated as a class" by Stalin through execution or collective farms.
Keynesian Economics: Government deficit spending to stimulate growth and employment during depressions.
Appeasement: Making concessions to an aggressor to avoid war (Neville Chamberlain towards Hitler).

VI. The Cold War Era, 1945-1991

Containment: U.S. policy (Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan) to block Soviet expansion.
Decolonizing: Process of colonies gaining independence after WWII.
De-Stalinization: Khrushchev's liberalization of the Soviet system, denouncing Stalin's cult of personality.
Brezhnev Doctrine: Assertion of the Soviet right to intervene in any socialist country (justified invasion of Czechoslovakia in $1968$ ).
Détente: Relaxation of U.S.-Soviet tensions (Nixon/Kissinger; SALT talks).
Solidarity: Polish labor union (Lech Walesa) that contested and eventually ousted the Communist Party.
Glasnost: Gorbachev's policy of "openness" in speech and reduced censorship.
Perestroika: Gorbachev's "restructuring" involving less government regulation and more efficiency.
Welfare State: State assumes primary responsibility for citizen health, education, and social security; first developed in Germany.

The Italian Renaissance

I. Rise of the Italian City-States

Urban Centers: While Europe was rural, Northern Italy prospered; by the late $1300$ s, Florence, Venice, and Milan had populations of about $100,000$ .
Wealthy Merchants: Absent hereditary kings, merchant oligarchies dominated political and artistic life.

II. Florence and the Medici

The Quattrocento: $15$ th-century Florence was the center of the Renaissance (rebirth of classical learning/art).
Medici Leadership: Wealthy bankers (Cosimo, Piero, Lorenzo the Magnificent) sponsored the Platonic Academy and commissioned massive artworks.

III. The Renaissance Spirit

Individualism: Transition from medieval glory for God to personal fame and achievement; celebrated human potential (virtu). * Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: $Oration on the Dignity of Man$ celebrated human potential.
Humanism: Rejection of medieval scholasticism in favor of classical Greek and Roman texts, rhetoric, and history. * Petrarch: Called the medieval years "the Dark Ages." * Lorenzo Valla: Proved the "Donation of Constantine" was a forgery through linguistic analysis.
Secularism: Shift in focus toward material pleasures, beautiful art, and music rather than just spiritual salvation.

IV. Education and Machiavelli

The Ideal Courtier: Baldassare Castiglione's $The Courtier$ described the "universal man" who was polite, witty, athletic, and musical.
Machiavelli's $The Prince$ ( $1513$ ): * Written during the havoc of the Habsburg-Valois Wars. * View of Human Nature: People are ungrateful, selfish, and corrupt. * Advice: The prince must be a lion (strength) and a fox (shrewdness); the end justifies the means.

V. Italian Renaissance Art

Patrons: Catholic Church, guilds, and families like the Medici used art to display power.
Characteristics: * Perspective: geometric illusion of depth. * Chiaroscuro: realistic blending of light and shade to create volume. * Symmetry: Pyramid configurations replaced flat medieval horizontal lines.
Key Works: * Michelangelo's $David$ : Contrapposto pose (stiff leg/relaxed leg), nude, tense body preparing for battle. * Raphael's $The School of Athens$ : Depicted ancient philosophers freely in $3$ D space; included self-portraits and portraits of contemporaries (Leonardo as Plato).

VI. Women During the Renaissance

Querelle des Femmes: A debate about women's character and role in society.
Christine de Pizan: First woman to earn a living as an author; wrote a history refuting masculine myths; known as the first feminist.
Isabella d'Este: "First Lady of the Renaissance"; famous art patron showing that patronage was the most acceptable role for educated women.

The Northern Renaissance

I. Christian Humanism

Northern humanists combined classical ideals (calmness, stoicism) with Christian virtues (piety, humility, love).
Focused on using early Christian texts for moral and institutional reform.

II. Key Figures and Printing

Desiderius Erasmus ( $1466-1536$ ): "Prince of the humanists"; wrote $The Praise of Folly$ (satire on the church). He wanted to reform the church from within but continued writing in Latin.
Thomas More ( $1478-1535$ ): Leading English humanist; wrote $Utopia$ (describing a society with communal property and religious toleration).
Michel de Montaigne: Popularized the essay; expressed skepticism ("Que sais-je?" or "What do I know?").
Johannes Gutenberg: Invented the printing press with movable type ( $1456$ - Mazarin Bible); by $1500$ , $8$ to $20$ million books were in circulation.

III. Northern Renaissance Art

Oil Painting: Used to paint reality precisely with meticulous detail.
Jan van Eyck: Pioneer of oil painting; $The Arnolfini Wedding$ uses disguised symbols (dog = fidelity).
Albrecht Dürer: Absorbed Italian innovations; famous for woodcuts and self-portraits.
Hans Holbein the Younger: Painted realistic portraits of Henry VIII and Thomas More.

