Course Syllabus and Writing Assignments
Red Hook High School
AP European History
Room #258
Mr. Decker
Descriptive Overview
This AP course is an introductory college course; It is not easy, but neither is it impossibly difficult. Compared with Level 2 high school courses, AP European History will be more demanding, but also more rewarding. AP courses require more work, but they allow greater opportunity to master the subject and to explore it in greater depth. Graduating seniors with an AP score of 3 or higher will have an opportunity to receive college credit. The course is a logical culmination for those gifted and hard working students seeking preparation for those colleges and universities cited as more competitive. The course follows a basically chronological approach emphasizing the relevance of history to today’s world, with an added emphasis on developing study habits. All historical issues are examined by a multi-causal approach revolving around the following three broad themes : (1) Social / Economic (2) Political / Diplomatic
and (3) Cultural / Intellectual. The course also refocuses on the changing views of humans, God, science, and politics from the Renaissance to the present.
Assessments
The course grades will be derived from two sources :
(1) AP - Style exams, administered monthly
(2) Multiple 300 word write-ups of the Italicized Questions
contained in each unit’s outline. These written responses will
be handed in the day of the unit exam they apply to. If the
written responses are not complete and brought to the exam
then the student will not be able to take the exam or receive
the necessary credit to pass the course.
**** . ALL REQUIRED WRITING RESPONSES ARE IN YELLOW
Topic / Unit Outlines
UNIT ONE The Breakdown of Feudal Society
&
The Rise of Humanism and the Renaissance
Required Reading : A History of Western Society , McKay, et al
10th Edition : pages 338-405 (CHAPTERS 12 and 13)
11th Edition : pages 322-389 (CHAPTERS 11 and 12)
Petrarch, “The Father of Humanism”
Leonardo Bruni, “The Study of Greek
Literature and a Humanist Education”
Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity
of Man”
Niccolo Machiavelli, “The Prince”
I. Why were the Medieval Years relatively stable, and which factors lead to the breakdown of Medieval Society?
A) What were the social, political, and economic effects of the Black Death (1347-1500)?
B) The emergence of the Italian City States
C) The “New Monarchies” in Northern Europe : How do
we measure power in the 1500s ?
1. Tudors in England
2. Valois family in France
3. Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain
4. The Holy Roman Empire
D) Renaissance Humanism : To what extent was
Humanism a strength and threat to the Catholic
Church ?
1. Compare and contrast Italian and Northern
Humanism
2. Humanism and Renaissance Art
E) Italy’s “Time of Troubles”
1. Realpolitik in European diplomacy
2. Analysis & Significance of Machiavelli’s, The
Prince
F) The Renaissance Papacy
1. A series of crises:
a) Babylonian Captivity
b) Great Schism
c) Conciliar Movement
2. The Pope as Renaissance Despot
3. The Pope as Humanist
4. Papal Abuse : The Borgias
G) What were the causes of the Renaissance and what about this period was so new and innovative ?
====================================================
UNIT TWO Reformation and Religious Wars
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay, pages 406-438 (CHAPTER 14)
11th Edition McKay, pages 390-423 (CHAPTER 13)
Martin Luther, “On Papal Power,
Justification by Faith, The Interpretation
of the Bible, and The Nature of the
Clergy”
Film: Age of Empires Series (PBS)
“Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary”
The Protestant Reformation: progressive and modern ?
A) Martin Luther: Conservative or Radical?
1. Why was Luther successful?
2. Luther’s Belief System: political, economic and
social
B) The varieties of Protestantism and their impact on
European society
1. Anglicanism
2. Calvinism
3. Anabaptists
C) How significant was the Protestant Reformation in
the development of capitalism and democracy in
Western Europe?
D) Reformation, impact on:
1. Intellectual freedom
2. Catholicism
3. Literacy
4. Colonization
5. Nationalism
6. Women
E) The Catholic Counter Reformation
F) What were the major factors accounting for the
subordination of women in western culture?
1. Biological and Anthropological factors
2. Greek and Roman tradition
3. Hebraic tradition
4. Celtic / German tradition
5. Christian Tradition
6. Legacy of Renaissance and Reformation
7. “Querelles des Femmes”
(‘The Debate over Women’)
===================================================
UNIT THREE Exploration and Conquest
Required reading: McKay / 10th Edition : 442-475
McKay / 11th Edition : pages 426-461
Film: National Geographic, Jared Diamond
“Guns, Germs and Steel”
The Rise and Fall of Nations : The 1500s
Are there recurring patterns in the rise and decline
in world powers?
How does art reflect the political, social, and cultural
characteristics of a people and nation?
Universalism vs. Raison D’etat:
Is there room for
principles in foreign affairs?
How do you account for the decline and collapse of
the Spanish economy while the Dutch and English
economies prospered?
