Paul Sargent Makes History
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  • AP European History
    • Historical Reasoning Skills
    • Thematic Learning Objectives >
      • Interaction of Europe and the World
      • Poverty and Prosperity
      • Objective Knowledge and Subjective Visions
      • States and Other Institutions of Power
      • Individual and Society
      • National and European Identity
    • Concept Outline
    • Period 1: 1450-1648
    • Period 2: 1648-1815
    • Period 3: 1815-1914
    • Period 4: 1914-Present
    • Exam Review Resources
  • AP Government
    • Concept Outline
    • Constitutional Underpinnings
    • Political Beliefs and Behaviors
    • Linkage Institutions
    • Institutions of Government
    • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
    • Exam Review
  • Government and Economics
    • Foundations of Government
    • The Constitution
    • Executive Branch
    • The Judicial Branch
    • Voting and Elections
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Period 1: 1450-1648

Overview

In the first period of the course, covering the years 1450-1648, you will learn about the beginnings of modern European history, what historians refer to as the Early Modern Period. This will cover the Renaissance, the Reformation and Religious Wars, European exploration and colonization, and the Scientific Revolution.

The Renaissance

The Middle Ages in Europe had been a time of uncertainty, in which rival lords competed for power against one another, foreign armies periodically invaded and raided, and the sole unifying force was the Catholic Church. It wasn't such a great time to be around, but such is life. So people struggled to survive in the face of complete chaos. By the 14th century, however, there were signs that things were improving (except for the brief but terrible onset of the Black Plague). 

Beginning in the city-state of Florence, on the Italian peninsula, a new intellectual movement began. It became known as humanism, and it would eventually change the way Europeans viewed themselves and the world around them. They would rediscover the writings of classical Greece and Rome, discover new ways to represent reality through painting and sculpture, and reinvent man's meaning for existence.
AP Euro Bit by Bit videos:
​What Was the Renaissance?
​What Was Renaissance Humanism?
​What Was Secular Humanism?
​
What Was Civic Humanism?
What Was the Printing Press?
What Was Renaissance Art?
Who Was Michelangelo?
Jan Van Eyck and Renaissance Naturalism
The "New Monarchies"
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
The Renaissance in Perspective
​
Live Review Session on the Renaissance
Interesting articles:
The Genius of Venice
The Spice that Built Venice
Renaissance Study Guide
File Size: 486 kb
File Type: docx
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Renaissance Suggested Pacing
File Size: 16 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Other videos:
Crash Course: Was the Renaissance a Thing?
How a Gutenberg Printing Press Works
The Many Meanings of Michelangelo's David
Political Theory: Machiavelli
Philosophy: Renee Descartes
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning​
Primary sources:
Machiavelli, 
The Prince
Erasmus, Education of a Christian Prince
Petrarch, The Ascent of Mount Ventoux
Lorenzo Valla, The Donation of Constantine
Baldassarre Castiglione, The Courtier
​Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists​


The Reformation and Religious Wars

Beginning in the sixteenth century, religious reformers began challenging the supremacy of the Catholic Church. They called into question its dogma and its practices. Martin Luther's nailing of the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg began a movement that would spread throughout Europe. Rhetorical, political, and military wars raged for the souls of the European population. In the end, the unified Christendom that had held the continent together for centuries was over, replaced by religious pluralism and conflict.
AP Euro Bit by Bit videos:
An Introduction to the Reformation
What Was Christian Renaissance Humanism?
Who Was Martin Luther?
What Was the Peace of Augsburg?
The English Reformation
Who Was John Calvin?
What Was the Catholic Counter-Reformation?
Live Review Session on the Reformation

