AQA A-Level History
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Historical skills
Historical reasoning and evidence
7042 - Chronology, change and causationLearn how to move from a sequence of events to a supported explanation of the past. You will distinguish causes from consequences, measure change and continuity, compare developments and judge their significance. This is formative preparation for the historical reasoning used in your examined opt...
7042 - Building a supported historical argumentLearn how precise evidence becomes an argument that answers a historical question. You will define the demand and date range, explain connections, weigh alternatives and communicate a substantiated judgement. This is formative preparation for AO1 in your examined options. The Lanton case and all...
7042 - Evaluating historical interpretationsLearn to reconstruct an interpretation’s argument, test it with relevant contextual knowledge, and explain how far it is convincing. A fictional training case lets you practise these skills before applying them to the historical periods you study.
7042 - Evaluating contemporary sourcesLearn how to judge a source's value for a particular historical enquiry by connecting its content, creation and historical context. A complete short document and its background are supplied, so no prior knowledge of an option is needed.
Component 1 option 1A — The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204
The origins of conflict and the First Crusade, c1071–c1099
1A - Christianity in western Europe c1071Learn how western Christian beliefs, church institutions and papal reform created the conditions in which an armed expedition could be presented as a religious duty.
1A - Islam c1071: Muslim expansion and the rise of the Seljuk TurksLearn how Islam united a wide religious world while rival dynasties divided political power, and why Seljuk expansion threatened Byzantium without creating a single Muslim response to the crusaders.
1A - The Byzantine Empire c1071: the internal problems of the Byzantine EmpireLearn why Byzantine political weaknesses turned defeat at Manzikert into a much larger crisis, and how recovery under Alexios I shaped the empire's need for western assistance.
1A - Urban II: the reasons for the calling of the First CrusadeLearn why Urban II turned a Byzantine request for assistance into a penitential expedition, and how religious objectives and papal politics reinforced each other in 1095.
1A - The motives of the crusadersLearn how religious commitment, family relationships and worldly ambitions shaped participation, and why popular crusading cannot be explained by assuming all participants shared one motive.
1A - The course and impact of the First Crusade and its impact on the Muslim Near East, the Byzantine Empire and the Latin West by 1099Learn how the crusaders survived the route to Jerusalem, why success depended on both their actions and their opponents' divisions, and how the conquest changed three different regions by 1099.
The foundation of new states and the Second Crusade, c1099–1149
1A - Establishing the states of Outremer: Kings Baldwin I, II and Queen MelisendeLearn how rulers turned conquest into lasting government, why coastal expansion mattered, and how trade and pilgrimage sustained states whose Latin population remained small.
1A - The foundation of the military orders: Templars and HospitallersLearn how the Templars and Hospitallers developed different beginnings into permanent religious institutions, and how their military and economic work supported the defence of Outremer.
1A - Relations of the Crusader states with the Byzantine Empire, the Latin West, the Muslim Near East and indigenous peoplesLearn why the survival of Outremer between 1099 and 1149 depended on relationships which crossed religious and political boundaries. Distinguish cooperation from equality, and shared Christianity from shared interests.
1A - The Islamic response to the Crusader states: Islamic politics and the rise of ideas of jihad under ZengiLearn why opposition to the Franks developed unevenly and how Zengi combined territorial ambition with religious legitimacy. Explain the significance of Edessa without treating the Muslim response as an inevitable march towards unity.
1A - The preaching of the Second CrusadeLearn how an appeal after the fall of Edessa mobilised a major expedition, and why that expedition failed in the East. Follow the decisions between recruitment and Damascus rather than treating religious enthusiasm as a guarantee of military success.
1A - The impact of the Second Crusade on the Muslim Near East, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin West and Outremer by 1149Learn how the unsuccessful eastern expedition changed political opportunities and expectations by 1149. Compare the effects on four regions, while distinguishing immediate consequences from developments which occurred later.
The Muslim Counter-Crusade and Crusader states, 1149–1187 (A-level only)
1A - The context of Islamic power in the Near East from 1149Learn how Nureddin expanded his authority in Syria and gained influence in Egypt. Explain how military resources, local rivalries and the growth of jihad reinforced one another without producing a simple or inevitable path to unity.
1A - Outremer from 1149: political developments, military strengths and weaknessesLearn how Outremer recovered and continued to fight after the Second Crusade, while its underlying position became more dangerous. Connect royal authority, regional leadership, fortifications and field armies to the changing balance of power before 1187.
1A - Relations between Outremer and wider Christendom, the Latin West and the Byzantine EmpireOutremer sought money, soldiers and allies as Muslim power grew between 1149 and 1187. Its Christian connections remained extensive, but shared religion did not give its rulers control over the priorities of western kings or Byzantine emperors.
1A - Internal divisions within Outremer, including the reign of Baldwin IV and his successorsBaldwin IV's illness and the succession after him made control of government an urgent issue in Jerusalem between 1174 and 1187. Family interests, disagreements over leadership and the actions of powerful lords complicated the kingdom's response to Saladin.
1A - The rise of Saladin: religion, politics and military expansionLearn how Saladin built power in Egypt and Syria, why religious commitment and political ambition were connected, and how his victory at Hattin in 1187 transformed the balance of power.
1A - The crisis of Outremer: the consequences of Saladin’s capture of JerusalemLearn why the losses of 1187 produced a military, political and religious crisis, why some Frankish positions survived, and how the capture of Jerusalem changed the prospects of both Outremer and Saladin.
The Third and Fourth Crusades, 1187–1204 (A-level only)
1A - Preaching and preparing for the Third Crusade: motives of Pope Gregory VIIILearn how papal preaching turned the crisis of 1187 into a new crusade, why Henry II, Richard I, Philip II and Frederick Barbarossa responded, and how finance and European rivalries shaped their preparations.
1A - The course of the Third Crusade: leadership and internal rivalries of the CrusadersLearn how the Third Crusade recovered coastal positions but failed to recover Jerusalem, and weigh the roles of leadership, rivalries, supply and Saladin’s resistance in that outcome.
1A - The impact of the Third CrusadeLearn how the Third Crusade changed Outremer and the wider Christian world, and distinguish Saladin’s religious prestige from the political strength and durability of his rule.
1A - The origins of the Fourth CrusadeLearn how Innocent III’s religious programme, the need for naval transport, Venetian interests and Byzantine weakness created the conditions for a new crusade and its eventual diversion.
1A - The course of the Fourth Crusade: military preparationsLearn how the Fourth Crusade moved from a planned attack on Muslim power to attacks on Zara and Constantinople, and explain why the main expedition failed to advance its Holy Land objective.
1A - The legacy of the Crusades by 1204: the Muslim Near East, the Byzantine Empire and the Latin WestLearn to compare the crusades’ effects across the Muslim Near East, Byzantium and the Latin West by 1204, using changes in power, religion and everyday connections to judge their significance.
Component 1 option 1B — Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598
The forging of a new state, 1469–1516
1B - The political, economic, social and religious condition of the Iberian Peninsula in 1469Learn why the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand began a difficult political project rather than creating a united Spain overnight. Compare the peninsula's states, resources, social divisions and religions to establish what their later policies could change.
1B - The restoration of royal authorityLearn how Isabella and Ferdinand strengthened government between 1469 and 1516 through victory, negotiation and institutions. Explain why their growing international influence coexisted with a monarchy that preserved separate territories.
1B - Social issues and policies: the nobility, the peasantry, urban communities and the ChurchLearn how the Catholic Monarchs dealt differently with nobles, peasants, towns and the Church. Use those differences to judge whether stronger monarchy changed the social order or made an existing hierarchy more stable.
1B - Muslims/MoriscosLearn how conquest, conversion, expulsion and the Inquisition changed religious life between 1469 and 1516. Distinguish the experiences of Muslims, Moriscos, Jews and conversos, and explain why enforced conformity did not remove religious and social conflict.
1B - Economic stagnation and change: trade and exploration in Europe and North AfricaLearn why the Catholic Monarchs' period combined economic constraints with expanding trade and exploration. Follow European and North African connections into early Atlantic colonisation, and distinguish commercial opportunity from prosperity for the whole population.
1B - The degree of political unity and social and economic change by 1516Learn to judge the Catholic Monarchs' achievement by comparing 1469 with 1516 across institutions, society and economic life. Explain how a stronger monarchy and expanding international reach could coexist with regional division and limited social transformation.
The drive to 'Great Power' status, 1516–1556
1B - Charles' inheritanceLearn why Charles' extensive inheritance created authority, resources and serious governing problems. Explain the causes and outcomes of the Comuneros and Germanía revolts, then distinguish military victory from the accommodation that consolidated his rule.
1B - The workings of Empire: ideas and imageLearn how Charles used ideas, image, councils and trusted individuals to govern a composite empire. Explain how domestic administration sustained his international ambitions and why practical limits survived the development of royal institutions.
1B - Foreign relations within EuropeCharles I of Spain was also Emperor Charles V. Learn why his inherited territories drew Spain into wars with France, German princes and the Ottoman Empire, and assess how far military success produced lasting power between 1516 and 1556.
1B - Religious policies and the Church in SpainLearn how Charles maintained a Catholic monarchy while supporting some religious reform, restricting heterodoxy and compelling Muslim communities to convert. Assess the difference between public religious conformity, royal control of the Church and what people actually believed.
1B - The expansion of Empire: the conquistadoresLearn how conquest in Mexico and Peru expanded the Spanish monarchy, why conquest depended on Indigenous people as well as conquistadores, and how American empire brought wealth, opportunities and new pressures to Spain before 1556.
1B - The political, economic, social and religious condition of Spain in 1556Assess the Spain Philip II inherited in 1556. Distinguish stronger royal authority and imperial reach from continuing regional privileges, economic pressures, social inequality and the limits of religious unity.
The 'Golden Age', 1556–1598 (A-level only)
1B - Philip II as ruler: characterLearn how Philip II's upbringing, priorities and style of work shaped his government. Assess what he inherited, what changed under a more settled court, and why personal attention to administration could strengthen control while delaying decisions.
1B - Opposition of individuals and groups: faction and curbing internal rebellionsLearn why Philip II faced rivalry at court and rebellion within his kingdoms. Compare personal and factional challenges with the Morisco revolt and the Aragon crisis, and assess how repression, negotiation and institutional change protected royal authority.
1B - Religion and societyLearn how Philip II's Catholic priorities affected worship, education and social belonging. Compare the constructive work of Catholic reform and the Jesuits with inquisitorial repression, and explain why a Catholic king could cooperate with the papacy while resisting its political demands.
1B - Economic developmentsLearn how farming, industry, trade and overseas resources changed under Philip II. Explain the Crown's taxation and borrowing, why payment suspensions occurred despite imperial wealth, and how the costs and gains were distributed within Spain.
1B - Social and cultural developments of the ‘Golden Age’Spain's cultural achievements under Philip II grew within a society marked by privilege, poverty and religious discipline. This lesson explains how patrons, writers, artists and scholars produced new work, and why cultural brilliance did not mean equal prosperity or unrestricted thought.
1B - The condition of Spain in 1598: political, economic and social strengths and weaknessesPhilip II died in 1598 leaving a monarchy with formidable institutions and resources, but also heavy demands on its people and finances. This lesson assesses Spain's condition by distinguishing political stability, royal spending power, productive wealth and social wellbeing.
Spain: The 'Great Power', 1556–1598 (A-level only)
1B - Philip’s inheritance and ambitionsPhilip II inherited territories, military resources and conflicts rather than a free choice of policy. This lesson explains how dynastic duty, religion and strategic pressures shaped his ambitions, and how the army and navy enabled and limited their pursuit.
1B - The eclipsing of French power: ItalySpain's defeat of French ambitions in Italy was a durable achievement, but Philip II's later attempts to shape France itself had different results. This lesson follows that contrast from the peace of 1559 to the settlement of 1598, explaining both military advantage and its political limits.
1B - Control of the Mediterranean: challenging the TurksPhilip II defended a Mediterranean frontier and later acquired Portugal and its overseas possessions. This lesson explains why victory at sea did not create complete Mediterranean control, and why the Portuguese union required both conquest and a negotiated relationship.
1B - Revolt in the NetherlandsThe revolt in the Netherlands became a prolonged war that drew England into conflict with Spain in Europe and across the Atlantic. This lesson explains the revolt's changing causes, Spain's partial recovery, and why the failure of the Armada did not end the wider struggle.
1B - Spain in the New World: expansion, settlement and tradeUnder Philip II, the American empire developed from earlier conquests into extensive systems of settlement, government and commerce. This lesson explains how expansion and silver linked Spain to a wider world, while distinguishing royal gains from the very different effects on settlers, enslaved...
1B - Spain’s international position by 1598: the extent of Spain's powerBy 1598 Spain possessed a global monarchy but had failed to achieve several important European aims. This lesson assesses whether its power was illusion or reality by comparing territory, usable resources, diplomatic influence and outcomes across Philip II's reign.
Component 1 option 1C — The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
Henry VII, 1485–1509
AQA 7042 · 1C · R01 - Henry VII: establishing the Tudor dynastyHenry Tudor won a crown in battle; he still had to build a dynasty. Follow how he combined ceremony, law, marriage, an heir and the defeat of early opposition to turn victory in 1485 into more durable authority. Then use those choices to test claims about his character and success.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R02 - Henry VII’s government and royal financeHenry VII governed through people and institutions he largely inherited. Trace how councils, Parliament, justice and finance connected the king to his subjects between 1485 and 1509. Then judge whether stronger royal direction meant a new system or a more intensive use of old methods.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R03 - Henry VII: foreign relations and the successionForeign rulers could shelter Henry VII’s rivals or recognise his family. Follow his dealings with Scotland, France, Spain and the Burgundian-Habsburg rulers, and distinguish diplomatic gains from a succession that still depended on children surviving. How secure was the Tudor dynasty by 1509?
AQA 7042 · 1C · R04 - Henry VII’s society and rebellionHenry VII ruled a varied society whose churchmen, nobles and commoners had unequal power and different expectations. Explore how authority reached local communities, why regional grievances became rebellion, and why defeating a rising did not remove its causes.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R05 - Henry VII: trade, exploration and living standardsGrowing cloth exports and Atlantic voyages suggest opportunity under Henry VII, but not everyone benefited. Compare trade, farming and living standards between 1485 and 1509, and learn to judge prosperity by who gained, where and for how long.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R06 - Henry VII: religion, humanism and cultureCatholic worship remained central under Henry VII while humanist scholarship, printing and patronage created new opportunities for learning. Examine religion, arts and education between 1485 and 1509, keeping immediate change separate from developments completed in the next reign.
Henry VIII, 1509–1547
AQA 7042 · 1C · R07 - Henry VIII: character, aims and inheritanceHenry VIII inherited a secure dynasty and valuable resources in 1509, but also resentment of his father’s financial government. This lesson follows how his character and aims shaped his response, and how those aims changed the inheritance he left in 1547.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R08 - Henry VIII’s government and Royal SupremacyHenry VIII ruled through ministers, councils and Parliament. This lesson follows how those institutions turned royal decisions into government, and why Royal Supremacy strengthened the Crown through law without ending dependence on cooperation or personal favour.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R09 - Henry VIII: foreign relations and the successionHenry VIII’s wars, alliances and marriages linked foreign policy to the Tudor succession. Follow the relationship between Scotland, France and the Habsburgs, then judge whether victories and a clear succession order left durable security by 1547.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R10 - Henry VIII: society, regions and rebellionHenry VIII governed a hierarchical society through local people and institutions. This lesson explains why religious upheaval affected regions and social groups differently, and how those tensions produced the Pilgrimage of Grace and shaped its failure.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R11 - Henry VIII: trade, exploration and prosperityGrowing cloth exports did not make every household more prosperous under Henry VIII. This lesson connects trade, exploration, agriculture and wartime shocks, then shows how to judge economic development by its reach and resilience as well as its scale.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R12 - Henry VIII: humanism and religious changeHumanism, the succession crisis and royal power changed England’s religion under Henry VIII. Follow how reform transformed authority and institutions while much doctrine and worship survived, then weigh the extent of change by 1547.
Instability and consolidation: 'the Mid-Tudor Crisis', 1547–1563 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 1C · R13 - Edward VI: royal authority, succession and foreign relationsThis lesson examines how a nine-year-old king could remain the source of royal authority while adult councillors governed in his name. You will follow the shift from Somerset's Protectorate to Northumberland's conciliar regime, test their relations with foreign powers, and explain why the attempt...
AQA 7042 · 1C · R14 - Edward VI: religious, economic and intellectual changeBetween 1547 and 1553, changes in worship, land use, prices and learning reached far beyond the royal court: they altered parish life, threatened some livelihoods and helped turn local grievances into rebellion. This lesson asks how those pressures interacted, why the Western and Kett rebellions...
AQA 7042 · 1C · R15 - Mary I: ministers, authority, succession and foreign relationsThis lesson asks how securely Mary I controlled government between 1553 and 1558. You will connect her choice of ministers and exercise of royal authority to two pressures that could not be separated: securing the succession and managing relations with Spain, France and the papacy. The central pr...
AQA 7042 · 1C · R16 - Mary I: religious, economic and intellectual changeBetween 1553 and 1558, Mary's religious and economic changes reshaped parish life, livelihoods and the ideas available to Catholics and Protestants. You will compare their effects on different groups, connect them with rebellion and humanist thought, and judge whether the reign produced only cris...
AQA 7042 · 1C · R17 - Elizabeth I: aims, religious settlement and foreign policy, 1558–1563Between Elizabeth's accession in November 1558 and the end of 1563, a new queen had to make disputed authority secure. This lesson investigates how her character and aims shaped that consolidation through the Elizabethan Settlement and relations with France, Scotland and Spain. The central questi...
AQA 7042 · 1C · R18 - Elizabeth I: economy, society and religion, 1558–1563Between 1558 and 1563, Elizabeth's government inherited weak money, widening social pressure and another reversal of England's official religion. This lesson examines how those economic, social and religious developments affected ordinary people, institutions and the stability of the new regime....
The triumph of Elizabeth, 1563–1603 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 1C · R19 - Elizabethan government and factionElizabeth ruled through people as well as institutions. Explore how court access, ministerial work and Parliament kept government running, and why rivalry between Essex and Robert Cecil became dangerous in the 1590s.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R20 - Succession, Mary Stuart and SpainWhy did a captive Scottish queen matter to England’s war with Spain? Connect Mary Stuart’s claim to the succession, Elizabeth’s marriage diplomacy and the decisions that turned distrust into open war.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R21 - Social change and regional rebellionWhy did severe hardship produce little rebellion in much of England and Wales, while Ireland faced prolonged war? Compare social change, local government and the regional relationships that preserved or disrupted order.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R22 - Trade, exploration and living standardsA successful voyage could enrich its investors while a poor harvest left neighbours hungry. Investigate how trade, exploration and colonisation widened England’s opportunities without producing secure prosperity for everyone by 1603.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R23 - Religion and the Elizabethan RenaissanceElizabethan England produced extraordinary plays, portraits and music while enforcing religious conformity. Trace change within the Church and test what “Renaissance” and “Golden Age” reveal—and conceal—about cultural achievement.
AQA 7042 · 1C · R24 - England at Elizabeth’s deathElizabeth’s dynasty ended in 1603, but its government survived. Weigh political authority, economic hardship, social order and religious division to decide how far England was resilient at the end of her reign.
Component 1 option 1D — Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702
Monarchs and Parliaments, 1603–1629
1D - The Political Nation and the social basis of power: the importance of land ownershipLearn who could influence government in early Stuart Britain, why land made power durable, and how commercial wealth both challenged and joined the landed elite. These relationships explain why a king who claimed great authority still needed the cooperation of his subjects.
1D - James I: character and views on monarchyCompare James I and Charles I as rulers, including how their ideas about monarchy, personal styles and relationships at court affected government. Learn why favourites could make royal authority easier to exercise while also concentrating blame for unpopular policies.
1D - The financial weakness of the Crown and attempts to reform and strengthen royal financeUnderstand why the early Stuart Crown struggled to meet its expenses and why attempts to increase revenue could create political resistance. Follow the difference between reforming administration, negotiating with Parliament and exploiting royal powers from 1603 to 1629.
1D - Religion and religious divisions: challenges to the Church of England from Catholics and Puritans and the development of ArminianismLearn why the Church of England faced pressures from Catholics, Puritans and competing Protestant beliefs between 1603 and 1629. Understand how arguments about worship and salvation became disputes about royal authority, foreign policy and national security.
1D - Relations and disputes with parliaments: parliamentary privilegesFollow how disputes over privileges, money, religion and foreign policy interacted between 1603 and 1629. Learn why cooperation was possible at some moments and why parliamentary requests for redress could become clashes over the right to advise the king.
1D - The state of relations between Crown and Parliament by 1629 and the reaction of the Political NationAssess how far the crisis of 1629 represented a breakdown of government. Distinguish the collapse of cooperation at Westminster from reactions across the Political Nation, and learn why serious conflict still left room for obedience, accommodation and renewed negotiation.
Revolution, 1629–1649
1D - Divisions over religion: Arminianism and LaudianismLearn how royal church policy, Puritan resistance and millenarian expectations changed religious divisions between 1629 and 1649. Distinguish arguments about salvation from changes to worship and authority, and explain why the collapse of uniformity opened conflicting visions of a godly society.
1D - Political divisions: the Personal Rule and the extent of opposition to it in England, Scotland and IrelandExplain how Charles's rule without an English Parliament ended in a crisis across three kingdoms. Follow the Scottish wars, the Short and Long Parliaments, Pym's leadership and the divided decisions that brought England to civil war in 1642.
1D - The First and Second Civil Wars: England, Scotland, Ireland and the reasons for royalist defeatThe wars of the 1640s linked disputes in three kingdoms, and the alliances changed as the fighting continued. This lesson explains why Charles I could win important victories yet lose both wars, and why Parliament's military success created new political problems.