A) The Rise and Decline of the Spanish dynastic state
1. Domestic strengths and weaknesses
2. Philip II’s foreign policy
3. The Price Revolution
B) The Dutch Republic
C) Dutch contributions to European art
D) Elizabeth I of England Order - Harmony -Nationalism
E) The Religious Wars in France
F) The Thirty Years War and the Treaty of Westphalia
==============================================
UNIT FOUR Absolutism and Constitutionalism
Required Reading: 10th Edition McKay, pages 478--517
11th Edition McKay, pages 462-501
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan chp. 1
Bishop Bossuet, “Politics Drawn From
The Very Words of Holy Scripture”
The ENGLISH DECLARATION of RIGHTS
Royal Absolutism
How can we assess the reasons for the failure of royal
absolutism in England and its success in France?
Was royal absolutism the best form of government
for the 17th century?
Discuss and Analyze the development of 17th century governments in
Russia, Austria, and the Netherlands.
A) Parliament vs. the Crown in England
1. Stuart England
2. Civil War and Commonwealth
3. Restoration and Glorious Revolution
4. Anatomy of Revolution : Craine Brinton’s Theory of Rev.
B) French Absolutism Triumphs
1. Raison d’état of Cardinal Richelieu
2. Mercantilism of Jean-Baptiste Colbert
3. The Absolutism of Louis XIV
4. The Wars of Louis XIV
==============================================
UNIT FIVE A New World View
Required Reading : Edition 10 McKay, pages 518-550
Edition 11 McKay, pages 502-537
Nicolaus Copernicus, “On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres”
Cardinal Bellarmine, “Attack on the
Copernican Theory”
Galileo Galilei, “Letter to the Grand
Duchess Christina” and “Dialogue
Concerning the Two Chief Systems -
Ptolemaic and Copernican”
Francis Bacon, “ Attack on Authority
and Advocacy of Experimental
Science”
Rene’ Descartes, “Discourse on
Method”
Describe the intellectual and social changes that occurred as a result of the Scientific Revolution.
Identify the new ideas about society and human relations that emerged in the Enlightenment, and analyze the new practices and institutions that enabled these to take hold.
Discuss the impact that new ways of thinking had on political developments and monarchical absolutism.
A) The Scientific Revolution: Know the significant impacts
of the following :
1. Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy
2. Scientific method of Bacon and Descartes
3. Copernicus
4. Brahe
5. Kepler
6. Bruno
7. Galileo
8. Newton
B) How did the Age of Genius affect the following:
1. View of God
2. View of Nature
3. View of Man
4. View of Politics (Hobbes and Locke)
C) Understand the economic path from Manorialism, to the Guild
System of Mercantilism, to the Putting - out System
(Cottage Industry) to the early Factory System.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS :
* Powerpoint presentations are based on
social history : 10th Edition - pages 552-615
11th Edition - pages 540 -607
==============================================
UNIT SIX The Revolution in Politics
Required Reading:
10th Edition McKay, pages 618-651
11th Edition McKay, pages 610-647
The 18th Century: An Enlightened Age? Why? Why not?
Primary Document Analysis sheets:
One for each reading :
1) Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
2) John Locke, “Second Treatise on Government”
3) Voltaire, “A Plea for Tolerance and Reason”
4) Thomas Paine, “The Age of Reason”
5) Baron d’Holbach, “Good Sense”
6) Denis Diderot, excerpts from ENCYLOPEDIA
7) Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
The French Revolution & the Napoleonic Empire
A) What are the major causes of the French
Revolution ?
B) French Revolution : Chronology of Events
C) Napoleon as Enlightened Despot ?
D) Analyze the major reasons for the fall of the
Napoleonic Empire: Are there lessons to be
learned for future hegemonic powers?
E) The Congress of Vienna: results and legacy.
Is it a model for diplomacy today?
F) The Age of Metternich
=============================================
UNIT SEVEN The Revolution in Industry
Required reading: McKay, Tenth Edition 654-683
McKay, Eleventh Edition 648-681
Adam Smith, “The Division of Labor”
“The Wealth of Nations”
Thomas Malthus, “Essay on Population”
* The Sadler Commission Report
Robert Owen, “A New View on Society”
19th Century Economic Theory and the Industrial Revolution
The common core of liberalism: “The proper government is to promote the liberty and well-being of individuals.” How has modern concepts of liberalism changed since the 18th century?
What roles do morality and character play in the construction of a fair and just society? How would the following philosophers answer this question : Malthus, Bentham, Burke, Wollstoncraft, and John Stuart Mill?
A) Major impact on political, military, social, economic,
cultural, and intellectual development of Europe
1. Why was Britain the first great industrial power ?
Are the same factors necessary for all nations
facing development?
2. Classical Liberalism and Adam Smith
3. The Dismal Science : Ricardo and Malthus
4. Utilitarianism and Jeremy Bentham
5. John Stuart Mill and Humanitarian Liberalism
6. The Utopian Socialists
7. Karl Marx and Scientific Socialism
a) Economic Determinism
b) Dialectic Materialism
c) Inevitability of Communism
B) Romanticism: To what extent did Romanticism spark
Conservatism as well as revolution?
