Chapter 3 Diagnostic Exercises
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: Diagnose your level of preparation for the exam in order to focus your program of preparation.
Key Ideas
• Multiple-choice questions test passive knowledge; there are several useful processes of elimination you can use.
• The Document-Based Question tests your ability to analyze and discuss primary source documents.
• The Thematic Essay Questions test your ability to use your knowledge of European history to make a historical argument.
Introduction
In order to prepare well for the AP European History Exam, it is useful to gain some sense of your own strengths and weaknesses, and to become conscious of the processes you use to approach various kinds of questions. This chapter is designed to both give you a sense of your level of readiness for the AP European History Exam and to help you evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies you currently use when you tackle the sorts of questions that will appear on the exam.
The Multiple-Choice Questions
Below you will find a Multiple-Choice Questions Exercise, consisting of exercise multiple- choice questions like the ones you will encounter on the AP European History exam.
When you get to the end of this section, answer them. Do not study and do not stress. You can check the answers afterwards, but the main point here is to learn something about the way you normally approach multiple-choice questions and determine whether or not you need to develop some new strategies. So answer them just as you would on any multiple-choice exam, writing your answers down on a separate sheet of paper. But as you answer them, think about how you are arriving at your choice and jot down some notes describing the process. For example, say the question is:
1. An unprecedented era of exploration and discovery in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries was spurred by
(A) the desire for precious metals and competition for the spice trade
(B) the need for markets to sell manufactured goods
(C) the need to find space for an expanding population
(D) the missionary work of the Church
(E) the Hundred Years War
Let us say you chose A. How did you arrive at the answer? Perhaps it was: “Oh. I know this one; my teacher emphasized that the people who financed the voyages of exploration wanted silver, gold, and spice.” Or maybe you did not recall covering this specifically, but you used a process of elimination that went something like this: “I do not know much about this, but I do know that the Hundred Years War happened much earlier and did not do much good for the economy; so E is out. The other four are possible, but I remember that the big population explosion in Europe was related to eighteenth-century agriculture and the beginnings of manufacturing; so I will eliminate B and C. That leaves precious metal and spices versus missionary work; I know there were missionaries on those voyages, but I am betting that the bottom line for the people who paid for them was profit. I am choosing A.” In both cases, the correct answer has been reached, but by two very different processes.
OK, your turn. Answer the following on a sheet of paper and jot down some notes describing your reasoning processes. Then, compare your answers and reasoning processes with the Answers and Explanations section given at the end. Remember: If you do not do well, do not panic. Chapter 4 will teach you how to do better. If you did very well and want to test your readiness more broadly, go to the back of the guide and take the multiple-choice section of Practice Test 1. You can check your answers against the Answers and Explanations section that follows it.
• Multiple-Choice Questions Exercise
Directions: Choose the best answer for each question. Circle the answer of your choice. As you choose, make notes about the process of elimination you used to arrive at your answer. When you are finished, compare your answers and your reasoning with the Answers and Explanations section that follows.
1. Which of the following were effects of the Hundred Years War on England and France?
(A) It disrupted agriculture, causing famine, disease, and a significant decrease in the population.
(B) It created an enormous tax burden that led to a series of peasant rebellions.
(C) It left France an economically devastated but more politically unified kingdom.
(D) It weakened England economically but led to the beginning of a textile industry upon which it would rebuild its economic strength.
(E) All of the above.
2. The goal of the Conciliar Movement was
(A) the end of the Hundred Years War
(B) to heal the rift between Catholics and Protestants
(C) to select a new pope
(D) to reform, reunite, and reinvigorate the Church
(E) to allow secular governments to gain some measure of control of the Church in their kingdoms