IV. The New Monarchs

France: * Charles VII: ended Hundred Years' War; created a permanent royal army; imposed the taille (land) and gabelle (salt) taxes. * Francis I: Concordat of Bologna ( $1516$ ) allowed the king to name bishops and abbots.
England: * Henry VII: Star Chamber (secret court for nobles) and justices of the peace. * Henry VIII: Act of Supremacy ( $1534$ ) made him head of the Church of England; seized monastic lands.
Spain: * Ferdinand and Isabella: Marriage ( $1469$ ) united Castile and Aragon; completed the Reconquista ( $1492$ ); established the Inquisition; expelled Jews ( $1492$ ) and Muslims ( $1502$ ).

The Reformation

I. Lutheranism

Key Beliefs: * Salvation by faith alone (sola fide). * Bible as the only authority (sola scriptura). * Priesthood of all believers. * Only two sacraments: baptism and the Eucharist.
95 Theses ( $1517$ ): Sparked by Johann Tetzel selling indulgences for St. Peter's Basilica.
German Peasants' War ( $1525$ ): Peasants revolted expecting Luther's support; Luther urged nobility to crush them, allied Lutheranism with the established political order.
Peace of Augsburg ( $1555$ ): Recognized Lutheranism and Catholicism; allowed princes to choose the religion of their state; Calvinism was not recognized.

II. Calvinism

$Institutes of the Christian Religion$ : Stressed human insignificance and God's omnipotence.
Predestination: The "elect" are saved by God's grace since the beginning of time; they must rule society as a theocracy.
Geneva: Become a model community regulating all life; frivolous activities (cards, theater) suppressed.
Spread: John Knox brought it to Scotland (Presbyterian); Huguenots in France; Puritans in England.

III. Anglicanism and Anabaptism

Henry VIII: Wanted a male heir; broke with Rome after Pope Clement VII refused annulment from Catherine of Aragon (aunt of Charles V).
Elizabeth I: A politique; Elizabethan Settlement created a middle course (moderate Protestantism w/ Catholic services).
Anabaptism: Insisted on adult baptism and complete separation of church and state; labeled as radicals.

The Catholic Reformation and Wars of Religion

I. Catholic Reformation

Council of Trent ( $1545-1563$ ): Reaffirmed faith + works, traditional sacraments, and Latin; banned simony and selling of indulgences.
Jesuits: Ignatius Loyola's Society of Jesus; spiritual army focused on education, missionary work, and combating Protestantism.
Baroque Art: Dramatic use of light/dark (tenebrism), focused on intense moments to stimulate piety (Bernini, Caravaggio).

II. Wars of King Philip II of Spain

Goals: Champion Catholicism, defeat Turks ( $Battle of Lepanto, 1571$ ), advance Spanish power.
The Netherlands: Revolted against Philip's Inquisition; seven northern provinces formed the Dutch Republic ( $1581$ ).
Spanish Armada ( $1588$ ): Attempt to invade England foiled by faster English ships and storms; marked start of Spanish decline.

III. French Wars of Religion and Thirty Years' War

France: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre ( $1572$ ) killed thousands of Huguenots. Henry IV (Bourbon) issued the Edict of Nantes ( $1598$ ) after converting to Catholicism ("Paris is worth a mass").
Thirty Years' War ( $1618-1648$ ): * Four phases (Bohemian, Danish, Swedish, French). * Gustavus Adolphus: Swedish king and military strategist who prevented Habsburg unification of Germany.
Peace of Westphalia ( $1648$ ): Recognized Calvinism; German states gained independence from the Emperor; France emerged as the lead power.

Age of Exploration and Commercial Revolution

I. Overseas Exploration

Motives: Spices and profits, crusading spirit (spread Christianity), cash crops (sugar).
Technology: Caravel ships, magnetic compass, astrolabe.
Portugal: Prince Henry the Navigator; Vasco da Gama reached India ( $1498$ ); trading-post empire (Goa, Malacca, Macao).
Spain: Columbus found the New World ( $1492$ ); Cortes conquered Aztecs; Pizarro conquered Incas.

II. Columbian Exchange and Commercial Revolution

Exchange: New to Old (potato, maize, tomato, syphilis); Old to New (coffee, sugar, smallpox, horses).
Consequences: $90\%$ of Indigenous populations died; European diet improved; inflation in Spain (Price Revolution).
Financial Growth: Rise of joint-stock companies (English East India Co); putting-out system circumvented guilds.
Mercantilism: Colonies export raw materials to mother country to accumulate gold.

Constitutionalism: Dutch Republic and England

I. The Dutch Republic

Government: Controlled by wealthy merchants, not an absolute ruler; tolerated all religions.
Commerce: Amsterdam was Europe's financial center; dominated shipbuilding and the spice trade.
Art: Focused on individual/group portraits and everyday scenes (Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer).