1) View of God
2) View of Nature
3) View of Humanity
4) View of Politics
5) Romanticism in the Arts
C) Metternich and the Concert of Europe : Was
Metternich driven by pragmatism or principle?
1) Political Spectrum: 1820s-1848
2) What patterns or lessons can be learned from
the revolutions of the 1820s and 30s?
3) 1848: Revolutions: What were the legacies of
these revolutions for the future?
============================================
UNIT EIGHT Ideologies and Upheavals
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay pages 684-715
11th Edition McKay pages 682-715
Metternich, “The Odious
Ideas of the Philosophes”
Giuseppe Mazzini, “Young Italy”
Vissarion Belinsky, “The Poetry of
Reality”
Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”
Herbert Spencer, “Man vs. the
State”
Marx and Engels, “The Communist
Manifesto”
FILM : A&E Biography, Darwin: The Voice of Evolution
Identify and analyze the factors causing the spread of democracy
in France and Britain during the 19th century?
What factors account for the rise of a welfare state in
Britain (the home of Adam Smith’s laissez-faire
capitalism!) by 1914?
A) Great Britain
1) Years of Violence and Reaction
2) Reform Movement (1820-1832)
3) Chartist Movement
4) Repeal the Corn Laws and the rise of Liberalism
5) Gladstone and Disraeli: The Rise of Modern
Political Parties
6) Formation of the Labour Party : 1900
7) The Revolution in British Politics: 1911-1914
B) A Divided France Moves Towards Democracy
1) The Second Republic and Second Empire :
The Age of Louis Napoleon
2) The Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune
3) The Crisis-torn Third Republic
a) Boulanger Crisis
b) Panama Crisis
c) Dreyfus Affair
==============================================
UNIT NINE The Age of Nationalism & The New Imperialism
Required Reading 10th Edition McKay, pages 748 - 814
11th Edition McKay, pages 752 - 821
John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection
of Women”
Emmeline Pankhurst, “Why We
are Militant”
Cecil Rhodes, “Confession of Faith”
Edmund Morel, “The Black Man’s
Burden”
Complete Paper 2A and Paper 2B at the end of your "Unification of Italy and Germany" handout.
(each should be about 300 words)
Italy: 1815-1914
A) The Risorgimento: Italian Unification (1848-1870)
1) Nationalist Movement to 1859
2) Cavour: A Study in Realpolitik (War of 1859)
3) Garibaldi’s Conquest of Southern Italy
4) Papal State 1860
5) Rome 1870
B) Italian Domestic and Foreign Policies 1870-1914
C) The Rise of a powerful Germany in Central Europe
1) Bismarck and the Unification of Germany
2) Domestic Policy 1870-1890
3) Evaluate the impact of Bismarck on German
and European History
4) Evaluate the Domestic Policies of Kaiser
Wilhelm II (1890-1914)
D) The Last Century of the Russian Empire: Could
Revolution have been averted?
1) The Russian revolutionary tradition
(1825-1914)
2) Reaction, Industrialization, and Reform
(1825-1914)
E) Science, Culture and Economics during the
Victorian Age
1) How do scientific and philosophical ideas
often become distorted to justify society’s
goals and values?
2) The Evolutionary World
a) Charles Darwin
b) Impact of Darwin’s Theories on Society:
Social Darwinism
Racism and Ethnocentrism
War and Extermination
Religion
Impact on Fascism - Capitalism - Communism
c) Significance of Friedrich Nietzsche on
European Culture and Arts
d) Sigmund Freud and his world
Consider this question when preparing for the Unit Nine Exam:
The Age of European Imperialism: How was the “new
imperialism” of the 19th century that different from
the imperialism of the 15th -18th centuries?
A) John Hobson’s Theory of Imperialism
B) Justifications for Imperialism
1) Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden”
2) Alfred T. Mahon - Looking Outward
3) U.S. Senator Beveridge’s speech
before Congress
C) 19th century Feminist Movement in
Western Europe
1) Victorian Views of Family, Marriage & Sex
2) Discrimination of Women in Victorian Age
3) The fight for Suffrage
==============================================
UNIT TEN The Coming of the Great War (1914-1918)
and the Age of Anxiety (1918-1938)
Required Reading : McKay, pages 814-885 10th Edition
McKay, pages 822-895 11th Edition
Nietzsche, “The Will to Power and
the Antichrist”
Freud, “A note on the Unconscious”
Filippo Marinetti, “Manifest of Futurism”
Novel: Erich Remarque, All Quiet on
the Western Front
Georges Clemenceau, “French
Demands for Security and Revenge”
Key text excerpt : Individuals in Society:
Gustav Stressemann (pg.884)
Causes and Effects of World War I
A) Major long term and immediate causes of
World War I (1878-1914) : Who was
responsible?
