AP European History Exam (College Board) — Questions and Answers

Question 1: The 1555 Peace of Augsburg resolved the first phase of religious conflict in the Holy Roman Empire. Which principle did it establish?

Lutheran and Catholic states would share equal control over all imperial church property
Each individual subject could freely choose among Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Catholicism
The emperor alone would decide the official religion of every German territory
Each prince would determine whether his territory was Lutheran or Catholic, and dissenting subjects could emigrate (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Each prince would determine whether his territory was Lutheran or Catholic, and dissenting subjects could emigrate

Augsburg established cuius regio, eius religio: rulers chose between Lutheranism and Catholicism for their lands. Subjects who disagreed could move elsewhere.

Question 2: How did Martin Luther respond to the German Peasants' War of 1524–1525?

He called on the emperor to adopt the Twelve Articles as imperial law
He remained silent and withdrew from public life
He urged the princes to suppress the rebellion harshly, helping to cost him support among the lower classes (Correct answer)
He supported the rebels' demands for the abolition of serfdom and joined their leaders

Correct answer: He urged the princes to suppress the rebellion harshly, helping to cost him support among the lower classes

Luther denounced the rebels and urged the nobility to crush the uprising. He feared social disorder, and his stance showed that the Lutheran Reformation relied on the support of the princes.

Question 3: Which of the following best describes the Zollverein, established under Prussian leadership beginning in 1834?

A military alliance of German states against France
A parliament of German states that drafted a national constitution
A customs union that removed internal tariffs among German states and increased Prussian economic influence (Correct answer)
A treaty that required German states to adopt a common currency and legal code

Correct answer: A customs union that removed internal tariffs among German states and increased Prussian economic influence

The Zollverein eliminated tariff barriers among participating German states, promoting trade and economic integration. Because it excluded Austria, it enhanced Prussia's leadership in Germany.

Question 4: Which provision of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) provided the legal and moral basis for demanding reparations from Germany?

Article 42, which demilitarized the Rhineland
Article 10 of the Covenant of the League of Nations
Article 231, the so-called "war guilt" clause (Correct answer)
Article 80, which forbade union with Austria

Correct answer: Article 231, the so-called "war guilt" clause

Article 231 made Germany and its allies responsible for the losses and damage of the war, which justified reparations. Germans resented it as a national humiliation.

Question 5: The Brezhnev Doctrine, articulated after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, held that

Eastern European states could freely leave the Soviet bloc by referendum
the USSR would withdraw its troops from Central Europe
the Warsaw Pact would never use force against its own members
the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in a socialist state where socialism was considered under threat (Correct answer)

Correct answer: the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in a socialist state where socialism was considered under threat

After Warsaw Pact forces crushed the Prague Spring reforms of Alexander Dubček, the Soviet leadership asserted a duty to defend socialism in bloc countries. It justified intervention in their internal affairs.

Question 6: Northern European Christian humanists such as Desiderius Erasmus are best characterized by which approach?

Calling for the violent overthrow of the Catholic hierarchy
Applying classical learning and a return to original scriptural sources to promote inner piety and criticize clerical corruption (Correct answer)
Defending medieval scholastic theology against new scholarship
Abandoning Christianity in favor of ancient pagan philosophy

Correct answer: Applying classical learning and a return to original scriptural sources to promote inner piety and criticize clerical corruption

Erasmus combined humanist scholarship with Christian reform, producing a Greek New Testament and satirizing church abuses in works like In Praise of Folly. He stressed a simple, inward piety.

Question 7: The Locarno Treaties of 1925 are best understood as significant because they

created a military alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union
ended German reparations payments
had Germany voluntarily accept its western borders with France and Belgium (Correct answer)
established the League of Nations as a permanent peacekeeping army

Correct answer: had Germany voluntarily accept its western borders with France and Belgium

At Locarno, Germany agreed to respect its western frontiers and the demilitarized Rhineland, with Britain and Italy as guarantors. It signaled reconciliation, often called the "spirit of Locarno."

