Renaissance Europe, 1400-1500 (505-544) ap frq essays

• Analyze the influence of humanism on the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance. Use at least THREE

specific works to support your analysis. (2004 A)

• Explain how advances in learning and technology influenced fifteenth- and sixteenth- century European

exploration and trade. (2003 A)

• To what extent and in what ways did women participate in the Renaissance? (2003 B)

• Compare and contrast Catholicism, Calvinism, and Lutheranism

• Compare and contrast the northern and the southern renaissance

• To what extent and in what way may the Renaissance be regarded as a turning point in the Western

intellectual and cultural tradition?

• Compare and contrast the cultural values of the Enlightenment with those of the 16th century Northern

Renaissance.

• Compare and contrast the views of Machiavelli and Rousseau on human nature and the relationship

between government and the governed.

• Describe and analyze the ways that the development of printing altered both the culture and politics of

Europe during the period 1450-1600.

• Explain the ways that Renaissance humanism transformed ideas about the individual's role in society.

• To what extent is the term "Renaissance” a valid concept for a distinct period in early modern European

History?

• How and to what extent did the methods and ideals of Renaissance humanism contribute to the

Protestant Reformation? (2006 B)

• Analyze the aims, methods, and degree of success of the Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation)

in the sixteenth century. (2006 A)

• 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. (2005A)

• 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. (2005A)

• To what extent did political authorities influence the course of the Protestant Reformation in the

sixteenth century? (2002 B)

• Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the

sixteenth century (2001)

Other Potential Essays:

• Discuss in detail the Henrican Reformation

• 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?

• "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.

• What were the responses of the Catholic authorities of the 16th century to the challenges posed by

the Lutheran Reformation?

• Compare and contrast the attitudes of Martin Luther and John Calvin toward political authority and

social order.

• "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.

• Describe and analyze the ways in which 16th century Roman Catholics defended their faith against

the Protestant Reformation.

• Compare and contrast the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century

regarding the reform of both religious doctrines and religious practices.

• Describe and analyze the ways that the development of printing both the culture and religion of

Europe during the period 1450-1600.

• Evaluate the ways in which John Calvin made major changes in the course of the Protestant

Reformation. Be sure to discuss the wide reaching impact of pilgrims from his "New Jerusalem."

• "The Reformation was a rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance." Defend or refute

this statement using specific examples from 16th-century Europe.

• Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the

16th century.

• To what extent did political authorities influence the course of the Protestant Reformation in the

sixteenth century?
A Century of Crisis, 1560-1648 (581-619)

AP FRQ Essays:

• Account for the growth and decline of European witch hunts in the period 1500 to 1650. (2005B)

• Explain the reasons for the rise of the Netherlands as a leading commercial power in the period 1550-

1650. (2004 B)

• Compare and contrast the religious policies of TWO of the following: Elizabeth I of England; Catherine

de Médicis of France; Isabella I of Spain (2002 B)

• "Leadership determines the fate of a country." Evaluate this quotation in terms of Spain's experience

under Philip II. (2000)

1. Evaluate the relative importance of the religious rivalries and dynastic ambitions that shaped the course

of the Thirty Years War.

2. Use the Huguenot conflict in France and the Dutch revolt to illustrate the ways in which the "Religious

Wars" were much more political than they were religious.

3. In what ways did the "new monarchs" of Europe continue to use religion as a tool for nation building

during the age of Religious Wars?

4. Discuss the Thirty Years War as the ending place for a number of conflicts and the starting point for a

group of others.

5. In what ways did religious and economic issues bring about the rise of England and France and the

decline of Spain toward the end of the 1500s?

6. In 1519 Charles of Hapsburg 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).

7. European monarchs of the late 15th and early 16th centuries were often referred to as "New Monarchs".

What was "new" about them? Do their actions warrant this label?

8. Describe the impact of the Scientific Revolution on European thought and culture.

• 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. (2003 A)

• Explain the development of the scientific method in the seventeenth century and the impact of scientific

thinking on traditional sources of authority. (2000)

• Discuss the relationship between politics and religion by examining the wars of religion. Choose TWO

specific examples from the following: (1999)

o Dutch Revolt

o French Wars of Religion

o English Civil War

o Thirty Years' War

• 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. (1999)

Other Potential Essays:

• Analyze the policies of Louis XIV and discuss, with specific examples, how he was an absolute

monarch.

• Compare and contrast the religious wars, ending with the Glorious Revolution.

• Compare and contrast absolutism and constitutionalism. Be able to give specific examples to support

your answer.