1D - Social divisions: the emergence of political and religious radicalism in the 1640sWar weakened familiar authorities and gave people new ways to argue about who should govern and how Christians should worship. This lesson explains the social pressures behind radicalism, the Levellers' political programme and the different hopes of Millenarian groups.
1D - Post-war divisions between Army and Parliament and the failure to secure a post-war settlementDefeating Charles I in 1646 settled who had won the fighting, but left open who would govern and on what religious terms. This lesson explains how disputes over the army, competing proposals and the king's choices prevented a secure peace between 1646 and 1648.
1D - Regicide: the basis for regicide and the King’s responseThe execution of Charles I required a new argument about political authority as well as an army capable of enforcing it. This lesson explains why a minority turned to regicide, how the king challenged the court and why his death failed to create an agreed political order.
From Republic to restored and limited monarchy, 1649–1678 (A-level only)
1D - The consolidation of the Republic: Scotland and DunbarThe new republic survived only if it could defeat forces supporting Charles II beyond England. This lesson follows the campaigns in Ireland and Scotland, the battles of Dunbar and Worcester, and the distinction between military consolidation and an accepted political settlement.
1D - Political divisions and experiments: Republicanism and the RumpRemoving monarchy left the victors divided about the source and limits of political authority. This lesson examines the Rump's republican government, its conflict with the army and the attempt to create godly rule through the Parliament of Saints in 1653.
1D - Cromwell and his aimsCromwell sought secure government, religious reform and protection for the victories of the 1640s, but these aims pulled him towards different allies. This lesson explains the two constitutions of his Protectorate, the Major-Generals' relationship with the Political Nation and the collapse under...
1D - Charles II and the nature of restored monarchyRestoration brought back king, Lords and bishops, but government still depended on cooperation over finance and religion. This lesson examines Charles II's rule through Parliament and the changing work of Clarendon, the Cabal and Danby up to the crisis of 1678.
1D - The emergence of Court and Country ‘parties’: causes, significance and consequencesRestoring Charles II in 1660 did not make the Political Nation agree about how he should govern. Learn why groups formed around the Court and its opponents, how they used Parliament, and why these shifting alliances mattered for the power of the restored monarchy.
1D - Religious divisions and conflicts: the defeat of MillenarianismThe Restoration ended the political opportunities of radical religious groups, but it did not remove religious division. Learn why the established Church returned, how dissenting communities survived, and why Catholic influence made religious policy a continuing source of constitutional conflict...
The establishment of constitutional monarchy, 1678–1702 (A-level only)
1D - Political developments and conflicts: Exclusion, its aims, methods and its failureThe Exclusion Crisis tried to prevent a Catholic king from inheriting the Crown, yet James II succeeded in 1685. Learn how the campaign failed and why James then lost the support which had defended his hereditary right, connecting religious aims with the methods of royal government.
1D - The ‘Glorious Revolution’: causes and natureThe removal of James II in 1688 was followed by different struggles to secure William and Mary's rule in England, Scotland and Ireland. Learn how royal policy, international war and domestic resistance combined, and why describing the Revolution as a peaceful constitutional settlement gives only...
1D - Divisions within the Political Nation and the emergence of Whigs and Tories and their impactWhig and Tory identities emerged from struggles over religion, succession and royal power, but their positions changed after 1688. Learn how competing elite networks shaped Parliament and elections, and why the growth of parties could increase both parliamentary influence and political conflict.
1D - Religious changes: religious toleration and changes to the position of Anglicans, Protestants and CatholicsThe religious settlement after 1688 protected Protestant monarchy and allowed some dissenting worship, while preserving unequal civil rights. Learn how the positions of Anglicans, other Protestants and Catholics changed, and why the three kingdoms did not receive one uniform settlement.
1D - Government under William and Mary: the importance of political parties and ministersWilliam and Mary inherited a throne whose authority depended on the Revolution settlement, but the new rulers still exercised substantial power. Learn why ministers, parties, war finance and regular parliamentary activity changed government, and how these changes produced limited monarchy without...
1D - The condition of Britain and its monarchy by 1702: the significance of the Act of SettlementBy 1702 monarchy had survived civil war, abolition, restoration and another change of ruler. Learn why the Act of Settlement mattered, assess the balance between Crown and Parliament, and compare the religious and political conditions of the three kingdoms at the end of William's reign.
Component 1 option 1E — Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796
Establishing authority, 1682–1707
1E - The political, economic and social position of Russia in 1682: the Tsars and the nobilityLearn why Russia's ruler possessed enormous formal authority in 1682, yet depended on nobles, village communities and the Church to turn commands into action. This starting point helps explain both the possibilities and the costs of Peter's later reforms.
1E - The RegencyLearn how the succession crisis of 1682 created joint rule and Sophia's regency, and why Peter's emergence as ruler happened in stages. Follow the interaction between dynastic legitimacy, court alliances and armed force.
1E - WesternisationLearn how Peter's early interests and his journey through western Europe shaped selective borrowing. Explain why St Petersburg joined military strategy, commerce and cultural change, and why Westernisation could coexist with coercive government.
1E - Early reforms: economic and financialLearn how Peter's reforms before 1707 linked money, government, military capacity and social behaviour. Assess the early changes through the problems they addressed and their uneven effects, while keeping later Petrine institutions in their correct period.
1E - Opposition: the ChurchLearn why religious authority and the Streltsy posed different challenges to Peter before 1707. Compare their motives, resources and treatment, and explain why suppressing an organisation did not eliminate every source of hostility to reform.
1E - Foreign affairs and wars: wars against Turkey and SwedenLearn how Russia's search for secure sea outlets shaped war against the Ottoman Empire and Sweden before 1707. Compare what Peter wanted, what military operations achieved and why early success remained vulnerable.
Increasing the glory of Russia, 1707–1725
1E - Economic and financial reforms and their successLearn how Peter developed production, trade and taxation between 1707 and 1725. Judge success by distinguishing the resources available to the state from productivity, freedom and living standards across Russian society.
1E - Orthodoxy and developments in the Church: attempts to increase the power of the TsarLearn how Peter made the Orthodox Church's government more dependent on the monarchy by 1725. Examine the Holy Synod, religious ideas and the use of clergy in state service, while distinguishing institutional control from changing people's beliefs.
1E - Changes to central and local governmentPeter reorganised government and military service to turn the resources of a vast empire into usable power. This lesson explains how the Senate, colleges, provincial administration, army and Table of Ranks supported his Service State, and why greater administrative ambition did not mean complete...
1E - Social developments, Westernisation and extent of change by 1725Peter's reforms changed how parts of Russian society dressed, learnt, worked and served. This lesson distinguishes the striking transformation of elite culture from the varied experiences of townspeople and peasants, then weighs how far Russia had changed by 1725.
1E - Opposition: AstrakhanPeter faced resistance from townspeople, frontier communities and his own heir. This lesson explains the Astrakhan, Bashkir and Don Cossack rebellions and the case of Tsarevich Alexis, comparing their causes, dangers and outcomes. Some events began before 1707, but their full course belongs in th...
1E - Foreign affairs and wars: wars with Sweden and TurkeyPeter's victories made Russia a major Baltic power, but his defeat against the Ottoman Empire exposed the limits of that success. This lesson explains how the wars with Sweden and Turkey developed from 1707, how they drew Russia into European conflicts, and why territorial gains alone are an inco...
The epoch of palace coups, 1725–1762
1E - The legacy of Peter the Great: the Service StatePeter died in 1725 leaving stronger institutions and a more powerful international position, but also heavy obligations and an unsettled succession. His legacy included the Service State, a Church governed through the Synod, a more clearly defined gentry and continued serfdom. Understanding these...
1E - Disputed successions and the role of the Supreme State Council and the Preobrazhensky RegimentBetween 1725 and 1762, dynastic claims repeatedly needed support from court factions and guards to become effective power. This lesson follows the disputed successions and explains the different roles of the Supreme State Council and the Preobrazhensky Regiment. The Council is commonly called the...
1E - Tsarina Elizabeth: accession to the throneElizabeth presented her accession in 1741 as a return to the legacy of Peter the Great. Her reign expanded education and cultural patronage, pursued changes in law and reorganised taxation. This lesson weighs those developments against their limited social reach and the continuing needs of an aut...
1E - Social developments: the redefinition of the Service StateBetween Peter's death and 1762, rulers gradually relaxed compulsory service for nobles while preserving their privileged position. The same period maintained and extended forms of peasant dependence, provoking petitions, flight and collective resistance. This lesson explains why the redefinition...
1E - Foreign affairs: intervention in PolandBetween 1725 and 1762 Russia intervened decisively in European affairs, yet military power did not always bring lasting territorial gains. Poland, the Crimea and the Seven Years War reveal how supply, allies and changes of ruler shaped the results of war.
1E - Russia by 1762: the extent to which Petrine reforms survivedRussia in 1762 retained much of the state Peter the Great had built, but the relationship between rulers, nobles and service had changed. Catherine's accession shows both the survival of strong autocratic institutions and the weakness of secure succession.
Catherine the Great and Russia, 1762–1796
1E - Catherine: character and aimsCatherine sought to make Russia orderly, prosperous and respected while retaining autocratic power. Her engagement with Enlightenment ideas and her later hostility to the French Revolution reveal both real reform ambitions and the limits she placed on them.
1E - Developments in central and local government: codification of the lawCatherine aimed to govern more consistently across a vast empire. Her Senate reform, attempt to produce a law code and changes to provincial and town government strengthened administration, but preserved autocracy and social distinctions.
1E - Changes to society: the importance of landownership and the gentryCatherine's reign expanded noble rights, educational opportunities and state control over religion. The benefits were uneven: an educated and privileged elite developed above a largely rural population whose dependence on landowners continued.
1E - The economy and the persistence of serfdom and its impact on economic developmentRussia's economy grew under Catherine, but growth did not remove its dependence on coerced labour and agriculture. Serfdom could supply resources for production while limiting mobility, incentives and wider development.
1E - Opposition and rebellionCatherine faced dynastic plots, urban disorder, frontier rebellion and political criticism. The Pugachev revolt was the largest armed threat, but different forms of opposition required different explanations and responses.
1E - Foreign affairs and wars: SwedenCatherine defended Russia's Baltic position, established control on the Black Sea and helped destroy the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth through partition. Comparing these theatres shows how military force, diplomacy and political opportunity produced different kinds of success.
Component 1 option 1F — Industrialisation and the people: Britain, c1783–1885
Pressure for change, c1783–1812
1F - The British political system in 1783: government and representationBritain in 1783 had elections, parliamentary debate and limits on royal power, but government rested on a narrow social base. Learn how the Crown, Parliament, local authorities and political groupings worked, and why representation became a target for reform.
1F - Government: Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister and his successorsPitt used royal backing, parliamentary management and practical reform to establish a long ministry after the crisis of 1783. Learn how he strengthened government, why war and religious disagreement limited his plans, and what changed under his successors by 1812.
1F - Economic developments: industrialisationBetween c1783 and 1812 Britain produced more goods through new machinery, power sources and forms of organisation. Learn why cotton grew rapidly, how other industries and agriculture contributed, and why industrialisation did not transform every region or occupation at the same speed.
1F - Social developments: the middle classEconomic growth altered opportunities and relationships between c1783 and 1812, while landed power and widespread insecurity persisted. Compare the experience of middle-class families, industrial workers, landowners, agricultural labourers and the poor, and learn how to assess changes in living s...
1F - Pressures on government: the political influence of the French RevolutionThe French Revolution changed the arguments and fears surrounding British politics without making all reformers revolutionaries. Follow the growth of radical demands, the division of the Whigs, Pitt's repression and the connection between Irish rebellion and union.
1F - Pressures on government: the political, economic and social impact of warWar with France placed demands on government, businesses and households from 1793, interrupted by a brief peace in 1802–1803. Learn why war strengthened some parts of Britain's economy and state while increasing insecurity, and assess the country's condition by 1812.
Government and a changing society, 1812–1832
1F - Government: Lord LiverpoolLiverpool's ministry governed from the wartime crisis of 1812 through postwar unrest to the reforms of the 1820s. Learn why it combined economic and administrative change with a continuing defence of property, order and the unreformed constitution.
1F - Government: Canning, Goderich and WellingtonAfter Liverpool's retirement, religious reform divided the Tory governing coalition and helped bring major change without parliamentary democratisation. Follow the ministries of 1827–1830, the campaigns for religious equality and the creation of the Metropolitan Police.
1F - Economic developments: continuing industrialisation and developments in key industriesLearn how industry, agriculture and economic policy changed between 1812 and 1832. Explain why expanding production could coexist with financial crises, falling agricultural prices and protection for landowners.
1F - Social developments: the effects of industrialisationLearn why industrialisation changed work, family life and health unevenly between 1812 and 1832. Use different kinds of evidence to assess living standards and explain working-class discontent.
1F - Pressures for change: Luddism and radical agitationLearn how workers, political radicals, abolitionists, Methodists and Robert Owen sought change in the years around 1812–32. Compare their objectives, methods and ability to influence government.
1F - Greater democracy: the election of the WhigsLearn how the Whigs gained power, why parliamentary reform passed in 1832 and how far it changed Britain. Connect the constitutional settlement with the country's changing economy and unequal society.
Political change and social reform, 1832-1846 (A-level only)
1F - Government: Grey, Melbourne and the ideas and ideology of the Whig PartyLearn how Grey and Melbourne governed after reform, how the Tories rebuilt their position and why Peel's Conservatism combined acceptance of change with defence of established institutions.
1F - The Whig response to social changeLearn how Whig governments addressed education, factory work, colonial slavery, poor relief and local government. Compare the intentions of reform with its practical reach and the interests it protected.
1F - Pressure for change: ChartismLearn how Chartists, Irish nationalists, opponents of the New Poor Law, free-trade campaigners and social reformers applied pressure between 1832 and 1846. Explain why their methods and results differed.
1F - The Conservative response to change: finance, administration and the economyLearn how Peel's government used taxation, monetary rules and commercial reform to address economic problems in 1841–46. Explain why freer trade and stronger administration could form parts of the same Conservative response.
1F - Economic developments: the railway 'revolution' and associated economic growthRailways changed the scale and speed of economic exchange, while Corn Law repeal changed the relationship between agriculture, industry and government. This lesson explains those developments in 1832–1846 and why neither produced an immediate, uniform improvement for everyone.
1F - Social developments: conditions in urban BritainIndustrial growth created wealth and new forms of cooperation, but urban crowding, insecure employment and poverty remained serious problems in 1832–1846. This lesson explains why workers' experiences differed and how trade unions, cooperatives and political movements responded.
Economy, society and politics, 1846–1885 (A-level only)
1F - Government and developing political organisation: the development of the political system and party realignmentBetween 1846 and 1885, loose parliamentary groupings developed into more organised parties competing for a larger electorate. This lesson explains Conservative recovery, the emergence of the Liberals and the changes which made elections increasingly national contests.
1F - Government and democracy: Gladstone, his ministries and ideas and policiesGladstone and Disraeli offered different accounts of good government, but both adapted institutions to a changing society. This lesson explains their ministries and legislation in 1846–1885, the expansion of voting rights and the limits of that democratic change.
1F - Pressure for change: social campaigns, Public Health reformCampaigners pressed governments over health, political rights and Ireland between 1846 and 1885. This lesson explains how different movements used evidence, mass mobilisation and parliamentary influence, and why concessions often fell short of their aims.
1F - Economic developments: the mid-Victorian boomThe mid-Victorian economy expanded through industry, agriculture, transport and overseas exchange. This lesson explains the boom after 1846, its uneven effects and why the “Great Depression” beginning in the 1870s meant falling prices and particular pressures rather than the disappearance of Brit...
1F - Social developments: prosperity and poverty in towns and countrysideGrowing national wealth improved many lives between 1846 and 1885, but did not remove poverty or regional divisions. This lesson explains those differences and the roles of Evangelicalism, self-help, trade unions and education in shaping Victorian responses.
1F - The political, economic and social condition of Britain by 1885Britain in 1885 had a wider electorate, a powerful industrial economy and more extensive social provision than a century earlier. This lesson weighs that transformation against continuing political exclusions, economic vulnerability and inequality, showing how to reach a judgement about change wi...
Component 1 option 1G — Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
Reform and challenge, c1851–c1886
1G - The political system: parliament and the workings of mid-19th century democracyBritain in 1851 had a representative Parliament, but political power remained concentrated among wealthy men. Learn how institutions, social influence and unstable party alliances shaped government, and why demands for reform became harder to contain by 1867.
1G - Political developments under Gladstone and DisraeliGladstone and Disraeli turned rival political traditions into competing programmes for a larger electorate. Learn how their ideas, reforms and supporters shaped politics from the 1860s to 1886, and judge how far franchise reform transformed participation.
1G - Economic developments: agriculture, trade and industryMid-Victorian Britain was a leading industrial and trading economy, but national success did not protect every producer from falling prices or competition. Learn how agriculture, industry and trade reinforced one another, and why the downturn after 1873 needs a more careful explanation than econo...
1G - Society and social changes: class and regional divisionBritain's expanding economy changed work, housing and consumption between 1851 and the mid-1880s, but wealth remained unevenly distributed. Learn why social class, region, occupation and household circumstances matter when judging whether Victorian society became more prosperous.
1G - Social movements and policiesVictorian responses to social problems ranged from individual thrift and voluntary associations to trade-union action and government legislation. Learn why these approaches developed together, how reforms in education and health operated, and why their benefits remained uneven before 1886.
1G - The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: land agitation and the political responseIreland's land system and demand for political self-government challenged the Union in different but connected ways. Learn why reform and coercion failed to settle grievances, how Parnell combined agrarian and parliamentary pressure, and why Home Rule divided British politics in 1886.
Challenges to the status quo, c1886–1914
1G - Political developments: the reasons for Conservative dominance to 1905Conservative and Unionist governments dominated much of the period after 1886, but this was neither uninterrupted rule nor an inevitable consequence of social class. Learn how the Irish question, organisation, Liberal divisions and new socialist movements changed party competition up to 1905.
1G - Politics 1906–1914: the ideology of New LiberalismThe Liberal victory of 1906 opened a period of welfare reform and constitutional confrontation. Learn how New Liberalism redefined freedom, why the Budget produced a struggle with the Lords, and how Labour and unresolved political crises shaped government before 1914.
1G - Economic developments: the Great Depression and its aftermathBritain remained a wealthy trading and industrial country before 1914, but its earlier lead was increasingly contested. Learn why falling prices, foreign competition and uneven industrial change produced arguments about decline, and why agriculture, manufacturing and financial services tell diffe...
1G - Social changeBetween the late 1880s and 1914, urban growth and changing employment created new opportunities while exposing persistent inequalities. Learn how workers and women organised to challenge these inequalities, and why improvements in average living standards did not settle disputes over power and se...
1G - Social policies: government legislation and local initiativesBefore 1914, social policy shifted towards prevention and limited national protection against poverty. Learn how municipal action, evidence about deprivation and Liberal legislation changed the state's responsibilities, and why this was still far from a comprehensive welfare state.
1G - The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: the Home Rule movement, opposition and the Home Rule BillsHome Rule became both a parliamentary campaign and a dispute over competing national allegiances. Learn why land reform did not settle the constitutional question, how the bills progressed between 1886 and 1914, and why the approach of self-government intensified resistance in Ulster.
The Great War and its impact, 1914–1939 (A-level only)
1G - The impact of war on British parties and politics: coalition governmentThe First World War changed the balance between Britain's major parties. Learn how wartime coalitions split Liberal leadership, strengthened Conservative leverage and enlarged Labour's political opportunities, while distinguishing the war's immediate effects from later electoral decisions.
1G - Political developments in the interwar years: electoral reformBetween 1918 and 1939, Britain enlarged electoral participation and experienced minority and coalition governments, yet parliamentary politics survived severe economic strain. Learn how Conservative dominance, Labour's changing fortunes, radical movements and the abdication crisis tested that sys...
1G - Economic developments: increased state role in wartimeWar expanded British economic control, but peace exposed debts, weak export industries and divisions over who should bear adjustment. Learn how these problems connected the Gold Standard, the General Strike and the depression, and why the recovery of the 1930s reshaped the economy unevenly.
1G - Social developments: changes in the role of women during and after warWar and the interwar economy changed work, family life and mass culture, but progress was uneven. Learn why women's citizenship expanded more decisively than equality at work, how different working-class communities experienced the twenties and thirties, and how new media connected people across...
1G - Social policies: legislation and reforms in housingLearn why governments accepted greater responsibility for housing, schooling and welfare between 1914 and 1939, and why expanded provision still left deep inequalities. Distinguish a reform's ambition, the machinery used to deliver it and its effects on different households.
1G - The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: the Easter RisingLearn how rebellion, war and negotiation changed Britain's relationship with Ireland between 1914 and 1939. Follow the transition from delayed Home Rule to partition and an increasingly independent southern state, while explaining why none of these settlements ended all conflict.
Transformation and change, 1939–1964 (A-level only)
1G - The impact of the Second World War on British politics: Churchill as wartime leaderLearn how wartime leadership and coalition government changed political expectations, why Labour won decisively in 1945 and how its ideas shaped the government of 1945–51. Explain why confidence in Churchill as a war leader did not guarantee Conservative success in peace.
1G - Political developments: Conservative dominance from 1951 and political consensusLearn why Conservatives governed from 1951 to 1964, what postwar consensus did and did not mean, and how Labour's divisions and Conservative weaknesses contributed to the narrow Labour victory of 1964.
1G - Economic developments: mobilisation of resources in wartimeLearn how Britain mobilised its economy in the Second World War, then experienced rising output and consumption alongside recurring external financial problems. Explain how industry, trade and technology changed between 1939 and 1964 without equating economic growth with an absence of weakness.
1G - Social changes and divisions: austerity and the impact of warLearn how war and austerity gave way to wider affluence and consumer choice between 1939 and 1964. Assess how these changes affected women, young people and migrants, while explaining why rising national living standards did not remove social divisions.