Question 8: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued in The Communist Manifesto (1848) that

industrialization should be halted to preserve traditional rural communities
the central dynamic of history is class struggle, and the bourgeoisie would be overthrown by the proletariat (Correct answer)
private property and free markets would produce harmony between social classes
history is driven by competing national spirits that eventually merge into a world state

Correct answer: the central dynamic of history is class struggle, and the bourgeoisie would be overthrown by the proletariat

The Manifesto opens by claiming that the history of existing society is the history of class struggles, and it predicts that the proletariat will overthrow the capitalist bourgeoisie.

Question 9: The Dreyfus Affair in France (beginning in 1894) most directly illustrated which broader development in late nineteenth-century Europe?

The decline of nationalism following the Franco-Prussian War
The triumph of socialism in French electoral politics
The success of conservative monarchists in restoring the Bourbon dynasty
The persistence of antisemitism and its political use, which also helped inspire Zionism (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The persistence of antisemitism and its political use, which also helped inspire Zionism

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army captain, was wrongly convicted of treason, and the controversy exposed deep antisemitism in French society. Theodor Herzl, who covered the case as a journalist, was among those prompted to promote political Zionism.

Question 10: The Truman Doctrine of 1947 was first applied through U.S. aid to which pair of countries?

France and Italy
Yugoslavia and Albania
Poland and Czechoslovakia
Greece and Turkey (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Greece and Turkey

Truman asked Congress for aid for Greece, where a communist insurgency was fighting the government, and for Turkey, which faced Soviet pressure. The doctrine pledged support for free peoples resisting subjugation.

Question 11: In The Communist Manifesto (1848), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that:

the state should avoid involvement in economic life so markets could regulate themselves
industrial capitalism would be reformed gradually through cooperation between employers and workers
history had been driven by class struggle, and that the proletariat would eventually overthrow the bourgeoisie (Correct answer)
the best way to improve workers' conditions was to return to small-scale artisan production

Correct answer: history had been driven by class struggle, and that the proletariat would eventually overthrow the bourgeoisie

Marx and Engels viewed history as a series of class conflicts and predicted that industrial workers would overthrow the capitalist bourgeoisie. The proletariat would then establish a classless society.

Question 12: Which statement best describes the Napoleonic Code (1804)?

It established a parliamentary system in which the legislature controlled the emperor
It established legal equality for male citizens and protected private property, while limiting the rights of women (Correct answer)
It restored feudal privileges and the tithe to French landlords
It granted women full legal and political equality with men

Correct answer: It established legal equality for male citizens and protected private property, while limiting the rights of women

The Code preserved Revolutionary gains such as equality before the law and secure property rights, but placed wives under the legal authority of their husbands.

Question 13: Which statement best characterizes Camillo di Cavour's approach to Italian unification?

He insisted that Austria be allowed to retain its Italian territories in exchange for a constitution
He used diplomacy and alliances, including cooperation with Napoleon III, to expand Piedmont-Sardinia's power in Italy (Correct answer)
He sought a federation of Italian states led by the pope
He relied on popular guerrilla warfare and a republican uprising led by Giuseppe Mazzini

Correct answer: He used diplomacy and alliances, including cooperation with Napoleon III, to expand Piedmont-Sardinia's power in Italy

Cavour, prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, pursued pragmatic diplomacy and secured French help against Austria, leading to Piedmont's gains in 1859–1860. This contrasted with the revolutionary republicanism of Mazzini.

Question 14: Which was a direct result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689 in England?

Charles I was executed after being convicted by the High Court of Justice
Parliament was dissolved so that William III could rule by divine right
The monarchy was abolished and England became a republic under a lord protector
The Bill of Rights established that the monarch could not levy taxes or maintain a standing army in peacetime without Parliament's consent (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The Bill of Rights established that the monarch could not levy taxes or maintain a standing army in peacetime without Parliament's consent

After James II fled, William and Mary accepted the Bill of Rights (1689), which limited royal power and affirmed Parliament's control over taxation and the military. This created a constitutional monarchy.