Screencast lectures:
Luther's Reformation
The Spread of Protestantism
The Catholic Reformation
The Wars of Religion
Other videos:
Crash Course: Luther and the Reformation
French Wars of Religion (Tom Richey)
Primary sources:
Erasmus, The Praise of Folly 
Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther, Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants
Ignatius of Loyola, Rules for Thinking with the Church
Reformation Study Guide
File Size: 488 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Reformation Suggested Pacing
File Size: 14 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Interesting articles:
ISIS is the Islamic "Reformation"
Henry VIII Voted Worst Monarch in History
Was Henry VIII a Good King?
Recipes from the Tudor kitchen
In pictures: 16th-century fashionistas
How the Tudors Invented Breakfast
The Politics of Hair
Pig-chickens, beavers' tails and turtle soup: 8 weird foods through history
Showering, teeth brushing underwear: the strange history of our daily routine
10 Surprising Facts about Anne Boleyn
A Profile of Anne Boleyn
Who Was the Real Edward VI?
Elizabeth I: The monarch behind the mask
Elizabeth I: The exception to the rule
17th Century Nuns on the Run


Exploration and Colonization

As European monarchs began to consolidate and centralize power, they began looking outward. Beginning with Portugal and Spain, the Age of Exploration presented Europeans with a new view of the world. Contact with previously unknown peoples and civilizations vastly changed Europe and the rest of the world. The conquest of the Americas remains a source of controversy, as Europe benefitted greatly at the expense of others. To help create more income for the home countries, Europeans increasingly relied on Native American and African slave labor, ultimately creating the international slave trade.
AP Euro Bit by Bit videos:
​What Motivated the Age of Exploration?
​Live Review Session on the Age of Exploration

Screencast lectures:
​Portuguese Exploration
Colonization of the Americas
The Impact of Colonization
Other videos:
Crash Course: Columbus, Da Gama, and Zheng He
History vs. Christopher Columbus
​​How Magellan Circumnavigated the Globe
​The Atlantic Slave Trade: What Textbooks Miss
Crash Course: The Atlantic Slave Trade
It's a New World (Horrible Histories)
Jamestown and Plymouth Settlements
Crash Course: Capitalism and the Dutch
Crash Course: The Columbian Exchange
Crash Course: Disease
Mercantilism: The Economics of Absolutism
Mercantilism Definition for Kids
Exploration Study Guide
File Size: 15 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Exploration Suggested Pacing
File Size: 15 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

​Primary sources:
Cortes' Description of Tenochtitlan
Bartolome de las Casas, The Tears of the Indians
A Letter to the King of Tonkin from Louis XIV
Answer from the King of Tonkin to Louis XIV
Images of Spices and World Trade
Diary of a Citizen (describing the slave trade)
Felix de Azara, Description and History of Paraguay and Rio de la Plata
Interesting articles:
The First Global Empire
What Columbus Knew
How Columbus Day Fell Victim To Its Own Success
1491
The Atlantic Slave Trade in 2 Minutes
A Society Built on Slavery
Did Florida Host the First Thanksgiving?
Blackbeard's ship found off the coast of North Carolina


The Scientific Revolution

AP Euro Bit by Bit videos:
Live Review Session on the Scientific Revolution
​
Period 1 Live Review Session
Other videos:
Turning Points in History: Scientific Revolution
Copernicus and Galileo
Tycho Brahe: The Scandalous Astronomer
Newton's Laws
Philosophy: Renee Descartes
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Scientific Revolution Study Guide
File Size: 15 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Scientific Revolution Suggested Pacing
File Size: 14 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

​Primary sources:
David Davies, The Case of Labourers in Husbandry Stated and Considered
The Leeds Woolen Workers' Petition
Interesting articles:
Blackbeard's Ship Confirmed off North Carolina

Paul Sargent Makes History

  • Home
  • My YouTube Channel
  • AP European History
    • Historical Reasoning Skills
    • Thematic Learning Objectives >
      • Interaction of Europe and the World
      • Poverty and Prosperity
      • Objective Knowledge and Subjective Visions
      • States and Other Institutions of Power
      • Individual and Society
      • National and European Identity
    • Concept Outline
    • Period 1: 1450-1648
    • Period 2: 1648-1815
    • Period 3: 1815-1914
    • Period 4: 1914-Present
    • Exam Review Resources
  • AP Government
    • Concept Outline
    • Constitutional Underpinnings
    • Political Beliefs and Behaviors
    • Linkage Institutions
    • Institutions of Government
    • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
    • Exam Review
  • Government and Economics
    • Foundations of Government
    • The Constitution
    • Executive Branch
    • The Judicial Branch
    • Voting and Elections
  • My Blog