1G - Developments in social policy: the Beveridge ReportLearn how wartime plans became a broader welfare state and expanded education between 1939 and 1964. Distinguish social insurance, assistance, public health provision and educational opportunity, then assess how far new entitlements changed people's security.
1G - The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: continuing north/south friction including riots of September 1964Learn why partition and community divisions persisted between 1939 and 1964, despite changes in the relationship between Britain and the southern state. Explain the September 1964 flag riots and the beginnings of civil-rights campaigning without projecting the later Troubles back into this period.
Component 1 option 1H — Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855–1894
1H - Political authority and the state of Russia: autocracyRussia entered 1855 as a vast empire with formidable resources but weak connections between its rulers and people. Learn how autocracy, social hierarchy and economic limitations interacted, and why the Crimean War made reform urgent for Alexander II.
1H - Political authority and attempts at reform: Alexander IIAlexander II attempted to modernise Russia while preserving monarchical authority. Learn how emancipation, domestic reform and military change addressed connected weaknesses, and why their achievements could coexist with serious limitations.
1H - Government and Tsars: Alexander II and Alexander III as rulersAlexander II and Alexander III pursued different ways of protecting the same dynasty. Learn how their beliefs, advisers and responses to opposition shaped government, and how to judge the extent of change between their reigns.
1H - Political authority in action: RussificationThe Russian Empire contained peoples with different languages, faiths and political traditions. Learn why its rulers tried to impose a more uniform identity, how policies varied between communities, and why discrimination could undermine the loyalty it sought to secure.
1H - Opposition: ideas and ideologiesOpponents of Tsarism disagreed about both the society they wanted and the means of achieving it. Learn how liberal and radical ideas developed between 1855 and 1894, why different strategies emerged, and why even the assassination of a Tsar did not necessarily produce revolution.
1H - Economic and social developments: industrial developments and the land issueRussia's economy developed between 1855 and 1894 while most people remained dependent on agriculture. Learn how industrial growth, landholding, social divisions and the Orthodox Church interacted, and why economic modernisation did not necessarily remove the monarchy's social problems.
The collapse of autocracy, 1894–1917
1H - Political authority, government and TsarNicholas II inherited autocracy in 1894 but had to concede an elected legislature after the crisis of 1905. Learn how revolution, reform and repression changed government to 1914, and how to distinguish a restricted parliamentary system from either unchanged absolutism or full parliamentary democ...
1H - Economic developments to 1914: industrial and agricultural growth and changeBy 1914, Russia had a much larger industrial economy and a changing countryside, but growth remained uneven. Learn how Witte's industrial strategy and Stolypin's agricultural reforms worked, and how to judge their results using production, independence and economic security as different measures.
1H - Social developments to 1914: change and conditions of working and living in towns and countrysideLearn why economic growth changed Russian society without removing its deep inequalities, and assess how far daily life and culture had changed by 1914.
1H - Opposition: ideas and ideologies, liberalism, socialismLearn how Russia's opponents of autocracy disagreed about freedom, property and revolution, and why these differences shaped their effectiveness before 1917.
1H - Political authority, opposition and the state of Russia in wartime: the political, economic and social problems of wartimeLearn how the First World War undermined autocracy, why Nicholas II lost the means to survive in February 1917, and how Russia's new political order then changed during 1917.
1H - Political authority, opposition and government: the Bolshevik takeover and the establishment of Bolshevik government by December 1917Learn how the Bolsheviks seized power, what their new government had established by December 1917, and why winning the capital did not remove political opposition.
The emergence of Communist dictatorship, 1917–1941 (A-level only)
1H - Political authority and government: new leaders and ideologiesLearn how Lenin applied revolutionary ideas to governing Russia and how political institutions, ideological debate and rival leaders shaped Stalin's rise to power.
1H - Political authority and government: the consolidation of Bolshevik authority and development of the Stalinist dictatorshipLearn how the Bolsheviks converted a contested seizure of power into a party-state and how Stalin transformed that system into a personal dictatorship by the late 1930s.
1H - Economic developments: Lenin's decreesLearn how Soviet economic policy moved from revolutionary decrees through War Communism and NEP to compulsory collectivisation and planning, and judge its results through production, control and human welfare.
1H - Social developments: effect of Leninist/Stalinist rule on class, women, young people, religion and national minoritiesLearn how Soviet rule transformed opportunities and constraints for different groups, and why greater education, employment and state provision coexisted with coercion and close control of culture by 1941.
1H - Opposition: factionLearn how the Bolsheviks restricted opposition, why disagreements within the Communist Party became dangerous, and how Stalin’s purges transformed earlier methods of coercion into mass repression.
1H - The political, economic and social condition of the Soviet Union by 1941Assess the Soviet Union on the eve of the German invasion: a more powerful industrial state with deeply unequal social experiences, extensive political control and serious weaknesses beneath its apparent strength.
The Stalinist dictatorship and reaction, 1941–1964 (A-level only)
1H - Political authority, opposition and the state of Russia in wartime: the political, economic and social impact of warExplore how the war of 1941–45 changed Soviet government, production and everyday life, and why a devastating conflict could ultimately strengthen Stalin’s authority.
1H - Political authority and government to 1953: High StalinismUnderstand why Stalin tightened political and cultural control after victory, how alleged enemies were constructed, and why his death in March 1953 created a struggle within an otherwise continuing one-party state.
1H - Political authority and government: Khrushchev’s rise to powerTrace Khrushchev’s consolidation of power after Stalin, explain the aims and limits of de-Stalinisation, and assess how political and Party change altered the dictatorship without ending Communist rule.
1H - Economic and social developments: changes in industrial organisation from Stalin to KhrushchevCompare postwar Stalinist reconstruction with Khrushchev’s attempts to improve production and everyday life, including industrial reorganisation, agriculture, the Virgin Lands and uneven social and cultural change.
1H - Opposition: cultural dissidentsExamine the limits of the cultural Thaw, divisions within communism and the combination of policy grievances and Party action that removed Khrushchev in October 1964.
1H - The political, economic and social condition of the Soviet Union by 1964Judge the Soviet Union at the end of Khrushchev’s rule by separating political authority, productive strength and people’s experience, and by weighing change against continuity across the wider Russian period.
Component 1 option 1J — The British Empire, c1857–1967
The development of Imperialism, c1857–c1890
1J - The expansion of the British Empire in AfricaBetween c1857 and c1890, Britain extended its African possessions and tightened its control of important routes and markets. Learn why expansion took different forms in different regions, and why the Suez Canal helped turn financial involvement in Egypt into military occupation.
1J - Imperial and colonial policy (c1857–c1890)British imperial policy between c1857 and c1890 combined different forms of rule with efforts to protect India and compete with other powers. Learn how administration, defence, the scramble for Africa and informal influence fitted together, and why policy often changed in response to events.
1J - Trade and commerce (c1857–c1890)Trade, investment and private companies connected Britain to overseas societies between c1857 and c1890. Learn how these economic relationships supported imperial power, why chartered companies could govern as well as trade, and why commerce did not always require territorial conquest.
1J - The role and influence on attitudes to empire of explorers, missionaries, traders, colonial administratorsExplorers, missionaries, traders and colonial administrators helped shape British knowledge and images of empire between c1857 and c1890. Learn how their activities could encourage expansion and influence opinion, while distinguishing heroic public stories from the people and conflicts those stor...
1J - Attitudes towards imperialism in BritainEmpire became a powerful language of national pride and party conflict between c1857 and c1890, but British opinion was never uniform. Learn why imperialism appealed to different audiences, how Disraeli and Gladstone used imperial issues, and why their actions resist a simple expansionist-versus-...
1J - Relations with indigenous peoples (c1857–c1890)British rule met resistance, cooperation and negotiation from different societies between c1857 and c1890. Learn why the uprising in India changed imperial relationships, and compare British relations with Boers and distinct African peoples in southern Africa without treating any of these groups...
Imperial consolidation and Liberal rule, c1890–1914
1J - The consolidation and expansion of the British Empire in AfricaBetween c1890 and 1914, Britain turned many African claims and company concessions into stronger territorial rule. Learn how conquest, government takeovers, transport and diplomatic settlements consolidated power, and why expansion still depended on African responses and costly military commitments.
1J - Imperial and colonial policy (c1890–1914)Between c1890 and 1914, British governments tried to make a larger empire secure and manageable. Learn how administration in India and Egypt combined reform with control, how policies towards colonised peoples varied, and how international agreements altered imperial defence.
1J - Trade and commerce (c1890–1914)Between c1890 and 1914, empire connected British manufacturers and financiers with overseas markets, labour and resources. Learn how those connections worked, why their gains were uneven, and why trade could support both expansion and arguments against it.
1J - The role and influence on attitudes to empire of: Joseph ChamberlainJoseph Chamberlain, Cecil Rhodes and colonial administrators helped shape empire between c1890 and 1914. Learn how they linked personal ambitions to political institutions, business interests and public attitudes, and why none could determine imperial developments alone.
1J - Imperialism: supporters and criticsEmpire could inspire pride, prompt criticism and expose anxieties about Britain's strength. Explore supporters and opponents, National Efficiency, and the ways popular culture represented empire between c1890 and 1914, while distinguishing public messages from what audiences actually believed.
1J - Relations with indigenous peoples (c1890–1914)British power between c1890 and 1914 rested on negotiation and local cooperation as well as force. Examine indigenous responses, the Sudan and the causes and consequences of the Boer War, distinguishing military conquest from lasting political consent.
Imperialism challenged, 1914–1947 (A-level only)
1J - Expansion and contraction of empire: the impact of the First and Second World WarsThe world wars helped Britain gain territories while weakening its ability to sustain imperial control. Learn why territorial expansion after 1918 coexisted with nationalist pressure, and how wartime changes contributed to withdrawal from India and parts of the Middle East by 1947.
1J - Colonial policy and administration in India, Africa and the Middle EastBetween 1914 and 1947, British imperial government adapted unevenly to political pressure and defence needs. Compare India, Africa and the Middle East, then examine Dominion autonomy, the Statute of Westminster and the problems of defending a worldwide empire.
1J - The development of trade and commerceWar and economic crisis changed the relationship between Britain and its empire from 1914 to 1947. Learn how disrupted trade, protection, wartime production and financial dependence affected commercial connections and Britain's capacity to govern.
1J - The role and influence on attitudes to empire of: Gandhi, colonial administrationGandhi made opposition to British rule a mass political and moral challenge, while colonial administrators combined concession with coercion. Trace their interaction from 1914 to 1947 and judge how leadership changed attitudes without making one person the sole cause of independence.
1J - Imperialist idealsBetween 1914 and 1947, British imperial power faced growing challenges while empire remained prominent in exhibitions, advertising, films and broadcasting. This lesson explains the ideals these representations promoted and how to judge what they reveal about British attitudes.
1J - Relations with indigenous peoples (1914–1947)Between 1914 and 1947, people living under British rule developed competing identities and increasingly organised demands for political change. This lesson explains how wartime experiences, colonial institutions, protest and repression helped turn local grievances into nationalist movements acros...
The winds of change, 1947–1967 (A-level only)
1J - Decolonisation in Africa and AsiaFrom 1947 to 1967, Britain transferred power in much of its Asian and African empire. This lesson follows the different routes to independence and explains why financial pressure, nationalist organisation and British attempts to preserve influence produced an uneven retreat.
1J - British colonial policy and administrationBetween 1947 and 1967, British governments tried to reconcile colonial reform, strategic power and continuing international influence. This lesson explains the Suez Crisis, the changing purposes of colonial administration and the Commonwealth's transformation into an association of independent st...
1J - Trade and commerce (1947–1967)After 1947, Britain sought economic recovery while its colonial empire contracted. This lesson explains how trade, sterling, development schemes and growing interest in Europe shaped imperial policy, and why economic connections could continue after political independence.
1J - The role and influence on attitudes to empire of: nationalist leaders, colonial administrationNationalist leaders and colonial officials helped determine how people understood imperial rule between 1947 and 1967. This lesson compares their influence: how leaders made independence credible, how administrators chose between negotiation and repression, and why neither group acted independent...
1J - Post-colonial political, economic and cultural tiesThe ending of colonial rule did not erase empire's institutions, trading networks or cultural influence. This lesson explains the relationships that survived between 1947 and 1967, how Commonwealth migration changed Britain, and how popular culture could preserve and challenge imperial identities.
1J - Relations with indigenous peoples (1947–1967)Imperial retreat involved confrontation as well as negotiation. This lesson explains Mau Mau, nationalist challenges in Asia and Africa, and Rhodesia's unresolved crisis, showing why military victory or a declaration of independence did not automatically settle who had the right to govern.
Component 1 option 1K — The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975
The Era of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1890
1K - The weaknesses of Federal Government: Johnson, Grant and the failure of Radical ReconstructionLearn why the federal government could abolish slavery and rebuild the Union after 1865, yet failed to secure lasting protection for African-American political equality. Follow Johnson, congressional Reconstruction and Grant before weighing what failed and what survived.
1K - The politics of the Gilded Age and the era of weak presidentsLearn how party competition, patronage and corruption limited national leadership in the Gilded Age. Assess why presidents appeared weak, while recognising the reforms and decisions they could still make between 1865 and 1890.
1K - Social, regional and ethnic divisions: divisions within and between North, South and WestLearn how the reunited USA remained divided between and within its regions from 1865 to 1890. Examine class, race and ethnicity, including African-American gains and continuing insecurity, rather than assuming that economic growth made all Americans more equal.
1K - Economic growth and the rise of corporations: railwaysLearn how railways, oil companies, agricultural development and growing cities transformed the American economy from 1865 to 1890. Explain how rising production and national markets strengthened corporations while bringing uneven benefits to workers, farmers and regions.
1K - Laissez-faire dominance and consequencesLearn how ideas about limited government shaped the unequal consequences of American growth from 1865 to 1890. Explain why western expansion depended on state power, and assess what the ending of the frontier meant for land, identity and opportunity.
1K - The limits of foreign engagement and continuation of isolationism: the continuation of the Monroe DoctrineLearn why American foreign policy between 1865 and 1890 combined avoidance of European entanglements with active diplomacy, territorial expansion and commercial engagement. Use Mexico, Alaska and Canada to assess the limits of the description “isolationist”.
Populism, progressivism and imperialism, 1890–1920
1K - Political tensions and divisions: the reaction against Big Business at national and state levelLearn why opposition to corporate power grew between 1890 and 1920, and why critics proposed different remedies. Compare farmers, workers and Progressive reformers, then assess how state initiatives and federal regulation changed the relationship between business and government.
1K - The ideas and influence of Bryan, Roosevelt and TaftLearn how Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson proposed different answers to corporate power and economic insecurity between 1890 and 1920. Compare Populism, Progressivism, New Nationalism and New Freedom, and weigh political influence separately from electoral victory.
1K - Economic change and developments: the rise of US dominance as an economic and industrial power and the consequences of thisBetween 1890 and 1920, the USA's industrial strength increasingly became international economic power. This lesson explains how resources, markets, corporations and technology combined, why growth created insecurity as well as prosperity, and how the First World War changed America's financial po...
1K - Social developments: mass immigration and urbanisation and their consequencesFrom 1890 to 1920, immigration and urban growth changed American work, neighbourhoods and politics. This lesson also examines the position of African Americans, whose movement and campaigns exposed the limits of the nation's promise of equal citizenship.
1K - Foreign affairs: imperialismBetween 1890 and 1920, the USA acquired overseas possessions, intervened around the Caribbean and entered a European war. This lesson examines imperialism, Spain and the Philippines, the Panama Canal, international diplomacy, and the changing reasons for neutrality and wartime entry.
1K - The USA by 1920: economic powerThe USA emerged from the First World War with immense economic power but serious disagreements over rights, reform and international responsibility. This lesson explains the relationship between that power, social and ethnic divisions, political reaction and renewed isolationism by 1920.
Crisis of identity, 1920–1945 (A-level only)
1K - Domestic politics: Harding, Coolidge and Republican conservatismRepublicans held the presidency from 1921 to 1933. This lesson explains their ideas about business and federal power, the different leadership of Harding and Coolidge, and why Hoover's response to the Depression transformed an apparent political advantage into defeat.
1K - FD Roosevelt and the New Deals: conflict of ideas over the role of the Federal GovernmentFranklin D. Roosevelt's New Deals made economic security a more important federal responsibility without ending political disagreement or replacing capitalism. This lesson explains the policies, their changing emphasis, the competing ideas behind opposition, and the limits of presidential power.
1K - The economy: boom to bust and recoveryThe American economy moved from the expansion of the 1920s to a prolonged Depression and then wartime mobilisation. This lesson explains the boom's structural weaknesses, the mechanisms of collapse, and the different contributions of the New Deals and the Second World War to recovery.
1K - Social and cultural developments: ‘the Jazz Age’ in the 1920sFrom the Jazz Age to depression and war, Americans encountered new forms of entertainment, changing roles for women and conflicts about behaviour and belonging. This lesson explains those changes, the failure and significance of Prohibition, and the social effects of the Depression and the Second...
1K - Social, regional and ethnic divisions: countryside versus cityLearn why the USA remained divided between 1920 and 1945, how regional and racial divisions overlapped, and why migration and national crises changed them without creating equality.
1K - The USA and international relations: the extent of isolationismLearn how American involvement abroad changed between 1920 and 1945, why isolationism was selective, and how Roosevelt and the Second World War helped create a permanent international role.
The Superpower, 1945–1975 (A-level only)
1K - Domestic politics: Truman, Eisenhower and post-war reconstructionLearn how Truman and Eisenhower managed the return to peacetime society, why reform faced political limits, and how a Republican presidency preserved important elements of the New Deal.
1K - Kennedy, Johnson and NixonLearn how Kennedy's New Frontier, Johnson's Great Society and Nixon's Republican revival altered domestic politics, and why presidential promises and powers did not guarantee lasting political authority.
1K - Economic change and developments: the rise of the consumer society and economic boomLearn why the American economy expanded after 1945, how consumption changed daily life, who benefited unevenly, and why economic difficulties by 1975 qualified the image of continuous prosperity.
1K - Ideological, social, regional and ethnic divisions: McCarthyismLearn how anti-communism, civil-rights campaigning, youth culture and protest exposed divisions from 1945 to 1975, and how mass media could both challenge authority and strengthen opposition to change.
1K - The USA and international relations: the Cold War and relations with the USSR and ChinaLearn why the USA adopted global containment after 1945, how conflict with the USSR and China shaped policy, and why Vietnam and détente revealed both the reach and the limits of superpower strength.
1K - The USA by 1975: its place as a SuperpowerAssess the USA in 1975 by connecting its global strength with limits on intervention, political trust, social equality and cultural cohesion, including the changing position of women and African-Americans.
Component 1 option 1L — The quest for political stability: Germany, 1871–1991
The Kaiserreich, 1871–1914
1L - Political authority: the extent and make-up of the German Empire in 1871Learn why the empire created in 1871 combined national elections with powerful monarchies, and how its institutions shaped the parties competing for influence.
1L - Government and opposition: Kaiser Wilhelm I and government under BismarckLearn how Wilhelm I and Bismarck preserved monarchical government while bargaining with parties, repressing opponents and introducing reforms between 1871 and 1890.
1L - Government and opposition: Kaiser Wilhelm II and his chancellorsLearn how changing Chancellors, organised interests and a growing electorate shaped government under Wilhelm II, and why greater participation did not establish parliamentary government before 1914.
1L - Economic developments: industrial expansionLearn how Germany became a major industrial and trading power between 1871 and 1914, why older and newer industries reinforced each other, and how growth distributed wealth unevenly.
1L - Social developments: the class hierarchyLearn why industrial and urban growth altered German society without dissolving inherited status, military prestige or the insecurity of working people's lives.
1L - The political, economic and social condition of Germany by 1914Learn how to judge Germany's condition at the end of the Kaiserreich's pre-war development, linking economic modernisation, political participation and persistent social hierarchy without assuming collapse was inevitable.
Empire to democracy, 1914–1929
1L - Political authority: the political impact of the First World War on GermanyLearn how war changed the balance of political power, why authority collapsed in 1918 and how revolution led to a democratic constitution alongside important institutional continuities.
1L - Government and opposition to 1924: post-war political problemsLearn why the Weimar Republic faced opposition from left and right, how the Ruhr crisis tested its government and why survival by 1924 demonstrated both strengths and unresolved weaknesses.
1L - Government and opposition 1924–1929: the impact of the Ruhr invasion and the leadership of StresemannWeimar government recovered after the Ruhr crisis, but recovery did not mean that Germans agreed about democracy. This lesson explains Stresemann's contribution, the changing coalitions and the strength of opposition between 1924 and 1929.
1L - Economic developments: the impact of warGermany's economy moved from war and inflation to recovery based partly on foreign credit. This lesson explains the mechanisms of crisis and stabilisation, the reparations settlements and the uneven experiences of industry and agriculture up to 1929.
1L - Social developments: the effect of war on German societyWar, revolution and recovery changed German lives without producing one uniform Weimar society. This lesson examines losses, welfare, gender, culture and the tensions between new freedoms and enduring social divisions.
1L - The political, economic and social condition of Germany by 1929Germany in 1929 was stronger than in 1923 but remained vulnerable. This lesson explains how political cooperation, economic recovery and social change interacted, and how to reach a judgement without treating later collapse as inevitable.
The Nazi experiment, 1929–1949 (A-level only)
1L - Political authority 1929–1945: the collapse of Weimar democracy and the establishment of the one-party authoritarian Nazi StateNazi dictatorship emerged through economic crisis, the erosion of parliamentary government and deliberate political decisions. This lesson traces the roles of Hindenburg and Hitler, distinguishing the appointment of a chancellor from the destruction of democratic authority.
