Course Number:
/ School: Grant High SchoolInstructor: David Lickey
/ Contact information: (503) 841-2223Subject: Advanced Placement European History / Days of week offered:
M-F / Hours offered:
Periods 1, 3, 4
Prerequisites:
Modern World History and Recommendation of Instructor
Course description (forecast guide): This course is the equivalent in scope and academic rigor to an introductory college course in modern European history. Students are expected to take the College Board Advanced Placement [AP] exam in European History as a culminating activity. This class and the AP exam will focus on events from 1450 AD to the present day. This course will consider themes of intellectual and cultural history, political history, diplomatic and military history, economic and technological history, and social history (yes and her-story) as we explore how and why the Europeans: explored, then conquered, and lost the rest of the world; replaced a static and conservative medieval worldview based on authority and superstition with science and technology; replaced the patchwork of feudal kingdoms with powerful centralized nation states; how and why those nation states absolutism would yield to democracy; industrialization made the world we live in and gave rise to two great competing economic systems – communism and capitalism; and why the Europeans would fight two suicidal world wars only to become the prize between two outlying superpowers during the Cold War. Along the way we will always look back to historiography, or how people have interpreted these events in the past. But more importantly, we will look forward to how the ethical, social, economic, and intellectual inheritance of the West organizes and gives direction to our own lives. Far from being a story of dead white men, I will argue that this is the great story that arms all people with voice and reason with which to struggle for a better and more just life. Maybe you will come to agree with me.
Learning objectives:
· Students will develop a framework of factual knowledge of important intellectual, , cultural, political, diplomatic, social, and economic developments in Europe from 1450 AD to the present with equal attention given to the periods 1450-1648, 1648-1815, 1815-1914, and 1914-Present.
· Students will – in every period of study – explore and expand upon themes of European interactions with the broader world, poverty and prosperity, historical tensions between objective knowledge and subjective visions, the roles of states and other institutions of power in Western life, and the relationship of the individual within society.
· Students will hone the historian’s skills of Chronological reasoning, comparison and contextualization, crafting historical arguments from historical evidence, and historical interpretation and synthesis.
· Students will develop an appreciation for past historiography and an understanding of the historian’s craft.
· Students will develop a habit of rational thinking and discourse that will allow them to exercise their duties as citizens and scholars responsibly and with greater insight and wisdom.
References, text book(s), resources:
Coffin, Judith, Robert Stacey, Robert Lerner, and Standish Meacham. Western Civilizations. 15th ed. Norton,
2005.
Cole, Joshua, and Carol Symes. Western Civilizations. 18th ed. Norton, 2014. (Chapter 29 “A World Without
Walls: Globalization & the West” provided as a handout supplement.)
Perry, Marvin, Joseph Peden, and Theodore Von Laue. Sources of the Western Tradition, 6th ed, vol. I & II.
Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Merriman, John. Modern Europe, 2nd Ed..Norton, 2004.
Merriman, John. Modern Europe, 3rd Ed. Norton, 2010. (Updated Chapter 30, “Global Challenges: “Fortress
Europe”, European Cooperation, and the Uncertainties of a New Age” provided as a handout)
Audio- Lectures by distinguished University Professors on selected topics aired in class or as pod casts.
Assessment/evaluation/grading policy: There are four main assignments on which your grade will be based:
Formative assignments:
1. Assignments that demonstrate mastery of the basal texts and proficiency in the analysis of historical documents. These assignments include: outlines, graphic notes, terms, timelines, illustrations, note-cards, annotated maps, and interpretive graphs. These assignments will develop the breadth of factual knowledge and develop facility with the historical thinking skills necessary to do well on the AP exam. [Less than 25% of grade]
2. Primary source document analysis and interpretive essays. You will read sets of primary source documents from the Sources of the Western Tradition reader and prepare structured notes and short essays. A standing assignment referred to as APPARTS will be frequently assigned as a protocol for analyzing primary source documents. APPARTS assignments are always an exercise in periodization of historical material, using evidence to support historical assertions, and the synthesis of historical claims; but the assignment takes the form of notes perhaps presented in a tale form that are used by the student as a resource in class discussions and to develop into longer Free Response Essays. APPARTS is an acronym that stands for author, place and time, prior knowledge (context), audience, reason or purpose of the document, the documents main ideas, and the documents significance (synthasis). Commonly students will be asked to write essays that combine their APPARTS analysis of several documents around a single claim of significance. These essays are refered to as “document response essays” [DRE]. These assignments develop skills particularly useful on the DBQ portion of the AP exam. Expect-two or three such assignments a week and to discus your writing in class most days. (25% of grade)
Assessments:
3. Multiple choice tests and quick writes: each of the units described in the “Schedule of Topics” section below will include several short multiple choice tests over assigned readings and lecture material. Formative assignments may be used as an aid on multiple choice tests and quick writes. (more than 25% of grade)
4. Free Response Essay [FRQ] Questions: each of the units described in the “Schedule of Topics” will include two or three Free response questions. Together with your work with documents, FRQ’s are the means by which you will develop your historical thinking and writing skills. These questions will develop writing skills relevant to the FRQ and DBQ portion of the AP exam.(25% of grade)
Behavioral expectations: Students are expected to be punctual, kind, to come to class prepared, and to generally conduct themselves in a mature and responsible manor as befitting the subject matter and nature of this class. All Grant High School and Portland Public Schools disciplinary policies and regulations will be strictly observed in my class.
