AP Euro Exam Review P2

Question 1

Absolutism

Answer 1

a form of government in which all sovereign power rested in the hands of a single monarch

Question 2

constitutionalism

Answer 2

the theory that power should be shared between rulers and their subjects and the state governed according to laws

Question 3

english civil war, 1642-51

Answer 3

a conflict between the English monarchy (Charles I), Parliament, and the English elite over Charles I’s belief in divine right, Parliament’s desire to curb the powers of the monarch, and Charles I’s need for money

Question 4

peace of utrecht, 1713-14

Answer 4

ended the War of Spanish Succession between Louis XIV of France and the rest of Europe, which prohibited the joining of
French and Spanish crowns, ended French expansionist policy, and vastly expanded the British Empire

Question 5

service nobility

Answer 5

nobility who held the monarch’s land on the explicit condition that remained loyal to the monarch and served in the
monarch’s army

Question 6

pragmatic sanction, 1713

Answer 6

asserted the indivisibility of the Habsburg domains and recognized the right of inheritance of both females and males to the
monarchy should Charles VI die without having any sons

Question 7

boroque

Answer 7

highly ornate and elaborate style of architecture, art and design that flourished in Europe in the 17th and first half of the 18th
century; widely used by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation and absolute monarchs

Question 8

empiricism

Answer 8

the use of experiment and observation derived from sensory evidence to construct scientific theory or philosophy of
knowledge

Question 9

nicolaus copernicus

Answer 9

astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe, which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center

Question 10

tabula rasa

Answer 10

John Locke’s belief that humans were a blank slate; born with no knowledge and the environment is what shapes personality

Question 11

social contract

Answer 11

idea in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed

Question 12

enlightened absoultism

Answer 12

form of government, supported by the philosophes, in which absolute monarchs pursued legal, social, and educational
reforms inspired by the Enlightenment

Question 13

agricultural revolution

Answer 13

unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain, and the Low Countries, that led to the end of the 3-field system;
preceded the Industrial Revolution and is often considered one of its primary causes

Question 14

enclosure acts

Answer 14

laws that allowed British landowners to appropriate communally owned lands for private use; approximately 25% of
England’s total farmland

Question 15

cottage industry

Answer 15

preceded the factory system; domestic industry that was often run out of a home by a single individual or family

Question 16

classical liberalism

Answer 16

advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on individual
autonomy, limited government and economic freedom

Question 17

bourgeoisie

Answer 17

term for the middle class; the new professional urban class of merchants, lawyers, etc.

Question 18

maximilien robespierre

Answer 18

leading figure of the French Revolution and architect of the Reign of Terror

Question 19

great fear

Answer 19

a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumors of an aristocratic conspiracy to overthrow the Third Estate

Question 20

sans-culottes

Answer 20

were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant
partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the Ancient Region; ‘without breeches’

Question 21

planned economy

Answer 21

an economic system in which decisions are made by a central authority (Robespierre’s France, 1793-94) rather than by market
participants

Question 22

napoleon bonaparte

Answer 22

Emperor of the French; architect of France’s recovery following the Revolution before setting out to conquer Europe

Question 23

continental system

Answer 23

an attempt to prohibit all trade, even by neutral countries, with Britain, the nation that Napoleon derisively referred to as ‘an
island of shopkeepers,’ thereby sealing it off from continental Europe

Question 24

quadruple alliance

Answer 24

alliance first formed in 1813, during the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars, by Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia for the
purpose of defeating Napoleon

Question 25

p2- what emerged in politics

Answer 25

balance of power system between european states emerged, and was generally challenged only when one or another state sough to upset the balance. (Revolutionary and Napoleonic France represent major upsets of the system.)