B) the Impact of World War I on Western Civilization
C) Evaluation of Versailles Treaty: Was it really that
bad?
D) The Russian Revolution : “Dark horse victory”
What were the critical factors which enabled the
Bolsheviks to seize and maintain power?
E) Evaluation of Josef Stalin’s Rule
The Age of Anxiety (The inter-war years and the
coming of WWII)
A) The philosophical basis for 20th century
Fascism?
B) The Rise to power of Benito Mussolini
C) The Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler
D) Analyze the similarities and differences of the
20th century dictators: Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin.
Do the differences outweigh the similarities?
E) France and Britain between the wars
F) Art, Science and Entertainment between the
wars (Great Strides or more Anxiety?)
==============================================
UNIT ELEVEN The Rise of Fascism and World War II
Required reading : 10th Edition, McKay pages 886-919
11th Edition, McKay pages 896-931
Thomas Mann, “An Appeal to Reason”
David Buffum, “Kristallnacht”
Neville Chamberlain, “In Defense of
Appeasement”
Winston Churchill, “A Disaster of the
First Magnitude”
Adolf Hitler, “Poland will be
depopulated and settled with
Germans”
William Hoffman, “Diary of a German
Soldier” (account of Stalingrad)
World War II
A) The chronological march towards war : 1931-1939
B) Why did the Allies win World War II?
C) The impact of World War II on the postwar world
D) “Third World” Nationalism and the end of
European Imperialism
==============================================
UNIT TWELVE Cold War Conflict and Consensus
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay, pages 922-993
11th Edition McKay , pages 934-1005
Supplemental readings will be
announced / assigned ***
The Cold War and Challenges
A) The Cold War: Was it inevitable?
Where does the blame lie?
1) The Superpowers : 1943-1980s
a) Allies to enemies 1941-1945
b) post-war issues and crises
2) The containment policy: Eisenhower/Khrushchev/
Kennedy years
3) Detente: Causes, Examples, Impact
4) end of Detente and Renewal of Cold War: 1980s
a) Soviet v. American interpretations of Detente
b) emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev
5) Analyze the major factors causing the fall of the
Soviet Union :1985-1991. To what extent were they
historical? To what extent did personalities play a
role? Would the Soviet Union have collapsed
without the impact of Gorbachev? Reagan?
B) Domestic Trends in Europe:
1945-1990s: Are there common trends or patterns
that affected Eastern as well as Western Europe?
1) Great Britain
2) France
3) Germany
4) Italy
5) Soviet Union and Boris Yeltsin’s Russia
C) Intellectual Movements in Europe after World War II
Are there absolute values or is everything relative?
1) How did Modernism affect the following?
a) God
b) Universe
c) Man
d) politics
2) Modern Art after World War II: “Shock of the New”
3) Relevant Intellectual Theories
a) Relativism
b) Behaviorism
c) Existentialism
d) net-orthodoxy of the 1950s
e) New Radicalism of the 1960s
f) post-modern and deconstruction
D) Feminism: Has Feminism brought women equality?
Has there been a backlash against women in
contemporary society?
E) Are women still defined by western culture rather
than by themselves?
==============================================
UNIT THIRTEEN Globalization
Into the 21st Century
Required Reading : 10th Edition MCKay , 970-1039
11th Edition McKay, 958-1026
* current events assigned
A) Globalism: A threat or a panacea? Hasn’t
Globalism always been with us since the 18th
century? What’s different now?
B) European unification? What does history say?
1) Can east and west become one?
2) Could a unified Europe become a super
power in the 21st century?
C) Has the recent rise of Fascism changed the
future or is it merely a backlash?
AP EXAM : Friday May 5th AM Session (7:30 - HS Gymnasium)
😃
"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. "
-- Thomas Jefferson
==============================================
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Read purposefully - demonstrated by:
* Identifying and extrapolating significant material from a variety of printed sources
* Recognizing arguments for and against an issue
* Identifying and using knowledge from common graphic features (charts, graphs, maps)
* Recognizing bias and point of view
* Reading and analyzing primary source material
Write effectively - demonstrated by:
* Well written and multi paragraph compositions that have clear topic development and organization
* Research reports based on standard endnote and bibliographical format (MLA-style)
* Document-based questions requiring analysis of primary sources
* Identifications stressing clear definitions and significance of terminology
Communicate effectively - demonstrated by:
* Oral presentations and debates
*. Media presentations and projects
* Interaction with peers in student-centered activities
* Analyzing and expressing ideas in the arts in historical context
* Following instructions
*. Effective note-taking skills in the form of answering complex historical questions
* Using technology to express historical concepts
Demonstrate self-respect and respect for others -
demonstrated by:
* Displaying academic integrity (includes an understanding of plagiarism)
* Showing curiosity, respect and appreciation for cultural diversity in the world and knowledge of the contributions of other cultures outside your own
* A tolerance for other’s opinions and points-of-view
* Participating constructively in group activities
*. An awareness of academic responsibilities
* An ability to make informed decisions on global issues
AP European History
Room #258
Mr. Decker
Descriptive Overview
This AP course is an introductory college course; It is not easy, but neither is it impossibly difficult. Compared with Level 2 high school courses, AP European History will be more demanding, but also more rewarding. AP courses require more work, but they allow greater opportunity to master the subject and to explore it in greater depth. Graduating seniors with an AP score of 3 or higher will have an opportunity to receive college credit. The course is a logical culmination for those gifted and hard working students seeking preparation for those colleges and universities cited as more competitive. The course follows a basically chronological approach emphasizing the relevance of history to today’s world, with an added emphasis on developing study habits. All historical issues are examined by a multi-causal approach revolving around the following three broad themes : (1) Social / Economic (2) Political / Diplomatic
and (3) Cultural / Intellectual. The course also refocuses on the changing views of humans, God, science, and politics from the Renaissance to the present.
