History > Key Stage 4

What Students Will Study in Year 10 and Year 11

Paper 1

International History

How did the Treaty of Versailles establish peace? Paris Peace Conference; Woodrow Wilson, Llloyd George, Clemenceau – their views and motives. Main terms of The Treaty of Versailles – territorial changes, military restrictions, war – guilt and reparations.

Why did the League of Nations frequently fail in it's aims to keep peace? The LON – membership, organisation, powers and peacekeeping role. Crises of Manchuria(1931 – 2) and Abyssinia (1935 – 6)

How did Hitler challenge and exploit the Treaty of Versailles in the period 1933 to March 1938? Hitler's aims and expansionist policies; the Saar; Rhineland 1936; Austria 1938

Why did appeasement fail to prevent the outbreak of war in 1939? Appeasement and Chamberlain, Aryan supremacy and lebensraum; Sudetenland and the Munich Agreement; Czechoslovakia, March 1939; growing tensions, including role of USSR; Nazi – Soviet Pact; Poland and the outbreak of war.

Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the period 1945 to 1949? East – West idealogeical gap; decisions mad e 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 – 48; Berlin blockade and airlift.

How did the Cold War develop in the period 1945 – 1949? NATO and the Warsaw Pact; the beginnings of the Arms Race; Korean War; Khruschev's policy of peacful co – existence and the USA's response; Hungary, 1956; arms/space race; U2 incident, 1960; Berlin Wall; President Kennedy's visit to Berlin, 1963.

How close to war did the world come over Cuba in 1962? The background in Cuba; Castro; friendship with USSR; Kennedy and Bay of Pigs; the crisis of 1962 and its results.

Britain in the Second World War

How did Britain resist and contribute to the defeat of Germany in the Second World War? BEF in Europe 1939 – 40; Dunkirk; Battle of Britain; Battle of the Atlantic; D – Day and the defeat of Germany.

How did the war change life in Britain? Evacuation; conscription; censorship and propaganda; the Blitz and air – raid precautions; Internment; the role of women; rationing and the effects of submarine warfare.

Paper 2

Germany 1918–1939

How far do the early problems of the Weimar Republic suggest it was doomed from the start? Origins of the Weimar Republic; effects of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany; Problems of the Weimar Republic, 1918 – 24: political weakness; political challenges from the Left and Right; Spartacists; Kapp Putsch; invasion of the Ruhr; hyperinflation.

How far did the Weimar Republic recover under Stresemann? Recovery of the economy; the Dawes and Young Plans; the role of Stresemann; inability of the Weimar Republic to cope with the Depression.

How did the Nazi Party develop its ideas and organisation up to 1929? Early career of Hitler; founding of the Nazi Party; Munich Putsch; Mein Kampf; decline in support in the Stresemann years.

How was Hitler able to become Chancellor in January 1933? Growth in support for the Nazis, 1929 – 1933; and its reasons; elections of 1932; invitation to lead coalition government, 1933.

How did Hitler change Germany from a democracy into a Nazi dictatorship in the period 1933 to 1934? Reichstag Fire; Election of March 1933; Enabling Act; elimination of political opposition – political parties, Trade Unions. Night of the Long Knives; death of Hindenburg; Hitler becomes Fuhrer.

What were the main features of totalitarian dictator ship of Nazi Germany? One party law and order – the SS and Gestapo. Cultural, racial and religious persecution; control of education, youth movements and the media; censorship and propaganda.

To what extent did the German people benefit from Nazi rule in the 1930s? Economic policy; increased employment through public works programmes, rearmament and conscription; self – sufficiency. Effects of Nazi policies on people living in Germany.

The USA 1919 – 41

How did the USA react to the end of World War I? Rejection of the peace treaty; reasons for refusing to join the League of Nations.

How did the policies of the USA Government encourage isolation? Tariff policy: Fordney – McCumber Tariff of 1922; immigration controls; quota system of 1921.

How far did the USA achieve economic prosperity in the 1920s? Mass production (eg Ford and the motor industry); consumer boom – Hire Purchase, purchase of shares; stock market boom; continuation of poverty ~(eg farmers); Afro – Americans.

Why did the USA fall into the Depression of 1929? Problems of the 1920's (eg over – production, lack of credit control, unequal distribution of wealth; tariff controls).

What were the effects of the Depression on the American people? Effects of the Wall St Crash – collapse of business and industry; unemploymant ands its effects; failure of Hoover's Government to deal with the Depression.

What measures did Roosevelt introduce to deal with the Depression? Election of FDR; the fireside chats; banking crisis; New Deal and the alphabet agencies:TVA, NRA, WPA, CCC, AAA.

How far was the New Deal successful in ending the Depression in the USA? Effects of the New Deal in achiving its aims; limitations; opposition to it; impact of WW2 on American economic recovery.

Pages designed and created by J Reeve, 2006.