Question 15: Which of the following is most consistent with nineteenth-century classical liberalism as advocated by thinkers such as John Stuart Mill?

Abolition of private property and collective ownership of industry
Hereditary aristocratic rule as a defense against mass politics
Protection of individual liberties, representative government, and limited state interference in the economy (Correct answer)
Strong state control of the economy to ensure social equality

Correct answer: Protection of individual liberties, representative government, and limited state interference in the economy

Classical liberals stressed individual rights, constitutional and representative government, and economic freedom with limited state intervention. Mill's On Liberty defended individual freedom of thought and expression.

Question 16: The Munich Agreement of September 1938 did which of the following?

Required Germany to disarm its air force
Guaranteed Polish borders against German attack
Created a defensive alliance between Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia
Transferred the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany without Czechoslovak participation in the talks (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Transferred the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany without Czechoslovak participation in the talks

Britain, France, Germany and Italy agreed that Germany would annex the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia was not part of the negotiations. It became the best-known example of appeasement.

Question 17: The Haitian Revolution, beginning in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, is historically significant because it:

led France to expand its Caribbean empire under Napoleon
convinced the Directory to abolish the slave trade throughout the Atlantic world immediately
was crushed by British forces, which restored plantation slavery in the colony
produced the only successful large-scale slave uprising that led to an independent state ruled by former slaves (Correct answer)

Correct answer: produced the only successful large-scale slave uprising that led to an independent state ruled by former slaves

Enslaved people, led most famously by Toussaint Louverture, defeated colonial and foreign forces, and Haiti declared independence in 1804. It became the first independent state in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Question 18: The Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–1849 failed to unify Germany in part because

the delegates voted to make Austria's emperor the head of a unified state and Austria declined
France invaded the German states to prevent unification
Bismarck dissolved the assembly after it voted against military funding
Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the imperial crown offered by an assembly of elected representatives (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the imperial crown offered by an assembly of elected representatives

Frederick William IV rejected the crown offered in 1849, saying he would not accept a crown from the people rather than from the princes. Without Prussian support, the assembly collapsed.

Question 19: The Zollverein, established in 1834 under Prussian leadership, contributed to German economic development primarily by:

abolishing guilds throughout the German Confederation
eliminating internal tariffs among many German states, creating a larger market (Correct answer)
giving Austria control over German industrial production
providing state subsidies to peasants to leave their farms for factory work

Correct answer: eliminating internal tariffs among many German states, creating a larger market

The Zollverein removed tariffs among member German states and expanded Prussian economic influence. Austria was excluded, which helped lay the groundwork for later unification.

Question 20: Which statement best describes the central goal of Renaissance humanism in fifteenth-century Italy?

Using the study of classical Greek and Roman texts to develop human potential and civic engagement (Correct answer)
Rejecting classical learning in favor of purely scriptural study
Replacing monarchies with direct democracy modeled on ancient Athens
Reviving medieval scholastic logic as the basis of all education

Correct answer: Using the study of classical Greek and Roman texts to develop human potential and civic engagement

Humanists studied classical literature, history, and rhetoric to cultivate virtue and prepare citizens for active public life. This emphasis on civic engagement and human potential distinguished them from medieval scholastics.

Question 21: How did Johannes Kepler modify the Copernican model of the universe?

He showed that the Earth is at the center and the planets circle it on epicycles
He formulated the law of universal gravitation to explain planetary motion
He proved that objects of different weights fall at the same rate in a vacuum
He demonstrated that planets move in elliptical rather than perfectly circular orbits around the Sun (Correct answer)

Correct answer: He demonstrated that planets move in elliptical rather than perfectly circular orbits around the Sun

Using Tycho Brahe's observational data, Kepler showed that planetary orbits are ellipses with the Sun at one focus. This corrected Copernicus's assumption of circular orbits.