1L - Government and opposition to 1945: Nazism as an ideology and in practiceNazi government combined ideological goals, competing institutions, propaganda and terror. This lesson explains how it worked, what different forms of opposition could achieve and how war transformed the regime up to 1945.
1L - Political authority and government 1945–1949: post-war occupation and divisionAfter Nazi defeat, authority passed to the occupying powers rather than immediately to a sovereign German government. This lesson explains how occupation policies, the Berlin crisis and German political decisions produced two states by 1949.
1L - Economic developments: the impact of the DepressionGermany's economy moved from Depression to rearmament, wartime exploitation and post-war reconstruction. This lesson explains how recovery was achieved, whom it benefited and how military aims shaped economic development between 1929 and 1949.
1L - Social developments and tensionsLearn how Nazi promises of a united national community depended on exclusion, how social and cultural policies changed everyday life, and why defeat in 1945 left both a shattered society and an unresolved Nazi legacy.
1L - The political, economic and social condition of Germany by 1949Learn to judge Germany’s condition in 1949 by comparing political authority, economic recovery and social disruption. The creation of two states brought new institutions without resolving the consequences of war or the national division.
Division to unity: the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949–1991 (A-level only)
1L - Political authority: Adenauer as Chancellor and establishment of democracy in Western GermanyLearn how the Basic Law and Adenauer’s governments established West German democracy, why stronger executive leadership coexisted with constitutional checks, and how to assess democracy beyond the existence of elections.
1L - Government and opposition: governmentsLearn why coalition government and a developing political consensus gave the Federal Republic stability, how chancellors after Adenauer changed policy, and why consensus still allowed sharp disagreement and changes of government.
1L - Extra-parliamentary opposition and pressure: student protestLearn why student protest, the Red Army Faction and environmental campaigns challenged West German authority in different ways, and how to judge opposition by its methods, reach and consequences.
1L - Economic developments: the growth of the West German economyLearn why the West German economy grew rapidly, how recovery developed into mass prosperity and European integration, and why oil shocks and structural change ended the expectation of uninterrupted growth.
1L - Social developments: the effect of the Nazi legacyLearn how prosperity, welfare, migration and generational change transformed West German society from 1949 to 1991, while inequalities and the unresolved Nazi past continued to shape conflict and culture.
1L - The political, economic and social condition of reunified Germany by 1991: Kohl and the drive to reunificationLearn how popular action, international change and Kohl’s decisions brought reunification, then judge Germany’s condition by 1991 through political strength, economic adjustment and the different experiences of eastern and western Germans.
Component 2 option 2A — Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216
The Restoration of Royal Authority, 1154–1166
2A - The political, economic and social condition of England in 1154Henry II inherited an English crown whose authority had been weakened by civil war, but a kingdom whose institutions and economy had survived. Understand the political, economic and social conditions he faced, his character and aims, and why his accession offered both an opportunity and a difficu...
2A - The restoration of royal authority under Henry II: the baronsHenry II strengthened kingship by connecting control of castles and land with reliable revenue and expanding royal justice. Follow the restoration from 1154 to 1166, and learn why apparently separate measures reinforced one another while creating new tensions.
2A - The place of religion in society: the political role of the ChurchReligion shaped everyday life, political legitimacy, courts and wealth in Henry II’s England. Learn how the Church could support royal authority while also defending its own jurisdiction, and why its financial and economic importance made cooperation essential.
2A - Henry II and England’s overseas territoriesHenry ruled England alongside several continental lordships, each with its own rights, customs and political problems. Learn how Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony shaped his dealings with France, and how the later lordship of Ireland grew from opportunities and dangers beyond England.
The crisis of Royal Authority, 1166–1174
2A - The conflict between Church and State: Thomas Becket and the crisis of 1170Henry’s dispute with Thomas Becket grew from competing claims to authority over the Church, then became an international crisis after Becket’s murder. Follow the decisions that escalated the quarrel, the Papacy’s role, and why the settlement limited Henry without ending his effective kingship.
2A - Henry II and Ireland: the invasions of 1169 and 1171The intervention in Ireland began with a dispossessed Irish ruler recruiting helpers, then developed into a conquest that Henry sought to bring under his own authority. Distinguish the expeditions of 1169 and 1171, and examine how Irish rulers responded to both newcomers and king.
2A - The origins of the Great Rebellion: dynastic instability and Henry II’s relations with the three rebellious sons, Eleanor of Aquitaine and their supportersThe Great Rebellion of 1173–1174 brought Henry’s sons, his wife, dissatisfied subjects and neighbouring rulers into a dangerous coalition. Understand why the dynasty’s plans produced instability, why different supporters joined, and how Louis VII turned family conflict into a wider challenge to r...
2A - The course of the Great Rebellion: political instabilityThe Great Rebellion threatened Henry in England and across his continental lands, but his government survived and recovered the initiative. Follow the campaigns of 1173–1174, the roles of the barons and William I of Scotland, and the combination of military victory and settlement that re-establis...
The struggle for Royal Authority, 1174–1189
2A - Attempts to consolidate royal authority after the Great Rebellion: court and family tensionsHenry II defeated the Great Rebellion, but victory did not remove the rival ambitions within his family or the practical limits of royal government. Learn how he combined reconciliation, control of castles, financial administration and legal reform to strengthen his position after 1174.
2A - Relations between Church and State: Henry II and his bishopsAfter Becket's murder, Henry II needed to rebuild his religious standing while continuing to govern through churchmen. Explore the compromises with the Papacy, the bishops' political role and the disputes that show why reconciliation did not give either king or Church complete control.
2A - Social and economic developments: towns and trade, the social condition of England by 1189England became more commercially active during Henry II's reign, but most people still lived through agriculture and local obligations. Learn how towns, trade and money connected the kingdom, and why their growth brought different opportunities and pressures to different social groups.
2A - England’s overseas territories: developments in Ireland after the 1175 Treaty of WindsorHenry II's lands were held together by a ruler and his family rather than one uniform government. Follow developments in Ireland, the ambitions of his sons and Philip II's intervention to explain why territorial power did not prevent Henry's defeat and death in 1189.
Richard I, 1189–1199 (A-level only)
2A - The character and aims of King Richard: attitudes towards religion and the ChurchRichard I's reputation as a warrior grew from decisions that were both religious and political. Learn why he prioritised crusading, how he used the Church and England's resources, and why military achievement in the Third Crusade did not fulfil every aim.
2A - England without Richard: the absentee kingRichard spent only a few months of his reign in England, yet the kingdom continued to supply his government and wars. Explore how delegated rule worked, why it broke into conflict under Longchamp, and how John’s ambitions and Hubert Walter’s administration tested the strength of royal authority.
2A - Relations with France and the conflict between Richard and Philip IIRichard and Philip cooperated against Henry II and then on crusade, but their competing interests made lasting agreement difficult. Follow the rivalry after the Third Crusade, Richard's recovery from 1194 and the truce of 1199 to judge how far he restored his continental position.
2A - Social and economic developments: towns and tradeCommercial life continued to develop during Richard's reign, while war finance, shortages and persecution placed unequal pressures on people. Learn how town privileges and trade operated, why Jewish communities faced violence in 1189–1190, and what the Crown's response reveals about England's soc...
King John, 1199–1214 (A-level only)
2A - Royal government under King John: the character and aims of the KingJohn inherited a powerful system of royal government in 1199, but his use of it helped turn subjects against him. Learn how his character and dynastic aims shaped his relations with the barons, his financial demands and his administration of justice before the crisis of 1215.
2A - Relations with the Church: Hubert Walter as Archbishop of CanterburyJohn’s relations with the Church changed from cooperation with Hubert Walter to a prolonged dispute with Pope Innocent III. Learn why the succession to Canterbury mattered, how the interdict of 1208 affected England and why John accepted a settlement in 1213.
2A - The loss of Normandy and war with France: the defeats of 1202–1204 and the long campaigns to regain NormandyNormandy’s loss changed the balance between the English and French kings and shaped John’s government for the rest of his reign. Learn how a dispute over continental lordship became a military collapse, why recovery proved difficult and how the cost of war affected England.
2A - Scotland, Ireland and Wales: relations with William of Scotland and the invasion of 1209John’s power outside England took different forms in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Learn how he used armies, settlements, hostages and local rivalries to assert authority, and why the campaigns of 1209–1211 did not produce uniform or permanent control.
The end of John's reign, 1214–1216 (A-level only)
2A - Defeat in the war with France: failure of John’s final campaign to regain NormandyThe campaign of 1214 was John’s best prepared final attempt to reverse his continental losses. Learn why its two connected offensives failed, what happened at Bouvines and how an unfavourable settlement with Philip II weakened John’s position in England.
2A - Relations between King John and the barons: Robert Fitzwalter and the ‘Army of God’Magna Carta emerged from a struggle over how John should govern, rather than from a sudden desire to abolish monarchy. Learn how Robert Fitzwalter helped organise resistance, why negotiations became necessary and what the settlement of June 1215 tried to change.
2A - The First Barons War: baronial unrest and the outbreak of the warThe settlement at Runnymede failed to end the struggle between John and his opponents. Learn why war resumed, how John recovered the military initiative, why the rebels invited Louis of France and how the king’s death in October 1216 changed the conflict.
2A - King John’s legacy: the problem of the succession and role of William Marshal as ProtectorJohn left his son a disputed kingdom, but he also left institutions and supporters capable of preserving the dynasty. Learn how William Marshal protected Henry III’s succession and assess the political, economic and social condition of England by the end of 1216.
Component 2 option 2B — The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499
The origins of conflict, 1450–1459
2B - English society and politics in 1450: the weakness of Henry VI’s ruleLearn why difficulties at home and defeat in France weakened Henry VI’s government in 1450. Connect the king’s leadership, noble rivalries and Cade’s rebellion without assuming that civil war was already inevitable.
2B - The impact on English politics of the emerging power and influence of Richard of YorkLearn how Richard of York became a major challenger to Henry VI’s councillors between 1450 and 1455. Examine the resources behind his influence, the limits of his support and the effect of the king’s incapacity on government.
2B - The outbreak of war: the first Battle of St Albans and the balance of military power in 1455Learn why the first Battle of St Albans broke out, how the Yorkists won and why its political consequences were much larger than its scale. Assess military power without assuming that victory destroyed the king’s authority or ended opposition.
2B - The uneasy peace: the influence of Margaret of AnjouLearn why England avoided immediate civil war after St Albans yet failed to secure a durable peace. Examine Margaret of Anjou’s influence, the persistence of noble rivalry and the different ways political insecurity affected society.
The War of the Barons, 1459–1461
2B - The renewal of war: York’s flight into exileLearn how the Yorkists moved from defeat and exile in 1459 to control of Henry VI in 1460. Explain Warwick’s growing influence and why secure bases, political support and shifting loyalties mattered as much as battlefield success.
2B - Filling the political vacuum: the rule of Richard of York as Protector of EnglandLearn how York tried to provide government when Henry VI could not exercise effective leadership. Distinguish his earlier protectorships from the settlement of 1460, then assess why legal authority did not secure obedience throughout the kingdom.
2B - Shifting loyalties and the Lancastrian revival: WakefieldLearn how the Lancastrians recovered after Northampton, killed York at Wakefield and regained Henry VI at the second Battle of St Albans. Assess why military revival failed to produce a secure political settlement.
2B - Proclamation of Edward IV as KingLearn how Edward of York claimed the crown in March 1461 and secured it at Towton. Assess the Yorkists’ strengths and weaknesses by the end of the campaign, distinguishing a decisive victory from the complete disappearance of opposition.
The triumph of the Yorkists, 1461–1471
2B - The personal rule of Edward IV and the political impact of his marriage to Elizabeth WoodvilleLearn how Edward IV tried to turn military victory into effective kingship, and why his marriage altered the distribution of power within the Yorkist regime. The marriage mattered through patronage, diplomacy and the king's relationship with Warwick, rather than simply through personal dislike.
2B - Factional rivalries: Warwick ‘the Kingmaker’Follow the rebellions that removed Edward IV in 1470, and explain why Warwick, Margaret of Anjou and Edward, Prince of Wales could cooperate despite earlier hostility. The restoration of Henry VI depended on a coalition whose members wanted different things from victory.
2B - The crushing of the Lancastrian cause: Barnet and TewkesburyExplain how Edward IV's campaign in 1471 removed the main military leaders and direct heirs of the Lancastrian cause. Barnet, Tewkesbury and Henry VI's death had different consequences, and together changed Edward's security far more than a single battlefield victory.
2B - The impact of the baronial wars on English society by 1471: the weakening of the aristocracyAssess who was affected by the wars and how far political destruction altered English society. Distinguish the severe losses of particular noble families and local communities from the longer economic changes that cannot be attributed to civil war alone.
'The Sun in Splendour': the reign of Edward IV, 1471–1483 (A-level only)
2B - The consolidation of royal authority under Edward IV and the development of new methods of governmentLearn how Edward IV strengthened government after 1471 through finance, household service, justice and regional delegation. Assess what was new in these methods and why greater control during his lifetime did not make the monarchy independent of nobles or Parliament.
2B - Factional rivalries and court politics: hostile reactions against the influence of the WoodvillesExamine how competition for access, marriages and office continued after 1471. The Woodvilles were important, but understanding court politics requires distinguishing their actual influence, their opponents' complaints and Edward IV's responsibility for maintaining the balance.
2B - Change and continuity in English society during a decade of peace: trade and the economy, social mobility, the regionsAssess how peace after 1471 affected trade, opportunity and life in the regions. A more stable monarchy could support recovery, but economic fortunes and social advancement remained uneven and depended on forces beyond Edward IV's decisions.
2B - The premature death of Edward IV and the crisis of the Yorkist successionExplain why Edward IV's unexpected death in April 1483 exposed a conflict over the government of his twelve-year-old son. Trace the change from an accepted succession to an armed struggle for control, while distinguishing secure events from claims about hidden intentions.
The downfall of the Yorkist Monarchy, 1483–1486 (A-level only)
2B - The coup d’état by Richard of Gloucester: the issue of the Princes in the Tower and Richard III’s position as a usurperUnderstand how Richard of Gloucester moved from protecting Edward V to taking his throne, and why the disputed succession and disappearance of the princes damaged Richard III’s authority.
2B - Factional rivalriesExplain why Richard III’s seizure of the crown divided Yorkist supporters, how Henry Tudor became the focus of a coalition, and why the rebellion of autumn 1483 failed without ending that threat.
2B - The strengths and weaknesses of Richard III’s position in 1484: the death of his wife and heirAssess Richard III’s real governing strengths after the rebellion of 1483, then explain how the deaths of his son in 1484 and his wife in 1485 worsened the unresolved problem of succession.
2B - The downfall of Richard III: Bosworth, the proclamation of a new Tudor dynasty under Henry VII and his marriage to Elizabeth of YorkExplain how Henry Tudor’s invasion defeated Richard III at Bosworth, and how Henry converted victory into a new royal dynasty through recognition, selective punishment and marriage.
The end of the Yorkist Dynasty, 1486–1499 (A-level only)
2B - Yorkist opposition to Henry VII: the Lovell revoltCompare the early challenges to Henry VII: a rising by Richard III’s followers, a dynastic invasion using Lambert Simnel, and the Yorkshire tax uprising. Explain why their different aims required different responses.
2B - Attempts to maintain the Yorkist cause: Margaret of Burgundy , the Earl of Warwick and the Pretender Perkin WarbeckExplain why the Yorkist cause survived Stoke, how Margaret of Burgundy and royal claimants supplied continuing resources, and how Perkin Warbeck’s foreign support became a threat to Henry VII.
2B - The end of the Yorkist challenge: defeat of Warbeck and his Scottish and Cornish alliesExplain why Warbeck’s Scottish and Cornish campaigns failed, how Henry VII dealt with Warbeck and Warwick, and what the executions of 1499 did and did not settle.
2B - The impact of the Wars of the Roses on English society by 1499: trade and the economyAssess the wars’ effects on English society without assuming constant national devastation. Explain how violence and royal policy affected trade and property, and why stronger central authority still depended on the regions.
Component 2 option 2C — The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564
The condition of the Church, c1500–1517
2C - The Church: secular power and influenceLearn how the Church exercised power through land, law, government and the parish around 1500, and why spiritual authority could create both cooperation and conflict with secular rulers.
2C - The Church: religious power and influenceUnderstand the Catholic account of salvation around 1500, including the sacraments, the priest, good works and prayers for the dead. These beliefs explain why Luther's challenge eventually became more than an argument about Church finances.
2C - Criticism of the ChurchExplore the different meanings of Church reform before 1517. Distinguish criticism of clerical behaviour from humanist renewal, hostility to clerical privilege and challenges to Catholic doctrine.
2C - Church finances, indulgences, popular piety and the extent of demand for reformExamine how religious provision was funded, why indulgences became controversial, and how vigorous popular devotion could coexist with demands to reform the Church before 1517.
The challenge of Luther, 1517–1521
2C - The Holy Roman Empire, its government, condition and social composition: emperor, princes, knights, towns and electorsLearn how the Empire's political structure and social divisions shaped the reception of Luther's ideas. Different groups could welcome reform for different reasons, while the emperor depended on cooperation to enforce religious policy.
2C - Martin Luther: influences on early lifeTrace how Luther's education, monastic experience and concern for salvation shaped the challenge of 1517. Read the Theses in their original setting before judging how far they already represented a break with Rome.
2C - DisputationsFollow the movement from the indulgence dispute to Luther's wider challenge to religious authority. Examine how debates, the major publications of 1520 and printing changed both his ideas and their audience.
2C - Excommunication and Diet of Worms: attitude of Catholic Church hierarchyExamine why Church condemnation did not silence Luther in 1521. Connect the Diet of Worms and its edict with Charles V's priorities, the princes' positions and Frederick the Wise's protection.
The Protestant challenge, 1521–1531
2C - The spread of radical reformation: Carstadt and the Zwickau prophetsLuther's challenge to Rome opened questions about who could reform the Church and how quickly change should occur. This lesson explains why former allies divided over worship, revelation and salvation, and why humanist criticism did not necessarily lead to Protestantism.
2C - The development of protestant doctrine: Luther, Melancthon and ZwingliProtestant doctrine developed through disputes over salvation, Scripture and worship. This lesson compares Luther, Melanchthon and Zwingli, explaining both their shared challenge to Catholic authority and the disagreements that prevented a single Protestant Church.
2C - The revolt of the Imperial Knights and the peasants' war: causes and outcomesReligious reform encouraged different groups to challenge existing authority, but neither their aims nor their outcomes were identical. This lesson connects the revolts of knights and peasants, Luther's response in 1525, and the subsequent struggle to settle religion through imperial diets and th...
2C - The Reformation in the Swiss ConfederacySwiss reform depended on the decisions of individual cantons, whose religious positions also affected political alliances. This lesson explains Zwingli's support and opposition, negotiations with Lutherans, the two Kappel wars and the divided condition of the Church by 1531.
The expansion of the Reformation, 1531–1541
2C - The geographical and social expansion of Lutheranism: MelancthonBetween 1531 and 1541, Lutheran reform spread into new territories and became embedded in institutions and everyday religious life. This lesson explains how Luther and Melanchthon supported that expansion, why adoption varied between social groups, and how Charles V's position gave reformers room...
2C - The development of the radical reformationRadical reformers disagreed both with established churches and with one another. This lesson explains the development of Anabaptism, the exceptional attempt to create a religious kingdom in Münster, and why that episode cannot represent every radical movement.
2C - Religious division in Germany and the formation of the Schmalkaldic leagueReligious division became a political and military problem when reforming governments organised collective defence. This lesson explains why the Schmalkaldic League formed, how it worked, and why its strength protected Protestantism without creating a united or permanently secure settlement.
2C - The Diet of Regensburg and state of the Church by 1541Regensburg was a major attempt to reconcile Catholic and Protestant teaching through negotiation in 1541. This lesson explains the limited agreement, the reasons it failed to reunite the churches, and what the outcome reveals about religious authority and the condition of the Church.
The second wave of Protestant Reform, 1541–1564
2C - Calvin: influences on early life and the evolution of doctrineLearn how Calvin's education, exile, writing and experience of church government shaped a form of Protestant reform that could travel beyond one city. His early career explains both the content of his doctrine and the importance he attached to an organised Christian community.
2C - The practice of Calvinism in Geneva: support and oppositionLearn how Calvin's second Genevan ministry turned religious teaching into institutions, discipline and international influence. His authority grew through support and political change, but opposition and the Servetus case reveal the coercive limits of the community he helped build.
2C - The spread of Calvinism: France, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and eastern EuropeLearn why Calvinism spread through very different political and social settings by 1564. Books and ministers connected the movement, but local protection, repression and existing religious traditions determined whether it became an established church, a protected minority or a persecuted network.
2C - Religious War in GermanyLearn why Charles V's military victory failed to restore religious unity, and how the Peace of Augsburg converted religious division into a legal settlement. Follow the connection between Luther's death, war, resistance, the peace's principles and the emperor's abdication.
The Catholic Reformation, 1531–1564
2C - Papal revival: Paul IIILearn how papal leadership combined internal reform, defence of Catholic teaching and control of religious dissent. Compare Paul III's initiatives with the more coercive approach of Paul IV and Pius IV's completion of the Council of Trent.
2C - Spiritual regeneration: New Religious OrdersLearn how new and renewed religious orders answered the demand for spiritual renewal through disciplined lives, service and teaching. Examine Loyola's experience and the Jesuits' beliefs and organisation, then judge what their growing influence had achieved by 1564.
2C - The Council of Trent: the three sessionsLearn how Trent defined Catholic doctrine and created a programme of disciplinary reform over three periods of meeting. Distinguish the council's authoritative decisions from their implementation, and use a contemporary decree to judge what it reveals about reforming intentions.
2C - The impact of reform by 1564Learn how to judge Catholic reform by comparing changes in policy, institutions and religious life across Europe. Assess the responses of monarchies, clergy and laity, while keeping the endpoint of 1564 separate from the later effects of the Tridentine programme.
