AP®︎ European History: Unit 9 Practice Test

Review: KC-4.1

Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War and eventually to efforts at transnational union.

Review: KC-4.1.IV

As World War II ended, a Cold War between the liberal democratic West and the communist East began, lasting nearly half a century.

Review: KC-4.2

The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle between and among democracy, communism, and fascism.

Review: KC-4.3

During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.

Review: KC-4.3.I.ii

The experience of war intensified a sense of anxiety that permeated many facets of thought and culture, giving way by the century’s end to a plurality of intellectual frameworks.

Review: KC-4.4

Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.

Review: KC-4.4.III

New voices gained prominence in political, intellectual, and social discourse.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.IV.A

Marshall Plan funds from the United States financed an extensive reconstruction of industry and infrastructure and stimulated an extended period of growth in Western and Central Europe, often referred to as an “economic miracle,” which increased the economic and cultural importance of consumerism.

Thematic Focus: Interaction of Europe and the WorldINT

Motivated by a variety of factors, Europe’s interaction with the world led to political, economic, social, and cultural exchanges that influenced both European and non-European societies.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.IV.A

Despite efforts to maintain international cooperation through the newly created United Nations, deep-seated tensions between the USSR and the West led to the division of Europe, which was referred to in the West as the Iron Curtain.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.IV.B

The Cold War played out on a global stage and involved propaganda campaigns; covert actions; limited “hot wars” in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; and an arms race, with the threat of a nuclear war.

Review: KC-4.2.V

Eastern European nations were bound by their relationships with the Soviet Union, which oscillated between repression and limited reform, until the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Soviet Union.

Review: KC-4.2.V.B

After 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization policies failed to meet their economic goals within the Soviet Union; combined with reactions to existing limitations on individual rights, this prompted revolts in Eastern Europe, which ended with a reimposition of Soviet rule and repressive totalitarian regimes.

Review: KC-4.2.V.D.i

The rise of new nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe brought peaceful revolution in most countries but resulted in instability in some former Soviet republics.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.IV.C

The United States exerted a strong military, political, and economic influence in Western Europe, leading to the creation of world monetary and trade systems and geopolitical alliances, including NATO.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.IV.D

Countries east of the Iron Curtain came under the military, political, and economic domination of the Soviet Union within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and the Warsaw Pact.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.V.A

Central and Eastern European nations within the Soviet bloc followed an economic model based on central planning, extensive social welfare, and specialized production among bloc members. This brought with it the restriction of individual rights and freedoms, suppression of dissent, and constraint of emigration for the various populations within the Soviet bloc.

Thematic Focus: National and European IdentityNEI

Definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national, and European identity have developed and been challenged over time, with varied and often profound effects on the political, social, and cultural order in Europe.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.V

Nationalist and separatist movements, along with ethnic conflict and ethnic cleansing, periodically disrupted the post-World War II peace.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.V.D.ii

New nationalisms in central and eastern Europe resulted in war and genocide in the Balkans.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.IV

Postwar economic growth supported an increase in welfare benefits; however, subsequent economic stagnation led to criticism and limitation of the welfare state.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.IV.B

The expansion of cradle-to-grave social welfare programs in the aftermath of World War II, accompanied by high taxes, became a contentious domestic political issue as the budgets of European nations came under pressure in the late 20th century.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.2.V.C

Following a long period of economic stagnation, Mikhail Gorbachev’s internal reforms of perestroika and glasnost, designed to make the Soviet system more flexible, failed to stave off the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of its hegemonic control over Eastern and Central European satellites.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.IV.E

The collapse of the USSR in 1991 ended the Cold War and led to the establishment of capitalist economies throughout Eastern Europe. Germany was reunited, the Czechs and the Slovaks parted, Yugoslavia dissolved, and the European Union was enlarged through the admission of former Eastern bloc countries.

Thematic Focus: Social Organization and DevelopmentSCD

Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.II

The lives of women were defined by family and work responsibilities, economic changes, and feminism.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.II.B

In Western Europe through the efforts of feminists, and in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union through government policy, women finally gained the vote, greater educational opportunities, and access to professional careers, even while continuing to face social inequalities.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.II.D

New modes of marriage, partnership, motherhood, divorce, and reproduction gave women more options in their personal lives.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.II.E

Women attained high political office and increased their representation in legislative bodies in many nations.

Thematic Focus: Interaction of Europe and the WorldINT

Motivated by a variety of factors, Europe’s interaction with the world led to political, economic, social, and cultural exchanges that influenced both European and non-European societies.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.VI

The process of decolonization occurred over the course of the century with varying degrees of cooperation, interference, or resistance from European imperialist states.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.VI.A

At the end of World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s principle of national self-determination raised expectations in the non-European world for new policies and freedoms.