• In the 17th century, how did England and the Dutch Republic compete successfully with France and

Spain for control of overseas territory?

• "In the 15th century, European society was still centered around the Mediterranean region but by the end

of the 17th century the focus of Europe had shifted north" Identify and analyze the economic

developments between 1450 and 1700 that helped bring about this shift.

• In the 17th century, what political conditions accounted for the increased power of both the parliament

in England and the monarch in France?

• Describe and analyze the changes in the role of Parliament in English politics between the succession of

James I and the Glorious Revolution.

• Philip II of Spain built the Escorial and Louis XIV of France built Versailles. Starting with pictures of

these palaces, analyze the similarities and differences in the conception and practice of monarchy of

these two kings.

• 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 ? (2006 B)

• 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. (2006 A)

• Assess the impact of the Scientific Revolution on religion and philosophy in the period 1550 to 1750.

(2004 A)

consequences. (2003 A)

• 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. (2002 A)

• Analyze at least TWO factors that account for the rise and TWO factors that explain the decline of

witchcraft persecution and trials in Europe in the period from 1580 to 1750. (2002 A)

• Describe and analyze how overseas expansion by European states affected global trade and international

relations from 1600 to 1715. (2001)

• How did England and the Dutch Republic successfully compete with France and Spain for control of

trade and overseas territories?

• By 1700 it had become evident that Western Europe and Eastern Europe were moving in opposite

directions in terms of their basic social structures. Discuss

• Describe Peter the Great's attempts to westernize Russia. Be sure to include a discussion of the causes

as well as an evaluation of its effectiveness over time.

• How did the agricultural revolution serve as a starting point for the industrial revolution and the changes

it made on society?

• Describe the change in the lifestyle and working conditions of the average peasant forced out by the

enclosure movement.

• Analyze the changes in the European economy from about 1450 to 1700 brought about by the voyages

of discovery and by colonization. Give specific examples

• 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 a third-rate power. Describe and analyze the

major social, economic, and political reasons for Spain's rise and fall.

• Describe and analyze how overseas expansion by European states affected global trade and international

relations from 1600-1715.

• Analyze the economic, technological, and institutional factors responsible for western Europe's

domination of world trade from 1650 to 1800.

• Discuss the economic policies and institutions that characterized mercantilist systems from 1600 to

1800. (2005 B)

• Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular culture in the

eighteenth century. (2003 B)

• Explain why Europe saw no lasting peace in the period between the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the

Peace of Paris in 1763. (2003 B)

• 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). (2002 B)

• Compare and contrast two theories of government introduced in the period from 1640 to 1780. (2002 B)

• Both Jean-Baptiste Colbert (16 19-1683) and Adam Smith (1723-1790) sought to increase the wealth of

their respective countries. How did their recommendations differ? (2002 B)

• Machiavelli suggested that a 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. (1999)

Choose two:

Elizabeth I of England

Henry IV of France

Catherine the Great of Russia

Frederick II of Prussia

• Trace and discuss the course of the Scientific Revolution. How did the religious and secular authorities

react to this phenomenon?

• Discuss the intellectual changes that took place in Europe during the Enlightenment. What were the

primary aspects of this New-World view, how did these views alter from the Middle Ages, and how

were these ideas spread?

• Compare and contrast the ideas of Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau.

• Analyze the military, political and social factors that account for the rise of Prussia between 1640 and

1786.

• Between 1450 and 1800, many women gained power, some as reigning queens, others as regents.

reproduction, influenced their ability to obtain and exercise power

• 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).

• Compare and contrast two theories of government introduced in the period from 1640 to 1780.

• Compare and contrast the cultural values of the Enlightenment with those of the 16th century Northern

Renaissance.

• In what ways did Enlightenment thinkers build on or make use of the ideas of Newton and Locke?

• Compare and contrast the views of Machiavelli and Rousseau on human nature and the relationship

between government and the governed.

• Compare and contrast the views of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau on the nature of man and the best

possible form of government.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the various "enlightened absolutist" regimes of the late 1700s.

• Discuss the ways in which enlightenment thought was a major departure from the traditional European

view.

• Analyze the ways in which specific intellectual and scientific developments of the 17th and 18th

• Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular culture in the

18th century.

• Discuss the combination of social, cultural, political, and economic factors that allowed Great Britain to

be the first nation to industrialize

• Analyze the influence of the theory of mercantilism on the foreign and domestic policies of European

nations between 1650 and 1775.