II. The Stuart Kings and the English Civil War

Stuart Beliefs: James I and Charles I believed in Divine Right ("No bishops, no king").
Conflicts: Charles I faced the Long Parliament and the Petition of Right ( $1628$ : no taxes without consent).
Civil War ( $1642-1649$ ): Cavaliers (Royalists) vs. Roundheads (Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army). Charles I was executed in $1649$ .

III. Cromwell and the Glorious Revolution

Interregnum: Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector; applied strict Puritan moral codes.
Restoration ( $1660$ ): Charles II returned; followed by Catholic James II.
Glorious Revolution ( $1688$ ): William and Mary overthrew James II; accepted Bill of Rights ( $1689$ ) establishing a constitutional monarchy.
Political Theory: * Hobbes ( $Leviathan$ ): Life is "nasty, brutish, and short"; rulers need absolute power. * Locke ( $Second Treatise$ ): Natural rights (life, liberty, property); government as a contract.

Absolutism in Western Europe

I. Foundations and Louis XIV

Richelieu: Established the intendant system to weaken nobility; supported Protestants in Thirty Years' War to weaken Habsburgs.
Fronde: Noble rebellion influencing the young Louis XIV.
Louis XIV (The Sun King): "L'etat, c'est moi"; ruled by divine right; built Versailles; revoked Edict of Nantes ( $1685$ ).
Colbert: Practiced mercantilism; built roads/canals; protected French products via tariffs.

II. Wars and Spanish Decline

War of Spanish Succession ( $1701-1713$ ): Grand Alliance (England, etc.) fought to keep France and Spain separate.
Treaty of Utrecht ( $1713$ ): Philip V remained king of Spain; England gained Gibraltar and the slave trade (asiento); Austria gained the Spanish Netherlands.
Spanish Decline: Due to inflation from silver, expulsion of Moriscos, and military defeats.

Absolutism in Eastern Europe

I. Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, and Romanovs

Holy Roman Empire: Politically fragmented into over $300$ states.
Habsburgs (Austria): Pragmatic Sanction ( $1713$ ) ensured Maria Theresa would inherit Habsburg lands.
Prussia: Hohenzollerns built a powerful state based on the army; Frederick William I ("Soldier King") made the army the center of the state.
Russia: Peter the Great westernized Russia; founded St. Petersburg ("window on Europe"); defeated Sweden in Great Northern War; controlled boyars via forced service.

Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment

I. Scientific Revolution

Astronomy: Copernicus (Heliocentric); Kepler (Elliptical orbits); Galileo (Telescope, motion).
Methods: Bacon (Inductive/Empiricism); Descartes (Deductive/Reason).
Newton ( $Principia, 1687$ ): Theory of universal gravitation; universe as a mechanistic machine governed by laws.

II. The Enlightenment

Philosophes: Stress reason, happiness, liberty, and toleration (Voltaire - religious tolerance; Diderot - Encyclopedia).
Government Theory: Montesquieu (Separation of powers); Rousseau (General Will; Natural education in $Emile$ ).
Economics: Adam Smith ( $Wealth of Nations, 1776$ ) - Laissez-faire; invisible hand; free trade.

Life, Warfare and Revolution (1715-1815)

Diplomatic Revolution: Shift in alliances before Seven Years' War ( $France + Austria$ vs. $Britain + Prussia$ ).
Enlightened Despots: Frederick the Great (servant of the state), Catherine the Great (limited reforms, expansion), Joseph II (abolished serfdom - mostly failed).
Agrarian Revolution: Selective breeding (Bakewell), seed drill (Tull), crop rotation (Townshend); led to Enclosure movement and population surge.
French Revolution ( $1789$ ): National Assembly (Tennis Court Oath); Declaration of Rights of Man; Reign of Terror (Robespierre); Directory.
Napoleon: Napoleonic Code; Concordat ( $1801$ ); Continental System; defeated at Waterloo ( $1815$ ).

XIX Century and Modern Era

Congress of Vienna ( $1815$ ): Metternich preserved balance of power/legitimacy.
Industrial Revolution: Started in Britain (textiles, steam, rail); Marx ( $Manifesto, 1848$ ) vs. Malthus/Ricardo.
1848 Revolutions: Failed liberal uprisings throughout Europe, ending the Romantic era of politics.
Unification: Cavour (Italy) and Bismarck (Germany) used Realpolitik to unite nations by $1871$ .
Mass Politics: Dreyfus Affair (anti-Semitism in France); Bismarck's welfare state; Darwin's Evolution ( $1859$ ).
WWI ( $1914-1918$ ): Trench war; Treaty of Versailles; Russian Revolution ( $1917$ ) bringing Lenin and Bolsheviks.
Modern Thought: Freud (subconscious); Einstein (Relativity); Existentialism (Sartre).
Cold War: Containment; NATO vs. Warsaw; Berlin Wall ( $1961-1989$ ); Collapse of USSR ( $1991$ ) under Gorbachev.