Question 22: In his Two Treatises of Government, John Locke argued that

people must surrender all rights to an absolute sovereign in order to escape the state of nature
people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and may overthrow a government that violates them (Correct answer)
individuals must submit to the general will even if it requires them to be 'forced to be free'
political power should be divided among executive, legislative, and judicial branches

Correct answer: people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and may overthrow a government that violates them

Locke held that government rests on the consent of the governed and exists to protect natural rights. If rulers violate that trust, the people have the right to replace them.

Question 23: Why did Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy (1534) mark a turning point in the English Reformation?

It restored Catholic worship after a brief period of Protestant rule
It granted legal toleration to all Protestant sects in England
It adopted Calvinist doctrine and abolished the episcopacy in England
It made the king the supreme head of the Church of England, ending papal authority over the English church (Correct answer)

Correct answer: It made the king the supreme head of the Church of England, ending papal authority over the English church

The Act declared Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England, severing it from papal authority. The break was driven largely by Henry's need for an annulment and his desire for greater political control.

Question 24: Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) was a landmark of the Scientific Revolution primarily because it

used a single set of mathematical laws, including universal gravitation, to explain both earthly and celestial motion (Correct answer)
used the telescope to catalogue the moons of Saturn and Jupiter
argued that knowledge should be built only from deductive reasoning without observation
offered the first empirical evidence that the Sun is at the center of the solar system

Correct answer: used a single set of mathematical laws, including universal gravitation, to explain both earthly and celestial motion

Newton showed that the same laws of motion and gravitation govern falling objects on Earth and the orbits of planets. This unified physics and presented the universe as a rational, mathematically ordered system.

Question 25: Which of the following best summarizes the central argument of Abbé Sieyès's pamphlet "What Is the Third Estate?" (1789)?

The monarchy should be replaced immediately by a republican government led by Jacobin clubs
The clergy should be stripped of land and the Church abolished in France
The Third Estate was the productive body of the nation and therefore deserved political power matching its importance (Correct answer)
The nobility should be restored to its medieval powers to balance royal absolutism

Correct answer: The Third Estate was the productive body of the nation and therefore deserved political power matching its importance

Sieyès argued that the Third Estate was everything in the nation yet had been treated as nothing politically. It should therefore have real representation.

Question 26: The Defenestration of Prague (1618) is historically significant because it

triggered a Protestant revolt in Bohemia that began the Thirty Years' War (Correct answer)
caused Lutheran princes to form the Schmalkaldic League
ended the Habsburg claim to the Bohemian throne
led directly to the Peace of Westphalia

Correct answer: triggered a Protestant revolt in Bohemia that began the Thirty Years' War

Bohemian Protestant nobles threw Habsburg officials out of a window in Prague, sparking a revolt against Habsburg Catholic rule. This incident began the Thirty Years' War.

Question 27: What was the main effect of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) in revolutionary France?

It granted full religious toleration and ended all state involvement in religion
It made the Catholic Church a branch of the state, with clergy elected and required to swear loyalty (Correct answer)
It restored the tithe to support parish priests
It transferred control of the French church to the pope in Rome

Correct answer: It made the Catholic Church a branch of the state, with clergy elected and required to swear loyalty

The law made priests and bishops state-paid officials chosen by voters and required them to swear an oath to the constitution. This divided the clergy and alienated many Catholics from the Revolution.

Question 28: The Dawes Plan of 1924 attempted to stabilize the European economy mainly by

placing the German railways permanently under French control
imposing a tariff union across Western Europe
restructuring German reparations payments and arranging American loans to Germany (Correct answer)
canceling all Allied war debts owed to the United States

Correct answer: restructuring German reparations payments and arranging American loans to Germany

The plan scaled German payments to its capacity to pay and brought in U.S. loans, helping end the hyperinflation crisis and the Ruhr occupation. It created a cycle of American money flowing to Germany, reparations to Britain and France, and war-debt payments to the U.S.