• Describe and analyze the economic, cultural, and social changes that led to and sustained Europe's rapid

population growth in the period from approximately 1650 to 1800.

• Compare the economic, political, and social conditions in Great Britain and in France during the

eighteenth century, showing why they favored the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain more so than in

France

Peace of Paris in 1763.

• 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? (2003 A)

Other Potential Essays:

• How did the ideas of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror reflect the wishes of the

Enlightenment?

• The French Revolution was a truly successful class revolt in which the lower classes seized the natural

rights they deserved. Support or refute.

• Discuss the impact of enlightenment ideals on the French Revolution.

• Discuss the role of women in the French Revolution. How do their actions and treatment reflect the

historical context.

• Identify the major social groups in Fracnce on the eve of the 1789 Revolution. Assess the extent to

which their aspirations were achieved in the period from the meeting of the Estates General (May 1789)

to the declaration of the Republic (September 1792).

• Identify and describe the key causes of French Revolution, going back to the reign of Louis XIV.

• “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 policies and actions of Robespierre

during the French Revolution.

• “The essential cause of the French Rev. was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an

entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges." Assess the validity of the statement as an explanation

of the events from 1788-1792.

• Compare and contrast Enlightenment and Romantic views of the relationship between God and the

individual. (2005B)

• To what extent did Romanticism challenge Enlightenment views of human beings and of the natural

world? (2004A)

• 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.

(2002B)

between 1700 and 1830? (2000)

• What were the main goals of Napoleon's domestic policies? Evaluate his success or failure in achieving

these goals. Were his goals unrealistic?

• Evaluate the value of Napoleon's conquest of Europe in light of his attack on the Ancien Regime.

• Discuss the rise and fall of Napoleon. Be sure to include an evaluation of the factors that made him an

effective leader as well as the traits that led to his demise.

• "The Romantic Movement was an extreme reaction to the enlightenment, so extreme that it set back the

cause of human progress." Support or refute.

• Discuss some of the ways that Romantic musicians, writers, and artists responded to political and

socioeconomic conditions from the period 1800 to 1850. Document your response with specific

examples from at least 2 of the 3 disciplines: visual arts, music, and literature.

• 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.

• Evaluate Metternich's attempts to maintain the old order in Europe. Be sure to discuss their short term

and long term success.

• Compare and contrast conservatism, nationalism, and liberalism.

Industrialization, Urbanization, and Revolution, 1830-1850

AP FRQ Essays:

• Analyze how economic and social developments affected women in England in the period from 1700 to

1850. (2005A)

• Analyze the shifts in the European balance of power in the period between 1763 and 1848. (2004B)

• Analyze three examples of the relationship between Romanticism and nationalism before 1850. (2003

A)

• Compare and contrast political liberalism with political conservatism in the first half of the nineteenth

• Discuss how the two structures shown above reflect the societies and cultures that produced them.

(2006B)

Other Potential Essays:

• Describe the events of 1848 in two of the following countries: France, Austria, or Prussia.

• What factors enabled England to take the lead in industrialization?

• Compare and contrast political liberalism with political conservatism in the first half of the nineteenth

century in Europe.

• 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.

• 1848 was a critical year for the conservative interests trying to maintain the ways of the Ancien

Regime. Discuss three of the "revolutions" of 1848 and evaluate the ways in which they put an end to

the old order.

• Compare and contrast the roles of British working women in the pre-industrial economy (before 1750)

with their roles in the mid19th century.

• 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.

• Compare and contrast the foreign policy goals and achievements of Metternich (1815-1848) and

Bismarck(1862-1890). (2002 A)

Other Potential Essays:

• Compare and contrast Metternich and Bismarck

• A favorite device of social critics has been to construct model societies to illuminate the problems and

short-comings of their times and to project a possible blueprint for the future. Describe and compare the

utopias of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx. What were the chief faults they found with their own

societies and how were their utopias designed to correct them?

• How and in what ways did the writings of Karl Marx draw on the Enlightened concepts of progress,

natural law, and reason?

• Compare and contrast Bismarck's unification of Germany with the efforts of Cavour and Garibaldi in

Italy.

to overcome these?

�� Analyze the intellectual foundations of religious toleration in eighteenth-century Europe. (2006 B)

�� In the period 18 15-1900, political liberalization progressed much further in Western Europe than in Russia.