Question 26

p2 five words to remember

Answer 26

Age of Reason & Revolutions

Question 27

p2- Social / Economic / Cultural:

Answer 27

Women (changing roles), Increase in literacy, Population (effects of Agricultural Revolution), Social Classes (phases of the French Revolution), Transition from Mercantilism to Free Enterprise / Economic Liberalism (characteristics), French Classicism, Rococo Art, Neo-Classicism Architecture (Arc de Triomphe)

Question 28

p2- Political:

Answer 28

Absolutism (French, Austrian, Prussian, Russian) v. Constitutionalism (Dutch Republic & England)

Question 29

p2 Turning Point:

Answer 29

Battle of Waterloo / Congress of Vienna (1815)

Question 30

Hobbes v Locke

Answer 30

Hobbes (The Leviathan): liked absolutism, liked monarchs being free from limitations, humans need to be ruled strictly
Locke (Treatise on Government): open-state building, positive view on human nature

Question 31

ABS/CONS france v england (power pyramids)

Answer 31

french abs:
king on top, nobility second (take away the power of the nobility), middle class, peasants
england cons:
king on top (loses- decreasing power-limits on kings powers- + nobility gains it), nobility, mc, peasants

Question 32

western v eastern abs

Answer 32

western:
france tries to destroy power nobility has, more power to the king and no one threatening it
eastern:
king and mc make a compromise to crush the peasants, Austria- inward/eastward, prussia- military, prussian noble called Junker (monarch Kaiser) Junkers want free labor- make more serfs, Russian- Peter the Great- more abs. westernization- want stronger nobility

Question 33

voltaire

Answer 33

separation of church and state, separation of powers- each branch checks and balances the others

Question 34

Key Figures:

Answer 34

Figures: Louis XIV, Isaac Newton- physics, Voltaire- separate church and state, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adam Smith- lazze fare

Question 35

Key Events:

Answer 35

Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, Agricultural Revolution, Energy Revolution, Industrial
Revolution, French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars

Question 36

What were noteworthy cultural achievements of the Dutch Republic? What political, economic, and military factors led
to Dutch success and later decline?

Answer 36

• The wealthiest and most important republic in Europe
• Arts: Vermeer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt
• Science flourished – invented the microscope, telescope, pendulum clocks, discovered the rings of Saturn
• Religious toleration in 1632 – included Calvinists, Catholics, Mennonites, Jews (fewest political rights)
• Dutch dominated the seas in the early seventeenth century
• Bank of Amsterdam was established – financial center of Europe
• Began to face substantial competition from England & France; eventually lost New Amsterdam in 1664

Question 37

What were the chief causes of the English Civil War?

Answer 37

• The monarchy was foreign and out of touch with developments in England
• Aristocrats and merchants were well-represented in Parliament and willing to pay taxes in return for political power
• The nation was divided along religious lines that usually coincided with class and politics
• Conflicts with the Irish and Scots started the ball rolling

Question 38

What were the chief consequences of the English Civil War? Why did parliamentary forces win in England?

Answer 38

• Modern land tenure
• Religious restrictions for office holders
• The assertion of parliamentary power over royal
• Establishment of two political parties: Whigs & Tories
• Emigration out of England of the most radical Puritans
• Mercantilist legislation & British naval dominance
• Establishment of constitutional monarchy w/ limitations on the powers of government
• The New Model Army fostered democratic ideas; Oliver Cromwell, an effective commander, soon rose to prominence; Cromwell argued that the
  king must be put to death to prevent a counterrevolution; Parliament balked at this radical act, Cromwell purged it, leaving a “Rump”
  Parliament that then voted for the king’s execution in 1649 (Charles I)

Question 39

How did the Restoration solve – and not solve – the religious and political conflicts?

Answer 39

• Royal income came now from taxation, Charles II in need of income negotiated a secret treaty with Louis XIV to wage war on the Dutch
• Charles II died heirless, his Catholic brother James II became king; removed by Tories & Whigs in 1689 (offered throne to William & Mary)
• Bill of Rights passed Parliament in 1689 – monarch could not suspend laws, raise an army, or levy taxes w/o parliamentary consent
• Act of Settlement (1701) – excluded Catholics from the throne
• Glorious Revolution established civil rights, parliamentary authority limited the monarchy

Question 40

How absolute was French absolutism? Why did the French people accept it?

