GCSE & A-Level Course Content

Year 10
Breadth study Medicine through time

1960 Social Revolution (coursework)

Year 11

A depth study Life in Germany 1919-1939

Lord Lever (coursework)

The A level course comprises the following units:

1. Alternative F           Russia and the USSR 1855 – 1991

2. Alternative U           Britain 1929 - 1998

 

AS Unit 1   (5041)   35% of AS    17.5% of A2   1 hr 30 min exam (summer entry)

 

Tsarist and Revolutionary Russia 1855 – 1917

 

Topic A: Reform and Reaction 1855 – 1890

The motives for the reforms of Alexander II and the emancipation of the serfs

The impact of the reforms on Russian society

The motives for, and the extent of, reaction under Alexander II and Alexander III

The growth of opposition to the Tsarist regime

 

Topic B: Crisis and reform 1890 - 1914

Industrialisation and the role of Sergei Witte

The growth of opposition from liberals and revolutionaries, including the Social Democrats

The causes and impact of the 1905 revolution

The duma period and the role of Stolypin

The debate concerning Russian stability by 1914

 

The replacement of the Tsarist regime 1914 – 1917

The impact of the First World War

The fall of Tsardom in February/March 1917

The failure of the Provisional Government and the reasons for the success of the Bolsheviks in winning power by the end of 1917

 

AS Unit 2   35% of AS mark    17.5% of  total  1hr 30 exam (summer entry)

 

Alternative U:  Britain 1929 – 1951

 

Britain in the 1930s

The nature and extent of the of the impact of the great depression to 1939

National government attempts at state intervention

The difficulties faced by the Labour Party in the 1930s

The rise and failure of extremism, the CPGB and the BUF

 

Britain and the Second World War

The reasons why Britain went to war in 1939 and the development of an effective coalition wartime government.

Britain’s relations with its wartime allies to 1945

The reasons for the ‘Labour landslide’ in 1945

 

Britain 1945 – 1951

Continuity and change in British society

The Labour Party in government

The partition of India and the weakening of Britain’s position as a world power

Anti-communism, relations with the US after 1945 and Britain’s role in the early years of the Cold War.

 

AS Module 3     (2 course essays of approx 1000words)        

30% of AS         15% of entire mark      completed in supervised timed conditions.

 

Revolutionary Russia 1917 – 1929. Essay title changes every year but are based on these years.

Aspects of British History 1929 - 1951

 

A2 Unit 4  Russia and the USSR 1881 – 1985

 

Economic Modernisation in Russia and the USSR 1881 – 1985    15% of total  1hr 30 summer

 

Factors promoting and hindering economic modernisation in 1881

The industrialisation programme of Witte

The agrarian reforms of Stolypin

The impact of the First World War  (War Communism and the NEP)

The motives for, and impact of, Stalin’s great economic transformation in the 1930s

The impact of the Second World War on the Soviet economy

Post-war economic recovery to 1953

Khrushchev’s economic reforms

Economic stagnation in the Brezhnev era

 

The Stalin dictatorship and its legacy 1929 – 1968

 

The ‘Stalin Revolution’ 1929 – 1941

The economic and political factors behind Stalin’s ‘great changes’ including collectivisation.

The famine of 1933

The motives for, and effects of, the purges from 1934 to 1941

The role of key individuals such as Kirov, Bukharin and Beria

 

Soviet readiness for war in 1941

The impact of early defeats and Stalin’s role as war leader

The mass re-organisation of industry during the war

The extent to which Stalin achieved unity and success by 1945

The costs of war for the Soviet people

The last years of Stalin to 1953 and his legacy.

 

 

A2 Unit 5 Britain 1951 – 1997 15% of total  1 hr 30 minutes   summer exam

 

Britain 1951 – 1964

The return to power of the Conservative Party; post-war economic recovery and developments in society

British reactions to plans for European integration

The Suez crisis

The premiership of Harold Macmillan, the ‘affluent society’ and ‘the wind of change’

The influence of CND

The reasons for the Labour election success of 1964

 

Britain 1964 – 1979

Social and cultural developments in ‘the Sixties’

The changing fortunes of the main political parties, including the influence of the trade unions and the issue of immigration

The impact of the 1973 oil-price

Campaigns for and against British membership of the EEC

The difficulties facing governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan

The reasons for Conservative victory in 1979

 

Britain 1979 – 1997

The impact of economic crisis and recovery

The Conservative Party and the governments of Margaret Thatcher

The SDP-Liberal Alliance and the fundamental changes affecting the Labour Party and its leadership

The financial crisis of 1992 and the decline of Conservative dominance in the 1990s

 

Unit 6: Coursework:  Personal Study: (3000 words, analysis of an historical issue. Internally assessed and externally moderated)