AP®︎ European History: Unit 3 Practice Test
Prepare for your quiz, test, or the AP exam with focused practice questions on Unit 3 of AP European History – Absolutism and Constitutionalism.
Questions List
Unit 3 (All Topics)
Question 1 Topic 3.1Easy
This question tests the following: KC-2.1.I
Who was known for advocating the Divine Right of Kings?
What You’re Being Tested On:
Explore the learning objectives taken directly from the College Board’s AP® European History Curriculum. Ensure you’re prepared for the exact topics covered on the AP® exam, in-class tests, and quizzes, and gain confidence in your mastery of the material.
Unit 3: Absolutism and Constitutionalism
This unit compares the rise of absolute monarchies and constitutional governments in early modern Europe. It also investigates economic developments like mercantilism and major political changes such as the English Civil War.
Topic 3.1: Contextualizing State Building
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective A
Explain the context in which different forms of political power developed from 1648 to 1815.
Review: KC-1.5
The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
Review: KC-1.5.I
The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creation of new political institutions.
Review: KC-1.5.III
The competition for power between monarchs and corporate and minority language groups produced different distributions of governmental authority in European states.
Review: KC-1.5.III.B
Monarchies seeking enhanced power faced challenges from nobles who wished to retain traditional forms of shared governance and regional autonomy.
Review: KC-1.5.III.C
Within states, minority local and regional identities based on language and culture led to resistance against the dominant national group.
Review: KC-2.1
Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
Review: KC-2.1.I
In much of Europe, absolute monarchy was established over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Review: KC-2.1.II
Challenges to absolutism resulted in alternative political systems.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
- The Fronde in France
- The Catalan Revolts in Spain
- Celtic regions of Scotland, Ireland, and France
- Dutch resistance in the Spanish Netherlands
- Czech identity in the Holy Roman Empire/Jan Hus/Defenestration
Topic 3.2: The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution
Thematic Focus: States and Other Institutions of PowerSOP
European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective B
Explain the causes and consequences of the English Civil War.
Historical Developments: KC-1.5.III.A
The English Civil War—a conflict among the monarchy, Parliament, and other elites over their respective roles in the political structure—exemplified the competition for power among monarchs and competing groups.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.II.A
The outcome of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution protected the rights of gentry and aristocracy from absolutism through assertions of the rights of Parliament.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- James I
- Charles I
- Oliver Cromwell
- English Bill of Rights
- Parliamentary sovereignty
Topic 3.3: Continuities and Changes to Economic Practice and Development
Thematic Focus: Economic and Commercial DevelopmentsECD
Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe's history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective C
Explain the continuities and changes in commercial and economic developments from 1648 to 1815.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.I.B
The Agricultural Revolution raised productivity and increased the supply of food and other agricultural products.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.D
The importation and transplantation of agricultural products from the Americas contributed to an increase in the food supply in Europe.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.I.A
Labor and trade in commodities were increasingly freed from traditional restrictions imposed by governments and corporate entities.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.I.C
The putting-out system, or cottage industry, expanded as increasing numbers of laborers in homes or workshops produced for markets through merchant intermediaries or workshop owners.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.I.D
The development of the market economy led to new financial practices and institutions.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.I
Early modern Europe developed a market economy that provided the foundation for its global role.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- Insurance
- Banking institutions for turning private savings into venture capital
- New definitions of property rights and protections against confiscation
- Bank of England
Topic 3.4: Economic Development and Mercantilism
Thematic Focus: Economic and Commercial DevelopmentsECD
Economic development, especially the development of capitalism, played an important role in Europe’s history, often having significant social, political, and cultural effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective C
Explain the continuities and changes in commercial and economic developments from 1648 to 1815.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II
The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.A
European states followed mercantilist policies by drawing resources from colonies in the New World and elsewhere.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.B
The transatlantic slave-labor system expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries as demand for New World products increased.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.C
Overseas products and influences contributed to the development of a consumer culture in Europe.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.D
The importation and transplantation of agricultural products from the Americas contributed to an increase in the food supply in Europe.
