AP European History case studies
AP European History · Put your knowledge to work in context.
AP European History is a College Board Advanced Placement course and exam equivalent to an introductory college survey of modern European history, covering roughly 1450 to the present. It is designed for high school students willing to read primary and secondary sources closely, weigh competing interpretations, and write evidence-based arguments under time pressure; College Board lists no recommended prerequisites. The course is organized into nine commonly taught units, from the Renaissance and Exploration through Cold War and Contemporary Europe, each weighted 10%–15% of the exam score. The exam is fully digital, taken in the Bluebook testing app, and runs 3 hours 15 minutes: 55 multiple-choice questions (40%), three short-answer questions (20%), and two free-response questions - a document-based question worth 25% and a long essay worth 15%. The AP European History case studies are 5 cases and about 2,479 words.
1The Wool Merchant's Ledger: Pricing Cloth in a Shrinking Market
It is 1490 in Bruges. A Flemish wool merchant, Jan van der Beurse, has 400 bolts of finished broadcloth in his warehouse.
512 words, about 3 min2The Diet of Worms and the Princes' Calculus
Martin Luther has refused to recant before Charles V at the Diet of Worms, and the Edict of Worms has declared him an outlaw. Charles V, however, is distracted: he must defend against Ottoman advances in Hungary and face Francis I of France in Italy.
478 words, about 2 min3Louis XIV's Revenue: Taxing a Resistant Nobility
Louis XIV's finance minister presents the crown's accounts. The treasury needs 60 million livres for the army and Versailles.
490 words, about 2 min4The Steam Engine and the Factory's Location
It is 1800 in Lancashire. Ashworth, holds 5,000 pounds and must site a cotton-spinning mill.
508 words, about 3 min5The Berlin Airlift: Reading a Blockade as a Test of Will
The Soviet Union has blocked all land and rail access to West Berlin, a Western-held enclave 100 miles inside the Soviet zone. The city's 2.2 million residents need roughly 4,500 tons of supplies daily (food, coal, medicine) to survive.
491 words, about 2 min