Possible LEQ Questions on the Assessment

POSSIBLE Unit 3 LEQs

1. Machiavelli suggested that a ruler should behave both “like a lion” and “like a fox”. Analyze the policies of THREE of the following European rulers, indicating the degree to which they successfully followed Machiavelli’s suggestion. Choose THREE:

Elizabeth I of England Louis XIV of France Henry IV of France Peter the Great of Russia

1. In what ways and to what extent did absolutism affect the power and status of the European nobility in the period 1650 to 1750? Use examples from at least TWO countries.

2. Louis XIV declared his goal was “one king, one law, one faith”. Analyze the methods the king used to achieve this objective and discuss the extent to which he was successful.

3. Explain why Europe saw no lasting peace in the period between the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the Peace of Paris in 1763.

4. Contrast the economic factors responsible for the decline of Spain with the economic factors responsible for the decline of the Dutch Republic by the end of the seventeenth century.

5. Between 1450 and 1800, many women gained power as rulers, some as reigning queens, others as regents. Identify two such powerful women and discuss how issues of gender, such as marriage and reproduction influenced their ability to obtain and exercise power.

6. Contrast the economic and social development of Russia with that of the Netherlands in the period 1600–1725.

7. Analyze the similarities in the methods that various absolute monarchs used in the 1600s and 1700s to consolidate and increase their power.

8. Evaluate the most significant effect of state centralization by European monarchs during the period 1450–1648

9. Evaluate the most significant difference between the political development of Poland and the political development of Russia during the period 1648 to 1815.