AP European History Notes — All 4 Periods

AP European History spans 1450 to the present across 4 periods. These notes cover the key events, movements, and themes at the depth the DBQ, LEQ, and SAQ actually require — enough to contextualize and make arguments, not just list facts.

Period 1: 1450–1648 (20% of exam)

Renaissance: Humanism (Erasmus, Machiavelli), artistic patronage, printing press and information spread. Reformation: Luther's 95 Theses (1517), Calvin and Calvinism, Catholic Counter-Reformation (Council of Trent, Jesuits), Wars of Religion. Exploration: Portuguese and Spanish colonialism, Columbian Exchange, mercantilism, effects on indigenous populations. Scientific Revolution beginnings: Copernicus, Galileo (heliocentrism challenged church authority).

Period 2: 1648–1815 (25% of exam)

Scientific Revolution: Newton, empiricism, Royal Society. Enlightenment: Locke (natural rights, social contract), Montesquieu (separation of powers), Voltaire (religious tolerance), Rousseau (general will), Wollstonecraft (women's rights). Absolutism vs. constitutional government: Louis XIV (France), constitutional monarchy (England after 1688). French Revolution: Causes (fiscal crisis, Estates-General, Enlightenment ideas), stages (National Assembly → Terror → Directory → Consulate), Declaration of Rights of Man. Napoleon: Napoleonic Code, continental empire, nationalism spread, defeat and Congress of Vienna (1815, conservative restoration).

Period 3: 1815–1914 (30% of exam)

Industrial Revolution: Britain first (coal, iron, steam power, enclosure movement, factory system), social effects (urbanization, working class, social reform movements). Nationalism and liberalism: 1848 revolutions, German unification (Bismarck), Italian unification (Garibaldi/Cavour), decline of Austrian and Ottoman empires. Imperialism: Berlin Conference (1884), Social Darwinism, technological superiority, economic motives. Marxism: Communist Manifesto (1848), class struggle, labor movements.

Period 4: 1914–present (25% of exam)

WWI: Alliance system, trench warfare, total war, Treaty of Versailles (war guilt, reparations, territorial losses). Interwar period: Great Depression, rise of fascism (Mussolini, Hitler), appeasement. WWII: Nazi ideology and Holocaust, Allied victory, Marshall Plan, decolonization. Cold War: NATO vs. Warsaw Pact, nuclear deterrence, Soviet bloc, détente. Post-1989: German reunification, EU expansion, Yugoslav Wars, terrorism.

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