Historical Developments: KC-4.1.VI.C

Despite indigenous nationalist movements, independence for many African and Asian territories was delayed until the mid- and even late 20th century by the imperial powers' reluctance to relinquish control, threats of interference from other nations, unstable economic and political systems, and Cold War strategic alignments.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.IV

European states began to set aside nationalist rivalries in favor of economic and political integration, forming a series of transnational unions that grew in size and scope over the second half of the 20th century.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.IV.A

As the economic alliance known as the European Coal and Steel Community, envisioned as a means to spur postwar economic recovery, developed into the European Economic Community (EEC or Common Market) and the European Union (EU), Europe experienced increasing economic and political integration and efforts to establish a shared European identity.

Thematic Focus: National and European IdentityNEI

Definitions and perceptions of regional, cultural, national, and European identity have developed and been challenged over time, with varied and often profound effects on the political, social, and cultural order in Europe.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.IV.B

EU member nations continue to balance questions of national sovereignty with the responsibilities of membership in an economic and political union.

Thematic Focus: Social Organization and DevelopmentSCD

Economic, political, and cultural factors have influenced the form and status of family, class, and social groups in European history, which has, in turn, affected both the individual and society.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.III.C

Increased immigration into Europe altered Europe's religious makeup, causing debate and conflict over the role of religion in social and political life.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.III.D

Because of the economic growth of the 1950s and 1960s, migrant workers from southern Europe, Asia, and Africa immigrated to western and central Europe; however, after the economic downturn of the 1970s, these workers and their families often became targets of anti-immigrant agitation and extreme nationalist political parties.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.II.B

Medical theories and technologies extended life but posed social and moral questions that eluded consensus and crossed religious, political, and philosophical perspectives.

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.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.IV.C

Increased imports of U.S. technology and popular culture after World War II generated both enthusiasm and criticism.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.I.D

New communication and transportation technologies multiplied the connections across space and time, transforming daily life and contributing to the proliferation of ideas and to globalization.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.III.A

Green parties in Western and Central Europe challenged consumerism, urged sustainable development, and, by the late 20th century, cautioned against globalization.

Thematic Focus: Cultural and Intellectual DevelopmentsCID

The creation and transmission of knowledge, including the relationship between traditional sources of authority and the development of differing world views, had significant political, intellectual, economic, cultural, and social effects on European and world societies.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.I.B

The effects of world war and economic depression undermined this confidence in science and human reason, giving impetus to existentialism and producing postmodernism in the post-1945 period.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.III

Organized religion continued to play a role in European social and cultural life despite the challenges of military and ideological conflict, modern secularism, and rapid social changes.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.III.A

The challenges of totalitarianism and communism in central and eastern Europe brought mixed responses from the Christian churches.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.III.B

Reform in the Catholic Church found expression in the Second Vatican Council, which redefined the church's doctrine and practices and started to redefine its relations with other religious communities.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.IV

During the 20th century, the arts were defined by experimentation, self-expression, subjectivity, and the increasing influence of the United States in both elite and popular culture.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.IV.A

New movements in the visual arts, architecture, and music radically shifted existing aesthetic standards, explored subconscious and subjective states, and satirized Western society and its values.

Historical Developments: KC-4.3.IV.B

Throughout the century, a number of writers challenged traditional literary conventions, questioned Western values, and addressed controversial social and political issues.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.I.C

Mass production, new food technologies, and industrial efficiency increased disposable income and created a consumer culture in which greater domestic comforts such as electricity, indoor plumbing, plastics, and synthetic fibers became available.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.II.C

With economic recovery after World War II, the birth rate increased dramatically (the baby boom), often promoted by government policies.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.III.B

Various movements, including women's movements, political and social movements, gay and lesbian movements, and others, worked for expanded civil rights, in some cases obtaining the goals they sought, and in others facing strong opposition.

Historical Developments: KC-4.4.III.C

Intellectuals and youth reacted against perceived bourgeois materialism and decadence, most significantly with the revolts of 1968.

Review: KC-4.1

Total war and political instability in the first half of the 20th century gave way to a polarized state order during the Cold War and eventually to efforts at transnational union.

Review: KC-4.1.IV

As World War II ended, a Cold War between the liberal democratic West and the communist East began, lasting nearly half a century.

Review: KC-4.1.V

Nationalist and separatist movements, along with ethnic conflict and ethnic cleansing, periodically disrupted the post-World War II peace.

Review: KC-4.2

The stresses of economic collapse and total war engendered internal conflicts within European states and created conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state, as demonstrated in the ideological battle between and among democracy, communism, and fascism.

Review: KC-4.3

During the 20th century, diverse intellectual and cultural movements questioned the existence of objective knowledge, the ability of reason to arrive at truth, and the role of religion in determining moral standards.

Review: KC-4.3.I.ii

The experience of war intensified a sense of anxiety that permeated many facets of thought and culture, giving way by the century’s end to a plurality of intellectual frameworks.

Review: KC-4.4

Demographic changes, economic growth, total war, disruptions of traditional social patterns, and competing definitions of freedom and justice altered the experiences of everyday life.

Review: KC-4.4.III

New voices gained prominence in political, intellectual, and social discourse.