H2 History notes

H2 History - syllabus 9174, 2027

• Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1955

  Why the wartime alliance broke down: ideology, security and economics, Yalta and Potsdam, containment, Berlin, NATO, and how historians interpret the origins.

• The Korean War and the global Cold War, 1950-1953

  How China's revolution brought the Cold War to Asia, why the Korean War broke out, the roles of Kim, Stalin, Mao and Truman, and how the war transformed the Cold War.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

  How the Cuban Revolution changed Cuba's relations with the superpowers, why Khrushchev sent missiles, the thirteen days, Castro's role, and the crisis's impact on the Cold War.

• The Vietnam War, 1954-1975

  From the First Indochina War and Geneva to American escalation, the roles of Hanoi, Saigon, the superpowers and China, American withdrawal, and the war's impact on the Cold War.

• The end of the Cold War, 1979-1991

  Reagan's renewed confrontation and arms control, Soviet decline, Gorbachev's New Thinking and the Sinatra Doctrine, the revolutions in Poland and East Germany, and the debate over who ended the Cold War.

• The Third Indochina War, 1978-1991

  Historical animosities and Cold War alignments, the Khmer Rouge and the border war, Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia, China's punitive war, and the settlement of 1989-1991.

• ASEAN and regional cooperation, 1967-2000

  Why ASEAN was formed, how it managed disputes, ZOPFAN and the Bali Summit, its campaign over Cambodia, its growth after the Cold War, and how to judge the ASEAN Way.

• The growth of the global economy, 1945-2000

  Why the world economy grew so fast after 1945: reconstruction, the USA, Western Europe and Japan, multinational corporations, and international organisations, and how their importance changed over time.

• Challenges to the global economy, 1973-1990

  How the oil crises of 1973 and 1979, the new protectionism and the debt crises of the 1980s challenged the global economy, who they hurt, and how to weigh them.

• Japan's economic transformation, 1947-1991

  How Japan rose from defeat to become the second largest economy in the non-communist world: government intervention, the keiretsu system, social change and international developments, and how their importance changed.

• China's economic transformation, 1978-2000

  How China moved from a poor planned economy to a fast-growing trading power: the problems of the Maoist economy, market reforms, the open door, state intervention and international developments.

• The Indo-Pakistani conflict, 1947-1972

  Why India and Pakistan fought three wars in 25 years, how the combatants, the superpowers and the UN shaped them, and how well diplomacy and peacekeeping managed the conflict.

• The Arab-Israeli conflict, 1948-1979

  Why Israel and its Arab neighbours fought four wars between 1948 and 1973, how the combatants, the superpowers and the UN shaped them, and how diplomacy and peacekeeping produced a partial peace.

• The Congo Crisis, 1960-1965

  Why the newly independent Congo collapsed into mutiny, secession and civil war; how Congolese leaders, Belgium, the superpowers and the UN shaped the crisis; and how far peace processes worked.

• The Bosnian War, 1992-1995

  Why the collapse of Yugoslavia led to war in Bosnia; how Bosnian leaders, neighbouring states, the UN, Europe, the USA and NATO shaped it; and how the Dayton peace process ended it.

• Forms of government in Southeast Asia

  Why independent Southeast Asian countries set up democratic, authoritarian and hybrid governments, and how decolonisation, elites and masses, and the Cold War shaped them over time.

• Consolidating power in Southeast Asia

  How Southeast Asian governments built and kept power through leaders, elections, the military, monarchy and religion, and performance, how they dealt with opposition, and how successful they were.

• Building national unity in Southeast Asia

  Why Southeast Asian governments needed to build national unity, how they used dominant culture and multicultural approaches and the tools of education, language, religion and ideology, and how far they succeeded.

• Economic change in Southeast Asia

  How Southeast Asian economies pursued growth, equity and nationalism, how agriculture, industry and finance changed, and how far economies were transformed by 2000.

• What shaped economic change in Southeast Asia

  How domestic conditions, government strategies, private businesses, the Cold War and the world economy shaped economic change, and why similar countries ended up so different.

• The outcomes of economic change in Southeast Asia

  How far Southeast Asian countries achieved growth, equity and economic nationalism by 2000, how sustainable their growth was, and what the 1997 crisis revealed.

• Inter-state tensions in Southeast Asia

  Why Southeast Asian states quarrelled over Preah Vihear, Sabah, Malaysia and water, and how these tensions damaged and then shaped regional cooperation and security.