Historical Developments: KC-2.2.II.E
Foreign lands provided raw materials, finished goods, laborers, and markets for the commercial and industrial enterprises in Europe.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- Middle Passage
- Triangle trade
- Sugar
- Tea
- Silks and other fabrics
- Tobacco
- Rum
- Coffee
Topic 3.5: The Dutch Golden Age
Thematic Focus: States and Other Institutions of PowerSOP
European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective D
Explain the factors that contributed to the development of the Dutch Republic.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.II.B
The Dutch Republic, established by a Protestant revolt against the Habsburg monarchy, developed an oligarchy of urban gentry and rural landholders to promote trade and protect traditional rights.
Topic 3.6: Balance of Power
Thematic Focus: States and Other Institutions of PowerSOP
European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective E
Explain how European states attempted to establish and maintain a balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
Historical Developments: KC-1.5.II
The competitive state system led to new patterns of diplomacy and new forms of warfare.
Historical Developments: KC-1.5.II.A
Following the Peace of Westphalia, religion declined in importance as a cause for warfare among European states; the concept of the balance of power played an important role in structuring diplomatic and military objectives.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.I.D
The inability of the Polish monarchy to consolidate its authority over the nobility led to Poland’s partition by Prussia, Russia, and Austria, and its disappearance from the map of Europe.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.III
After 1648, dynastic and state interests, along with Europe’s expanding colonial empires, influenced the diplomacy of European states and frequently led to war.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.III.B
After the Austrian defeat of the Turks in 1683 at the Battle of Vienna, the Ottomans ceased their westward expansion.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.III.C
Louis XIV’s nearly continuous wars, pursuing both dynastic and state interests, provoked a coalition of European powers opposing him.
Thematic Focus: Technological and Scientific InnovationTSI
Scientific and technological innovations have increased efficiency, improved daily life, and shaped human development and interactions, having both intended and unintended consequences.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective F
Explain how advances in technology contributed to a developing balance of power on the continent throughout the period from 1648 to 1815.
Historical Developments: KC-1.5.II.B
Advances in military technology led to new forms of warfare, including greater reliance on infantry, firearms, mobile cannon, and more elaborate fortifications, all financed by heavier taxation and requiring a larger bureaucracy. New military techniques and institutions (i.e., the military revolution) tipped the balance of power toward states able to marshal sufficient resources for the new military environment.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- Dutch War
- Nine Years’ War
- War of the Spanish Succession
- Spain under the Habsburgs
- Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus
- France
Topic 3.7: Absolutist Approaches to Power
Thematic Focus: States and Other Institutions of PowerSOP
European states and nations developed governmental and civil institutions from 1450 to the present to organize society and consolidate political power, with a variety of social, cultural, and economic effects.
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective G
Explain how absolutist forms of rule affected social and political development from 1648 to 1815.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.I.A
Absolute monarchies limited the nobility’s participation in governance but preserved the aristocracy’s social position and legal privileges.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.I.B
Louis XIV and his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, extended the administrative, financial, military, and religious control of the central state over the French population.
Historical Developments: KC-2.1.I.E
Peter the Great "westernized" the Russian state and society, transforming political, religious, and cultural institutions; Catherine the Great continued this process.
Illustrative Examples specific knowledge students should know & demonstrate
- James I of England
- Peter the Great of Russia
- Philip II, III, and IV of Spain
- Intendants
- Modernized, state-controlled military
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- Education
- Western fashion
- Expanded military
Topic 3.8: Comparison in the Age of Absolutism and Constitutionalism
Learning Objective: Unit 3: Learning Objective H
Compare the different forms of political power that developed in Europe from 1648 to 1815.
Review: KC-1.5
The struggle for sovereignty within and among states resulted in varying degrees of political centralization.
Review: KC-1.5.I
The new concept of the sovereign state and secular systems of law played a central role in the creation of new political institutions.
Review: KC-1.5.III
The competition for power between monarchs and corporate and minority language groups produced different distributions of governmental authority in European states.
Review: KC-1.5.III.B
Monarchies seeking enhanced power faced challenges from nobles who wished to retain traditional forms of shared governance and regional autonomy.
Review: KC-1.5.III.C
Within states, minority local and regional identities based on language and culture led to resistance against the dominant national group.
Review: KC-2.1
Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
Review: KC-2.1.I
In much of Europe, absolute monarchy was established over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Review: KC-2.1.II
Challenges to absolutism resulted in alternative political systems.
Review: KC-2.2
The expansion of European commerce accelerated the growth of a worldwide economic network.
Review: KC-2.2.I
Early modern Europe developed a market economy that provided the foundation for its global role.
Review: KC-2.2.II
The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolutions in Europe.
