MacGregor Is History

IB HISTORY AT HVITFELDTSKA GYMNASIET

Welcome to the IB History Course for both Standard and Higher Level at Hvitgeldtska Gymnasiet!

This course is based on what will show up in your final exams (according to the IB History Syllabus) at the end of your second Diploma Year. I have divided this course into twelve specific themes. These themes will be studied over a two-year period (about 130 hours). During the first year we will study theme 1-8. You will write several in-class essays – Paper 2 (Theme 1 and 2, theme 4 and 5, theme 6 and 7, theme 8) and some in-class source-based paper – Paper 1. The “End-of-year Exam” at the end of the first year will consist of one Paper 1 and ten essay questions (Paper 2 – you will only answer one of those ten questions). You will also write one Internal Assessment in History (1500-2000 words). Higher Level will add one more paper which will be covered seperately. Here are the twelve common topics that everybody will study:

1. Europe (especially Germany and Russia) before WWI

Background to WWI – Wilhelmine Germany (1888-1918) and the Russian Empire under Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917)

2. WWI (1914-18)

Explain why it was a “total war”; long-term, short-term and immediate causes; economic, political, ideological causes; aims of the main participants; technological developments, tactics and strategies, air, land and sea; Home Front: economic and social impact (changes of women’s status and role); Resistance and revolutionary movements; Wilsons Fourteen Points and the Armistices; Peace settlements: Attempts at collective security, Political repercussions, territorial changes, post-war depressions (economic problems)

3. League of Nations/Interwar Period (1919-1936)

The geopolitical and economic impact of the WWI treaties on Europe; US isolationism – background and impact (retreat from the Anglo-American Guarantee); The Mandate system (establishment and impact); The League of Nations (establishment, principle of collective security, big powers missing – effect?, early attempts of peace keeping 1920-25); Disarmament (Washington, London and Geneva conferences); Ruhr Crisis (1923); Locarno Treaty 1925 (“Locarno Spring”); Wall Street Crash 1929 (background, event, effects); Manchurian Crisis (1931-33); Abyssinian Crisis (1935-36)

4. Weimar Germany (1919-33)

Written constitution; Electoral system, proportional representation, coalition governments; role of political parties, Role of an opposition; Role of pressure (interest/lobby) groups; Economic and social policies: Employment; Gender; Health and Education; Social welfare; Political, social and economic challenges: Political extremism; Ethnicity, religion and gender; Inequitable distribution of wealth/resources

5. Third Reich 1933-1939

Conditions that made the take-over possible; Emergence of NSDAP and Hitler: aims, ideology, support; To what extent was the Third Reich a totalitarian state and were the aims achieved; Establishment: Methods of take-over: legal or by force; Form of government and the ideology; Nature, extent and treatment of opposition; Domestic policies and impact; Structure and organization of government and administration; Political, economic, social and religious policies; Role of Education, the arts, the media, propaganda; Status of women, treatment of religious groups and minorities

6. Russia/USSR 1917-1924

Russian Revolutions (February/March + October/November); Conditions that made a take-over possible; Emergence of Bolshevism and Lenin; aims, ideology, support; To what extent was the USSR under Lenin a totalitarian state and were the aims achieved; Establishment: Methods of take-over: legal or by force; Form of government and the ideology; Nature, extent and treatment of opposition; Domestic policies and impact; Structure and organization of government and administration; Political, economic, social and religious policies; Role of Education, the arts, the media, propaganda; Status of women, treatment of religious groups and minorities

7. USSR 1924-1953

Conditions that made the take-over possible; Emergence of Stalin and the power-struggle: aims, ideology, support; To what extent was the USSR under Stalin a totalitarian state and were the aims achieved; Establishment: Methods of take-over: legal or by force; Form of government and the ideology; Nature, extent and treatment of opposition; Domestic policies and impact; Structure and organization of government and administration; Political, economic, social and religious policies; Role of Education, the arts, the media, propaganda; Status of women, treatment of religious groups and minorities

8. Spanish Civil War (1936-39)

Explain why it was a “civil war”; long-term, short-term and immediate causes; economic, political, ideological and religious causes; technological developments, tactics and strategies, air, land and sea; Home Front: economic and social impact (changes of women’s status and role); Resistance and revolutionary movements; Political repercussions, and post-war depressions (economic problems)

9. WWII (1939-1945)

Explain why it was a “total war”; long-term, short-term and immediate causes; economic, political, ideological causes; technological developments, tactics and strategies, air, land and sea; Home Front: economic and social impact (changes of women’s status and role); Resistance and revolutionary movements; Peace settlements and wars ending without treaties: Attempts at collective security, Political repercussions, territorial changes, post-war depressions (economic problems)

10. Cold War 1945-1961(?)

Origins of the Cold War: ideological differences; Mutual suspicion and fear; Wartime allies – post-war enemies (wartime conferences: Yalta and Potsdam); Nature of the Cold War; Ideological opposition; Superpowers and spheres of influence; Alliances and diplomacy in the Cold War (Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO; Sovietization of Eastern and Central Europe – Salami tactics, COMINFORM, COMECON and Warsaw Pact); Development and impact of the Cold War (Germany – especially Berlin 1945-61); Global spread of the Cold War from its European origins (Korea and if we have time Cuba + Vietnam); Role and significance of leaders (Stalin, Truman, Mao and if we have time Castro and Kennedy)…

11. Chinese Civil War (1927-37 / 1946-49)

Explain why it was a “civil war”; long-term, short-term and immediate causes; economic, political, ideological causes; technological developments, tactics and strategies, air, land and sea; Home Front: economic and social impact (changes of women’s status and role); Resistance and revolutionary movements; Political repercussions, and post-war depressions (economic problems)

12. China 1949-1975

Conditions that made the take-over possible; Emergence of the Chinese Communist Party and Mao: aims, ideology, support; To what extent was China under Mao a totalitarian state and were the aims achieved; Establishment: Methods of take-over: legal or by force; Form of government and the ideology; Nature, extent and treatment of opposition; Domestic policies and impact; Structure and organization of government and administration; Political, economic, social and religious policies; Role of Education, the arts, the media, propaganda; Status of women, treatment of religious groups and minorities