AP® European History review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/euro/units/9/9-15)
Unit 9 · Topic 9.15
9.15 Continuity and Change in the 20th and 21st Centuries
This final wrap-up topic asks you to argue about continuity and change from 1914 to the present. Europe moved from total war to a continent divided by the Cold War and then to a more united Europe, but nationalism, debates over the state's role and Europe's place in the world persisted. Strong answers use specific evidence and show complexity.
Key terms
- continuity and change
- complexity
- transnational union
- Cold War
- argumentation
The skill, one more time
A continuity-and-change argument explains what changed, what stayed the same and why over a defined period. Strong theses do three things: name the direction of change, give its main cause, and note a limit or continuity. For example: “Between 1945 and 2000, Western Europe moved from rivalry to integration because of the experience of war and the pressures of the Cold War, but national interests continued to shape how far integration went.”
Complexity can come from explaining both change and continuity, from showing that a change affected different regions or groups differently (East versus West, men versus women), or from corroborating or qualifying a claim with evidence from another country.
Big changes since 1914
- From war to integration: two world wars gave way to the European Coal and Steel Community, the EEC and the European Union, a transnational union in which members share some sovereignty (9.10).
- From division to reunification: the Iron Curtain split Europe from the late 1940s until 1989–1991, when communism collapsed and Germany reunified (9.3, 9.7).
- From empire to decolonization: European powers ruled much of the world in 1914 but gave up almost all their colonies by the 1970s (9.9).
- The role of the state: welfare states guaranteed health care and pensions after 1945, then were trimmed after the 1970s (9.6).
- Society: women won the vote and new rights, societies became more diverse through immigration, and religious practice declined (9.8, 9.11, 9.14).
Important continuities
- Nationalism stayed powerful: in the breakup of Yugoslavia, in separatist movements and in debates over EU membership (9.5, 9.10).
- The German question: how to fit a large, central Germany into Europe shaped 1914, 1939, the division of 1945 and reunification in 1990.
- Russia's role: whether tsarist, Soviet or post-Soviet, Russia remained a major power whose relations with the rest of Europe shaped security.
- Debates about the state and the market continued from 19th-century reformers through the welfare state to Thatcher and beyond.
- Hostility toward minorities, from anti-Semitism to anti-immigrant politics, persisted in new forms.
Avoiding common traps
Do not just describe Europe in 1914 and Europe today side by side. Explain what drove the change: total war, the Cold War, economic growth, decolonization, technology. Make sure your evidence is specific, with names, places and dates, and stays inside the time period the prompt gives you. If you claim something changed, consider whether it changed everywhere; the East and the West often moved at different speeds.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
A continuity and change thesis on Europe's divisions
Evaluate the extent to which political divisions within Europe changed between 1945 and 2010. Write a thesis and outline your evidence.
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- Step 1: Take a position on extent: divisions changed greatly, but not completely.
- Step 2: Evidence of change: the Iron Curtain from the late 1940s; communism's collapse in 1989; German reunification in 1990; EU enlargement to former communist states in 2004 and 2007.
- Step 3: Evidence of continuity or limits: nationalist wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s; debates over sovereignty within the EU; Russia outside the Western institutions.
- Step 4: Explain the causes: the Cold War produced the division; Soviet weakness and Gorbachev's reforms ended it; the EU's economic and political appeal pulled former communist states west.
Answer: Thesis: Between 1945 and 2010, the Cold War division of Europe gave way to a largely united continent as communism collapsed and the European Union expanded eastward, but nationalism and disagreements over sovereignty kept Europe from becoming fully united. Evidence: the Iron Curtain and the two German states (1949); the revolutions of 1989 and German reunification (1990); the EU's 2004 and 2007 enlargements; and, as limits, the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, recurring debates over national sovereignty within the EU, and Russia's place outside the EU and NATO.
- Example 2
Qualifying a claim
A historian claims that after 1945 Western European states abandoned nationalism. Write two sentences that qualify this claim.
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- Step 1: Acknowledge what the claim gets right: integration through the ECSC, the EEC and the EU.
- Step 2: Add evidence that limits it: de Gaulle's vetoes of British entry, separatist movements, Brexit.
- Step 3: End with a more precise claim.
Answer: Western European states did pool important powers after 1945, from the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 to the euro in 1999. However, national interests and identities remained strong, as shown by de Gaulle's vetoes of British membership in the 1960s, separatist movements in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country, and Britain's 2016 vote to leave the EU, so nationalism was moderated and channeled rather than abandoned.
Common mistakes
- Describing two snapshots without explaining what caused the change.
- Treating Europe as one unit. Show how Eastern and Western Europe, or different groups, experienced change differently.
- Using evidence from outside the prompt's time period. Check the dates before choosing your examples.
On the exam
- Long essay prompts on the 20th century often ask about the extent of change. Answer with a clear position on extent, not just “it changed.”
- Practice linking evidence from across Units 8 and 9; strong essays connect the world wars to postwar developments.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 9.15 Continuity and Change in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 most directly challenged the post–Cold War expectation that
Which of the following best describes a major change in relations among Western European states between 1945 and the early 2000s?
The introduction of the euro (1999, with notes and coins from 2002) best illustrates
| Year | Change in membership | Total members |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany found the European Economic Community | 6 |
| 1973 | Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join | 9 |
| 1981 | Greece joins | 10 |
| 1986 | Portugal and Spain join | 12 |
| 1995 | Austria, Finland and Sweden join | 15 |
| 2004 | Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia join | 25 |
| 2007 | Bulgaria and Romania join | 27 |
| 2013 | Croatia joins | 28 |
| 2020 | United Kingdom leaves | 27 |
Source: Membership of the European Economic Community and its successor, the European Union (created in 1993).
The change shown for 2020 most directly reflects
0 of 4 answered