Component 2 option 2D — Religious conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570
The Church in c1529
2D - The political and social role of the Church: churchmen as royal advisersLearn why the Church was woven into English government and everyday life around 1529, and why changing its authority would affect far more than worship.
2D - Popular piety and the Church’s spiritual role: lay religious guildsLearn how beliefs about salvation shaped everyday devotion around 1529, why lay people invested in their churches, and how printing could sustain or challenge religious authority.
2D - Early Reformers and Humanists: the legacy of the Lollards and impact on religious belief and practiceLearn how Lollard dissent and Christian humanism challenged aspects of English religion before the break from Rome, and why criticism did not lead every reformer to the same conclusions.
2D - Abuses and criticisms of the Church: the extent and impact of simony, nepotism and absenteeismLearn what critics meant by clerical abuses, how these could affect people’s experience of the Church, and why evidence of criticism does not by itself prove a demand for Protestant reform.
The break from Rome, c1529–1536
2D - The King’s ‘Great Matter’Learn why Henry VIII wanted his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, why her resistance and international support mattered, and how failure to obtain a papal solution opened the way to a different religious settlement.
2D - The Reformation Parliament: MPs and expression of grievancesLearn how the Parliament of 1529–1536 turned a prolonged marriage dispute into a transfer of church authority, and how royal direction worked through parliamentary grievances, statutes and pressure on the clergy.
2D - The influence of faction: Cromwell and the management of ParliamentLearn how competing groups tried to shape Henry’s decisions, how Cromwell organised the break from Rome, and why resistance could be treated as treason even when it arose from religious conviction.
2D - The doctrinal and political position of the Reformation by 1536: the degree of change and continuity in faith, belief and organisation of the ChurchLearn how to judge the Reformation’s position by 1536 by separating changes in jurisdiction, organisation, doctrine and popular practice, and by recognising that these did not move at the same speed.
Change and reaction, 1536–1547
2D - The reformist and conservative factions: aims, influence and the reaction of the KingBetween 1536 and 1547, England's Church changed through a struggle over what royal supremacy should permit. Learn how religious aims, access to Henry VIII and shifting foreign alliances interacted, and why neither reformers nor conservatives could determine policy without the King.
2D - The Dissolution of the Monasteries: political, religious, social and economic causes and consequencesThe Dissolution removed religious institutions that had shaped English worship, landholding and local life for centuries. Learn why the Crown dismantled them, how the Pilgrimage of Grace challenged that process, and why the consequences extended beyond a transfer of wealth.
2D - Change and continuity in doctrine: liturgy, the eucharist and the BibleRoyal supremacy allowed Henry VIII to determine religious policy, but the break with Rome did not produce a single, settled Protestant doctrine. Trace what changed in official teaching between 1536 and 1547, which beliefs survived, and why changes in language or access to scripture did not necess...
2D - The state of the Church and belief by 1547: disagreements over doctrine and practiceHenry VIII left a Church governed by the Crown, with altered institutions but substantial traditional doctrine. Examine why that settlement remained contested, how war and court influence affected its future, and why the succession made 1547 a turning point rather than the completion of a settled...
A more Protestant Nation, 1547–1553 (A-level only)
2D - The Protestant Party and the King: the aims, beliefs and role of Somerset and the overturning of Henry’s willEdward VI's accession gave Protestant reformers opportunities that Henry VIII had denied them. Explain how Somerset acquired power, how Northumberland later governed, and why the young King's beliefs mattered alongside the interests and authority of his adult advisers.
2D - The development of doctrine and further reformEdwardian reform changed what churches looked like, what worshippers heard and what the Church officially taught. Follow the connection between the removal of traditional institutions, Cranmer's developing beliefs, and the two Prayer Books, while distinguishing the establishment of Protestant wor...
2D - Opposition and conformity: the Western RebellionThe rebellions of 1549 exposed serious weaknesses in Somerset's government, but they did not express one shared response to religious reform. Compare the Western and Kett's rebellions, then examine how reformers secured outward conformity and why the Protestant Church of 1553 remained vulnerable.
2D - The crisis over the succession 1553: attempts to avoid the succession of MaryEdward VI's approaching death placed the Protestant settlement at risk because his statutory heir was his Catholic half-sister Mary. Explain the attempt to replace her with Jane Grey, why apparent control of the government proved insufficient, and how Mary's accession brought down Northumberland.
The restoration of Papal Authority, 1553–1558 (A-level only)
2D - Mary’s accession, aims and opposition: the Royal Supremacy and problems with her first ParliamentMary won the crown in 1553, but winning obedience to her religious programme was a different problem. Learn how her Catholic beliefs, Parliament, the Spanish marriage and the legacy of earlier reform shaped what restoration could achieve.
2D - The restoration of Papal Authority: the second Parliament and the restoration of Papal Authority and Catholic doctrineEngland's return to Rome depended on negotiation as well as Mary's religious conviction. Learn the sequence of parliamentary restoration, the revival of Catholic doctrine, Mary's reforming work and the limits of the Church she rebuilt.
2D - Persecution and reform: reasons for, extent of and repercussions of the persecution of ProtestantsMary's government used both punishment and religious instruction to restore Catholicism. Learn why persecution began, whom it affected, how its effects should be assessed, and how it related to the reforming work of Mary and Pole.
2D - Opposition and conformity: Wyatt and other opposition to changesMary faced rebellion, quieter resistance and substantial cooperation, often for different reasons. Learn how to distinguish opposition to the Spanish marriage from opposition to Catholicism, and how war with France and the loss of Calais affected the regime.
The establishment of the Church of England, 1558–c1570 (A-level only)
2D - Religious divisions on Elizabeth’s accession: CatholicsElizabeth inherited a Catholic Church, surviving Protestant networks and a costly war in November 1558. Learn why neither Catholics nor Protestants formed a single united bloc, and why peace with France mattered to the prospects of religious change.
2D - The re-establishment of the Church of England: Elizabeth’s religious beliefs and aimsThe 1559 settlement created a Protestant national Church through royal authority, parliamentary law and prescribed worship. Learn what Elizabeth sought, how the legislation was secured, and how the Prayer Book combined a clear change of direction with limited accommodation.
2D - Supporters and opponents of the Settlement: consolidation of the Settlement through VisitationsThe settlement had to be enforced in parishes, not merely passed in Parliament. Learn how visitations made the new orders practical, why Protestant vestments became controversial, and why many Catholics initially obeyed a Church they did not fully accept.
2D - Maintaining the Settlement: the threat posed by Mary Queen of ScotsFrom 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots, gave Catholic opposition a claimant around whom it could organise. Learn how dynastic politics, the Northern Rising and papal excommunication changed the settlement's security, and judge its condition by 1570.
Component 2 option 2E — The English Revolution, 1625–1660
The emergence of conflict and the end of consensus, 1625–1629
2E - The legacy of James I: religious issues and divisionsCharles I inherited a monarchy with substantial authority, but also unresolved arguments about religion, money and foreign policy. This lesson explains James I’s legacy across all three areas and why disagreement did not yet make civil war inevitable.
2E - Monarchy and Divine Right: the character and aims of Charles ICharles I believed that monarchy carried a sacred duty to preserve order. Learn how his character, queen, court and advisers shaped that belief in practice, and why royal intentions could look threatening to people outside the court.
2E - Challenges to the arbitrary government of Charles I: reactions against financial policiesBetween 1625 and 1628, Charles’s need to finance war repeatedly collided with demands for lawful government and Protestant security. Learn how financial policies, Church disputes, foreign failures and Buckingham’s position turned disagreements into a wider crisis of trust.
2E - Parliamentary radicalismParliamentary opposition in 1628–1629 became more assertive while still claiming to defend monarchy, religion and ancient liberties. Explore its leaders, the Petition of Right and the breakdown that led Charles to govern without Parliament.
An experiment in Absolutism, 1629–1640
2E - Charles I’s Personal Rule: his chief ministersCharles governed without an English Parliament from 1629 to 1640, but he still depended on ministers, courts and local officials. Learn how Personal Rule obtained money and enforced policy, why it initially appeared workable, and why practical and constitutional resistance increased.
2E - Religious issues: Laud and Arminianism in England and ScotlandReligious policy under Personal Rule changed what people encountered in parish churches and who controlled worship. Learn why Laud’s reforms alarmed Puritans, how enforcement widened opposition, and why policy in Scotland produced a different scale of challenge.
2E - Political issues: the role of WentworthThomas Wentworth sought to make royal government more effective, but his methods threatened interests on which it depended. Compare his policies in England and Ireland, the reactions they produced, and the increasing demand to restore Parliament as a means of redress.
2E - Radicalism, dissent and the approach of war: the spread of religious radicalismThe collapse of Personal Rule came through the interaction of religious dissent, organised Scottish resistance and military defeat. Trace the National Covenant, both Bishops’ Wars and the failed settlement at Berwick to explain why Charles had to recall Parliament in 1640.
The crisis of Parliament and the outbreak of the First Civil War, 1640–1642
2E - The Political Nation 1640: the recall of ParliamentUnderstand why Charles recalled Parliament twice in 1640, how that altered the balance of power, and why opposition to Personal Rule did not mean agreement about England's future government. The crisis reveals how a ruler could retain legal authority while losing the cooperation needed to use it.
2E - Pym and the development of parliamentary radicalism: Pym’s personality and aimsLearn how John Pym organised opposition, why the Grand Remonstrance divided the Commons, and how London petitioners and crowds helped change the boundaries of political action in 1640–42. Following these connections helps explain how demands for protection could become demands for a different bal...
2E - Conflicts between Crown and Parliament: failure of negotiations between the King and the Long ParliamentUnderstand why extensive reforms in 1641 did not produce a secure settlement, why Strafford was executed, and how his removal changed the relationship between Charles and Parliament. The distinction between removing an immediate danger and securing future cooperation explains why apparent victori...
2E - The slide into war: the impact of events in IrelandTrace how the Irish rebellion, the attempted arrest of MPs and competing efforts to mobilise the counties turned political mistrust into armed conflict during 1641–42. Local grievances and the growth of a Royalist following help explain how rival claims at Westminster acquired men, weapons and su...
War and radicalism, 1642–1646 (A-level only)
2E - The First Civil War: the strengths and weaknesses of the political and military leadership of the Royalist causeAssess how royal legitimacy, commanders and regional support sustained Charles's war effort, and why battlefield successes did not produce a lasting Royalist victory in 1642–46. Comparing campaigns shows how leadership depended on the ability to coordinate, supply and replace forces as well as to...
2E - The First Civil War: the strengths and weaknesses of the political and military leadership of the Parliamentary forcesUnderstand how Parliament converted wealth and alliances into military victory, and why the Solemn League and Covenant, the Self-Denying Ordinance and the New Model Army also reshaped politics. The sequence explains both Parliament's growing effectiveness and the new settlement problems created b...
2E - The intensification of radicalism: popular radicalism in LondonExplain why war widened political and religious debate in London and the New Model Army, how print helped ideas circulate, and why defending Parliament did not mean accepting all its policies. Contemporary arguments reveal how participation and sacrifice could lead people to challenge the authori...
2E - The end of the First Civil War: divisions amongst the Parliamentary leadersLearn why the defeat of Charles's armies did not settle the constitution or Church, how wartime negotiations failed, and why his surrender to the Scots in 1646 left the victors divided. The outcome shows why an agreement about who could win a war was easier to achieve than agreement about how Eng...
The disintegration of the Political Nation, 1646–1649 (A-level only)
2E - Political and religious radicalism: the politicisation of the New Model ArmyVictory raised a question that fighting had postponed: who could decide the future of England? Follow the New Model Army's move from military grievances to political demands, then distinguish the Levellers' programme from the religious and social radicalism that developed around and after the kin...
2E - Political and religious divisions: the attitude and actions of Charles IMilitary defeat left Charles I without an army but still at the centre of attempts to settle the kingdoms. Examine the rival proposals of Parliament, the army and the Scots, and explain why bargaining failed to create a government that the participants could trust.
2E - The Second Civil War and the reasons for its outcomeThe Second Civil War was a series of uprisings and a Scottish invasion, rather than a simple replay of two national armies fighting from established capitals. Trace the campaign of 1648 and weigh the organisation of the New Model Army against the weaknesses of the coalition supporting Charles.
2E - The problem of Charles I: divisions within the army and ParliamentCharles's execution resulted from a disputed decision to place the king under judgement, not simply from his battlefield defeat. Follow the divisions, military intervention and trial of 1648–49, then use the king's own written defence to understand the competing claims about lawful authority.
Experiments in government and society, 1648–1660 (A-level only)
2E - The Third Civil War: the attempted Royalist revivalExecuting Charles I did not eliminate monarchy as a political cause: his supporters could transfer allegiance to his son. Study the revival of Royalism across Ireland and Scotland, the campaigns of Dunbar and Worcester, and the reasons Prince Charles returned to exile rather than regaining the En...
2E - Political radicalism: failure of the Levellers and Diggers and the ‘Godly Society’A republic could abolish a king while defending existing social hierarchies. Compare the hopes of Levellers, Diggers and religious reformers with the government of the Rump and the Nominated Assembly, and explain why military victory produced neither a democratic constitution nor an agreed godly...
2E - Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate: Cromwell’s personality and approach to government and his refusal of the CrownThe Protectorate attempted to combine a strong executive, representative government and godly reform. Explore how Cromwell balanced these aims, why he refused the Crown, and how disputes over religion, military government and succession exposed the limits of his settlement.
2E - The monarchy restored: political vacuum after the death of CromwellThe monarchy returned through political negotiation after republican institutions lost the ability to command consent. Trace the crisis of 1658–60, assess the assurances offered by Charles II, and distinguish restored institutions from the changes that the English Revolution left behind.
Component 2 option 2F — The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715
The Regency, 1643–1661
2F - The French monarchy in 1643: the legacy of Richelieu and Louis XIIILearn why Louis XIV inherited both a stronger monarchy and serious dangers in 1643, and how Anne of Austria secured the authority to govern for her young son.
2F - The Minority of Louis XIV: the roles of Anne of Austria and MazarinLearn how a dispute over taxation and legal authority became a series of civil wars, why opposition failed to stay united, and how Anne of Austria and Mazarin preserved the monarchy.
2F - France and Europe: the rise of French power at the expense of the HabsburgsLearn how military victories, alliances and negotiated settlements changed France's position in Europe between 1643 and 1661, and why Westphalia did not end the war with Spain.
2F - The condition of France at the accession of Louis XIV in 1661: politics, economy and societyLearn what Louis XIV could draw on when he began personal government in 1661, and why political recovery and international success coexisted with financial weakness and social inequality.
The establishment of Absolutism at home, 1661–1685
2F - Louis XIV and Divine Right: personality and aimsLearn how Louis XIV combined a claim to God-given authority with administrative supervision, selective coercion and court patronage to strengthen royal government between 1661 and 1685.
2F - Louis XIV and patronage of art, culture and science: the Academie FrancaiseLearn how patronage and royal institutions supported cultural achievement, practical knowledge and the public image of monarchy, and why these purposes did not always coincide.
2F - Finance and the economy: the reforms of ColbertLearn how Colbert tried to make royal revenue more dependable and France more commercially powerful, and why administrative improvements did not remove the costs of war or the limits of the tax system.
2F - Louis XIV and the Church: disputes with the papacyLearn why Louis XIV defended royal independence from the pope while enforcing religious obedience at home, and how his treatment of Jansenists and Huguenots developed through 1685.
Louis XIV and Europe, 1661–1685
2F - The context of French foreign policy in 1661: Louis XIV’s aims, the extent of French military resourcesLearn why Louis XIV sought influence and territory in Europe, and how soldiers, money, administration and military education made those ambitions possible. The resources available in 1661 were substantial, but the army Louis later used was the product of continuing reform, particularly under Louv...
2F - France and Spain: the decline of Spanish military powerLearn why Spain was vulnerable to Louis XIV's first major war of expansion and how a disputed inheritance became a territorial conflict. The War of Devolution shows both France's growing military advantage and the diplomatic limits on exploiting it.
2F - France and the Dutch Republic: relations between Louis XIV and Charles II of EnglandLearn how Louis XIV tried to isolate the Dutch Republic, why the invasion of 1672 became a longer European war, and what France gained at Nijmegen. Relations with Charles II are essential to understanding both the promising opening and the limits of Louis's diplomatic planning.
2F - France and the policy of Reunions: the drive to annex ‘lost’ territories to France such as Luxembourg, Casale and StrasbourgLearn how Louis XIV used legal claims, military pressure and diplomatic opportunity to extend French influence after Nijmegen. Strasbourg, Casale and Luxembourg show different methods, while the settlement at Ratisbon reveals the difference between recognised possession and secure, permanent owne...
Challenges at home, 1685–1715
2F - The personal monarchy: the strengths and weaknesses of royal governmentLearn how Louis XIV continued to govern after 1685 and why an apparently powerful monarchy could struggle to solve its problems. Madame de Maintenon's influence helps reveal how personal relationships operated within a government whose final decisions remained the king's.
2F - Finance and the economy: problems after ColbertLearn why France could sustain major wars after Colbert's death while exposing its economy and finances to severe strain. New taxes, borrowing, famine and reform proposals show why raising money immediately was different from creating a healthy long-term tax base.
2F - Louis XIV and the Church: GallicanismLearn why Louis XIV defended royal authority against the papacy while also pursuing Catholic unity within France. His treatment of Huguenots, Jansenists and Quietists reveals different kinds of religious conflict and the limits of enforced conformity between 1685 and 1715.
2F - Pressures from below: social divisionsLearn why royal demands affected French people differently and why discontent could become a local protest or a sustained revolt. Social privilege, regional institutions, food supply and religious persecution all shaped pressures from below between 1685 and 1715.
Challenges in Europe, 1685–1697
2F - The challenge of William of Orange: the Dutch-English alliance after the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688Learn why William of Orange became Louis XIV's most persistent opponent, how the revolution of 1688 brought England into the anti-French struggle, and why their combined resources changed France's strategic position.
2F - The ‘Grand Alliance’: the League of Augsburg and the anti-French alliance between Protestant statesLearn how opposition to French expansion developed from the League of Augsburg into the Grand Alliance, why Protestant and Catholic powers cooperated, and how a coalition could constrain France while remaining difficult to hold together.
2F - The Nine Years War: outbreak, course and outcomeLearn why the Nine Years War began in 1688, how its European and overseas campaigns developed, and why the Peace of Ryswick ended the fighting without resolving the rivalry between France and its opponents.
2F - The new balance of power: the position of France in relation to the European powers by 1697Learn how to judge France's position after Ryswick by comparing territory, military capacity, finance and its rivals' resources, and explain why peace offered recovery without guaranteeing an end to war.
France defeated, 1697–1715
2F - The issue of the Spanish Succession: the aims and policies of FranceLearn why the death of Charles II created a European crisis, compare Louis XIV's options over the Spanish inheritance, and explain how decisions made after 1700 turned a disputed succession into war.
2F - The War of the Spanish Succession: the war in EuropeLearn how France's struggle to secure Philip V unfolded in Europe and overseas, why a series of defeats did not destroy French power, and how changes within the coalition helped bring the war towards a settlement.
2F - The Treaty of Utrecht and its impact on the balance of power in EuropeLearn how the peace settlement redistributed power, why Philip V's survival was compatible with the containment of France, and how European and overseas gains changed the position of Britain's rivals.
2F - The legacy of Louis XIV by 1715: the last years of the reignLearn why the survival of the monarchy did not guarantee the survival of Louis's personal arrangements, how the succession crisis produced the regency of Orléans, and how to weigh the achievements and costs of the reign by 1715.
Component 2 option 2G — The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801
Britain and the American Colonies, 1760–1763
2G - Britain and North America in 1760: British attitudes towards the coloniesLearn why Britain valued its North American colonies in 1760, how authority within the empire worked, and how rivalry with France both strengthened and strained the imperial relationship.
2G - The Thirteen Colonies: social, economic and political characteristicsLearn how the thirteen colonies differed in economy, society and government, and why shared British institutions did not remove their internal divisions or make colonial unity automatic.
2G - The price of victory: the impact on relations between Britain and the colonists of the successful outcome of the French and Indian War and the Seven Years WarLearn how victory in 1763 changed the balance of power, created new imperial costs, and produced conflicting British and colonial expectations about protection, land and political authority.
2G - The dream of westward expansion: the expectations of the colonistsLearn why different colonists wanted western land, what opportunities they saw in Britain's new territories, and why those ambitions conflicted with Native rights and imperial priorities after 1763.
Enforcing the Colonial Relationship, 1763–1774
2G - British government legislation and policies towards the coloniesLearn how Britain tried to govern and finance its empire after 1763, why the Proclamation, Stamp Act and Townshend measures provoked resistance, and why concessions did not settle the question of parliamentary authority.
2G - The reaction of the colonists: the attitude of the colonial elitesLearn why colonial elites opposed imperial measures, how they used assemblies, petitions and economic pressure, and why defending colonial rights did not initially mean agreeing on independence or popular protest.
2G - The reaction of the colonists: pressure and reform movements from belowLearn how people outside the leading colonial elites turned grievances into effective pressure, and why popular resistance involved different interests, methods and political aims.
2G - Escalating tensions: the Boston Tea PartyLearn why cheaper tea provoked resistance, how the five acts of 1774 changed the dispute, and how opposition in Massachusetts developed from communication networks into an alternative political authority.
Ending the Colonial Relationship, 1774–1776
2G - The hardening of colonial opposition: the First Continental CongressLearn how the colonies turned a dispute over British authority into organised resistance and then began to replace royal government. The First Continental Congress and the new state constitutions reveal both growing cooperation and continuing disagreement about who should hold power.
2G - The ideology of revolution: Paine’s Common SenseLearn why arguments about rights developed into a case for independence and republican government. Compare Paine's popular appeal with the ideas and political work of Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson, then examine why other colonists remained loyal to Britain.
