A2 Level

Advanced Level (Upper Sixth)

Examination Board: Edexcel www.edexcel.org.uk

Specification: History 9264

Unit 4: Individual Assignment (6524)

Students choose a topic which is approved by staff and by Edexcel. They research it for eight weeks, and then write their study under examination conditions over a period of four hours.

Unit 5: the British Empire, c. 1870-c. 1980

The main focus of this option is on how Britain controlled, extended and dismantled its Empire over the period as a whole. Within this, key elements focus on the means by which parts of the Empire were acquired, controlled and relinquished, on the part played by economic considerations in the growth and maintenance of, and retreat from, Empire, and on how independence movements began and developed during the twentieth century. Students will develop a broad understanding of the forces which enabled or promoted British colonial rule. These include: international relations; strategic considerations; and economic motives.
 
Relevant key factors will be considered, including: international relations and the impact of wars; changes in Britain's world role and the emergence of the new world powers in the twentieth century - the USA, USSR and China; the perceived economic benefits of empire or decolonisation; changing attitudes to Empire within Britain; changing attitudes within British possessions to Imperial rule.

Students should be able to exemplify the significance of these factors primarily through Britain's influence in the Suez canal zone and its relationships with its possessions in Southern and Eastern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Malaya, and Hong Kong (to 1983). They should understand why key events and/or developments might be considered as turning points in the growth of Empire or in decolonisation. The relevant key events and developments are: the second Boer War (1899-1902); the First and Second World Wars; the granting of Indian Independence in 1947; the Suez Crisis 1956.

UNIT 6: THE SOVIET UNION AFTER LENIN, 1924-1941 (6526)

Specification content

• Did Stalin preserve or destroy Lenin's legacy?
• Stalin and his struggle for power: the 'left' and 'right' opposition groupings
• Stalin and political control: his use of the party machine and terror.
• How popular was Stalin's rule?
• The successes and failures of Stalin's modernisation programme for the economy and society of the USSR
  Propaganda and the cult of personality.

CYCLES ONE AND TWO:  

WHY DID STALIN EMERGE AS LEADER OF THE SOVIET UNION BETWEEN 1924 AND 1929?

The government of Russia in 1924.
The state of the CPSU in 1924:
The ban on factions
The Party machine
The Lenin enrolment
The absence of a clear successor in 1924.
Stalin and Trotsky: the role of personality
Stalin's position within the CPSU
Lenin's legacy: his funeral
Trotsky's attack on party bureaucracy
Ideological differences:
NEP
Permanent Revolution v. Socialism in One Country
The defeat of Trotksy.
The defeat of the Right Opposition
Historiography: why did Stalin, and not Trotsky, become the leader of the Soviet Union between 1924 and 1929?

CYCLE THREE

TO WHAT EXTENT DID STALIN EXERCISE A PERSONAL DICTATORSHIP FROM 1929?

How far was Stalin in complete control of party and government after 1929?
Was the Terror of the 1930s entirely the work of Stalin?

CYCLES FOUR AND FIVE

STALIN AND THE MODERNISATION OF THE SOVIET ECONOMY

Why did Stalin abandon the NEP?
The collectivisation of agriculture.
Industrialisation through the First, Second and Third Five Year Plans.
Concluding debate and discussion:
the different emphases of each Five Year Plan
the ideology underpinning them
their degree of success
the emphasis on production and not consumption.

CYCLE SIX

STALIN AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOVIET SOCIETY

Women and the family.
Religion.
Housing and living standards: nutrition and health
Education
The Cultural Revolution and Socialist Realism.

CYCLE SEVEN

SUMMATION

The cult of personality: Lenin; Stalin
Youth organisations.
The media
Arts and popular culture
Public debate.
Leisure and public celebrations
Final assessment

Performance indicators

2005

A Level: A-C 76.5%

AS Level: 75% A-C

GCSE: 89% A*-C