3. In the fifteenth century, which of the following were increasing their power?
(A) the Church
(B) secular monarchs
(C) the nobility
(D) the peasantry
(E) artisans
4. An unprecedented era of exploration and discovery in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries was spurred by
(A) the desire for precious metals and competition for the spice trade
(B) the need for markets to sell manufactured goods
(C) the need to find space for an expanding population
(D) the missionary work of the Church
(E) the Hundred Years War
5. The most outstanding characteristic of Renaissance Italian society was
(A) the strength of the monarchy
(B) the power of the traditional nobility
(C) the degree to which it was urban
(D) the freedom allowed to women
(E) the development of cash-crop agriculture
6. “Humanism,” in early-Renaissance Italy, refers primarily to
(A) renewed interest in the scientific method
(B) scholarly interest in and the study of classical cultures of Greece and Rome
(C) an anti-Christian attitude
(D) a focus on the qualities and strategies necessary for attaining and holding power
(E) the study of the works of Aristotle
7. Giotto is often referred to as a transition figure between medieval art and the Renaissance style because
(A) his subject matter was secular
(B) of the scale of his David
(C) his works were commissioned by patrons
(D) his subject matter was religious but his concern was for the human experience
(E) he specialized in nudes
8. Nineteenth-century conservatism tended to be supported by
(A) traditional, landed aristocracy
(B) the merchant class
(C) industrial barons
(D) the working class
(E) women
• Answers and Explanations
1. E. All of the above are correct. Choice A is correct because the continual fighting made it difficult for peasant farmers to cultivate the land, resulting in frequent famine. Famine and the many corpses lying around led to disease; famine and disease combined to decrease the population. Choice B is correct because money had to be raised to field armies; the nobility and church were largely exempt so the burden fell on the peasants, who frequently rebelled. Choice C is correct because the war brought economic devastation, but that devastation broke the power of regional nobility, allowing the king to politically unify the kingdom. Choice D is correct because the war similarly weakened England economically, but the difficulty of keeping trade lines open led the English to begin producing textiles for clothing.
2. D. The goal of the Conciliar Movement of the fifteenth century, led by various councils of cardinals, was to reform, reunite and reinvigorate the Church, which was deeply divided by the Avignon Papacy (1309—1377) and the Great Schism (1378—1417). Choice A is incorrect because the Conciliar Movement was not related in any direct way to the Hundred Years War. Choice B is incorrect because the Conciliar movement pre-dated the Reformation and the creation of a Protestant movement. Choice C is incorrect because the Conciliar Movement was concerned with reforming the Church, not selecting a pope. Choice E is incorrect because the gains secular governments made over the Church in their kingdoms were a result of the Conciliar movement, not a goal.
3. B. Secular monarchs, such as Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, were increasing their power in the fifteenth century because traditional institutions seemed powerless in the face of calamities such as the Hundred Years War and the Black Death. Choices A and C are incorrect because the Church and the nobility were traditional institutions whose power had been weakened; the Church was additionally weakened by internal divisions. Choices D and E are incorrect because the both the peasantry and the artisans still lacked any basis for political power in the fifteenth century.
4. A. It was the desire for precious metals and the competition for the spice trade that led the monarchies of Spain and Portugal to invest large sums of capital in voyages of exploration. Choice B is incorrect because manufacturing in Europe had not yet reached a stage that demanded new markets. Choice C is incorrect because the population of Europe was still recovering from the plague and was not large enough to create pressure for new land. Choice D is incorrect because, while it is true that missionaries accompanied the voyages, the monarchies would not have invested huge sums without hope of financial return. Choice E is incorrect because the Hundred Years War preceded the era of great voyages.
5. C. Renaissance Italy was uniquely urban. By 1500, seven of the ten largest cities in Europe were in Italy. Choice A is incorrect because unlike the majority of Western Europe, which was characterized by large kingdoms with powerful monarchs, the Italian peninsula was made up of numerous independent city-states, such as Milan, Florence, Padua, and Genoa. Choice B is incorrect because the urban nature of Renaissance Italy meant that the traditional landed nobility were less powerful than elsewhere in Europe. Choice D is incorrect because the social conventions of Renaissance Italy were as restrictive as elsewhere in Europe. Choice E is incorrect because cash-crop agriculture did not develop to any significant degree in Renaissance Italy.