Assessments
The course grades will be derived from two sources :
(1) AP - Style exams, administered monthly
(2) Multiple 300 word write-ups of the Italicized Questions
contained in each unit’s outline. These written responses will
be handed in the day of the unit exam they apply to. If the
written responses are not complete and brought to the exam
then the student will not be able to take the exam or receive
the necessary credit to pass the course.
**** . ALL REQUIRED WRITING RESPONSES ARE IN YELLOW
Topic / Unit Outlines
UNIT ONE The Breakdown of Feudal Society
&
The Rise of Humanism and the Renaissance
Required Reading : A History of Western Society , McKay, et al
10th Edition : pages 338-405 (CHAPTERS 12 and 13)
11th Edition : pages 322-389 (CHAPTERS 11 and 12)
Petrarch, “The Father of Humanism”
Leonardo Bruni, “The Study of Greek
Literature and a Humanist Education”
Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity
of Man”
Niccolo Machiavelli, “The Prince”
I. Why were the Medieval Years relatively stable, and which factors lead to the breakdown of Medieval Society?
A) What were the social, political, and economic effects of the Black Death (1347-1500)?
B) The emergence of the Italian City States
C) The “New Monarchies” in Northern Europe : How do
we measure power in the 1500s ?
1. Tudors in England
2. Valois family in France
3. Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain
4. The Holy Roman Empire
D) Renaissance Humanism : To what extent was
Humanism a strength and threat to the Catholic
Church ?
1. Compare and contrast Italian and Northern
Humanism
2. Humanism and Renaissance Art
E) Italy’s “Time of Troubles”
1. Realpolitik in European diplomacy
2. Analysis & Significance of Machiavelli’s, The
Prince
F) The Renaissance Papacy
1. A series of crises:
a) Babylonian Captivity
b) Great Schism
c) Conciliar Movement
2. The Pope as Renaissance Despot
3. The Pope as Humanist
4. Papal Abuse : The Borgias
G) What were the causes of the Renaissance and what about this period was so new and innovative ?
====================================================
UNIT TWO Reformation and Religious Wars
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay, pages 406-438 (CHAPTER 14)
11th Edition McKay, pages 390-423 (CHAPTER 13)
Martin Luther, “On Papal Power,
Justification by Faith, The Interpretation
of the Bible, and The Nature of the
Clergy”
Film: Age of Empires Series (PBS)
“Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary”
The Protestant Reformation: progressive and modern ?
A) Martin Luther: Conservative or Radical?
1. Why was Luther successful?
2. Luther’s Belief System: political, economic and
social
B) The varieties of Protestantism and their impact on
European society
1. Anglicanism
2. Calvinism
3. Anabaptists
C) How significant was the Protestant Reformation in
the development of capitalism and democracy in
Western Europe?
D) Reformation, impact on:
1. Intellectual freedom
2. Catholicism
3. Literacy
4. Colonization
5. Nationalism
6. Women
E) The Catholic Counter Reformation
F) What were the major factors accounting for the
subordination of women in western culture?
1. Biological and Anthropological factors
2. Greek and Roman tradition
3. Hebraic tradition
4. Celtic / German tradition
5. Christian Tradition
6. Legacy of Renaissance and Reformation
7. “Querelles des Femmes”
(‘The Debate over Women’)
===================================================
UNIT THREE Exploration and Conquest
Required reading: McKay / 10th Edition : 442-475
McKay / 11th Edition : pages 426-461
Film: National Geographic, Jared Diamond
“Guns, Germs and Steel”
The Rise and Fall of Nations : The 1500s
Are there recurring patterns in the rise and decline
in world powers?
How does art reflect the political, social, and cultural
characteristics of a people and nation?
Universalism vs. Raison D’etat:
Is there room for
principles in foreign affairs?
How do you account for the decline and collapse of
the Spanish economy while the Dutch and English
economies prospered?