Effective date of syllabus: 08-27-2015 School year: 2015-2016
Student Accommodation(s)1 and support available: (e.g., tutoring, differentiated instruction):
All instruction will be modified according to students’ IEP and 504 plans.
Schedule of Topics/ Units Covered: Readings: (Dates)
· Course Introduction Guns, Germs, & Steel, Jared Diamond, (Sept.)
· Structure of the AP exam “The Future of History As A Science”
· Historiography Europe’s “Optimal Fragmentation”
· Geography of Europe
2. Prologue: The Making of the Medieval Mind(Sept.) Western Civilizations, Ch 1-12[recommended) Contributions of the Hebrews, Greeks, & Romans summer reading]
· The Church in Late Antiquity Modern Europe, Ch. 1
· Politics, Culture, and Society during the Middle Ages Sources, Chapters 1-8
· Mediterranean and Atlantic colonialism Sources, Ch. 11
· Discovery & Conquest of the Americas
· Columbian Exchange
4. Renaissance and Reformation(Sept./Oct.) Western Civilizations, Ch 13-14
· Renaissance Humanism Sources, Ch 9-10
· High Renaissance in the Italian City Modern Europe, Ch 2-3
· Machiavelli and the Renaissance Prince
· Northern Humanism
· Martin Luther’s Upheaval
· Calvin and the Spread of Protestantism
· Catholic Reformation/Counter Reformation
· Baroque Art
5. Religious War and the Rise of the State(Oct.) Western Civilizations, Ch 15
· Religious Conflict in France and England Sources, Ch.11
· English Civil War Modern Europe, Ch. 4
· Religious War in Germany and the Low Countries
· Religious War and the Search for Certainty
6. Age of Absolutism, 1660-1789(Nov.) Western Civilizations, Ch16-17
· Demographic Patterns in Early Mod. Europe Sources, Ch. 11
· Commerce and Colonization Modern Europe, 5-7,11
· Life in a Society of Orders
· Louis XIV
· Prussia and the Rise of the Hohenzollerns
· Absolutism in Russia
· England & the Dutch, Alternatives to Absolutism
· Mercantilism & War in the Early Modern State System
7. Intellectual Revolution: Science and the Enlightenment(Nov.) Western Civilizations, Ch. 18-19
· Astronomy, Math, and a new Cosmology Sources, Ch. 12-13
· Bacon and Descartes and the New Philosophy Modern Europe, 8-10
· Nature, Reason, & Progress: Foundations and Themes of the Enlightenment
· The Philosophes and the Cultural Context of Enlightenment
8. The French and Industrial Revolutions (Dec./Jan.) Western Civilizations, Ch. 20-23
· Causes and Course of the French Revolution Sources, v.II, Ch.4,5,&7
· Napoleon and Imperial France Modern Europe, 13-15
· Industrial Revolution in Britain
· Patterns of Industrialization on the Continent
· Rise of the Middle Class World View: Political Economy and its Critics
o Liberalism
o Socialism
· Life in a City of Classes
9. Restoration Europe from Metternich to Bismarck(Feb.) Western Civilizations, Ch. 23-24
· Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe Sources v. II, Ch 6 & 8
· Conservatism, Romanticism, and Nationalism Modern Europe, 15-18
· Liberalism in France and Britain
· 1848 and the Failure of Liberal Revolution
· Nationalism and Nation Building in Germany and Italy
· Nationalism in Ireland and the Austrian Empire
· Franco Prussian War
10. On Top of the World: Europe ca. 1900(Feb.) Western Civilizations, Ch. 25-26
· Theories of Imperialism Sources v. II, Ch10
· Imperialism in South Asia and China Modern Europe, 19-21
· Scramble for Africa
· Imperial Culture and Thought
· The Second Industrial Revolution
· The Mass Politics and the Challenge of Socialism
· Darwin, Freud and Nietzsche: Science and Philosophy
· Gender in the Late Victorian Era
11. World Wars I & II (Mar./April) Western Civilizations, Ch. 27-29
· Background and Causes of WWI Sources v. II, Ch 11-13
· Trench Warfare: the Great Battles Modern Europe, 22-26
· The Russian Revolution
· The Collapse of Wilheminian Germany
· Versailles
· Weimar Germany
· Hitler and the Rise of the Nazis
· Fascist Italy
· USSR Under Stalin
· Interwar Artists and Intellectuals
· Causes of WWII, the Continuation of WWI