Question 29: The Ems Dispatch incident of 1870, edited by Otto von Bismarck, was significant because it

led to the creation of the North German Confederation
convinced Britain to join Prussia in an alliance against Russia
provoked France into declaring war on Prussia, helping bring the southern German states into a unified German Empire (Correct answer)
ended the Austro-Prussian War and excluded Austria from German affairs

Correct answer: provoked France into declaring war on Prussia, helping bring the southern German states into a unified German Empire

Bismarck released an edited version of a telegram about talks between King William I and the French ambassador, which angered the French public. France declared war, and the resulting nationalist enthusiasm brought the southern German states into the Prussian-led union.

Question 30: Tsar Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was motivated in large part by

a peasant revolution that had overthrown the nobility
the Russian defeat in the Crimean War, which exposed the weakness of Russia's economy and military (Correct answer)
the desire to follow the example of Napoleon's Civil Code
pressure from a newly elected Russian parliament

Correct answer: the Russian defeat in the Crimean War, which exposed the weakness of Russia's economy and military

Russia's defeat in the Crimean War convinced Alexander II and his advisers that serfdom was holding back the country's modernization. Emancipation was a reform from above intended to strengthen the state.

Question 31: Which development most directly marked the shift to the Reign of Terror in 1793–1794?

The calling of the Estates-General by Louis XVI
The Committee of Public Safety's use of revolutionary tribunals and the Law of Suspects to suppress perceived enemies (Correct answer)
The Congress of Vienna's restoration of the Bourbons
Napoleon's seizure of power as First Consul

Correct answer: The Committee of Public Safety's use of revolutionary tribunals and the Law of Suspects to suppress perceived enemies

Facing foreign war and internal revolt, the Committee of Public Safety, with Robespierre as a leading figure, used the Law of Suspects and tribunals to execute tens of thousands of suspected opponents.

Question 32: Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince is best understood as a reflection of which historical context?

The rise of parliamentary limits on royal power in England
A unified Italian kingdom seeking to codify its legal system
Political fragmentation and foreign invasion in Italy, which led to a pragmatic focus on how rulers gain and keep power (Correct answer)
A Church-sponsored effort to define the moral duties of Christian monarchs

Correct answer: Political fragmentation and foreign invasion in Italy, which led to a pragmatic focus on how rulers gain and keep power

Machiavelli wrote after the French invasion of 1494 exposed the weakness of the divided Italian states. He gave realistic advice about maintaining power that was based on effectiveness rather than conventional Christian morality.

Question 33: At the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), the principle of "legitimacy" championed by Talleyrand and Metternich was chiefly used to justify which outcome?

Establishing constitutional republics in the liberated territories
Granting self-determination to national groups within the Habsburg lands
Restoring hereditary ruling dynasties displaced by the French Revolution and Napoleon (Correct answer)
Dividing France into several smaller states to prevent future aggression

Correct answer: Restoring hereditary ruling dynasties displaced by the French Revolution and Napoleon

Legitimacy meant returning the rightful hereditary monarchs, such as the Bourbons in France, to their thrones. This was meant to restore stability after two decades of upheaval.

Question 34: What event directly triggered the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948?

The Hungarian uprising
The founding of the Warsaw Pact
The construction of the Berlin Wall
The introduction of a new currency in the Western occupation zones (Correct answer)

Correct answer: The introduction of a new currency in the Western occupation zones

The Western powers introduced the Deutsche Mark in their zones and West Berlin, which the USSR saw as a step toward a separate West German state. Stalin cut land access to West Berlin and the Allies responded with the airlift.

Question 35: Which statement best describes John Calvin's doctrine of predestination?

Individuals can choose to accept or reject grace through free will
God has already chosen those who will be saved, regardless of their actions (Correct answer)
Salvation can be earned through a combination of faith and charitable works
The pope can determine who receives salvation through the sacraments

Correct answer: God has already chosen those who will be saved, regardless of their actions

Calvin taught that God has predestined the elect for salvation before birth, so human works cannot change that outcome. This distinguished Calvinism from the Catholic emphasis on faith plus works.