A) The Rise and Decline of the Spanish dynastic state
1. Domestic strengths and weaknesses
2. Philip II’s foreign policy
3. The Price Revolution
B) The Dutch Republic
C) Dutch contributions to European art
D) Elizabeth I of England Order - Harmony -Nationalism
E) The Religious Wars in France
F) The Thirty Years War and the Treaty of Westphalia
==============================================
UNIT FOUR Absolutism and Constitutionalism
Required Reading: 10th Edition McKay, pages 478--517
11th Edition McKay, pages 462-501
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan chp. 1
Bishop Bossuet, “Politics Drawn From
The Very Words of Holy Scripture”
The ENGLISH DECLARATION of RIGHTS
Royal Absolutism
How can we assess the reasons for the failure of royal
absolutism in England and its success in France?
Was royal absolutism the best form of government
for the 17th century?
Discuss and Analyze the development of 17th century governments in
Russia, Austria, and the Netherlands.
A) Parliament vs. the Crown in England
1. Stuart England
2. Civil War and Commonwealth
3. Restoration and Glorious Revolution
4. Anatomy of Revolution : Craine Brinton’s Theory of Rev.
B) French Absolutism Triumphs
1. Raison d’état of Cardinal Richelieu
2. Mercantilism of Jean-Baptiste Colbert
3. The Absolutism of Louis XIV
4. The Wars of Louis XIV
==============================================
UNIT FIVE A New World View
Required Reading : Edition 10 McKay, pages 518-550
Edition 11 McKay, pages 502-537
Nicolaus Copernicus, “On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres”
Cardinal Bellarmine, “Attack on the
Copernican Theory”
Galileo Galilei, “Letter to the Grand
Duchess Christina” and “Dialogue
Concerning the Two Chief Systems -
Ptolemaic and Copernican”
Francis Bacon, “ Attack on Authority
and Advocacy of Experimental
Science”
Rene’ Descartes, “Discourse on
Method”
Describe the intellectual and social changes that occurred as a result of the Scientific Revolution.
Identify the new ideas about society and human relations that emerged in the Enlightenment, and analyze the new practices and institutions that enabled these to take hold.
Discuss the impact that new ways of thinking had on political developments and monarchical absolutism.
A) The Scientific Revolution: Know the significant impacts
of the following :
1. Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy
2. Scientific method of Bacon and Descartes
3. Copernicus
4. Brahe
5. Kepler
6. Bruno
7. Galileo
8. Newton
B) How did the Age of Genius affect the following:
1. View of God
2. View of Nature
3. View of Man
4. View of Politics (Hobbes and Locke)
C) Understand the economic path from Manorialism, to the Guild
System of Mercantilism, to the Putting - out System
(Cottage Industry) to the early Factory System.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS :
* Powerpoint presentations are based on
social history : 10th Edition - pages 552-615
11th Edition - pages 540 -607
==============================================
UNIT SIX The Revolution in Politics
Required Reading:
10th Edition McKay, pages 618-651
11th Edition McKay, pages 610-647
The 18th Century: An Enlightened Age? Why? Why not?
Primary Document Analysis sheets:
One for each reading :
1) Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
2) John Locke, “Second Treatise on Government”
3) Voltaire, “A Plea for Tolerance and Reason”
4) Thomas Paine, “The Age of Reason”
5) Baron d’Holbach, “Good Sense”
6) Denis Diderot, excerpts from ENCYLOPEDIA
7) Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
The French Revolution & the Napoleonic Empire
A) What are the major causes of the French
Revolution ?
B) French Revolution : Chronology of Events
C) Napoleon as Enlightened Despot ?
D) Analyze the major reasons for the fall of the
Napoleonic Empire: Are there lessons to be
learned for future hegemonic powers?
E) The Congress of Vienna: results and legacy.
Is it a model for diplomacy today?
F) The Age of Metternich
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UNIT SEVEN The Revolution in Industry
Required reading: McKay, Tenth Edition 654-683
McKay, Eleventh Edition 648-681
Adam Smith, “The Division of Labor”
“The Wealth of Nations”
Thomas Malthus, “Essay on Population”
* The Sadler Commission Report
Robert Owen, “A New View on Society”
19th Century Economic Theory and the Industrial Revolution
The common core of liberalism: “The proper government is to promote the liberty and well-being of individuals.” How has modern concepts of liberalism changed since the 18th century?
What roles do morality and character play in the construction of a fair and just society? How would the following philosophers answer this question : Malthus, Bentham, Burke, Wollstoncraft, and John Stuart Mill?
A) Major impact on political, military, social, economic,
cultural, and intellectual development of Europe
1. Why was Britain the first great industrial power ?
Are the same factors necessary for all nations
facing development?
2. Classical Liberalism and Adam Smith
3. The Dismal Science : Ricardo and Malthus
4. Utilitarianism and Jeremy Bentham
5. John Stuart Mill and Humanitarian Liberalism
6. The Utopian Socialists
7. Karl Marx and Scientific Socialism
a) Economic Determinism
b) Dialectic Materialism
c) Inevitability of Communism
B) Romanticism: To what extent did Romanticism spark
Conservatism as well as revolution?
