G3 Elective History notes

G3 Elective History - syllabus K336, 2027

After World War I
Why was peace hard after the First World War? The Treaty of Versailles, its effects on Germany, and the League of Nations' successes and failures in the 1920s.
Case Study of Nazi Germany
How Hitler rose to power, built a dictatorship and changed people's lives. Learn to use laws, speeches and workers' accounts as evidence.
Case Study of Militarist Japan, 1920s-1930s
Why did Japan's military gain power in the 1930s? Hard times, expansion abroad and political violence, and what changed in factories, villages and schools.
Key developments leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe
Why did attempts to keep peace fail? From disarmament to Poland in 1939: how Hitler's expansion and appeasement made war more likely.
Key developments leading to the outbreak of World War II in the Asia-Pacific
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbour? The war in China, the search for Southeast Asian resources and the oil embargo led to Japan's choice of wider war in 1941.
Reasons for the end of World War II
Why did Germany and Japan lose the Second World War? Allied supplies and strategy, and the pressures behind Japan's surrender in 1945.
Origins and development of the Cold War in Europe
Why did the USA and USSR become rivals after 1945? Security fears, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall aid and the Berlin Blockade explain Europe's division.
Extension of the Cold War outside Europe: Case study of Korean War, 1950-1953
Why did the Korean War begin, draw in the USA and China, and leave Korea divided? The 1950 invasion, changing war aims and the 1953 armistice.
Extension of the Cold War outside Europe: Case study of Vietnam War, 1954-1975
Why did Vietnam stay divided after 1954, and why could US military power not save the South? Diem, the insurgency, escalation, Tet and 1975.
End of the Cold War
Why did the Cold War end? Soviet shortages, military costs, US pressure and Gorbachev's reforms, then 1989 in Eastern Europe and the USSR's breakup in 1991.