All AP European History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Elite And Popular Culture
Who stressed a belief in predestination, claiming that only an elect few that God had preordained would be saved?
John Calvin
Ignatius Loyola
Desiderius Erasmus
John Wycliffe
Martin Luther
John Calvin
John Calvin was one of the primary leaders of the Protestant Reformation. His Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) describe the tenets of his theology, including the concept of predestination.
Example Question #212 : Ap European History
Which of these writers has often been criticized as a “tool of British imperialism”?
Charles Dickens
Charles Darwin
Rudyard Kipling
Arthur Conan Doyle
Bertrand Russell
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling wrote many famous works of British literature at the turn of the twentieth century. They often centered around the British imperial experience, particularly in India. Although he was widely beloved in his time period and his works continue to be influential to this day, he has often been criticized in the last century for his belief in the "civilizing" missions of British imperialism.
Example Question #2 : Elite And Popular Culture
James Gillray was an English caricaturist. He once illustrated a satirical depiction of William Pitt and Napoleon Bonaparte, individuals from which two countries.
Britain and Spain
Britain and France
France and Spain
Germany and France
Germany and Italy
Britain and France
William Pitt was Prime Minister of Britain. Napoleon Bonaparte was Emperor of France. The famous Gillray print depicts the two carving up the world for their respective kingdoms.
Example Question #214 : Ap European History
Who was seen as the primary symbol of French extravagance and excess, and was executed in 1793?
Maximilien Robespierre
Napoleon Bonaparte
Georges Danton
Marie-Antoinette
Jacques-Pierre Brissot
Marie-Antoinette
Seen as the primary symbol of French extravagance and excess, Marie-Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, was executed in 1793.
Example Question #215 : Ap European History
The era after Charles II's Restoration to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland saw a surge in the popularity of theater because __________.
Charles II's personal honor and chastity saw a great deal of praise from many different kinds of authors
entertainment pastimes such as theater were banned under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell
all English playwrights except William Shakespeare had been banned by decree of Oliver Cromwell
Charles II was a gifted actor himself and promoted plays for his own benefit
Charles II's religious policy favored plays that promoted anti-Catholic tendencies
entertainment pastimes such as theater were banned under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell
After his father Charles I's execution in 1649, Charles II lived in exile for eleven years as "King" while the Puritan Oliver Cromwell ruled England in a republic as "Lord Protector." Cromwell's stern moralism and harsh rule combined to see most forms of popular entertainment banned in England, including the theater, bear baiting, and even public holidays such as Christmas. Upon Charles' Restoration to the throne in 1660, the theater was brought back, and saw a period of flourishing in comedies, works often known as "Restoration comedy."
Example Question #3 : Elite And Popular Culture
Which of the following authors composed a long epic allegorical poem about Queen Elizabeth I?
William Shakespeare
Sir Walter Raleigh
Geoffrey Chaucer
Edmund Spenser
Ben Johnson
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is the long epic allegorical poem to which this question refers. The eponymous Faerie Queene can be read as allegorically representing Queen Elizabeth I, and numerous other characters in the work relate similarly to individuals famous in Spenser's era.
Example Question #7 : Elite And Popular Culture
Which of these Renaissance books resonated most heavily with the elite culture of the time?
The Canterbury Tales
The Courtier
Utopia
Don Quixote
The Inferno
The Courtier
First, let's briefly examine what is meant by “elite culture.” For much of European history, the experience of the wealthy nobility and the experience of the common people have been wildly different. Within the same country, the wealthy (or "elite") might speak different languages or dialects, have different religious beliefs, and likely have completely different cultural experiences than those of lower socioeconomic classes. So, when we talk about “elite culture,” we are talking about the cultural experience of the very wealthy and the nobility. The Courtier was written as a guide for gentlemen in Europe; the book was essentially a handbook for how to be a renaissance nobleman. As the book was directed towards, and deeply entrenched in the customs and practices of, the cultural elite of its time, it makes sense that this book would resonate most heavily with that group.
The Canterbury Tales, for instance, specifically includes characters from all socioeconomic classes, and is not particularly favorable in its treatment of the wealthy. The Inferno, concerned as it is with celestial matters of heaven and hell, might well have appealed to wealthy elites, but since it was not a handbook directed specifically at this particular group, it can safely be assumed to carry less specific resonance with elite culture than The Courtier did.
Example Question #8 : Elite And Popular Culture
Which of these statements most accurately reflects the life of common people in nineteenth-century Russia?
Most common people were well-educated and literate, but almost entirely atheistic.
Most common people moved to cities and became workers in the Russian Industrial Revolution.
None of the other answer choices is accurate.
Most common people were rural peasants who worked on small land holdings.
The common people of Russia experienced a massive growth in economic opportunity with the institution of universal public education.
Most common people were rural peasants who worked on small land holdings.
Of the major European countries, Russia became industrialized most slowly, and did not really begin the process of industrialization until the 1890s. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the life of common people in Russia was much like it had been for the previous thousand years. Most people were rural peasants who worked on small land holdings. For the first half of the nineteenth century most people were serfs, forced to work the land of a nobleman. Tsar Alexander II “The Emancipator” abolished the institution of serfdom in the 1860s.
Example Question #9 : Elite And Popular Culture
Leon Trotsky never enjoyed the support of the common people in the manner that Lenin and Stalin did because Trotsky was __________.
I) Jewish
II) An intellectual
III) German
IV) A soldier
V) Illiterate
I and II
I and III
III, IV, and V
I only
II, III, and IV
I and II
Leon Trotsky is the most famous of the Russian revolutionaries never to rule as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He led the Red Army during the tumultuous years after 1917 and helped ensured the survival of the Soviet Union. Some expected him to succeed Lenin following the latter’s death in 1924; however, Trotsky was distrusted by much of the Russian population. Trotsky Jewish in a furiously anti-Semitic society, and he was considered to be an “out-of-touch intellectual” by many. Trotsky lost the battle with Stalin for leadership of the party and the country and fled the Soviet Union. Eventually he was assassinated, almost certainly on Stalin’s orders, while on the run in Mexico.
Example Question #1 : Elite And Popular Culture
The works of the Brothers Grimm were primarily focused on __________.
bringing elite and popular culture closer together throughout Europe
the repudiation of elite culture in Germany and Italy
developing the vernacular languages of Germany, Belgium, and France
the collection and preservation of popular, oral storytelling-based culture in central Europe
the analysis of elite culture in European history since the Renaissance
the collection and preservation of popular, oral storytelling-based culture in central Europe
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German storytellers whose main focus was on collecting and preserving popular culture. During the nineteenth century popular culture, as distinct from elite culture, was being identified and analyzed throughout Europe. Many feared that social homogenization as a logical offshoot of the increases in literacy. The possible result of this social homogenization was that popular (largely oral) culture would be lost forever. The Brothers Grimm (as they are popularly called) collected folks tales and fables from German popular culture (previously passed along over generations in oral formats) and preserved them for posterity.
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