Western Civilization I / Unit 17 WC1 1632 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Reading a Map of Europe After Westphalia
The idea
The exam's map of sixteen forty-eight asks what a region is, who gained it, or what a patchwork means. The method is three readings: the Empire as a mosaic of autonomous states, the two Habsburg branches at its edges, and the winners' gains, French land on the Rhine and Swedish land on the Baltic. Add the independent Dutch Republic in the northwest, recognized at Westphalia.
In practice
Four questions. A region of hundreds of small colored states between France and Poland: the Empire after Westphalia, autonomy on the map. A shaded band along the Rhine in French colors: France's gain. A shaded coast on the Baltic in Swedish colors: Sweden's gain. Seven provinces in the northwest shown independent of Spain: the Dutch Republic, the eighty-year revolt ended. A fifth: a Bohemia shaded Catholic is correct after White Mountain, since the anchor says few Protestants remained in Habsburg lands.
Where people slip
Spain still holds the southern Netherlands and Italy on any correct map, and the Franco-Spanish war ran on past sixteen forty-eight. Westphalia ended the German war, not every war.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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