1) View of God
2) View of Nature
3) View of Humanity
4) View of Politics
5) Romanticism in the Arts
C) Metternich and the Concert of Europe : Was
Metternich driven by pragmatism or principle?
1) Political Spectrum: 1820s-1848
2) What patterns or lessons can be learned from
the revolutions of the 1820s and 30s?
3) 1848: Revolutions: What were the legacies of
these revolutions for the future?
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UNIT EIGHT Ideologies and Upheavals
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay pages 684-715
11th Edition McKay pages 682-715
Metternich, “The Odious
Ideas of the Philosophes”
Giuseppe Mazzini, “Young Italy”
Vissarion Belinsky, “The Poetry of
Reality”
Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”
Herbert Spencer, “Man vs. the
State”
Marx and Engels, “The Communist
Manifesto”
FILM : A&E Biography, Darwin: The Voice of Evolution
Identify and analyze the factors causing the spread of democracy
in France and Britain during the 19th century?
What factors account for the rise of a welfare state in
Britain (the home of Adam Smith’s laissez-faire
capitalism!) by 1914?
A) Great Britain
1) Years of Violence and Reaction
2) Reform Movement (1820-1832)
3) Chartist Movement
4) Repeal the Corn Laws and the rise of Liberalism
5) Gladstone and Disraeli: The Rise of Modern
Political Parties
6) Formation of the Labour Party : 1900
7) The Revolution in British Politics: 1911-1914
B) A Divided France Moves Towards Democracy
1) The Second Republic and Second Empire :
The Age of Louis Napoleon
2) The Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune
3) The Crisis-torn Third Republic
a) Boulanger Crisis
b) Panama Crisis
c) Dreyfus Affair
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UNIT NINE The Age of Nationalism & The New Imperialism
Required Reading 10th Edition McKay, pages 748 - 814
11th Edition McKay, pages 752 - 821
John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection
of Women”
Emmeline Pankhurst, “Why We
are Militant”
Cecil Rhodes, “Confession of Faith”
Edmund Morel, “The Black Man’s
Burden”
Complete Paper 2A and Paper 2B at the end of your "Unification of Italy and Germany" handout.
(each should be about 300 words)
Italy: 1815-1914
A) The Risorgimento: Italian Unification (1848-1870)
1) Nationalist Movement to 1859
2) Cavour: A Study in Realpolitik (War of 1859)
3) Garibaldi’s Conquest of Southern Italy
4) Papal State 1860
5) Rome 1870
B) Italian Domestic and Foreign Policies 1870-1914
C) The Rise of a powerful Germany in Central Europe
1) Bismarck and the Unification of Germany
2) Domestic Policy 1870-1890
3) Evaluate the impact of Bismarck on German
and European History
4) Evaluate the Domestic Policies of Kaiser
Wilhelm II (1890-1914)
D) The Last Century of the Russian Empire: Could
Revolution have been averted?
1) The Russian revolutionary tradition
(1825-1914)
2) Reaction, Industrialization, and Reform
(1825-1914)
E) Science, Culture and Economics during the
Victorian Age
1) How do scientific and philosophical ideas
often become distorted to justify society’s
goals and values?
2) The Evolutionary World
a) Charles Darwin
b) Impact of Darwin’s Theories on Society:
Social Darwinism
Racism and Ethnocentrism
War and Extermination
Religion
Impact on Fascism - Capitalism - Communism
c) Significance of Friedrich Nietzsche on
European Culture and Arts
d) Sigmund Freud and his world
Consider this question when preparing for the Unit Nine Exam:
The Age of European Imperialism: How was the “new
imperialism” of the 19th century that different from
the imperialism of the 15th -18th centuries?
A) John Hobson’s Theory of Imperialism
B) Justifications for Imperialism
1) Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden”
2) Alfred T. Mahon - Looking Outward
3) U.S. Senator Beveridge’s speech
before Congress
C) 19th century Feminist Movement in
Western Europe
1) Victorian Views of Family, Marriage & Sex
2) Discrimination of Women in Victorian Age
3) The fight for Suffrage
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UNIT TEN The Coming of the Great War (1914-1918)
and the Age of Anxiety (1918-1938)
Required Reading : McKay, pages 814-885 10th Edition
McKay, pages 822-895 11th Edition
Nietzsche, “The Will to Power and
the Antichrist”
Freud, “A note on the Unconscious”
Filippo Marinetti, “Manifest of Futurism”
Novel: Erich Remarque, All Quiet on
the Western Front
Georges Clemenceau, “French
Demands for Security and Revenge”
Key text excerpt : Individuals in Society:
Gustav Stressemann (pg.884)
Causes and Effects of World War I
A) Major long term and immediate causes of
World War I (1878-1914) : Who was
responsible?
B) the Impact of World War I on Western Civilization
C) Evaluation of Versailles Treaty: Was it really that
bad?
