Skip to main content

← European History syllabus

United StatesEuropean History

Unit 5: Conflict, Crisis, and Reaction in the Late 18th Century

9 dot points across 9 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

Why did Britain emerge as the dominant commercial and naval power of the 18th century?

What pressures on 18th-century states set the stage for the age of revolution?

How do historians reason about what changed and what stayed the same across the revolutionary age?

How did Napoleon rise to power, dominate Europe, and fall, and what did he preserve of the Revolution?

How did Romanticism challenge the Enlightenment's faith in reason?

How did the Congress of Vienna try to restore order and contain revolution after Napoleon?

What caused the French Revolution, and how did it move from reform to radicalism?

How did the French Revolution reshape France, Europe, and the wider world?

How did global trade reshape European economies and societies in the 18th century?