Analyze the social and economic reasons for this difference. (2006 A)

�� 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. (2006 A)

�� 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. (2005A)

�� Discuss the impact of industrialization and urbanization on working-class families from 1750 to 1900. (2005

B)

�� Describe and analyze responses to industrialization by the working class between 1850 and 1914. (2003 B)

�� Analyze how and why western European attitudes toward children and child-rearing changed in the period

from 1750 to 1900. (2001)

�� Evaluate how the ideas of Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud challenged Enlightenment assumptions about

human behavior and the role of reason. (2000)

Man for the field and woman for the hearth:

Man for the sword and for the needle she:

Man with the head and women from the heart:

Man to command woman to obey:

• How accurately do the lines of poetry above reflect gender roles for European men and women in the late

nineteenth century? (2000)

• Contrast the ways in which the paintings shown express the artistic and intellectual concerns of the eras in

which the works were created. (2004 B)

Other Potential Essays:

• How has imperialism been defended or attacked?

• Was nationalism of the nineteenth century progressive or a regressive force?

• Evaluate the effectiveness of collective responses by workers to industrialization in Western Europe

during the course of the 19th Century.

• Analyze and compare the effects of nationalism on Italian and Austro-Hungarian politics between 1815

and 1914.

• Assess the extent to which the unification of Germany under Bismarck led to authoritarian government

there between 1871 and 1914.

• Discuss the process by which Great Britain continues to give representation to new groups throughout

the 1800s. In what other places in British history do such patterns exist?

• How do the reigns of Alexanders II & III fit in with their predecessors going back to Peter the Great?

What historical patterns, if any, can you identify?

• Discuss the instability of the Austrian Regime from 1848 to 1914. In what ways is this instability

stirring the larger pot of European conflict?

• Evaluate the effectiveness of collective responses by workers to industrialization in Western Europe

during the course of the 19th century.

• Analyze the key developments that characterized the European economy in the second half of the 19th

century.

• Describe the physical transformation of European cities in the second half of the nineteenth century and

analyze the social consequences of this transformation.

• Discuss the ways European Jews were affected by, and responded to, liberalism, nationalism, and antisemitism

in the 19th century.

• Compare and contrast the roles of British working women in the preindustrial economy (before 1750)

with their roles in the era 1850 to 1920.
War, Revolution and Reconstruction, 1914-1929

AP FRQ Essays:

• Compare and contrast the extent to which the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the Russian

Revolution (1917-1924) changed the status of women. (2004 A)

• Compare and contrast the degree of success of treaties negotiated in Vienna (1814-1815) and Versailles

(1919) in achieving European stability. (1999)

• Contrast how a Marxist and a Social Darwinist would account for the differences in the conditions of

these two mid-nineteenth-century families. (1999)

Other Potential Essays:

• What were the social, political, and economic effects of World War I?

• To what extent and in what ways did intellectual developments in Europe in the period 1880-1920

undermine confidence in human rationality and in a well-ordered, dependable universe?

• 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. (See Gustave Caillebotte's

"Paris, A Rainy Day" and Honore Daumier's "Third-Class Carriage" at ARTCHIVE.)

• Describe and analyze responses to industrialization by the working class between 1850 and 1914.

• "Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant that it deposed." Evaluate this

statement with regard to the English Revolution (1640-1660), the French Revolution (1789-1815), and

the Russian Revolution (1917-1930).

• In what ways and why did Lenin alter Marxism?

• Compare and contrast the roles of the peasantry and urban workers in the French Revolution with the

peasantry and urban workers of the Russian Revolution.

• To what extent and in what ways did Nationalist tension in the Balkans between 1870 and 1914

contribute to the outbreak of the First World War?

• "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.

• Discuss and analyze the long-term social and economic trends in the period 1860 to 1917 that prepared

the ground for revolution in Russia.

• "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.

• Analyze and assess the extent to which the First World War accelerated European social change in such

• Write an essay that relates the development of the large conscripted citizen army from its origins in the

• Analyze the major social, political, and technological changes that took place in European warfare

between 1789 and 1918
An Age of Catastrophes, 1929-1945

AP FRQ Essays:

• Analyze anti-Semitism in Europe from the Dreyfus affair in the 1890's to 1939. (2006 B)

• Considering the period 1933 to 1945, analyze the economic, diplomatic, and military reasons for

Germany's defeat in the Second World War. (2006A)

• Assess the extent to which the economic and political ideals of Karl Marx were realized in post

revolutionary Russia in the period from 1917 to 1939. (2005A)

• Analyze the ways in which technology and mass culture contributed to the success of dictators in the

1920's and 1930's. (2004 A)

• Analyze the participation of European women in the economy and in politics from 1914 to 1939. Use

examples from at least TWO countries. (2004 B)