Answer 40

• Absolutism was limited by localism in economic and political life, traditions, and institutions like the parlements
• Fronde – a rebellion led by the parlements and the nobility (invited Spanish troops) – lost support of the populace

Question 41

How did Louis XIV achieve his goals of centralization of political power?

Answer 41

• Transforming the army, removing it from private, mostly aristocratic control – quadrupled it in size
• Louis awed the nobility by his impressive palace at Versailles – weakened the nobility who strove to live at Versailles
• Louis avoided giving key positions to hereditary nobles – instead he chose wealthy with common background
• Louis enriched the bourgeoisie by encouraging mercantilist practices (Jean Baptiste Colbert)
• Revoked the Edict of Nantes – an attempt to achieve religious unity

Question 42

How did a strong Austrian Habsburg monarchy rise out of the Holy Roman Empire? What were some defining
characteristics of the Austrian Empire?

Answer 42

• Left behind a crumbling Holy Roman Empire as well as their cousin, the Spanish Habsburgs
• Consisted of three parts: Hereditary provinces of the Habsburgs, Bohemia, & Hungary
• International in both population & government service (Germans, Croats, Italians, Hungarians, Czechs) – unified by Catholicism & Charles
  VI who inherited the crowns of Austria, Bohemia, Hungary (father of Maria Theresa – Pragmatic Sanction)

Question 43

How did Prussia use its small size to its advantage in the seventeenth century? How did militarism infuse the
Prussian state?

Answer 43

• Small states could play a major military role in the 17th century b/c most armies were small, and weapons were simple; well-trained &
  disciplined armies of smaller states could defeat armies of larger states (i.e. Sweden & Prussia)
• Prussian rulers took a Spartan like approach in that army was the most significant aspect of society – high taxes, but didn’t go to luxurious
  palaces, rather Prussian kings used it on the army
• King Frederick William I – totally devoted to army, always appeared in uniform, well-known love for tall soldiers, & was innovative
• Frederick the Great (son of Frederick William I) inherited the throne the same year Charles VI (Austria died) – immediately went to war and
  took Silesia – doubled the size of Prussia and brought valuable resources & industries

Question 44

How was Russia different from Europe? What were the conditions in Russia before Peter the Great? What changes did
Peter the Great make in Russia?

Answer 44

• Converted to Orthodoxy – fell under the influence of Constantinople & not Rome; Mongols ruled for 250 years; Lacked warm-water ports
• Cultural traditions were distinct from Europe – men wore beards, women were secluded & often veiled; science & mathematics were at a low
• Serfdom and Manorialism were the basis of the agricultural economy w/ increasing oppression of the serfs
• Peter became Tsar in 1682, ruled for 43 years; spent substantial time in Holland & England – fascinated by their technology & institutions
• Motives were primarily military: protect Russia from the Sweden, Turks and to establish Russia’s military prowess
• Defeated Sweden (scorched-earth policy) and gained warm-water outlets
• Used new army to crush domestic rebellions
• Outdid Louis XIV & Versailles w/ Peterhof; adopted mercantilism (government owned enterprise)
• Implemented greater educational reform for nobility; encouraged newspapers; forbade the beard; engineered a social revolution

Question 45

What were the conditions for scientific work before the seventeenth century?

Answer 45

• Europe still heavily relied upon Aristotelian theories
• Michel de Montaigne, a sixteenth-century essay writer, reflected new attitudes of skepticism
• 1650 was the height of the witchcraft persecution – accused were women, blamed for natural disasters, destructive war, civil unrest
• 17th Century rise of science may have saved Europe from descending into chaos – gave it new confidence & new vision

Question 46

Who were Bacon and Descartes, and what were their different ways at arriving at truth?

Answer 46

• Published works between 1620 and 1640 – both were skeptical of previous knowledge – struggled to derive new methods of knowing truth
• Different paths, but both asserted the possibility of scientific truth & that humans could understand and control nature and improve human life
• Bacon – inductive: argued for careful observation of and experiments with the natural world – empiricism
• Descartes – deductive: relied more on mathematics to find truth – believed that science could only improve human life

Question 47

What were major advancements in other sciences?

