The 2019 AP European History DBQ topic asks students to evaluate the extent to which the Catholic Church opposed scientific advancements in the seventeenth century. Well, technically, it asked students to evaluate whether or not the Catholic Church opposed scientific advancements in the seventeenth century. Personally, I feel like if the test makers want students to write a nuanced essay (in accordance with the expectations outlined on the DBQ rubric), the prompt should ask for a nuanced essay rather than just phrase it as a simple yes or no question.
Is this just a big deal to me? Feel free to weigh in on your preference for the AP Euro DBQ prompt format:
Although I wasn't crazy about the phrasing of the prompt, I liked the accessible topic and how the documents provided room for several different nuanced arguments. I sat down and wrote two sample DBQs in response to this prompt. One of the samples was my own response, which is intended to be a full-credit essay, and the other is an essay designed to score 4 out of 7 possible points. You may download the sample essays here:
On Wednesday, May 22, I will be leading a debriefing session on the 2019 AP Euro Free Response section, in which we will discuss approaches to responding to the SAQ, DBQ, and LEQ prompts. As a result of those discussions, more samples like this will be created and shared with all participants. Click here for more information about the debriefing session.
AP European History
World WAR I DBQ
Question: Evaluate whether or not the First World War was a transformative event for women in European history.
Sources:
Document 1: "Votes for Heroines as well as Heroes," cover illustration, Votes for Women, weekly magazine, November 26, 1915. | |
Document 2: Paul von Hindenburg, Chief of the German General Staff, letter to German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg, 1916. | It is also my opinion that women's work should not be overestimated. Almost all intellectual work, heavy physical labor, as well as all real manufacturing work will still fall on men—in addition to the entire waging of the war. It would be good if clear, official expression were given to these facts and if a stop were put to women's agitation for parity in all professions, and thereby, of course, for political emancipation. . . . After the war, we will still need the woman as spouse and mother. I thus strongly support those measures, enacted through law, prerogative, material aid, etc., aimed at that effect. In spite of the strong opposition to such measures, it is here that vigorous action needs to be taken in order to extinguish the influence of this female rivalry, which disrupts the family. . . . If I nevertheless urge that the requirement to work be extended to all women who are either unemployed or working in trivial positions, now and for the duration of the war, I do so because, in my opinion, women can be employed in many areas to a still greater degree than previously and men can thereby be freed for other work. |
Document 3: Countess de Courson, French author, The French Woman during the War, 1916. | The task of the peasant woman is heavy, and for the past eighteen months they have accomplished it admirably, although perhaps today with a little more lassitude. In 1914, some of the field work was completed by the men before they left for war, by the young soldiers of the class of 1915 . . . who were still there to do their fair share of the work. The summer of 1915 was more difficult to get through; the mourning, the deep anxiety pressed on these peasant women, many of them knowing today that the empty places at the hearth will stay that way forever. Despite the crushing weight of physical and emotional fatigue, they continued, with few exceptions, to face up to the necessities of the war. |
Document 4: Madeline Ida Bedford, English middle-class poet writing in the voice of a working-class woman, 1917. * British currency | Munition Wages You're asking some questions-- But bless you, here goes: I spends the whole racket On good times and clothes. We're all here today, mate, Tomorrow—perhaps dead, If Fate tumbles on us And blows up our shed. Afraid! Are you kidding? With money to spend! Years back I wore tatters, Now—silk stockings my friend! Worth while, for tomorrow If I'm blown to the sky, I'll have repaid my wages In death—and pass by. |
Document 5: Private G. F. Wilby, British frontline soldier, letter to his fiancee, Ethel Baxter, 1918. | Whatever you do, don't go in Munitions [manufacturing] or anything in that line—just fill a Woman's position and remain a woman—don't develop into one of those "things" that are doing men's work, as I told you in one of my letters, long ago. I want to return and find the same loveable little woman that I left behind—not a coarse thing more of a man than a woman—I love you because of your womanly little ways and nature, so don't spoil yourself by carrying on with a man's work—it's not necessary. |
Document 6: Maria Botchkareva Yashka, Russian woman soldier, My Life as Peasant, Officer and Exile, memoir, 1919 | The Colonel gave the signal. But the men on my right and to the left of Captain Petrov would not move. They replied to the Colonel's order with questions and expressions of doubts as to the wisdom of advancing. The cowards! We decided to advance in order to shame the men, having arrived at the conclusion that they would not let us perish in No Man's Land. . . . Some of my girls were killed outright, many were wounded. . . . We swept forward and overwhelmed the first German line, and then the second . . . our regiment alone captured two thousand prisoners. |
Document 7: Women as percentage of industrial workforce in France, 1911 - 1926. |
|