Unit 7: 19th-Century Perspectives and Political Developments
AP European History: 25 practice questions with detailed explanations.
Unit Study Guide
Executive Summary
Nationalism built Italy and Germany; mass politics democratized Europe; the New Imperialism carved up the globe; culture exploded in new directions.
Unification of Italy and Germany
Italy: Cavour (Piedmont-Sardinia) engineered unification with French help; Garibaldi's Red Shirts conquered the south; Rome became capital in 1870. Germany: Bismarck used realpolitik — wars against Denmark, Austria, and France — to unify under Prussia; the German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles in 1871; France lost Alsace-Lorraine.
Mass politics and culture
Suffrage expanded (Britain's Reform Acts); mass parties formed (Germany's SPD grew despite Bismarck's anti-socialist laws). The Dreyfus Affair split France over antisemitism and justice (Zola's J'accuse); the Paris Commune (1871) was crushed. Science and culture: Darwin's evolution, Freud's psychoanalysis, Impressionism (Monet), Realist novels (Flaubert, Zola), and Vatican I's papal infallibility.
The New Imperialism
From the 1870s European powers conquered Africa and Asia. The Berlin Conference (1884-85) partitioned Africa without Africans; Leopold II exploited the Congo. Motivations: raw materials, markets, nationalism, Social Darwinism, and the "civilizing mission." The Suez Canal (1869) and the Fashoda Incident shaped strategy; the Sepoy Mutiny (1857) brought direct British rule to India; the Opium Wars forced China open.
Zionism and antisemitism
Rising antisemitism (Russian pogroms, the Dreyfus Affair) spurred Herzl's Zionism — the movement for a Jewish homeland.
Exam traps
Germany unified through Prussian-led war, not popular assemblies. Imperialist ideology justified conquest — it did not cause it alone. The Eastern Question concerned the declining Ottoman Empire.