Question 36: Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses (1517) were primarily a protest against which practice?

The Church's sale of indulgences to reduce punishment for sins (Correct answer)
The requirement that priests remain celibate
The Church's veneration of saints' relics
The use of Latin in the Mass

Correct answer: The Church's sale of indulgences to reduce punishment for sins

Luther attacked the sale of indulgences, associated with figures such as Johann Tetzel, because it implied that salvation could be purchased. This challenge led him toward the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

Question 37: What was the significance of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939?

It ended the Spanish Civil War through Soviet mediation
It allied the Soviet Union with Britain and France against Hitler
It pledged Germany and the USSR not to attack each other and included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence (Correct answer)
It created a joint German-Soviet occupation of Berlin

Correct answer: It pledged Germany and the USSR not to attack each other and included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence

The pact removed the threat of a two-front war for Germany, and its secret protocol set out spheres of influence including a partition of Poland. Germany invaded Poland about a week later.

Question 38: Galileo's telescopic observation of moons orbiting Jupiter challenged which traditional belief?

That all celestial bodies revolve around the Earth (Correct answer)
That the Sun is a perfect sphere without blemishes
That the planets move in elliptical orbits
That the universe is governed by mathematical laws

Correct answer: That all celestial bodies revolve around the Earth

Moons clearly orbiting Jupiter showed that not everything in the heavens circles the Earth, which undermined the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric view. It supported the Copernican alternative.

Question 39: The Edict of Nantes (1598), issued by Henry IV of France, is best understood as

a grant of limited toleration and rights of worship to French Protestants in an officially Catholic kingdom (Correct answer)
an order expelling all Huguenots from France
an alliance between France and the Habsburgs against Protestant states
a declaration making Calvinism the official religion of France

Correct answer: a grant of limited toleration and rights of worship to French Protestants in an officially Catholic kingdom

The edict gave Huguenots freedom of conscience, certain rights of worship, and some fortified towns, while Catholicism stayed the established religion. It aimed to end the French Wars of Religion.

Question 40: Which action by Louis XIV most directly reversed the policy of limited religious toleration that Henry IV had established in France?

Issuing the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes (Correct answer)
Granting the Parlement of Paris authority to protect Huguenot worship
Signing the Peace of Westphalia to recognize Calvinist princes
Calling the Estates-General to approve new taxes on Protestant merchants

Correct answer: Issuing the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes

The 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Edict of Nantes (1598), outlawing Protestant worship in France. Louis XIV wanted religious uniformity to support his absolutist claim of 'one king, one law, one faith.'

Question 41: In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes used the idea of a 'state of nature' to argue that

power should be divided so that no ruler can become a tyrant
life without government would be a war of all against all, so people should submit to a strong sovereign (Correct answer)
people are naturally good and corrupted only by private property
citizens should be free to overthrow any ruler who restricts their religion

Correct answer: life without government would be a war of all against all, so people should submit to a strong sovereign

Hobbes believed that without a central authority, life would be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.' He concluded that people should enter a social contract and give up their rights to an absolute sovereign for security.

Question 42: Which Enlightenment-era ruler's policy is the clearest example of 'enlightened absolutism'?

Louis XVI, who allowed the Estates-General to meet in 1789 to resolve the fiscal crisis
Philip II of Spain, who used the Inquisition to enforce Catholic uniformity
Charles II, who restored the monarchy and shared power with Parliament
Joseph II of Austria, who issued an Edict of Toleration extending limited worship rights to Protestants and Orthodox Christians (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Joseph II of Austria, who issued an Edict of Toleration extending limited worship rights to Protestants and Orthodox Christians

Joseph II used his absolute authority to impose reforms inspired by Enlightenment ideas, including limited religious toleration and the Serfdom Patent. Enlightened absolutists sought to improve the state from above rather than share power.

