Upper Shirley High School
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History Key Stage 4
AQA History B GCSE
History students follow the AQA History B syllabus. The GCSE is made up of 3 units:
Unit 1: International Relations: Conflict and Peace in the 20th Century
1 hour 45 minutes (60 marks) 37.5% of the total marks
1. Hitler’s foreign policy and the origins of the Second World War
2. The Origins of the Cold War 1945–1955
3. Crises of the Cold War 1955–1970
Unit 2: 20th Century Depth Studies
1 hour 45 minutes (60 marks) 37.5% of the total marks
1. The Roaring 20s: USA, 1918–1929
2. Race Relations in the USA 1955–1968
3. Hitler’s Germany, 1929-1939
Unit 3: Historical Enquiry - British History
Controlled assessment on British History in the 20th Century:
(40 marks) 25% of the total marks
Controlled Assessment Tasks May 2012
1. Select five sources. Explain how useful these sources have been in informing you in your enquiry into the use of any two of the new methods of warfare on the Western Front in World War 1. (15 marks)
2. ‘The Evacuation from Dunkirk in World War 2 was a great disaster for Britain.’ How far do the sources you have used support this interpretation of the Evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940? To answer this question, examine the sources you have researched on this topic. You should examine at least 8 sources in explaining your answer. You should also use your own knowledge to comment on the evidence in the sources. (25 marks)
Year 10
In year 10 we study Unit 1 with the intention of all students sitting the exam at the end of this academic year.
Year 11
In the final year we prepare students for their Controlled Assessment as well as studying Unit 2.
For further information and resources, including past paper we recommend you use the following link.
Hitler’s foreign policy and the origins of the Second World War
Key issue: How did Hitler challenge and exploit the Treaty of Versailles 1933–March 1938?
· Hitler’s aims in foreign policy
· The return of the Saar, 1935
· The beginning of rearmament in Germany: withdrawal from the Disarmament Conference 1933; non-aggression Pact with Poland 1934; reintroduction of conscription from 1935; Anglo-German Naval Agreement 1935
· The remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936
· The Anschluss with Austria 1938.
Key issue: Why did Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement fail to prevent the outbreak of war in 1939?
· Reasons for and against appeasement
· The Sudeten Crisis and Munich Agreement, 1938
· The Collapse of Czechoslovakia March, 1939
· The role of the USSR1938–1939: the Nazi-Soviet Pact
· Poland and the outbreak of war
· Responsibility for the outbreak of war.
The Origins of the Cold War 1945–1955
Key issue: Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the years 1945–1949?
· Ideological differences and their effects
· The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
· The dropping of the atom bomb and its effects: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
· The Iron Curtain: Soviet expansion in the East; Czechoslovakia, 1948
· The Truman Doctrine: the situation in Greece and Turkey; the purpose of Truman Doctrine
· The Marshall Plan: effect of Marshall Aid and the Soviet response; Cominform and Comecon; Yugoslavia
· The Berlin Blockade and Airlift.
Key issue: How did the Cold War develop in the years 1949–1955?
· The formation of NATO: its membership and purpose
· The nuclear arms race: atom bomb; hydrogen bomb
· The Korean War, 1950–1953: reasons for involvement of UN and USA; the role of MacArthur; the part played by USSR and China
· The ‘Thaw’: death of Stalin; Austria; Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence
· The formation of the Warsaw Pact: membership and purpose.
Crises of the Cold War 1955–1970
Key issue: How peaceful was Peaceful Co-existence?
· Hungary, 1956: causes of the rising, why it was a threat to the USSR and how the soviets dealt with it; the effects on Europe and the Cold War
· The continuation of the nuclear arms/space race: Sputnik 1; ICBMs; Polaris; Gagarin; Apollo
· The U2 Crisis 1960: the purpose of U2; the responses of the USA and the USSR to the crisis; the effect on the Paris Summit and the peace process
· The situation in Berlin: the Berlin Wall; Kennedy’s response.
Key issue: How close to war was the world in the 1960s?
· The nuclear deterrent: progress with nuclear disarmament; the space race in the 1960s
· The Cuban Missile Crisis,1962: the effect of Castro’s seizure of power in Cuba; Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs; Khrushchev and the missile crisis of 1962; Kennedy’s response; the danger to the world; the results of the crisis; the effect on Kennedy and Khrushchev
· Czechoslovakia, 1968: Dubcek and the Prague Spring; why it concerned the USSR and the Warsaw Pact and their response to it; the effects on East-West relations; the comparison with Hungary, 1956; the Brezhnev Doctrine.
The Roaring 20s: USA, 1918–1929
Key issue: How and why did the USA achieve prosperity in the 1920s?
· Isolationism and its effects: American rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and refusal to join the League of Nations; the consequences for the USA
· Tariff policy: Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922
· Mass production (e.g. Ford and the Motor industry); consumer industries and advertising
· Hire Purchase; purchase of shares; the stock market boom; Republican Government policies
· Developments in the entertainment industries, e.g. the cinema, jazz.
Key issue: How far was the USA a divided society in the 1920s?
· Rich versus poor: continuation of poverty for some – e.g. farmers
· Race: immigration controls; the quota system of 1921; National Origins Act of 1924; the Ku Klux Klan and its activities
· Prohibition: groups for and against it; organised crime; the impact on society
· Young people: fashions, flappers.
Key issue: Why did the US Stock Exchange collapse in 1929?
· The problems of the 1920s: over-production, lack of credit control; the effects of tariff policy; unequal distribution of wealth
· The Wall Street Crash: events and immediate consequences.
Race Relations in the USA 1955–1968
Key issue: To what extent did racial inequality exist in the USA in the 1950s?
· Segregation laws; attitudes in the Southern States; the Ku Klux Klan
· Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955–1956
· Brown versus Topeka Board of Education
· Little Rock High School, 1957
· Living standards for African Americans.
Key issue: How effective were the methods used by members of the Civil Rights Movement between 1961–1968?
· The Freedom Rides, 1961; Freedom Marches 1963
· The Washington March, 1963
· Black Power protests at the Mexico Olympics, 1968
· The Black Power movement in the 1960s.
Key issue: How important was Martin Luther King in the fight for Civil Rights in the USA?
· His role as a protest organiser, 1955–1963
· The Civil Rights Act, 1964
· Winning the Nobel Peace Prize, 1964
· Race Riots, 1965–1967
· The assassination of Martin Luther King.
Hitler’s Germany, 1929-1939
Key issue: How and why was Hitler able to become Chancellor in January 1933?
· The impact of the Wall Street Crash and Depression in Germany; growth in support for the Nazis and other extremist parties
· The Weimar system of government and the failure of democracy; elections in 1930 and 1932; invitation to lead coalition government 1933; reactions among German people
Key issue: How did Hitler change Germany from a democracy to a Nazi dictatorship, 1933-34, and then reinforce this?
· The Reichstag firs; election of March 1933; the Enabling Act
· The elimination of political opposition: political parties, trade unions; the Night of the Long Knives; death of Hindenburg; Hitler becomes Fuhrer
· One party law and order: SS and Gestapo; concentration camps; propaganda; censorship; media; control of education; youth movements; control of churches
Key issue: To what extent did Germans benefit from Nazi rule in the 1930s?
· Economic policy; increased employment through public works programmes, rearmament and conscription; self-sufficiency
· Social policy: standards of living; promises to the German people; effects of Nazi policy on the lives of women; effects on culture
· Racial persecution: the Jews and other alien groups, e.g. gypsies