6. B. Early-Renaissance humanism is best understood as a scholarly interest in and the study of classical Greece and Rome for the purpose of learning how to succeed in life and live a good life. Choice A is incorrect because the notion of a scientific method is a seventeenth-century invention. Choice C is incorrect because humanism was never anti-Christian. Choice D is incorrect because a focus on the qualities and strategies necessary for attaining and holding power was a characteristic of the “princely ideal” of late-Renaissance humanism. Choice E is incorrect because the myopic focus on the works of Aristotle was a characteristic of medieval scholasticism.
7. D. The combination of a concern for the human experience with a religious subject matter that characterizes the transitional nature of Giotto’s work can be seen in his frescos depicting the life of St Francis, where the human characters are depicted in realistic detail and with clear concern for their psychological reaction to the saint’s life. Choice A is incorrect because Giotto’s subject matter was not secular, but religious. Choice B is incorrect because Giotto did not do a version of David. Choice C is incorrect because both medieval and Renaissance Italian art was commissioned by patrons. Choice E is incorrect because Giotto did not specialize in nudes.
8. A. Conservatism was the ideology that asserted that tradition is the only trustworthy guide to social and political action, and held that the monarchy, the hierarchical class system, and the church were crucial institutions. Accordingly, they drew their support from the traditional elites of Europe, the landed aristocracy and the church. Choices B and C are incorrect because the merchant class and industrial barons, who did not have a comfortable place in the traditional hierarchy, tended to support liberalism and its platform of reform. Choice D is incorrect because the working classes of the nineteenth-century looked first to liberalism and then, increasingly, to socialism as the best hope for representation of their interests. There were women who supported conservatism, though not in a political sense, since they were excluded from political participation. But women who supported the women’s rights movements tended to support the notions of individual liberty promoted by liberalism; thus, choice A is a better answer.
The Document-Based Question
The second part of the AP European History exam is the document-based question, also known as the DBQ. The DBQ is simply an essay question about primary sources. It asks you to respond to a question by interpreting a set of excerpts (typically 10—12) from documents that were written in a particular historical period. The set of excerpts will come from sources like newspaper articles or editorials, classic texts, pamphlets, speeches, diaries, letters, and other similar sources. The DBQ will also give you a paragraph of information that identifies the historical context that connects the documents.
Below you will find a DBQ of the sort that might appear on the AP European History exam, giving the question, the historical background, and a set of excerpted documents (for this exercise, we will start with five instead of the usual 10—12). If you have written essays like this before, take a shot at writing one here. Time yourself the way you will be timed in the exam, giving yourself 15 minutes to read the question and the documents (you may not write during this period) and then writing for no more than 45 minutes (the amount of time suggested by the exam). When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline of a Response to the DBQ Exercise at the end of this section.
If you have not written many essays of this type, then simply construct an outline of a possible answer to the question. As you do so, make some notes about your thought processes. How did you begin? What did you do with the documents? Then, compare your outline and notes with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that appear at the end of this section. If you struggle or do not get very far in your attempts to make an outline, do not worry; Chapter 5 will teach you how to develop strategies for doing this quickly, efficiently, and well. If you feel good about your essay or outline, you may want to go to the back of this guide and take the DBQ section of Practice Exam 1. Then compare your essay with the outline and comments that appear at the end of the test.
Document-Based Question Exercise
Directions
A. Give yourself 15 minutes to read the question, historical background, and documents. Then, on separate sheets of paper, write an essay that responds to the question (take no more than 45 minutes). When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that follow. If you wish, proceed to the DBQ section of Practice Exam 1.
or
B. Read the question and, historical, background, and documents. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, make an outline of an essay that responds to the question and take some notes about your thought processes. When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that follow.
1. Discuss the competing notions concerning the origin and nature of political sovereignty and the proper role of government that were developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Historical Background: Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European political philosophers argued about the origin and nature of political sovereignty and the proper role of government. In seventeenth-century Britain, the argument became part of a civil war and revolution that pitted the Stuart monarchy and its supporters against the forces of Parliament. In eighteenth-century France, the Bourbon monarchy, the aristocracy, and the church all found themselves faced with an increasingly radical revolution.
Document 1
Source: James I, speech to the English Parliament, 1610.