Question 43: What procedural dispute at the Estates-General in May–June 1789 led the Third Estate to declare itself the National Assembly?

Whether voting would be by order, with one vote per estate, or by individual head (Correct answer)
Whether the king could veto tax measures passed by the clergy
Whether the Estates-General would meet at Paris or at Versailles
Whether the nobility would be exempt from the proposed land tax

Correct answer: Whether voting would be by order, with one vote per estate, or by individual head

Voting by order let the clergy and nobility outvote the Third Estate two to one. The Third Estate demanded voting by head, and when this was refused it broke away and declared itself the National Assembly.

Question 44: Which idea did Montesquieu advance in The Spirit of the Laws as a safeguard against despotism?

A strong monarch should hold all legislative, executive, and judicial power
Society should be governed by a philosopher-king chosen for wisdom
Government power should be divided among separate branches that check one another (Correct answer)
Property should be held in common so that no group can dominate others

Correct answer: Government power should be divided among separate branches that check one another

Montesquieu argued that dividing power among separate branches, with each limiting the others, protects liberty. This idea of separation of powers influenced later constitutions, including that of the United States.

Question 45: The Society of Jesus (Jesuits), founded by Ignatius of Loyola and approved in 1540, contributed to the Catholic Reformation mainly by

establishing schools and missions and pledging special obedience to the pope (Correct answer)
leading armies of the Holy Roman Empire against Protestant princes
enforcing doctrinal conformity through the Spanish Inquisition
translating the Bible into vernacular languages for lay readers

Correct answer: establishing schools and missions and pledging special obedience to the pope

The Jesuits were a disciplined order devoted to education and missionary work, and they swore special obedience to the pope. Their schools and missions helped strengthen Catholicism in Europe and overseas.

Question 46: Peter the Great's creation of the Table of Ranks (1722) is best understood as an effort to

transfer legislative authority from the tsar to an elected assembly of nobles
tie noble status and advancement to service to the state rather than to birth alone (Correct answer)
free the serfs so that they could serve in a professional army
restore the independence of the boyar families from the central government

Correct answer: tie noble status and advancement to service to the state rather than to birth alone

The Table of Ranks organized military and civil positions into a hierarchy in which promotion depended on service. This bound the nobility to the state and increased the tsar's control.

Question 47: At the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), the Austrian foreign minister Klemens von Metternich and other leaders sought primarily to:

partition France among the victorious powers and abolish its monarchy
grant constitutional rights and national self-determination to all European peoples
spread the principles of the French Revolution through the creation of republics
restore a balance of power and legitimate monarchies to prevent future French aggression and revolution (Correct answer)

Correct answer: restore a balance of power and legitimate monarchies to prevent future French aggression and revolution

The conservative leaders at Vienna aimed to contain France, restore legitimate ruling dynasties such as the Bourbons, and balance power among the great powers to maintain stability.

Question 48: The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 is significant in the history of European integration because it

dissolved the Soviet Union into independent republics
founded NATO as a collective defense alliance
established the European Union and set a path toward a common currency (Correct answer)
created the European Coal and Steel Community

Correct answer: established the European Union and set a path toward a common currency

Maastricht created the European Union with its three-pillar structure and set criteria and a timetable for economic and monetary union, which led to the euro. It built on the earlier European Community.

Question 49: Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier promoted which Renaissance ideal?

A well-rounded person skilled in arms, letters, and the arts, who displays accomplishments with effortless grace (Correct answer)
The ascetic monk who withdraws from worldly affairs
The merchant who accumulates wealth through banking alone
The soldier whose only duty is physical courage

Correct answer: A well-rounded person skilled in arms, letters, and the arts, who displays accomplishments with effortless grace

Castiglione described the ideal courtier as educated, athletic, and artistically accomplished, and as showing these skills with apparent ease. This reflects the Renaissance ideal of the versatile, well-rounded individual.

Question 50: Which was the most significant effect of Johannes Gutenberg's introduction of movable-type printing in mid-fifteenth-century Europe?