• Compare and contrast the ways that seventeenth-century absolute monarchs and twentieth-century

dictators gained and maintained their power. (2004 B)

• 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. (2003 B)

• Analyze the impact of the First World War on European culture and society in the interwar period

(1919-1939). (2002 A)

• How did new theories in physics and psychology in the period from 1900 to 1939 challenge existing

ideas about the individual and society? (2001)

• Compare and contrast the French Jacobins' use of state power to achieve revolutionary goals during the

Tenor (1793-1794) with Stalin's use of state power to achieve revolutionary goals in the Soviet Union

during the period 1928 to 1939. (2001)

Other Potential Essays:

• Discuss the international impact of the Russian Revolution from 1917 to the Second World War. How

did the leadership drift away from their original goals and objectives?

• Compare and contrast fascism, communism, and Nazism

• "The centralized governments of continental Europe dominated the rate and direction of industrial

development in their respective countries in the period 1850-1940." Explain the facts and events that

form the basis of this statement and describe the specific ways in which the statement is a valid

generalization about the period 1850-1940.

• Compare and contrast the extent to which Catherine the Great and Joseph Stalin were "Westernizers".

• Account for the responses of the European democracies to the military aggression by Italy and Germany

during the 1930s.

• Compare and contrast the relationship between the great powers and Poland in the periods 1772-1815

and 1918-1939.

• Why did Germany's experiment with parliamentary democracy between 1919 and 1933 fail?

• Compare the rise to power of the fascists in Italy with the Nazis in Germany.

• Compare and contrast the ways in which the following paintings reflect the artistic styles and political

conditions of the eras in which they were produced. (Goya's Third of May and Picasso's Guernica).

• Contrast European diplomacy in the time periods 1890-1914 and 1918-1939. Include in your analysis

goals, practices, and results.

• Support or refute: "Dictators in 20th century Europe have had much greater control over culture and

society than the divine right monarchs of earlier centuries."

• 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.

• Compare the economic roles of the state under 17th-century mercantilism and 20th-century

communism. Illustrate your answer with reference to the economic system of France during Louis

XIV's reign under Colbert and of the USSR under Stalin.

• Compare and contrast the patronage of the arts by Italian Renaissance rulers with that by dictators of the

1930s.

• Describe and analyze economic policies in Eastern and Western Europe after 1945. (2006 B)

• 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.

• Compare and contrast the victorious Allied powers' treatment of Germany after the First World War

and differences. (2005 B)

• Analyze the factors responsible for decolonization since the Second World War. (2005 B)

• Between 1945 and 1970, virtually all European colonies achieved independence. Discuss the changes

within Europe that contributed to this development. (2002 B)

Other Potential Essays:

• Analyze the common political and economic problems facing Western European nations in the period

1945-1960 and discuss their response to these problems.

• Analyze criticisms of European society presented by European authors in the period 1940 to 1970. Be

sure to discuss at least two works.

• 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

• Between 1945 and 1970, virtually all European colonies achieved independence. Discuss the changes

within Europe that contributed to this development

• Compare the ways in which the two works of art reproduced below express the artistic, philosophical,

and cultural values of their times. (See Michelangelo's "David" and Giacometti's "Man Pointing" at

ARTCHIVE.)

• Describe and analyze economic policies in Eastern and Western Europe after 1945. (2006 B)

• Analyze the factors working for and against European unity from 1945 to 2001. (2004 A)

• Analyze three reasons for the end of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe. (2003 A)

• 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.(2002 A)

• Compare and contrast the political and economic effects of the Cold War (1945-1991) on Western

Europe with the effects on Eastern Europe. (2001)

• Compare and contrast the political and economic policies of Joseph Stalin in the period before the

Second World War and those of Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991). (2000)

• Contrast the historical context, beliefs, and behavior of European youth represented by these two

photographs.(1999)

Other Potential Essays:

• Trace the break up of the Balkans. Start with the end of World War I and finish at the present.

• Discuss the evolution of the Common Market.

• Identify four specific changes in science and technology, and explain their effects on Western European

family and private life between 1918 and 1970.

• Compare and contrast the women's suffrage movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with

the European feminist movements of the 1960's and 1970's.

• 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.

• Describe and analyze the resistance to Soviet authority in the Eastern bloc from the end of WWII

through 1989. Be sure to include examples from at least two Soviet satellite nations.

• 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

• Compare and contrast the political and economic effects of the Cold War (1945-1991) on Western

Europe with the effects on Eastern Europe.