Curriculum Year 10 & 11

Paper One Section A:

Examination Board: AQA www.aqa.org.uk

Specification: History Modern World (3042)

Paper One Section A:

Option X: International Relations, 1945-1991

Topic Content

1. Why did the USA and the USSR become rivals in the period 1945 to 1949?

East-West ideological gap
Decisions made at Yalta and Potsdam, and their importance
Attitudes of Stalin and Truman
Soviet expansion into Central and Eastern Europe
Iron Curtain
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
Berlin 1945-1948
Berlin blockade and airlift

2. How did the Cold War develop in the period 1939 to 1963?

NATO and the Warsaw Pact
The beginnings of the Arms Race
Korean War
Khrushchev's policy of coexistence and the USA's response
Hungary 1956
Arms/space race
U2 incident, 1960
Berlin Wall
President Kennedy's visit to Berlin, 1963

3. How close to war did the world come over Cuba in 1962?

The background in Cuba
Castro
Friendship with USSR
Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs
The crisis of 1962 and its results

4. Why did the Cold War move towards Détente in the late 1960s and early 1970s?

Czechoslovakia, 1968
The Brezhnev Doctrine
Economic problems for the USA and the USSR over inflation, weapons and oil
Contacts with China
Initiatives of President Nixon
Consequences of the Vietnam War

5. How far was Détente successful in the 1970s?

SALT 1
Helsinki 1975
SALT II
Other contacts between the Superpowers in the 1970s
Visits, cultural, sport

6. How and why did Détente collapse in the late 1970s and early 1980s?

The Soviet involvement in Afghanistan
Renewed Cold War in the 1980s under Reagan and Brezhnev
Olympic boycotts
SDI
Solidarity in Poland

7. Why did Communism in Central and Eastern Europe collapse, and with what consequences?

Gorbachev and changing attitudes
Collapse of the USSR
End of Soviet control in Central and Eastern Europe
Implications for world affairs up to 1991

Web sites
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/
http://www.coldwar.org/
http://www.activehistory.co.uk/GCSE/thecoldwar.htm

Paper One Section B

Option Z: Britain in the Second World War

Topic Content

1. Britain and the war against Germany, 1939-1941

The Phoney War, 1939-40
The failure to save Norway, 1940
The fall of France, May-June 1940
Dunkirk - success or failure?
Britain alone, 1940-41
The Battle of Britain
The Blitz
The leadership of Winston Churchill.

2. Britain and the defeat of Germany, 1941-1945

The Battle of the Atlantic
British bombing raids on Germany
The D-Day landings
The advance into Germany
Reasons for the defeat of Germany

3. How World War Two changed life in Britain

Conscription and recruitment
Evacuation
Propaganda and censorship
The Blitz
Air raid precautions
Internment
Rationing
The effect of U boats
The role of women

Web sites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/index.shtml

Paper Two: Option A

Option A: Russia/USSR, 1914-1941

Topic Content

Part 1: The End of Tsarism, 1914-1917

Key Issue 1
How strong was the Tsarist regime in 1914?
Content Focus
Government of Nicholas II in 1914; nature of Russian society in 1914; traditional loyalty; opposition groups.

Key Issue 2
Why did the rule of the Tsar collapse in February/March 1917?
Content Focus
Impact of World War I on Russia; military defeat; food shortages and transport dislocation at home. Political upheaval and the role of Rasputin; the Tsar's abdication.

Part 2: The Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Revolution

Key Issue 1
Why did the Provisional Government last for only eight months?
Content Focus
Creation of the Russian republic; problems facing the Provisional Government and its failures, including military defeats and their effects at home.

Key Issue 2
How were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in October/November 1917?
Content Focus
Growth of Bolshevik organisation in summer/autumn 1917; the Bolshevik seizure of power, and the reasons for their success.

Part 3: Creation of a Communist State, 1917-1924

Key Issue 1
How did Lenin impose Communist control on Russia?
Content Focus
Foundation of totalitarian rule; end of World War I for Russia, and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk; causes, nature and consequences of the Civil War, 1918-1921.

Key Issue 2
How successful was Lenin in creating a new society in Russia?
Content Focus
War Communism; Kronstadt Mutiny; the New Economic Policy; creation of the USSR; roles of Lenin and Trotsky.

Part 4: The rule of Stalin, 1924-1941

Key Issue 1
How far did Stalin set up a personal dictatorship in Communist Russia?
Content Focus
Struggle for power with Trotsky; elimination of other rivals in the 1920s; purges in the 1930s; propaganda and censorship; the 1936 Constitution.

Key Issue 2
To what extent did Stalin make the USSR a great economic power?
Content Focus
Collectivisation of agriculture; Five Year Plans and growth of industry; economic effects.

Web sites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/modern/stalin/stalihtm.htm