2G - The escalation of conflict: British actions to maintain control including the Quebec Act and the assertion of military control under General GageLearn why British attempts to secure the empire intensified colonial resistance and how that resistance became armed conflict in 1775. Distinguish the Quebec Act's purposes from colonists' perceptions, then connect General Gage's actions, militia organisation and the fighting at Lexington and Con...
2G - The Declaration of Independence: its political origins and its impact on the revolutionary causeLearn how Congress moved from defending colonial rights to declaring independent states, and why it published a reasoned justification for that decision. Examine the Declaration's political and diplomatic effects, together with the limits of its promise of equality.
The War of Independence, 1776–1783 (A-level only)
2G - The balance of military power in 1776: the strengths and weaknesses of Britain’s military position, the strengths and limitations of the revolutionary forces, geographical factorsLearn why Britain's military advantages did not guarantee victory in 1776. Compare the forces, resources and objectives of the two sides, then examine how distance, coastlines and the size of the colonies shaped what each could achieve.
2G - The international context: the part played by France, diplomacy and sea powerLearn how the War of Independence became an international conflict and why assistance from France and Spain mattered. Follow the connection between diplomacy, military credibility and sea power, while distinguishing European states' own interests from the revolutionaries' aims.
2G - The conduct of the war: American political leadership, the revolutionary armies and George Washington as military leaderLearn how the revolutionaries sustained their war effort and how Britain's campaigns failed to produce lasting political control. Follow the interaction of Congress, Washington, other American commanders and foreign allies, using major campaigns to weigh explanations of victory.
2G - Recognition of the new nation: the conduct of the peace negotiations, the terms of the peace settlement 1783Learn how the Americans converted military survival and victory into international recognition. Examine the negotiators' choices, the terms of the 1783 settlement and the problems that formal peace left unresolved.
Founding the Republic, 1776–1789 (A-level only)
2G - The Articles of Confederation: drafting from 1776Learn why the revolutionaries created a confederation, how its powers reflected distrust of central authority, and why securing the agreement of all thirteen states took until 1781.
2G - Obstacles blocking the path to a republic: economic problems, social tensions and inter-state disputes, the issue of slaveryLearn how debt, competing state interests and unequal freedom threatened republican government after independence, and why these problems encouraged constitutional change without making agreement inevitable.
2G - Making the Constitution: the Philadelphia Convention and the constitutional debates between federalists and anti-federalists, the personalities and policies of the ‘Founding Fathers’Learn how the Philadelphia Convention replaced the Articles, why representation and liberty produced competing proposals, and how the Constitution combined stronger national government with important compromises.
2G - Ratification of the new Republic: the forwarding of the constitution to the states by the Continental Congress, ratification of the constitution by state conventionsLearn how a proposal written in Philadelphia became the basis of a new government, why state conventions mattered, and how debate, concessions and pressure secured ratification.
Washington and Adams, 1789–1801 (A-level only)
2G - The powers of the presidency: Washington and Adams as presidents, the implementation of the constitutionLearn how Washington and Adams made the presidency work in practice, how constitutional restraints shaped executive action, and why security, taxation and political opposition tested the new government.
2G - Financing the new nation: Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of Finance, the balance between federal and state authorityLearn how Hamilton used debt, taxation and banking to establish national credit, why his policies shifted authority towards the federal government, and why their benefits and constitutional basis were disputed.
2G - The rise and influence of political parties: the Jefferson Republican (Democratic Republican Party) under Jefferson and James Madison, the Federalist Party under Alexander Hamilton and John AdamsLearn why organised parties emerged despite hostility to faction, how Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Adams shaped competing programmes, and how party conflict changed government and elections by 1801.
2G - The United States in 1801: the extent of national unity, relations with the world outside.Learn how to judge the republic's unity and international position in 1801 by comparing institutional survival with party division, unequal freedom, frontier conflict and continuing dependence on overseas trade.
Component 2 option 2H — France in Revolution, 1774–1815
The origins of the French Revolution, 1774–1789
2H - Absolutism and the structure of the Ancien Régime: Louis XVI as KingLearn how Louis XVI's authority worked in a society divided by legal status, local institutions and unequal obligations. Understanding both the resources and the limits of the monarchy explains why a powerful kingdom could struggle to reform itself after 1774.
2H - The ideas of the Enlightened philosophes: extent of influence in FranceLearn how Enlightenment writers questioned authority, how their ideas circulated, and what France's involvement in American independence changed. The central problem is to explain intellectual influence without assuming that books alone caused a revolution.
2H - Economic problems and royal finance: attempts to improve royal finances under Turgot, Necker and CalonneLearn why the French crown struggled to fund government and how Turgot, Necker and Calonne tried to solve the problem. Comparing their approaches shows how spending, borrowing, taxation and political confidence became connected.
2H - The Assembly of Notables and political developments, February 1787 to May 1789Learn how a dispute over financial reform opened a struggle over consent, representation and royal authority. Follow the developments from the Notables to the Estates-General, then assess the political, economic and social pressures facing France in May 1789.
The experiment in constitutional monarchy, 1789–1792
2H - The revolution May-October 1789: developments in Versailles and ParisLearn how the dispute inside the Estates-General became a revolution involving Paris and the countryside. Follow the changing relationship between representatives, popular action and the king from May to the October Days.
2H - The attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy: church reformsLearn how the Assembly attempted to replace the Ancien Régime with constitutional government, elected administration and legal equality. Compare those changes with church reform and economic policy to understand both the scale of transformation and the divisions it created.
2H - Reaction to change internally and externally: the political clubsLearn why support for the constitutional settlement divided between 1789 and 1792. Political clubs, the king's flight, repression in Paris and the decision for war changed both the participants and the stakes of the Revolution.
2H - Sans-culottes and the collapse of the constitutional experimentLearn how popular mobilisation and wartime fear helped remove the king in August 1792. Then examine the September massacres and the elections which brought the National Convention into existence, distinguishing political change from the violence that accompanied it.
The emergence and spread of the Terror, September 1792–1795
2H - The establishment of a Republic: problems and policiesThe Republic founded in September 1792 had to replace royal authority while fighting a war and answering demands for bread and political participation. The argument about Louis XVI's fate exposed a deeper question: could the new Republic be secure while the former king remained alive?
2H - Internal and external war: the spread of warBy summer 1793 the Republic faced foreign invasion, a major rebellion in the west and revolts against Paris in provincial cities. These emergencies strengthened wartime government, but the struggle between Girondins, the Mountain and popular activists also helped turn military danger into politic...
2H - The progress of the war: the levée en masse and the coming of the TerrorThe Republic's military recovery in 1793–1794 depended on turning people, production and political authority towards war. The levée en masse helped provide the resources, while the emergence of Terror raised the question of whether coercion saved the Revolution or transformed its purposes.
2H - The spread of the Terror: executionsThe Terror spread through a network of committees, tribunals, representatives and local militants. Its intensity varied across France, and its leaders did not always agree. Understanding that complexity explains both the scale of repression and why Robespierre's fall in July 1794 opened the way t...
The Directory and Napoleon's rise to power, 1795–1799
2H - The aftermath of the Terror: the Thermidorian reaction and White TerrorAfter Robespierre's fall, the Convention tried to recover political freedom and prevent a return to Terror. Its reaction weakened popular organisations and economic controls, however, while revenge and hunger produced new violence. The Paris risings of 1795 show why ending the Terror did not sett...
2H - The establishment of the Directory: the constitutionThe Directory was designed to prevent both monarchy and another revolutionary dictatorship. Between 1795 and 1799 it preserved a property-owning Republic through constitutional checks, economic reforms and military power. Its strengths in survival also exposed weaknesses in legitimacy and the set...
2H - Military campaigns and expansion abroad: Napoleon's contribution to French successNapoleon Bonaparte's victories in Italy made him a national figure and helped sustain the Directory. His Egyptian expedition exposed limits to French power while enhancing his political reputation. Distinguishing military achievement, inherited advantages and propaganda explains how a successful...
2H - The coup of Brumaire and the establishment of the Consulate: the strengths and weaknesses of the new constitutionThe coup of Brumaire replaced the Directory in November 1799 through a combination of political conspiracy and military force. The new constitution promised order and preserved important revolutionary gains, but it concentrated practical authority in Bonaparte. Its establishment must be distingui...
The impact of Napoleon's rule on France, 1799–1815
2H - Political change: Napoleon's consolidation of power and establishment of Emperor statusLearn how Napoleon turned the Consulate into a hereditary Empire, and why constitutions, popular votes and military success strengthened personal rule while limiting political freedom.
2H - Social change: class distinctions and titlesLearn how Napoleon built a loyal social order through honours, education, religion and controlled information, while preserving property rights and reinforcing inequalities of gender and status.
2H - Legal and administrative change: the Napoleonic codesLearn how uniform law and central administration strengthened Napoleon's state, why the codes preserved important revolutionary changes, and how police and appointed officials limited freedom.
2H - Financial and economic policies and problems: taxationLearn how Napoleon stabilised revenue, money and administration, why war and the Continental System produced uneven economic effects, and how to judge the extent of change in France by 1815.
The impact of Napoleon's rule on Europe, 1799–1815
2H - The army and conquest during the consulate and Empire: reasons for military success by 1808 and the part played by NapoleonLearn why French armies won major victories by 1808, how Napoleon combined inherited strengths with personal leadership, and why an expanding empire brought resources alongside growing commitments.
2H - The control of the Grand Empire: administrationLearn how Napoleon governed annexed territories, dependent kingdoms and allies, and why legal reform, economic demands and local resistance produced different experiences across Europe.
2H - Challenges to the Empire: the continental blockadeLearn how Napoleon's victories after 1806 generated new commitments, why blockade and resistance challenged imperial control, and how the Austrian and Russian campaigns exposed the limits of military dominance.
2H - The collapse of the Empire: the first Peace of ParisLearn why Napoleon fell in 1814, how his return ended in a harsher settlement in 1815, and why the Empire's collapse left France with lasting institutions, divided memories and a changed place in Europe.
Component 2 option 2J — America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877
North and South in c1845
2J - The American Republic: the federal government and its relationships with the statesThe United States in c1845 shared a constitution, a president and a national Congress, but power also belonged to individual states. Understanding that arrangement explains why disputes over slavery could become disputes over the survival of the Union.
2J - The Northern states: social, economic and political characteristicsThe North in c1845 was increasingly connected by commerce, transport and manufacturing, but most northerners did not live the same lives or share the same views. Learn how its economic and social diversity shaped its politics and its relationship with the slaveholding South.
2J - The Southern states: social, economic and political characteristicsSlavery shaped the South's labour, wealth and political power in c1845, but the section contained different crops, communities and interests. Learn why a society in which most white people did not own large plantations could nevertheless defend a slaveholding system.
2J - Missouri, nullification, modernisation and the frontierBy c1845 Americans had already faced serious disputes over slavery, economic policy and the authority of the Union. Learn how earlier compromises supplied both ways to preserve cooperation and arguments that could be used in a new sectional crisis.
Attempts to maintain the Union, c1845–1854
2J - Manifest Destiny and the territorial crisisWestward expansion could appear to fulfil America's national purpose, yet victory over Mexico produced a dangerous argument about slavery and political power. Learn why land that increased the size of the Union also made agreement within it harder.
2J - Political compromise and the settlement of 1850The settlement of 1850 kept the Union together by combining concessions over land, slavery and enforcement. Learn how Wilmot, Taylor, Clay and Douglas shaped the argument, and why a compromise that resolved immediate decisions also created new opposition.
2J - Antislavery growth and its limits, c1845–1854Antislavery feeling grew through political speeches, direct action, literature and the press, but northerners differed over aims and methods. Learn how these activities challenged compromise in c1845–1854 without assuming that the whole North demanded immediate emancipation.
2J - Southern resistance to abolitionism, c1845–1854Southern reactions to abolitionism combined defence of property, fear of social disruption, political demands and persuasive writing. Learn how Jefferson Davis and proslavery publications defended slavery in c1845–1854, while Unionist disagreement continued inside the South.
The outbreak of Civil War, 1854–1861
2J - Bleeding Kansas and the failure of compromiseLearn why a dispute over one western territory damaged the institutions that had previously contained conflict over slavery, and why violence in Kansas mattered far beyond its borders.
2J - The rise of the Republican Party, 1854–1856Learn how opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act became a new northern party, why that party attracted different kinds of voters, and what its first presidential campaign revealed about the future of national politics.
2J - Hardening positions, 1857–1860Learn how a Supreme Court decision, public debate, local resistance and an abolitionist raid made competing solutions to slavery less compatible, before the Democrats finally split in 1860.
2J - The 1860 election, secession and the outbreak of warLearn how Lincoln's constitutional election led to a secession movement, why southern responses differed, and how the dispute over Union and Confederacy became a shooting war.
The War, 1861–1865 (A-level only)
2J - Confederate strengths and weaknesses, 1861–1865Learn how the Confederacy sustained a four-year war despite its smaller resource base, and why its military, political, economic and diplomatic advantages were difficult to turn into secure independence.
2J - Union strengths and weaknesses, 1861–1865Learn how the Union converted its larger population and economy into military power, why victory still required difficult political and strategic choices, and how diplomacy protected it from foreign intervention.
2J - Civil War campaigns and Confederate defeat, 1861–1865Learn how the eastern and western campaigns changed the balance of the Civil War, why Confederate victories failed to secure independence, and how military pressure eventually combined with economic and political exhaustion.
2J - The war's costs and prospects for reconciliation, 1865Learn how the human and economic costs of victory differed across the United States, why emancipation transformed the peace settlement, and why military reunion left major questions of reconciliation unresolved in 1865.
Early Reconstruction, 1865–1867 (A-level only)
2J - Emancipation and Lincoln’s plans for ReconstructionWinning the war did not settle who would govern the defeated South or what freedom would mean. Follow Lincoln’s changing aims and competing Reconstruction plans to see why those questions remained open in April 1865.
2J - The Thirteenth Amendment: origins and impactLearn why abolition needed a constitutional amendment, how it secured approval, and why ending legal ownership did not immediately create equal or independent lives for freedpeople.
2J - The Fourteenth Amendment, Stevens and Radical RepublicansLearn how the struggle over citizenship joined the struggle over who would govern the South. Follow Radical Republican aims, the amendment's compromises, resistance to ratification and the move to congressional Reconstruction.
2J - Andrew Johnson: aims, conflict with Congress and impeachmentLearn why a Southern Unionist president became the opponent of congressional Reconstruction. Connect Johnson's principles and political manner to his restoration policy, Republican break and impeachment.
Radical Reconstruction, 1867–1877 (A-level only)
2J - The presidency: the election of 1868 and Andrew Johnson’s Christmas amnestyLearn how Grant's election changed the relationship between president and Congress. Assess his attempts to combine reunion with the protection of rights, and why the governing coalition weakened during his presidency.
2J - Radical Reconstruction in the South: the impact of the Reconstruction ActsLearn how congressional rules became Southern political change. Examine new constitutions, Republican coalitions, military protection and the campaign to make racial voting rights a national guarantee.
2J - Resistance to Radical Reconstruction in the South: Southern Democrats and ‘Redeemers’Learn how resistance combined political campaigning, economic pressure and racial violence. Explain why voter registration and protection at the polls mattered as much as constitutional declarations.
2J - The end of Radical Reconstruction: the position of African-Americans in North and South by 1877Learn why federal support for Reconstruction receded and what the settlement of 1877 changed. Compare African Americans' legal, political, social and economic positions in the North and South without treating either region as uniform.
Component 2 option 2K — International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941
Great Powers: Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Austria-Hungary, c1890–1900
2K - The political structures of the Great Powers: liberal democracies in Britain and France and autocracies in Germany, Russia and Austria-HungaryLearn who could make foreign-policy decisions in Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary in the 1890s. Compare the limits on rulers and ministers, and explain why an elected parliament did not always mean that the government answered to it.
2K - Economic strengths and armed forces: the erosion of Britain’s economic supremacyLearn how industrial growth changed the balance between the Great Powers in the 1890s. Explain Britain's relative economic decline, Germany's expansion and Russian reform, then judge military strength using organisation, transport and strategic responsibilities as well as resources.
2K - Empires and rivalries: the ‘Scramble for Africa’Learn why imperial expansion created rivalries in Africa and south-eastern Europe. Explain the interests of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary, while distinguishing a dangerous rivalry from a dispute that governments could still settle.
2K - The state of international relations by 1900: Anglo-French rivalryLearn how rivalries and alliances shaped the diplomatic position of the Great Powers by 1900. Explain why the Franco-Russian and Austro-German agreements mattered, while avoiding the assumption that Europe had already formed the two fixed wartime camps of 1914.
The Great Powers and Crises, 1900–1911
2K - Forces of instability: Balkan nationalism and its significance for Austria-Hungary and RussiaLearn how Balkan nationalism, military influence and competitive armaments made crises harder to contain between 1900 and 1911. Explain the choices behind these pressures, including why preparing for security could increase another state's fear.
2K - Evolving alliances: the Moroccan crisesLearn how Britain settled disputes with France and Russia, and why Germany's interventions in Morocco strengthened cooperation it hoped to weaken. Distinguish a colonial understanding, military discussions and a formal commitment to fight.
2K - The decline of the Ottoman Empire: the weakening of the Empire in Eastern EuropeLearn why Ottoman rule in south-eastern Europe weakened and why reformers challenged Sultan Abdulhamid II. Explain the causes and consequences of the Young Turk Movement, distinguishing its hopes for imperial renewal from the conflicts reform helped expose.
2K - Panslavism and the Bosnian Crisis: the causes, course and consequences of the Bosnian CrisisLearn how Pan-Slavism, imperial security and a failed diplomatic bargain produced the Bosnian Crisis of 1908–1909. Trace why it ended without a general war, and explain how its settlement could leave relations more dangerous.
The coming of war, 1911–1917
2K - The First and Second Balkan Wars: causesLearn why the Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in 1912 and then fought one another in 1913. Explain how Great Power diplomacy contained the wars while leaving Serbia stronger, Austria-Hungary more anxious and the region less secure.
2K - The outbreak of war in the Balkans and the July Crisis: Austria-Hungary’s and Germany’s response to the assassination in SarajevoLearn how the assassination at Sarajevo became a diplomatic crisis and then an Austro-Serbian war. Trace the decisions in Vienna, Berlin and St Petersburg, and explain why the ultimatum and bombardment of Belgrade narrowed the chances of a negotiated settlement.
2K - General war in Europe: mobilisation of German and Russian forcesLearn how a Balkan war became a general European war between 30 July and 4 August 1914. Explain how mobilisation and war plans accelerated the crisis, why Germany attacked through Belgium and how Britain's leaders decided to intervene.
2K - From European to World War: the escalation of the conflictLearn how imperial networks and additional entrants turned the European war into a world conflict. Explain Italy's choice of sides and distinguish the long-term ties, immediate threats and political aims behind the United States' entry in 1917.
The end of the First World War and the peace settlement, 1917–1923
2K - The collapse of the autocratic empires: Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman EmpireLearn why four dynastic empires collapsed during and after the First World War. Compare military defeat, revolution and nationalist ambitions, and explain how their different outcomes transformed the problems facing the peace-makers.
2K - Peace-making, 1919–1923: the roles and aims of Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd GeorgeLearn how the leaders at Paris combined security, compensation and national claims in the peace settlements. Examine Versailles alongside the East and Southern European treaties, and explain why the settlement with Turkey changed between Sèvres and Lausanne.
2K - Challenges to the peace settlement: the consequences of the USA’s return to isolationism and the League of NationsLearn why the United States rejected League membership and how that affected the peace settlement. Explain the League's methods and limits, then compare French, British and German responses to the post-war order.
2K - The state of international relations by 1923: the position of the USA and Russia in world affairsLearn why the international order remained unstable by 1923 despite peace treaties and the League of Nations. Examine American and Soviet influence, continuing border disputes, and the causes and consequences of the occupation of the Ruhr.
Attempts at maintaining the peace, 1923–1935
2K - The ‘Spirit of Locarno’: consolidation of the post-war settlementLearn why diplomacy became more cooperative after the Ruhr crisis, and how financial agreements, security guarantees and disarmament proposals strengthened peace while leaving important weaknesses unresolved.
2K - The Depression and its impact on international relations: the failures of the Lausanne and London Conferences on international debts and reparationsLearn how the Depression undermined the financial foundations of peace, why governments struggled to settle reparations and debts, and why the Lausanne and London conferences produced different kinds of failure.
2K - Changing balance of power: the ambitions of Italy, Japan and GermanyLearn how Italian, Japanese and German ambitions challenged the post-war order, why their aims and methods differed, and how their growing influence changed the choices facing other powers by 1935.
2K - The collapse of collective security: the reasons for and consequences of the failure of League of Nations in the Manchurian and Abyssinian CrisesLearn how the League responded to aggression in Manchuria and Abyssinia, why its investigations and sanctions failed to reverse conquest, and what these failures changed in international relations.
The coming of war, 1935–1941
2K - Germany’s challenges to the Treaty of Versailles: the aims and actions of HitlerLearn how Hitler combined treaty revision with wider imperial ambitions, how his actions increased Germany's power, and why tactical flexibility did not mean that his ultimate aims were limited to reversing Versailles.
2K - The international response to German, Italian and Japanese aggression: the Rhineland CrisisLearn how governments responded to aggression in the Rhineland, Austria, Spain, Albania and China, and how the aggressors' growing cooperation interacted with continuing differences between their interests.
2K - The outbreak of war in Europe: appeasementLearn why Britain and France pursued appeasement, how the Czech and Polish crises changed their policy, and how German and Soviet decisions turned a territorial confrontation into war in September 1939.
2K - From Western European to World War: the reasons for the escalation to world warLearn why the European and Asian conflicts widened and connected in 1940–41, how the Soviet Union became an enemy of Germany, and why Pearl Harbor and further declarations brought the USA into a global war.