Answer 47

• Vesalius & Harvey revised Galen (Roman physician) – performed autopsies – circulation of blood
• Mathematics – significant advancements: decimals came into use, algebraic symbols were improved

Question 48

What were the major innovations in astronomy?

Answer 48

• Copernicus argued that the heliocentric theory, with the planets in circular orbits around the sun, provided a simpler solution
• Galileo was the first to use the telescope to see the rough surface and the stages of the moon, sunspots, and Jupiter’s satellite moons
• Galileo conducted experiments on the laws of motion on earth, overturning Aristotelian physics – created law of inertia
• Newton, Principia, universal force was gravitation – for 200 years it was held to be universally true
• Institutions like the Royal Society of London & Royal Academy of Sciences in France were created (1660s)

Question 49

What were the hallmarks of Enlightenment notions of progress?

Answer 49

• Carried over the notions of natural law & the power of human reason from the Scientific Revolution
• Notion that human life could improve and was, indeed, improving
• Britain was the model of civil rights & religious tolerance
• Progress was associated with science, reason, and civilization – dependent on intellectual freedom

Question 50

What were the main ideas of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire?

Answer 50

• Three men were the most famous of the philosophes, but shared few ideas in common
• Montesquieu – The Spirit of the Laws – separation of powers (checks on absolutism & tyranny)
• Voltaire – strong advocate of freedom of thought and rallied against censorship – critical of intolerance, bigotry, superstition, and the Catholic
  Church, which, he argued, promoted these negative traits; argued for enlightened monarchy
• Rousseau – perhaps the most influential of all the philosophes – society was by its very nature corrupt, artificial, and unlikely to progress;
  disagreed with Locke about a social contract (between ruler and ruled) – Rousseau believed each individual surrendered his or her liberty to the
  combined General Will (regardless of what form of government – generated ideas of radical democracy, totalitarianism, etc…)

Question 51

What is enlightened despotism? What were the long-term results of enlightened absolutism?

Answer 51

• Enlightened monarchs improved the infrastructure of the countries, standardized legal codes, suppressed independence of clergy & nobility
• Differed from their predecessors more in tone than in program, stressing not divine right but their service to the state
• Enlightenment was reflected in their usage of reason to make state policies; were generally secular & supported religious toleration
• Prompted strong reactions from the nobility & clergy
• Despots reached for more than they could achieve realistically
• Enlightened despots were rarely enlightened when it came to territory; so were they truly students of the Enlightenment?

Question 52

What was the legal, social, and political status of the three estates?

Answer 52

• Membership determined rights, privileges, and treatment before the courts; France still had substantial remnants of feudalism
• Estates General had not been called since 1614 - Estates had little political meaning as a result
• First Estate – clergy – shrunk to about 100,000 as a result of the Enlightenment; church was a major landowner (5-10%)
• Second Estate – nobility – 400,000, monopolized most gov’t offices through their parlements
• Third Estate – everyone else – the elite (bourgeoisie) had grown in size & power; resented aristocratic power

Question 53

How did the financial crisis in the government set the stage for revolution?

Answer 53

• Two main costs for the government were the military & maintaining the national debt (Versailles was very small)
• Numerous attempts at reforming the tax structure had ended in failure; finance ministers (most notably Necker) attempted to make changes
• Louis XVI forced to call the Estates General – no modification of voting would be considered
• Mutual suspicion & tensions among the classes grew in the period just before the Estates General met – making peaceful reform less possible

Question 54

How did economic and social issues lead to radicalization of the revolutionary movement?

Answer 54

• October, women marched to Versailles from Paris, besieged the palace – forced the king to move back to Paris
• Bourgeois revolutionaries formed the Jacobin club (middle class membership)
• June 1791, Louis XVI repudiated the Revolution & attempted to escape France (captured at Varennes)
• Economic policies favored the middle class – peasants were disgruntled b/c they had to buy the confiscated land through middlemen

Question 55

What was the Reign of Terror and why was it believed by some to be needed?

