History

Assessment

Paper 1 (studied by HL and SL students in the Lower Sixth) is a source paper entitled Rights and Protest, looking in depth at two case studies of race, identity, rights and suppression: the Civil Rights struggle in the United States and the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa in the middle of the twentieth century. Paper II (studied by HL and SL students in the Lower Sixth) is an essay paper covering the growth, development, and decline of empires. Teachers will select a topic depending on their specialism. The current options are as follows. A study of the English Civil Wars examines the causes of the civil conflict as well as the ensuing wars and the development of military tactics. It enables students to consider the role of the individual by considering key players such as Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. In Independence Movements you will investigate how empires end. Comparing the processes by which different territories, such as Zimbabwe and Ireland, broke with their colonial pasts, you will see decolonisation not from the perspective of the imperialists but instead from the point of view of those who, fuelled by their burgeoning cultural and ethnic self-awareness, sought to build new states and new identities. The Cold War topic explores the origins of the crisis and studies the impact of the Cold War on two countries from different parts of the world. You will also compare and contrast the roles of Cold War leaders and examine the development of the conflict in Europe, Asia, the US and Africa. Paper III (studied by HL students in the Upper Sixth) is an essay paper which examines cultural and intellectual history alongside more conventional, political topics. Britain during the build-up to the First World War is studied allowing an examination of complex international relations in the shift towards global conflict. It involves themes such as Imperialism, nationalism and militarism to be explored to analyse the reasons for the outbreak of war in 1914. The second topic will focus on the nineteenth century, and may cover the history of Russia, 1855-1924; Britain, 1815-1914; or Italy and Germany, 1815-1890. In each case, you will see how the progressive ideals of the eighteenth century developed into new and radical political philosophies (eg Nationalism, Liberalism, and Communism) which threatened to overthrow the established order in Europe. In studying this period, you will glimpse the origins of the ideas and the politics that have shaped the modern world.