Component 2 option 2L — Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
The Crisis of Liberal Italy, c1900–1915
2L - The political, economic and social condition of Italy c1900: the legacy of unificationItaly had become a single kingdom by 1900, but its people did not share equal prosperity, political influence or confidence in the state. This lesson explains how unification, regional inequalities, religious conflict and class divisions shaped Liberal Italy.
2L - The political system and Giolittianism: the role of the monarchyGiovanni Giolitti tried to preserve the monarchy and liberal state by managing parliamentary alliances and admitting some new social demands. This lesson examines the institutions he worked through, his reforms, and the limits of a political system dominated by elites.
2L - Challenges to the ruling elites: industrialisation and social changeIndustrial growth created new wealth and new groups capable of organising outside the old liberal elite. This lesson explains how workers, socialists, Catholics and nationalists challenged the ways in which Italy was governed before 1915.
2L - Italian foreign policies: the Triple AllianceItalian governments sought security, prestige and territory through alliances, colonial expansion and finally entry into the First World War. This lesson explains why those aims could conflict, and how domestic and diplomatic choices brought Italy into war in 1915.
The collapse of Liberal Italy and Mussolini’s Rise to Power, 1915–1922
2L - Italy’s war effort: aims and expectationsItaly won the First World War alongside the Entente, but victory followed costly campaigns, the disaster at Caporetto and major strains on civilians. This lesson explains the relationship between war aims, military experience and the Home Front.
2L - Italy and the ‘Mutilated Victory’: reactions within Italy to the post-war peace settlement and treatiesThe claim that Italy's victory had been “mutilated” turned disputed peace terms into an attack on Liberal Italy. This lesson distinguishes the actual settlement from nationalist reactions and explains why d'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume challenged the government's authority.
2L - The post-war economic crisis and social unrest: unemployment and inflationThe end of the war released demands for jobs, land and political influence that Liberal Italy struggled to reconcile. Economic hardship mattered, but its political consequences depended on the different programmes and organisations of the Socialists, Popolari and Fascists.
2L - Political breakdown and the rise of extremism: strikesLiberal Italy's collapse grew from the interaction of labour conflict, organised Fascist violence and failures of political cooperation. This lesson traces how conflicts over wages and authority became a challenge to parliamentary government between 1919 and 1922.
Mussolini and the establishment of Fascist Italy, 1922–1926
2L - The appointment of Mussolini as prime minister: Mussolini’s tactics and the March on RomeExplain how Mussolini combined Fascist violence with political negotiation in October 1922, and judge why the King and established elites admitted him to government.
2L - The Fascist movement: the ideology of Fascist revolutionUnderstand the ideas and competing groups within Italian Fascism, and explain how Mussolini used propaganda and personal leadership to unite a movement whose promises often conflicted.
2L - Mussolini’s consolidation of power: compromises with the elitesTrace how Mussolini converted his coalition premiership into a dictatorship between 1922 and 1926, using elite cooperation, violence, legislation and claims of national success.
2L - The Fascist state by 1926: the extent of Mussolini’s political controlAssess Mussolini's control, support and remaining opposition by the end of 1926, using evidence that distinguishes political monopoly from complete control of institutions or private beliefs.
Fascist society, 1926–1940 (A-level only)
2L - Propaganda and the cult of Il Duce: control of the mediaExplain how the regime used Mussolini's image, controlled media, schools and Fascist organisations to shape attitudes, and assess the limits of their influence between 1926 and 1940.
2L - The police state: the machinery of Fascist repressionExplain the institutions and methods of Fascist repression, how opponents were isolated, and why the racial laws of 1938 marked a major extension of persecution.
2L - Fascist economic policies: the establishment and implementation of the Corporate StateExplain what the Corporate State promised, how economic management responded to depression, and why effects on living standards and military capacity differed from official claims of success.
2L - Fascist society: relations between the Fascist regime and the ChurchAssess how cooperation with the Church and Fascist organisations changed life for women, young people, peasants and workers, and judge how far Italian society had been Fascistised by 1940.
Fascist foreign policies, 1926–1940 (A-level only)
2L - Mussolini’s foreign policy ambitions: the restoration of prestigeLearn how Mussolini connected national prestige, Mediterranean power and African empire, and why these ambitions created risks as well as propaganda victories.
2L - Mussolini the statesman: relations with Britain and FranceLearn why Mussolini cooperated with Britain and France, opposed German expansion into Austria, and helped form the Stresa Front before those relationships deteriorated.
2L - Mussolini and Empire: the invasion of Abyssinia and the conduct of the warLearn why Italy invaded Ethiopia, how conquest was achieved, and why the war increased Mussolini's popularity while damaging collective security and changing Italy's international position.
2L - The slide towards war: the Spanish Civil WarLearn how intervention in Spain, closer relations with Germany and the invasion of Albania narrowed Italy's choices, while military weakness kept it out of war in 1939.
Fascist Italy and war, 1940–1945 (A-level only)
2L - The decision to enter the war: Mussolini’s war aimsLearn why Mussolini entered the war in June 1940, why Italy contributed little to France's defeat, and how Britain's continued resistance overturned the expectation of a short conflict.
2L - Italy’s war effort: military campaignsLearn how Italy's campaigns, resource shortages and civilian suffering weakened the regime, and why dependence on Germany grew without removing Italian responsibility for wartime choices.
2L - The fall of Mussolini in 1943: Allied invasion of Sicily and the crisis of the Fascist regimeLearn how military defeat brought an internal overthrow in July 1943, why Badoglio's government did not immediately end the war, and how the September armistice led to occupation and civil war.
2L - The final collapse of Fascism: the restoration of MussoliniLearn how Germany restored Mussolini in a dependent republic, how Fascist policies and resistance intensified civil war, and why liberation in 1945 ended the regime without erasing its legacy.
Component 2 option 2M — Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957
The Liberal crisis, 1906–1914
2M - The Liberal governments: the 1906 electionLearn why the Liberals won in 1906, how their understanding of freedom changed, and how leading politicians and rival parties shaped reform before 1914.
2M - The state of the economy: staplesLearn how Britain's established industries, newer sectors, agriculture and overseas earnings produced both prosperity and economic anxiety before 1914.
2M - Social issues: class divisionLearn why Liberal governments expanded welfare, how they paid for it, and how far their reforms reduced insecurity across a society divided by wealth and status.
2M - Challenges and crises: the constitutional crisisLearn how disputes over Parliament, women's rights, Ireland and industrial relations challenged Liberal authority before the First World War.
The impact of war, 1914–1922
2M - Politics in wartime: the 1915 coalitionLearn how the First World War split the Liberals, strengthened Labour and produced a coalition whose survival depended on Conservative support.
2M - Economic issues: Britain's wartime economyLearn how Britain mobilised production and finance during the war, and why the return to peace brought housing shortages, industrial conflict and pressure for austerity.
2M - Social and cultural impact of war: role of womenLearn how war changed work, political rights and cultural attitudes, and why experiences of patriotism, conscience and military service produced different responses.
2M - Ireland: the Easter RisingLearn why constitutional Home Rule gave way to conflict, how the War of Independence challenged British rule, and why the 1921 treaty achieved a settlement but divided Irish nationalists.
The search for stability, 1922–1929
2M - Political developments: the decline of the LiberalsLearn why Labour replaced the Liberals as the main alternative to the Conservatives, how the first Labour government tested its credibility, and how Baldwin's government combined reform with restraint between 1922 and 1929.
2M - Economic issues: post-war re-adjustment and return to Gold StandardLearn how post-war economic adjustment and the return to gold intensified the coal industry's problems, why those problems produced the General Strike, and why organised solidarity did not secure victory for the miners.
2M - Social and cultural change: unemployment and regional divisionLearn why unemployment and opportunity coexisted in the 1920s, how women's lives changed unevenly, and how mass entertainment and memories of war shaped Britain's culture.
2M - The 1929 election: the franchise extension and 'flapper vote'Learn how equal voting rights changed the electorate, why Labour formed another minority government in 1929, and how MacDonald and Snowden's aims related to Britain's unresolved economic and social problems.
The 'Hungry Thirties', 1929–1939 (A-level only)
2M - Political developments: the Labour governmentLearn how the second Labour government's reform programme became entangled with the Depression, why the 1931 crisis produced a National Government, and how MacDonald, Baldwin and Chamberlain shaped its direction.
2M - Economic issues: the Depression and financial crisisLearn how the Depression developed into Britain's financial crisis, how departure from gold, cheap money and protection altered policy, and why recovery affected industry, agriculture and trade differently.
2M - Social and cultural impact of the Depression: changes in working opportunities and living standardsLearn why hardship and rising consumption coexisted during the 1930s, how government policy affected different households, and how writers, broadcasting, cinema and international events reshaped social and cultural life.
2M - Challenges to stability: the abdication crisisLearn why Edward VIII's proposed marriage became a constitutional crisis, how fascists and communists challenged established politics, and why parliamentary government survived these pressures in the 1930s.
The People's War and Peace, 1939–1951 (A-level only)
2M - Political developments: the fall of ChamberlainLearn why Britain changed its political leadership during the Second World War, how the coalition worked, and why victory in war led to a Labour government committed to reconstruction in 1945.
2M - Economic issues: mobilisation of resources in wartimeLearn how Britain organised its resources for total war, why peace brought an economic crisis, and how Labour used controls, external assistance and nationalisation to rebuild the economy.
2M - The social and cultural impact of 'total' war: conscriptionLearn how total war altered daily life and government authority, why it encouraged plans for a fairer peace, and how post-war welfare, education and health policies changed people's security.
2M - Britain by 1951: the Festival of BritainLearn why Britain in 1951 could celebrate reconstruction while remaining austere, and how Labour's divisions, Conservative renewal and the electoral system produced a change of government.
'Never had it so good'? 1951–1957 (A-level only)
2M - Conservative governments and reasons for political dominance: Churchill, Eden and Macmillan as political leadersLearn why the Conservatives retained power after 1951, how Churchill, Eden and Macmillan led differently, and why agreement over some institutions coexisted with sharp political disagreement.
2M - Economic developments: post-war boomLearn why output and consumption grew in the 1950s, why Britain still faced external financial pressure, and how attempts to balance prosperity and sterling produced stop-go policies.
2M - Social and cultural developments: rising living standardsLearn how rising income and new consumer goods changed daily life in the 1950s, why social attitudes began to shift, and why prosperity did not remove divisions of class, gender and opportunity.
2M - Britain by 1957: issues relating to New Commonwealth migrants and race-relationsLearn why New Commonwealth migration became more visible in post-war Britain, how legal membership coexisted with discrimination, and how nuclear anxiety in 1957 led towards the formation of CND in early 1958.
Component 2 option 2N — Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Dissent and Revolution, 1917
AQA 7042 · 2N · R01 - The condition of Russia before the revolution of February⁄March 1917: the Tsar and political authorityThis lesson asks why a ruler who retained formidable legal powers faced a deeply weakened regime by the end of the winter of 1916–17. You will connect Nicholas II's political authority to Russia's war effort, economic and social conditions, and several different forms of discontent. The aim is to...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R02 - The February⁄March revolution of 1917: causes and course of revolutionThis lesson examines why protest in Petrograd became a revolution, how the crisis developed, and why Nicholas II abdicated. It then explains how the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet emerged together and produced a system of Dual authority. Following the sequence matters because it sepa...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R03 - Developments between the revolutions including: the return of LeninBetween the February/March and October/November revolutions, political initiative shifted repeatedly: Lenin returned and challenged his own party, armed demonstrators exposed the limits of Bolshevik strength, and the Kornilov crisis discredited the Provisional Government. This lesson explains how...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R04 - The October⁄November 1917 revolution: causes, course and extent of revolutionThis lesson examines why the Provisional Government could be overthrown in October/November 1917, how the seizure of power unfolded and how far the revolution initially reached. It then follows Bolshevik leadership from insurrection to government through Sovnarkom, the first decrees and actions t...
Bolshevik consolidation, 1918–1924
AQA 7042 · 2N · R05 - The consolidation of the Communist dictatorship: the establishment of one-party controlAfter the Bolsheviks seized power in October/November 1917, their authority was neither uncontested nor yet entirely one-party. This lesson traces how they removed the elected Constituent Assembly, ended Russia's involvement in the First World War and then lost their Left Socialist-Revolutionary...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R06 - The Civil War: causes and course; the role of TrotskyThis lesson explains why armed conflict widened after the Bolsheviks took power, how the principal Red–White campaigns developed from 1918 to 1920, and what Trotsky contributed to the Red Army. It also examines the murder of the former Tsar and his family, the growth of wartime government and con...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R07 - Economic and social developments: state capitalism; social changeBetween 1918 and 1921, Bolshevik economic choices reached from factory management into the daily search for bread, fuel and seed. This lesson explains the shift from state capitalism to War Communism, how coercion and hardship reshaped cities and countryside, and why the Tambov and Kronstadt revo...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R08 - Foreign relations and attitudes of foreign powers: foreign intervention in the Civil WarLearn how the Bolshevik state survived foreign intervention, pursued revolution through Comintern and the war with Poland, and bargained for trade and recognition. Use Rapallo and the 'Zinoviev letter' affair to judge how far Lenin's foreign policy had secured the regime by 1924.
Stalin’s rise to power, 1924–1929
AQA 7042 · 2N · R09 - The power vacuum and power struggle: ideology and the nature of leadershipLearn why Lenin's decline created an uncertain succession inside a one-party dictatorship. Compare seven contenders, Lenin's testament and the ways character, office, ideology and alliances could become influence inside the Communist Party.
AQA 7042 · 2N · R10 - Ideological debates and issues in the leadership struggle: NEP and industrialisationLearn how disputes over NEP, industrialisation and socialism in an isolated state shaped the struggle to succeed Lenin. Trace Stalin's changing alliances and the defeat of his rivals, then weigh ideas, party organisation and political choices in explaining his dominance by 1929.
AQA 7042 · 2N · R11 - Economic developments: reasons for and impact of the 'Great Turn'This lesson examines why economic pressure and political choices pulled the Soviet Union away from the New Economic Policy during 1928–29. You will trace how the grain procurement crisis, the launch of the first Five Year Plan and the decision to collectivise connected industry and agriculture in...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R12 - Government, propaganda and the beginning of the Stalinist cultThis lesson examines how government, propaganda and the beginning of the Stalinist cult strengthened Stalin between 1924 and 1929, and how his attitude to foreign powers appeared in policy towards China, Germany and the Treaty of Berlin. It also traces changes in the Comintern, the organisation i...
Economy and society, 1929–1941 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2N · R13.1⁄2 - Collectivisation: organisation, state farms and mechanisationLearn how voluntary collective farming became a coercive drive and how collective farms, state farms and machinery reorganised agriculture. Judge the technical and political roles of mechanisation; the following lesson examines peasant experience, famine and the overall results.
AQA 7042 · 2N · R13.2⁄2 - Collectivisation: peasants, famine and resultsThis lesson examines how collectivisation changed peasant life, how the famine of 1932–1934 developed, and how its results should be judged. The organisation of collective and state farms and the programme of mechanisation belong to the preceding split lesson; here they are only background to the...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R14.1⁄3 - Five Year Plans: Gosplan, aims and productionTrace how Gosplan turned Party priorities into the first three Five Year Plans and assess their production record from 1928 to June 1941. Distinguish changing aims from annual factory targets and interpret output data critically. This lesson judges production against aims; the Plans' wider succes...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R14.2⁄3 - Industrial projects, labour and lived experienceExamine the new industrial centres and projects of 1929–1941, the foreign companies that supplied knowledge and equipment, and the working and living conditions of managers, workers and women. Connecting factory construction to the town, workplace and household helps you judge how industrialisati...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R14.3⁄3 - Stakhanovism, results and the success of the Five Year PlansExamine how the Stakhanovite movement tried to turn exceptional workers into a route to higher productivity, and how far the first three Five Year Plans can be called successful. Separate publicity from representative evidence and judge the Plans by clear criteria. The same record can show major...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R15 - The development of the Stalin cult: literature, the arts and other propagandaBetween 1929 and 1941, Stalin's public image developed from an exceptional birthday celebration into a system that connected him with Lenin, socialist achievement and the Soviet future. This lesson examines how literature, the arts and other propaganda carried that cult, and why Socialist Realism...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R16 - The social and economic condition of the Soviet Union by 1941: strengths and weaknessesEvaluate what kind of state and society the Soviet Union had become by 1941. A development could strengthen government power or military capacity while weakening productivity or people's lives. Weigh industrial and agricultural output against efficiency, resilience, distribution and human cost to...
Stalinism, politics and control, 1929–1941 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2N · R17 - Dictatorship and Stalinism: the machinery of state terror; the NKVDInvestigate how Stalinist dictatorship worked through state terror and the NKVD, following the early purges, Kirov's murder, the Moscow show trials and the 1936 Constitution. Public trials and constitutional rights presented government as lawful while coercion destroyed meaningful legal protectio...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R18 - The Yezhovshchina: mass terror and repression at central and local levelsThe Yezhovshchina turned political purging into mass operations that reached from Stalin and the central NKVD into republics, regions, workplaces and homes. This lesson traces that process through repression at central and local levels, the national operations, the Gulag, the ending of the mass p...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R19 - Culture and society: church; women, young people and working menStalin's government claimed that socialism was creating a new kind of citizen, yet cultural change did not reach every person in the same way. This lesson examines the Church, women, young people and working men, paying particular attention to urban–rural differences and to the ideal of the “soci...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R20 - Stalin and international relations: co-operation with GermanyThis lesson follows Soviet foreign policy from co-operation with Germany through collective security to the Nazi-Soviet Pact. You will connect entry into the League of Nations, the French and Czechoslovak pacts, Spain, Western appeasement and Japanese aggression rather than treating them as separ...
The Great Patriotic War and Stalin’s Dictatorship, 1941–1953 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2N · R21 - The impact of the war on the Soviet Union: Operation Barbarossa and the Stalinist reactionYou will trace how Operation Barbarossa turned a European war into a struggle for the survival of the Soviet state and its peoples. The enquiry connects the military course of 1941–45 to Stalin's response, life under occupation, resistance, mass mobilisation, industrial evacuation and foreign aid...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R22 - The defeat of the Germans: reasons and results; post-war reconstructionThis lesson investigates why Nazi Germany was defeated, what Soviet victory changed and cost, and how the USSR reconstructed industry and agriculture after 1945. These questions belong together because the same state capacity that concentrated resources for war also shaped reconstruction, but it...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R23.1⁄2 - High Stalinism, renewed terror and the NKVDR23.1/2 examines how Stalin restored and intensified political control after the Second World War: the nature of High Stalinism, the distinction between dictatorship and totalitarianism, the renewed Terror, and the security apparatus shaped by Lavrentii Beria. The central enquiry is whether this...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R23.2⁄2 - Zhdanovism, the personality cult and late purgesThis lesson examines how Zhdanovism and the cultural purge narrowed what Soviet citizens could publish or perform, while Stalin's personality cult made public loyalty increasingly personal. It then follows the Leningrad Affair and the Doctors' Plot to test how late purges turned rivalry and inven...
AQA 7042 · 2N · R24 - The transformation of the Soviet Union’s international position: the emergence of a 'superpower'You will trace how victory in 1945 gave the Soviet Union new military and diplomatic weight, how Stalin turned much of Eastern Europe into a Soviet bloc, and why this brought conflict with the USA and the capitalist West. You will then test how far the USSR really met the standards of a superpowe...
Component 2 option 2O — Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945
The Establishment and early years of Weimar, 1918–1924
AQA 7042 · 2O · R01 - The impact of war and the political crises of October to November 1918Germany's first nationwide parliamentary democracy emerged from military defeat, social exhaustion and a revolution whose supporters did not all want the same outcome. This lesson traces that rapid transformation before explaining why the Weimar Constitution was both a major liberal-democratic ac...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R02 - The Peace Settlement: expectations and reality; terms and problemsThis lesson examines why many Germans expected a negotiated peace in 1918, what the Treaty of Versailles actually imposed in 1919, and why the gap between expectation and reality mattered. You will connect the treaty's territorial, military, financial and diplomatic terms to the problems they cre...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R03 - Economic and social issues: post-war legacy and the state of the German economy and societyThis lesson traces how the First World War left Germany with weak production, heavy debts and exceptional social needs, then explains why inflation became hyperinflation in 1923. You will connect reparations and the occupation of the Ruhr to decisions about production, taxation and money, before...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R04 - Political instability and extremism; risings on the left and right, including the Kapp PutschThis lesson traces how challenges from the revolutionary left and nationalist right tested the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1924. You will connect the Kapp Putsch, the invasion of the Ruhr, the Munich Putsch and recurring coalition problems, then judge what the Republic's survival by 1924 did...
The 'Golden Age' of the Weimar Republic, 1924–1928
AQA 7042 · 2O · R05 - Economic developments: Stresemann; the Dawes PlanThis lesson examines how Stresemann and the Dawes Plan helped stabilise Germany, how industry and agriculture performed, and how far the economy had really recovered by 1928. You will then trace why reparations remained unsettled and how the 1928 initiative led to the Young Plan. The central prob...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R06 - Social developments: social welfare reforms; the development of Weimar cultureThis lesson examines how welfare reform, rising living standards and new lifestyles changed German society between 1924 and 1928. You will connect those developments to innovation in art, architecture, music, theatre, literature and film, while testing how far the changes reached beyond prosperou...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R07 - Political developments and the workings of democracy: President HindenburgExamine Hindenburg, parties, elections and social attitudes to judge how far Weimar democracy stabilised in 1924–28. Distinguish a political system that was functioning from one whose supporters would defend it under severe pressure.
AQA 7042 · 2O · R08 - Germany’s international position; Stresemann's foreign policy aims and achievements including: LocarnoTrace Stresemann's diplomacy through Locarno, the League of Nations, the Treaty of Berlin, occupation withdrawals and disarmament. Judge how far cooperation restored Germany's status and sovereignty, keeping gains achieved by 1928 distinct from the later Rhineland evacuation.