Texts became cheaper and could circulate more widely, which accelerated the spread of humanist and later reform ideas (Correct answer)
The Catholic Church gained exclusive control over the production of books
Latin was abandoned immediately as the language of scholarship
Literacy rates rose to near-universal levels within a generation

Correct answer: Texts became cheaper and could circulate more widely, which accelerated the spread of humanist and later reform ideas

Printing lowered the cost and increased the speed of reproducing texts, so new ideas reached far more readers. This helped spread humanism and later aided the Reformation.

Question 51: What was the purpose of Napoleon's Continental System, established through the Berlin Decree of 1806?

To encourage British investment in French industry
To create a customs union among German states under Prussian leadership
To establish a common European currency backed by French gold
To weaken Britain economically by closing continental European ports to British trade (Correct answer)

Correct answer: To weaken Britain economically by closing continental European ports to British trade

Napoleon tried to defeat Britain by cutting off its trade with the Continent. Smuggling and resistance undermined it, and Russia's withdrawal from it helped prompt his 1812 invasion.

Question 52: Which of the following was transferred from the Americas to Europe as part of the Columbian Exchange and helped support population growth, especially in northern Europe?

Wheat
Smallpox
The potato (Correct answer)
The horse

Correct answer: The potato

The potato originated in the Americas and, once adopted in Europe, produced a high-calorie crop on small plots of land. Wheat, horses, and smallpox were carried from the Old World to the Americas.

Question 53: The 1975 Helsinki Final Act is notable in Cold War history because it

ended the division of Berlin
limited the number of nuclear warheads each superpower could hold
dissolved the Warsaw Pact
recognized existing European borders while also including human-rights commitments that dissidents later invoked (Correct answer)

Correct answer: recognized existing European borders while also including human-rights commitments that dissidents later invoked

The Soviet bloc gained recognition of postwar frontiers, while the human-rights provisions gave dissident movements such as Charter 77 and Solidarity a basis for their claims. It was signed by 35 states, including the U.S., Canada and the USSR.

Question 54: What was the main purpose of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas?

To give Portugal sole rights to all territory in the Americas
To divide newly claimed lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a north-south line (Correct answer)
To end the Italian Wars between France and the Habsburgs
To establish free trade for all European nations in the Atlantic

Correct answer: To divide newly claimed lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a north-south line

Spain and Portugal agreed to a line of demarcation in the Atlantic to settle competing claims, with Spain receiving lands to the west and Portugal to the east. This arrangement later gave Portugal a claim to Brazil.

Question 55: Which was a result of the Peace of Westphalia (1648)?

Protestantism was outlawed throughout the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Emperor gained greater control over the German princes
Spain regained control of the northern Netherlands
Calvinism was recognized alongside Lutheranism and Catholicism, and German princes gained greater sovereignty (Correct answer)

Correct answer: Calvinism was recognized alongside Lutheranism and Catholicism, and German princes gained greater sovereignty

Westphalia extended the Augsburg settlement to Calvinists and confirmed the princes' autonomy, weakening imperial authority. It also recognized Dutch independence from Spain.

AP European History Exam (College Board)

Tests college-level knowledge of European history from c. 1450 to the present. It covers the Renaissance, Reformation, absolutism, Enlightenment, revolutions, industrialization, 19th-century politics, the world wars and the Cold War. The real exam also has a free-response section (3 short-answer questions, a DBQ and a long essay), which our multiple-choice practice tests do not cover.

Questions

55 min

Time Limit

55%

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These practice questions were written with AI tools. They are not real exam questions. Exam facts are checked against the official sources listed below. Not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. Editorial policy

Sources & references

Exam facts on this page (fees, format, dates, passing scores) are checked against these official sources; the date is our last check. Editorial policy

apstudents.collegeboard.org — Test delivery, exam dates, exam format, test dates · verified Nov 2026
apcentral.collegeboard.org — Exam format, late registration · verified Nov 2026