· Appeasement and the “Dishonest Decade”
· Outbreak of War to the Fall of France
· The Rise and Ruin of the Nazi Empire
· The Holocaust
· Post-War Efforts for International Security
Postwar Europe(April/May) Western Civilizations, Ch. 30-32
· The Cold War Divides the Continent Sources v. II, Ch. 14-15
· Economic Renaissance Modern Europe, 27-29
· Postwar Politics Labor, de Gaulle, and Social Democrats
· Social and Cultural Change
· Decolonization
· Economic Stagnation
· The Collapse of Communism
· Contemporary Europe in the New World Order
AP European History Course Description from the College Board: this is an essential document that each student should familiarize themselves with. The Guide describes the AP European History Exam in detail with grading rubrics and sample questions.
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-course-overviews/ap-european-history-course-overview.pdf
Unit #1: Making of the Medieval Mind
&
Other Topics
AP European History
Lickey
Intro: Because this class has as its focus the European experience since 1450 AD we will necessarily only touch briefly on the ancient, classical, and medieval antecedents to Early Modern Europe. If it is possible to have a single theme that runs from the Golden Age of Greece through the late Middle Ages; surely that theme must be continuity and change. In the next few weeks I invite you to explore how the philosophy and virtues of the Hellenistic world were adopted by the Practical Romans as the intellectual basis of empire; how the Roman empire evolved with Christianity and Germanic Kingdoms of the so called “Dark Ages”; and finally how the High and Late Middle Ages were marked, at least intellectually, by a desire to advance the reason, civil apparatus, and even worldly knowledge of the ancient Greeks with the spiritual commandments of Christendom. The 14th Century would see a string of really unmitigated disasters: plague and the much related; famine, peasant uprisings, war (fought now with gunpowder), and economic decline. These failures would challenge Europeans to embrace very dramatic change at the end of what we call the Medieval Era. In the first weeks I invite you to explore ideas that originate over two thousand years ago, but still animate our lives while also coming to appreciate how poised the West was for dramatic change by the middle of the 15th/C.
Required Readings:
Western Civilizations, Chapters 9-11 [Recommended]
Sources of the Western Tradition, Chapters 5-10 Chapter introductions and selected
readings
Merriman, Chapter #1
Terms for Notebook and Test: (From Merriman)
Jacob Fugger “Fragmentation of Europe” Sultan vs. Princes Common Law
Structure of Society King vs. Lord Feudalism Revolts of 14th C/.
Serfdom Diet Role of Christianity Marriage Growth of Trade
Municipal Liberties Sovereign States Holy Roman Empire Gunpowder
Printing Press Vasco Da Gama Conquistadores Columbian Exchange
Spanish & Portuguese Trading Patterns
FRQ’s:
1. Compare and Contrast the historiography of Jarred Diamond offered in the epilogue to Guns Germs & Steel, “The Future of History as a Science” and Thucydides’ philosophy of History offered in History of the Peloponnesian War excreted in Sources. Are you more impressed by the similarity or the difference?
2. To What extent and in what ways did the metaphor of the “Great Chain of Being” capture the social, political, and intellectual realities of Europe in 1450?[CR3, OS-1, IS-1]
3. Compare and Contrast the Empire Building in Portugal and Spain between 1450-1600. [CR3, INT-1,2,3,4,5,6,9,11]
4. How were the forces of continuity and change influencing European life at the end of the medieval era – circa 1450- with respect to social, economic, and political developments?[CR8][CR3, OS-1,PP-1, INT-3,4,5,6]
Approximate Daily Schedule:
Lessons 1 Course Intro + Syllabus:
Activity: Discussion of summer assignments
Lesson: Geography is Destiny: Jared Diamond’s Opitimal Fragmentation Theory,