Answer 55

• Spring 1793 the war turned against France, lost Belgium, and economic conditions were worsening as well
• Traitors seemed to be at an all time high – so they radicalized and ordered the arrest of the Girondins
• Authority of the Convention was challenged throughout France (Vendee, Lyons, Marseille, Bordeaux) – resented loss of regional independence
• Dominated by Robespierre for about a year – opposed anarchy & counterrevolution – desired radical democracy & national victory
• Committee of Public Safety was the executive arm during the disorder – elimination of opponents (Marie Antoinette to Girondins)

Question 56

How did the Committee of Public Safety rule France?

Answer 56

• Centralized the government even further
• Instituted conscription (levee en masse) in order to win the war
• Universal manhood suffrage (eventually suspended) - Abolished slavery (restored by Napoleon in 1802)
• No tolerance for anarchy or mob violence
• Dechristianization; adopted a revolutionary calendar
• Cult of Reason – Church of Notre Dame de Paris, reason was personified and worshipped (replaced by the Cult of Supreme Being)
• Robespierre was eventually guillotined (July 28, 1794)
• White Terror – bourgeoisie terror against the Jacobins

Question 57

How did Napoleon come to power, and what did he do with it?

Answer 57

• Royalist coup in 1797 – Directory asked Napoleon for help
• After unsuccessful coup, there was a period of instability
• Napoleon arrived in Paris, w/o his army (Egypt) and gained the support of Abbe Sieyes – executed a coup d’ etat
• Soldiers disbanded the legislators
• Proclaimed the Consulate – Napoleon as the First Consul

Question 58

How did the great Napoleonic Empire begin to reach its apex? Where was its “Achilles heel”?

Answer 58

• Treaty of Tilsit was the high point of Napoleon’s power; all major nations, except Britain, were subdued or made allies
• Continental System – ruin British trade by forbidding British products from entering Europe – economy would collapse
• Portugal refused to comply (placed under control of Spain and his brother); Achilles heel – obsession to defeat Britain

Question 59

What was Napoleon’s ultimate goal?

Answer 59

• Unification of Europe under his own rule; rely on Enlightenment principles of progress and science; modeled after the Roman Empire
• Viewed Britain as the main impediment to this goal; feared competition from inexpensive British goods & resentment over naval supremacy
• Continental System – creation of an integrated economy for Europe – provided the basis for a unified Europe

Question 60

How did Britain thwart Napoleon’s goal?

Answer 60

• Britain blockaded France and its allies – deprive the French government of crucial revenues and to weaken its commerce & shipping
• Tried to manipulate neutral states and use neutral ships to evade problems – created the need for the War of 1812
• Continental System generated great hostility to Napoleon
• British trade with Latin America more than replaced its losses

Question 61

Why was the invasion of Russia so important?

Answer 61

• Alexander I viewed himself as the liberator of Europe; withdrew from the Continental System & reopened trade with England
• June 1812 France invaded Russia with the Grand Army, but with only three weeks’ supply of food
• Scorched earth policy – September reached Moscow and it was in flames – retreated a few weeks later – massive deaths due to winter weather
• Anti-Napoleon forces closed in for the kill; Britain sent huge funds – allies began to squabble over the future of France

Question 62

What settlement occurred at the Congress of Vienna?

Answer 62

• Britain refused to discuss freedom of the seas
• Britain emerged as the dominant European state
• Talleyrand (France), Castlereagh (England), Alexander (Russia), Hardenberg (Prussia), Metternich (Austria)
• Restore balance of power to ensure lasting peace – restored the states that bordered France (Dutch Republic, Sardinia, Austria)
• Poland was a source of great conflict – Russia wanted Poland restored, Prussia wouldn’t give up its Polish areas (compromised)

Question 63

What were the long-term results of the Congress of Vienna?

Answer 63

• Peace was as far-reaching and influential as the peace treaties made by Westphalia (1648) & Paris (1919)
• Was not punitive on France, so the French accepted the settlement
• Britain emerged as a secure power & unchallenged
• Satisfied neither nationalists nor democrats (Metternich & Conservatism) – however lasted for nearly a century
• Conservative states were vigilant against liberal b/c of the impact of the French Revolution