The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon the earth: for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods ... In the Scriptures kings are called gods, and so their power after a certain relation compared to the Divine power. Kings are also compared with fathers of families; for a king is truly parens patriae [parent of the country], the politic father of his people. And lastly, kings are compared to the head of this microcosm of the body of man.
Document 2
Source: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, London, 1651.
The only way to erect such common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort, as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will ... This is more than consent or concord; it is a real unity of them all, in one and the same person, made by covenant of every man . . .
Document 3
Source: John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, London, 1690.
The only way whereby anyone divests himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe and peaceable living one among another, in a secure enjoyment of their comfortable, safe and peaceable living one among another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any that are not of it ... And thus every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded by it ... [But]When the governor, however entitled, makes not the law but his will the rule, and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion, . . . there it presently becomes tyranny.
Document 4
Source: M. de Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws, Paris, 1748.
Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it govern all the inhabitants of the earth; the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied ... Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power ... To prevent this abuse, it is necessary, from the very nature of things, power should be a check to power. A government must be so constituted as no man shall be compelled to do things to which the law does not oblige him, nor forced to abstain from things which the law permits.
Document 5
Source: Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? Paris, 1789.
Public functions may be classified equally well, in the present state of affairs, under four recognized heads: the sword, the robe, the church, and the administration. It would be superfluous to take them up one by one, for the purpose of showing that everywhere the Third Estate attends to nineteen-twentieths of them, with this distinction; that it is laden with all that which is really painful, with all the burdens which the privileged classes refuse to carry ... Who then shall dare to say that the Third Estate has not within itself all that is necessary for the formation of a complete nation?
Suggestions and Possible Outline of a Response to the DBQ Exercise
Suggestions
Begin by finding a way to group the documents. Notice that James I and Thomas Hobbes believed in an all-powerful ruler, while Locke and Montesquieu argued for a more limited government. On the issue of origins, note that James I believed in Divine Right Monarchy. Hobbes actually agreed with Locke and Montesquieu that power is derived from the people, but rejected the notion of “consent” introduced by Locke. Notice how Sieyès places sovereignty in the “nation” at all times.
Next, address the relationship between the groups of documents; here it would be a good idea to see them as an evolution from notions of an all-powerful, Divine Right monarch to the more modern notion of a nation. Topic sentences should make clear claims about that evolution.
The body of the essay’s paragraphs must present historical evidence that supports and illustrates the topic sentences and, therefore, the thesis. An outline of such an essay might look like this.
Outline
Thesis: The documents, taken in chronological order, reflect an evolution of political thought from Divine Right Monarchy to the notion of a sovereign nation.
Topic sentence A: Documents 1 and 2 both argue for a sovereign with unlimited power, but demonstrate a shift away from Divine Right Monarchy.
Specific examples: James I, who was attempting to re-establish Divine Right monarchy in England, is lecturing an uppity Parliament. He emphasizes: scripture, kings as gods, paternalism, and the king as head of the body politic. Hobbes, who supported the monarchy in the English Civil War, is arguing the necessity an all-powerful ruler. He allows that a ruler is chosen by the people, but he emphasizes “real unity” and a covenant, not consent. The meaning of Leviathan summarizes his point.
Topic sentence B: Documents 3 and 4 argue for limited government, by consent, according to the laws of reason.
Specific examples: Locke, a supporter of Parliament and writing immediately after the Glorious Revolution in England, emphasizes “natural liberty;” consent as the origin of legitimate power; and gives a definition of tyranny (it does not exist in Hobbes) that must be opposed. Montesquieu, of the Enlightenment period, argues from a notion of natural law. He argues that power is always limited by reason. The meaning of “spirit of the laws” summarizes his point.
Topic sentence C: Document 5 illustrates the new concept of a “nation” as the home of sovereignty.
Specific examples: Sieyès, leader of the moderate phase of the French Revolution, is justifying the revolt of the Third Estate. He argues that “Third Estate” (define) executes the functions of administration; the burden of administration equals the right to rule.
Conclusion (if time): There was a clear evolution of political thought from Divine Right Monarchy to the notion of a sovereign nation.