D) The Russian Revolution : “Dark horse victory”
What were the critical factors which enabled the
Bolsheviks to seize and maintain power?
E) Evaluation of Josef Stalin’s Rule
The Age of Anxiety (The inter-war years and the
coming of WWII)
A) The philosophical basis for 20th century
Fascism?
B) The Rise to power of Benito Mussolini
C) The Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler
D) Analyze the similarities and differences of the
20th century dictators: Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin.
Do the differences outweigh the similarities?
E) France and Britain between the wars
F) Art, Science and Entertainment between the
wars (Great Strides or more Anxiety?)
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UNIT ELEVEN The Rise of Fascism and World War II
Required reading : 10th Edition, McKay pages 886-919
11th Edition, McKay pages 896-931
Thomas Mann, “An Appeal to Reason”
David Buffum, “Kristallnacht”
Neville Chamberlain, “In Defense of
Appeasement”
Winston Churchill, “A Disaster of the
First Magnitude”
Adolf Hitler, “Poland will be
depopulated and settled with
Germans”
William Hoffman, “Diary of a German
Soldier” (account of Stalingrad)
World War II
A) The chronological march towards war : 1931-1939
B) Why did the Allies win World War II?
C) The impact of World War II on the postwar world
D) “Third World” Nationalism and the end of
European Imperialism
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UNIT TWELVE Cold War Conflict and Consensus
Required Reading : 10th Edition McKay, pages 922-993
11th Edition McKay , pages 934-1005
Supplemental readings will be
announced / assigned ***
The Cold War and Challenges
A) The Cold War: Was it inevitable?
Where does the blame lie?
1) The Superpowers : 1943-1980s
a) Allies to enemies 1941-1945
b) post-war issues and crises
2) The containment policy: Eisenhower/Khrushchev/
Kennedy years
3) Detente: Causes, Examples, Impact
4) end of Detente and Renewal of Cold War: 1980s
a) Soviet v. American interpretations of Detente
b) emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev
5) Analyze the major factors causing the fall of the
Soviet Union :1985-1991. To what extent were they
historical? To what extent did personalities play a
role? Would the Soviet Union have collapsed
without the impact of Gorbachev? Reagan?
B) Domestic Trends in Europe:
1945-1990s: Are there common trends or patterns
that affected Eastern as well as Western Europe?
1) Great Britain
2) France
3) Germany
4) Italy
5) Soviet Union and Boris Yeltsin’s Russia
C) Intellectual Movements in Europe after World War II
Are there absolute values or is everything relative?
1) How did Modernism affect the following?
a) God
b) Universe
c) Man
d) politics
2) Modern Art after World War II: “Shock of the New”
3) Relevant Intellectual Theories
a) Relativism
b) Behaviorism
c) Existentialism
d) net-orthodoxy of the 1950s
e) New Radicalism of the 1960s
f) post-modern and deconstruction
D) Feminism: Has Feminism brought women equality?
Has there been a backlash against women in
contemporary society?
E) Are women still defined by western culture rather
than by themselves?
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UNIT THIRTEEN Globalization
Into the 21st Century
Required Reading : 10th Edition MCKay , 970-1039
11th Edition McKay, 958-1026
* current events assigned
A) Globalism: A threat or a panacea? Hasn’t
Globalism always been with us since the 18th
century? What’s different now?
B) European unification? What does history say?
1) Can east and west become one?
2) Could a unified Europe become a super
power in the 21st century?
C) Has the recent rise of Fascism changed the
future or is it merely a backlash?
AP EXAM : Friday May 5th AM Session (7:30 - HS Gymnasium)
😃
"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. "
-- Thomas Jefferson
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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Read purposefully - demonstrated by:
* Identifying and extrapolating significant material from a variety of printed sources
* Recognizing arguments for and against an issue
* Identifying and using knowledge from common graphic features (charts, graphs, maps)
* Recognizing bias and point of view
* Reading and analyzing primary source material
Write effectively - demonstrated by:
* Well written and multi paragraph compositions that have clear topic development and organization
* Research reports based on standard endnote and bibliographical format (MLA-style)
* Document-based questions requiring analysis of primary sources
* Identifications stressing clear definitions and significance of terminology
Communicate effectively - demonstrated by:
* Oral presentations and debates
*. Media presentations and projects
* Interaction with peers in student-centered activities
* Analyzing and expressing ideas in the arts in historical context
* Following instructions
*. Effective note-taking skills in the form of answering complex historical questions
* Using technology to express historical concepts
Demonstrate self-respect and respect for others -
demonstrated by:
* Displaying academic integrity (includes an understanding of plagiarism)
* Showing curiosity, respect and appreciation for cultural diversity in the world and knowledge of the contributions of other cultures outside your own
* A tolerance for other’s opinions and points-of-view
* Participating constructively in group activities
*. An awareness of academic responsibilities
* An ability to make informed decisions on global issues