The Thematic Essay Questions
The thematic essay questions make up the remainder of the 130-minute, free-response section of the AP European History exam. You will be presented with two groups of three questions (six total). The first group will present questions that ask about the period from roughly 1450 to the Napoleonic Era and the second group will present three questions that ask about the period from the Napoleonic Era to the present. You must respond to one question from each group. Remember that the exam instructions recommend that you divide your time as follows:
• Part A (the DBQ)—15 minutes reading time, 45 minutes writing time
• Part B (first thematic essay)—35 minutes writing time
• Part C (second thematic essay)—35 minutes writing time.
Your goal is to quickly choose the two questions you will answer and construct a short history essay of high quality in the approximately 35 minutes allotted for each. Below you will find a thematic essay question similar to the ones that appear on the AP European History exam. If you have written essays like this before, take a shot at writing one that answers the question. Time yourself the way you will be timed in the exam, giving yourself 35 minutes to compose and write your essay. When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline of a Response to the Thematic Essay Questions Exercise at the end of this section.
If you have not written many of these kinds of essays, then begin by constructing an outline of a possible answer to the question and taking some notes about your thought processes. How did you begin? How did you organize your thoughts? Then, compare your outline and notes with the outline and comments that appear at the end of this section. If you struggle or do not get very far in your attempts to make an outline, do not worry; Chapter 6 will teach you how to develop strategies for doing this quickly, efficiently, and well. If you feel good about your essay or outline, you may want to go to the back of this guide and complete the thematic essay questions section of Practice Exam 1. Then compare your essays with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that appear at the end of the test.
Thematic Essay Question Exercise
Directions
A. Write an essay that responds to the question (take no more than 35 minutes). Write your essay on separate sheets of paper. When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that follow. If you want to, proceed to the thematic essay questions section of Practice Exam 1.
or
B. Read the question and make an outline of an essay that responds to the question, and take some notes about your thought processes. Write your outline and notes on a separate sheet of paper. When you are finished, compare your essay with the Suggestions and Possible Outline that follow.
1. Analyze the factors that led to World War I and determine which were decisive.
Suggestions and Possible Outline of a Response to the Thematic Essay Questions Exercise
Suggestions
Make a quick list of the “causes” of World War I as they were covered in your class and your readings. Rank them in order of importance and select one or two as “decisive” (i.e., most directly responsible for the outbreak of war). Compose a thesis stating clearly your argument for ranking them the way you do. Write three topic sentences making three clear points that add up to your thesis. Underneath each of the topic sentences, list specific examples that illustrate and support your topic sentences. From that outline write a clear, concise essay.
Outline
Thesis: The determination of Germany to expand and the requirements of the Schlieffen Plan were the most decisive factors in bringing about World War I.
Topic sentence A: Since unification in 1871, Imperial Germany was fearful of encirclement and determined to gain lebensraum (room to live).
Specific examples: German unification was itself expansionist in nature; the concept of lebensraum was prevalent in German culture; the fear of encirclement led to the German belief that war was inevitable and, thus, to the drawing up of the Schlieffen Plan, a plan to win a two-front war.
Topic sentence B: The Anglo-German rivalry, the Nationalities Problem in the Hapsburg Empire, and the Alliance System were all factors, but none was decisive.
Specific examples: Britain and Germany engaged in an arms race in the decades before the war; but they were also each other’s largest trading partners; past examples of ethnic-nationalist agitation inside the Hapsburg Empire were handled without war; details of the alliance system did restrict diplomatic options and seemed to guarantee military response, but such alliances were broken when necessary, e.g., Italy’s initial neutrality.
Topic sentence C: The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the fuse, but the Schleiffen Plan, born of Germany’s belief that war was inevitable, was a more decisive factor. Specific examples: Serbia agreed to the Hapsburg ultimatum, but Austrian aggression was spurred on by Germany’s “blank check”; Russian troop mobilization was a standard “show of support”; the Schleiffen Plan’s existence shows Germany’s preparation for war (no other country was thus prepared), and its logic guaranteed large-scale military movement at the first sign of Russian mobilization.
Conclusion (if time): Of the many factors that led to the World War I, Germany’s determination to expand and the iron logic of the Schlieffen Plan were decisive.