The Collapse of Democracy, 1928–1933
AQA 7042 · 2O · R09 - The economic, social and political impact of the Depression: electionsTrace how the Depression brought economic contraction, social hardship and political polarisation in 1929–32. Compare the policies of Brüning, Papen and Schleicher, and explain how presidential government converted economic pressure into weaker parliamentary rule.
AQA 7042 · 2O · R10 - The appeal of Nazism and Communism; the tactics and fortunes of the extremist parties, including the role of propagandaCompare Nazi and Communist appeal, campaigning and electoral fortunes in 1928–32. Explain how propaganda worked through economic crisis and social loyalties, then use a contemporary KPD programme to distinguish its intended message from its effect on voters.
AQA 7042 · 2O · R11 - Hindenburg, Papen, Schleicher and the 'backstairs intrigue' leading to Hitler’s appointment as chancellorExplain how Hindenburg's authority, Papen's bargaining and Schleicher's failure brought Hitler to the chancellorship on 30 January 1933. Weigh their roles against Nazi electoral strength, distinguishing political leverage from the power to make the appointment.
AQA 7042 · 2O · R12 - Political developments: the Reichstag Fire; parties and electionsFollow the Reichstag Fire, March election and Enabling Act to judge how German democracy ended by March 1933. Explain how emergency powers, violence and political cooperation removed effective checks while some constitutional institutions still existed.
The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933–1939 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2O · R13 - Hitler’s consolidation of power, March 1933–1934: governmental and administrative change and the establishment of the one-party state; the Night of the Long Knives and the impact of the death of President HindenburgThis lesson traces how Hitler’s government removed independent political and administrative restraints between March 1933 and August 1934. You will connect the creation of a one-party state to the Night of the Long Knives and President Hindenburg’s death, then judge which changes did most to turn...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R14 - The 'Terror State': the police, including the SS and GestapoTerror in Nazi Germany did not operate through one secret organisation: police offices, SS agencies, courts, propaganda officials and members of the public interacted. This lesson follows how those mechanisms developed between 1933 and 1939, then tests the extent, effectiveness and limitations of...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R15 - Economic policies and the degree of economic recovery; SchachtThis lesson examines Nazi economic policies, the degree of recovery by 1939, and the changing roles of Schacht and Goering. It also investigates the industrial elites who retained private firms and profited from recovery while operating under growing state direction. The central problem is that “...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R16 - Social policies: young people; womenThis lesson examines how Nazi social policy tried to reshape young people, women, workers and the churches between 1933 and 1939. You will test the degree of Volksgemeinschaft by comparing policy aims with varied experience and room for choice, rather than treating youth or women as uniform group...
The Racial State, 1933–1941 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2O · R17 - The radicalisation of the state: Nazi racial ideology; policies towards the mentally ill, asocials, homosexuals, members of religious sects, the Roma and SintiThis lesson examines how false Nazi racial ideas were translated into increasingly coercive policies towards disabled people and people described as mentally ill, those whom the regime labelled “asocial”, gay and bisexual men, members of minority religious groups, and Roma and Sinti. It compares...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R18 - Anti-Semitism: policies and actions towards the Jews, including the boycott of Jewish shops and the Nuremberg LawsThis lesson examines how Nazi antisemitism was turned into policies and actions that stripped Jewish people of work, security, citizenship and control over private life. It follows the 1 April 1933 boycott, the widening exclusions of 1933–34 and the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, always asking what each...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R19 - The development of anti-Semitic policies and actions; the effect of the AnschlussThis lesson traces how Nazi persecution of Jewish people intensified through dispossession, organised violence and coerced emigration. You will compare the effects of the Anschluss, the November Pogrom and the invasion of Poland without assuming that the later Holocaust was inevitable or fully pl...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R20 - The treatment of Jews in the early years of war: the EinsatzgruppenThis lesson traces how ghettos, deportations and mass shootings overlapped from the invasion of Poland in September 1939 to the end of 1941. You will judge what changed after the invasion of the Soviet Union and assess an authentic perpetrator document without mistaking official provenance for tr...
The impact of War, 1939–1945 (A-level only)
AQA 7042 · 2O · R21 - Rationing, indoctrination, propaganda and morale; the changing impact of war on different sections of societyYou will investigate how rationing, indoctrination and propaganda shaped morale in Germany between 1939 and 1945. The lesson compares changing burdens on elites, workers, women and youth, and explains how war effort continued while confidence and exposure to danger became increasingly unequal.
AQA 7042 · 2O · R22 - The wartime economy and the work of Speer; the impact of bombingThis lesson investigates how Germany expanded armaments production under Albert Speer, mobilised labour including prisoners of war, and responded to bombing. You will test the claim of a “Speer miracle” by separating his actions from the wider coercive system and tracing how bombing's effects cha...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R23 - Policies towards the Jews and the ‘untermenschen’ during wartimeYou will trace how Nazi racial persecution became an interconnected programme of forced labour, deportation and mass murder during war, culminating in the genocide of Europe's Jews. You will examine what Wannsee did and did not decide, then use its surviving protocol to assess source value. The s...
AQA 7042 · 2O · R24 - Opposition and resistance in wartime including students, churchmen, the army and civilian criticsYou will compare wartime opposition among students, churchmen, army officers and civilian critics, including assassination attempts and the July Bomb Plot. You will distinguish criticism from attempts to obstruct or overthrow the regime and judge what these actions reveal about the Nazi state by...
Component 2 option 2P — The Transformation of China, 1936–1997
The Origins of the Civil War, 1936–1946
2P - The condition of China in 1936: Japanese expansion in ChinaIn 1936 China had a recognised national government, but political authority remained divided and Japanese expansion threatened its territory. Learn how Jiang Jieshi's leadership, Nationalist ideas and policies shaped the Guomindang's response, and why national unity was still an unfinished project.
2P - The Chinese Communist Party: backgroundThe Chinese Communist Party survived defeat by moving its centre of activity towards the countryside. Learn how that experience shaped Mao's leadership, revolutionary ideas and policies, and why hostility between the CCP and Guomindang remained so deep in 1936.
2P - The Sino-Japanese war: the Xi'an incident and the Second United FrontThe war against Japan brought the GMD and CCP into cooperation without ending their rivalry. Learn why the Second United Front emerged, how each side fought and governed during the war, and why the conflict changed their relative positions by 1945.
2P - The end of the Japanese war: the breakdown of Nationalist/Communist cooperation and outbreak of Civil WarJapan's surrender removed the enemy that had kept the GMD and CCP formally allied. Learn why negotiations failed to resolve their rivalry, and assess the political and military strengths each side possessed as full-scale civil war resumed in 1946.
Communist victory and the consolidation of Mao's rule, 1946–1952
2P - Communist victory: reasons for Communist successThe CCP's victory resulted from the interaction of military strategy, political organisation and Nationalist failure. Learn how those factors changed the balance in 1946–1949, and why winning the war left the new regime facing difficult regional and economic problems.
2P - The People's Republic of China: Mao's position in governmentThe PRC combined new state institutions with the Communist Party's organisation and authority. Learn how Mao's position, a growing membership and democratic centralism helped translate revolutionary victory into government, and why formal representation did not produce competing centres of politi...
2P - The consolidation of power: mass mobilisation campaigns and purgesThe CCP used campaigns to transform society while extending its authority after 1949. Learn how the PLA, propaganda, terror and land reform worked together, and why participation in revolutionary change could bring material benefits while exposing people to coercion.
2P - PRC's international position and dealings with neighbours: Korea , Tibet, Taiwan and the USSRThe new PRC faced questions of recognition, territorial control and security at the same time as domestic reconstruction. Learn how its relations with the USSR and its actions over Taiwan, Korea and Tibet strengthened some aspects of Communist rule while imposing costs and limits by 1952.
The transition to Socialism, 1952–1962
2P - Political developments: issues of leadership and purges of the CCPLearn how Communist leadership combined formal institutions with Mao’s personal authority, why the Hundred Flowers campaign became a purge, and why Mao’s departure from the state chairmanship did not end his political power.
2P - Economic developments: industry and agricultureLearn how China moved from Soviet-style planning to the Great Leap Forward, why industrial and agricultural policies became destructive, and how the leadership began restoring production after economic collapse.
2P - Social developments: the destruction of rightists, class enemies and rectification campaignsLearn how campaigns reshaped social status, women’s lives and welfare, and why collectivisation brought both promises of support and new forms of coercion culminating in famine.
2P - Foreign affairs: KoreaLearn why China’s intervention in Korea strengthened its security claims but deepened isolation, and how ideological disputes, national interests and personal mistrust eroded the Soviet alliance by 1962.
Reform and Control, 1962–1966 (A-level only)
2P - Leadership in the PRC: Mao's position in 1962Learn why the failure of the Great Leap weakened Mao without removing him, how recovery policy divided the leadership, and how campaigns, military support and a personality cult helped him recover political initiative before 1966.
2P - Economic developments: pragmatism and the policies of Liu Shaoqi and Deng XiaopingLearn how Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and their colleagues restored production through practical adjustments, why recovery required changing both agriculture and industry, and where their policies conflicted with Mao’s priorities.
2P - Social change: womenLearn how Communist rule changed women’s opportunities, education, youth culture, religion and minority life during 1962–1966, and how to weigh social benefits against inequality, coercion and political control.
2P - International relations: Sino-Soviet relations and conflict over XinjiangLearn how the Sino-Soviet dispute became a conflict over borders, population and sovereignty in Xinjiang, and why relations did not recover after Khrushchev’s departure in 1964.
The Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976 (A-level only)
2P - The origins of the Cultural Revolution: the Shanghai radicalsLearn how Mao turned disputes over recovery, culture and party authority into the Cultural Revolution, and why Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping became its principal targets.
2P - The development of the Cultural Revolution: the actions of the Red GuardsFollow the Cultural Revolution from youth mobilisation and factional conflict to army intervention, then explain why restored order in 1969 did not end leadership struggles or political campaigns.
2P - The economic, social and cultural impact of the Cultural Revolution: effect on economic growthAssess how the Cultural Revolution affected production, education, everyday security and culture, distinguishing the destruction of institutions from the growth that continued despite upheaval.
2P - Foreign affairs: deterioration of relations with USSR and border conflict of 1969Explain how the Soviet threat helped China move towards the United States, why the opening remained incomplete, and how external gains contrasted with China's condition at Mao's death.
The PRC under Deng Xiaoping, 1976–1997 (A-level only)
2P - Mao's legacy: the power struggle after Mao’s deathLearn why Mao's death did not immediately give Deng power, how the Gang of Four and Hua Guofeng were displaced, and how new leadership methods combined reform with continuity in Communist rule.
2P - Economic developments: the 'Four Modernisations' and economic growthExplain how reforms in agriculture, industry, defence, science and technology promoted growth after 1978, and assess the limits and unequal consequences of China's move towards markets.
2P - Political developments: limitations to changeLearn why economic reform did not produce unrestricted political change, how the 1989 demonstrations developed, and how their suppression shaped leadership, society and subsequent reform.
2P - China as a global power by 1997: diplomatic ties and role in UN Security CouncilAssess China's international position by 1997 through diplomatic recognition, financial institutions, trade, relations with Japan and the United States, and the return of Hong Kong.
Component 2 option 2Q — The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980
Truman and Post-war America, 1945–1952
2Q - The United States in 1945 and the legacies of the world war: the powers of the presidencyLearn why victory left the United States powerful and prosperous, yet divided, and how its institutions shaped what a president could achieve.
2Q - The USA as a Superpower: Truman’s character and policiesLearn how Truman's search for post-war security developed into containment, and why American power produced different outcomes in Europe and Asia.
2Q - Truman and post-war reconstruction: the economyLearn why recovery after the war created political conflict, how far Truman advanced reform, and why anti-communism became a major domestic force.
2Q - African-Americans in North and South: the impact of the Second World WarLearn how wartime service and migration increased pressure for civil rights, and why campaign successes under Truman did not remove inequality in either North or South.
Eisenhower: tranquility and crisis, 1952–1960
2Q - The presidency: Eisenhower’s personality and the policies of ‘dynamic conservatism’Learn how Eisenhower combined personal reassurance with active political management, and why his moderate conservatism outlasted McCarthy's influence.
2Q - The growth of the American economy in the 1950s and the impact of the ‘consumer society’Learn how production, spending and public policy supported the 1950s boom, and why a society of increasing consumption remained unequal.
2Q - The USA and the Cold War: Superpower rivalry and conflict with the USSRLearn how Eisenhower combined deterrence, diplomacy and selective intervention, and why the results differed across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
2Q - African-Americans in North and South: the emergence of the Civil Rights MovementLearn how legal challenges developed into mass action in the 1950s, and why federal advances met organised resistance and left northern inequality unresolved.
John F Kennedy and the 'New Frontier', 1960–1963
2Q - The presidential election of 1960 and reasons for Kennedy’s victoryKennedy promised national renewal, but won a remarkably close election and faced a Congress that could obstruct him. Learn why he defeated Nixon, how his administration worked and why the New Frontier produced both achievements and unfinished promises.
2Q - Challenges to American power: the legacy of crises over Berlin and relations with KhrushchevKennedy faced communist challenges in a divided European city, a Caribbean island and a fragile Asian ally. Learn how Berlin, Cuba and Vietnam tested American credibility, and why military strength did not provide a simple solution to political conflict.
2Q - African-Americans in North and South: the rise of the Civil Rights MovementBetween 1960 and 1963 activists made segregation a national crisis that Kennedy could no longer handle through cautious enforcement alone. Learn how campaigns, white resistance and political divisions pushed the administration towards comprehensive civil-rights legislation.
2Q - The United States by 1963: its position as a world powerBy 1963 the United States combined exceptional wealth and international strength with unresolved inequality and demands for a different society. Assess the American Dream by distinguishing material growth, the limits of power and the emerging challenges from women and youth.
The Johnson Presidency, 1963–1968 (A-level only)
2Q - Johnson as President: personality and policiesJohnson transformed the scale of federal reform after Kennedy's assassination, but prosperity and legislative victories did not end poverty or political conflict. Learn how his character, Kennedy's legacy and the 1964 mandate enabled the Great Society, and why economic pressures narrowed its poss...
2Q - Maintaining American world power: escalation of the war in VietnamJohnson escalated in Vietnam to preserve American credibility, yet greater force failed to secure a stable victory and strained relations with allies. Learn the sequence of escalation, the political limits of military power and the contrasting responses of Western governments.
2Q - African-Americans in North and South: developments in the Civil Rights MovementJohnson's presidency brought landmark civil-rights laws alongside widening arguments about methods, economic inequality and urban violence. Learn how activists and federal leadership changed legal rights, and why these achievements did not remove every cause of racial discontent.
2Q - Social divisions and protest movements: education and youthDuring Johnson's presidency, protest expanded from civil rights into debates about universities, gender, racial power and the Vietnam War. Learn why movements grew, how their aims differed and how media coverage could build support while also provoking backlash.
Republican reaction: the Nixon Presidency, 1968–1974 (A-level only)
2Q - The Presidential election of 1968 and the reasons for Nixon’s victory: divisions within the Democratic PartyLearn why a divided Democratic Party lost the presidency in 1968, how Nixon assembled a winning coalition, and why his administration combined conservative appeals with practical policy compromises.
2Q - The restoration of conservative social policiesLearn how Nixon responded to demands for order and continuing social reform, and why inflation, monetary change and the oil shock undermined the post-war expectation of steadily rising prosperity.
2Q - The limits of American world power: peace negotiations and the continuation of the war in Vietnam and CambodiaLearn why Nixon negotiated peace while extending the fighting in Southeast Asia, how Kissinger shaped relations with communist powers, and why diplomatic flexibility coexisted with coercion in Latin America.
2Q - The Watergate Affair and its aftermath: the role of CongressLearn how a burglary developed into a constitutional crisis, why congressional and judicial scrutiny forced Nixon’s resignation, and how Watergate shaped his legacy and the balance of federal power.
The USA after Nixon, 1974–1980 (A-level only)
2Q - Ford and Carter as presidents: responses to social divisionsLearn how Ford and Carter attempted to restore trust after Watergate, why social conflicts persisted, and how economic insecurity weakened confidence in presidential leadership.
2Q - The position of the USA as a world power: the final withdrawal from VietnamLearn how Ford and Carter combined diplomatic achievements with setbacks, from the fall of South Vietnam to the crises in Iran and Afghanistan, and distinguish diminished freedom of action from the disappearance of superpower status.
2Q - African-Americans in North and South: the impact of civil rights legislationLearn how civil-rights legislation changed African-American opportunities and political power, why inequality persisted in northern and southern communities, and how to assess the claims made for a “New South”.
2Q - The USA by 1980: its position as a SuperpowerLearn how far the American Dream had changed since 1945, why substantial national power and social reform coexisted with insecurity, and how those tensions contributed to Reagan’s election in 1980.
Component 2 option 2R — The Cold War, c1945–1991
The Origins of the Cold War, c1945–1949
2R - US, British and USSR relations in 1945: conflicting ideologiesLearn why the allies could agree on defeating Germany yet struggle to agree on peace, and how ideology, security, leadership and the changing military situation weakened cooperation during 1945.
2R - Developing tensions: the Soviet Union occupation/control of eastern and southern EuropeLearn how Soviet consolidation, Western assessments and the Greek crisis turned wartime suspicion into opposing political commitments between 1945 and 1948.
2R - The USA’s involvement in Europe: policy towards Britain and EuropeLearn why European economic recovery became an American security concern, how the Marshall Plan worked, and why rebuilding Germany strengthened the West while increasing Soviet distrust.
2R - Conflict over Germany: developments within the sectors, including Bizonia and currency reformLearn how competing occupation policies produced the Berlin crisis, two German states and an Atlantic alliance, while examining how the powers confronted one another without fighting a direct war.
The Widening of the Cold War, 1949–1955
2R - US containment in action in Asia: the reconstruction of Japan and US-Japanese relationsLearn why Japan became an American ally, how policy towards China, Taiwan and Korea changed, and why NSC-68 marked a shift towards more costly and militarised containment.
2R - The Korean War: causes, position and aims of Kim Il Sung and Syngman RheeLearn how a struggle to reunify Korea became an international war, why the participants' aims changed, and why the 1953 armistice ended fighting without achieving a unified or permanently settled Korea.
2R - Increasing Cold War tensions: McCarthyism in the USA and its influence in Britain and EuropeLearn how fear of internal communism affected diplomacy and alliances, why American influence in the UN had limits, and how confrontation in Korea deepened China's isolation from the USA.
2R - Alliances and shifts: FRG and NATOLearn how German rearmament consolidated rival European alliances, why Eisenhower and Dulles combined nuclear threats with negotiation, and how the French defeat in Indo-China led to a new American security commitment.
The Global War, 1955–1963
2R - Khrushchev and East-West relations: impact of risings in Poland and Hungary and Soviet interventionKhrushchev sought to compete with the West while avoiding a superpower war. Learn why Poland and Hungary exposed the limits of Soviet reform in 1956, and why visits and summit diplomacy produced an uncertain improvement in relations before the Paris summit collapsed in 1960.
2R - Cold War rivalries: the extension of the arms race including ICBMsThe Cold War became more dangerous as missiles, spacecraft and disputes over Berlin tested each side's strength. Learn how technological rivalry fed insecurity, why the Berlin crisis intensified, and how the Wall simultaneously entrenched division and reduced one source of immediate instability.
2R - Conflict in Asia: Indo-China under Ho Chi-Minh in the North and Diem in the SouthVietnam's division became a struggle over government, national independence and Cold War alignment. Learn how Ho Chi Minh's North and Diem's South developed after 1954, why the National Liberation Front emerged, and why Kennedy expanded American support but lost confidence in Diem during 1963.
2R - Confrontation between the superpowers: US attitudes to Cuba and developments leading to the missile crisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis grew from a local revolution, American attempts to remove Castro and Soviet decisions about security and nuclear power. Learn how the confrontation developed, how the thirteen days of October 1962 were resolved, and why its apparent winners and longer-term consequences re...
Confrontation and cooperation, c1963–1972 (A-level only)
2R - Confrontation in the Vietnam War: Johnson's policy in VietnamJohnson transformed American involvement in Vietnam from extensive support into a major US war. Learn why he escalated, how the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution enabled his policy, why the two sides' strengths did not produce a straightforward American victory, and how Tet changed the political meaning...
2R - Nixon's policies in Vietnam: VietnamisationNixon sought to withdraw American troops while preserving South Vietnam and American credibility. Learn how Vietnamisation, military action in Cambodia and Laos, improved relations with China and the Paris talks fitted together, and why withdrawal of US ground forces could accompany an expansion...
2R - Cooperation: attitudes of Khrushchev and KennedyAfter the Cuban Missile Crisis, the superpowers developed safeguards against nuclear catastrophe while continuing to compete. Learn how leaders' attitudes, the hot-line, the Moscow Test Ban Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reductions in weapons-material production contributed to c...
2R - Pressures on USSR: the crisis in Czechoslovakia and the Brezhnev doctrineCommunist states did not form an unchanging united bloc. Learn why reform in Czechoslovakia alarmed the USSR, how the 1968 invasion and Brezhnev Doctrine restricted national autonomy, and how the Sino-Soviet split created a second source of pressure with wider consequences for Cold War diplomacy.
The Brezhnev era, 1972–1985 (A-level only)
2R - The USA and SE Asia: Paris peace talksLearn why the Paris settlement ended direct American involvement without securing South Vietnam, and how the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia left costs that outlasted military defeat.
2R - The extent of Détente up to 1979: the SALT talksLearn how arms control, European agreements and relations with China reduced some Cold War tensions while preserving competition, and judge the extent of détente by what actually changed.
2R - The Second Cold War: the reasons for renewed hostilities and developments, including the Soviet invasion of AfghanistanLearn why détente deteriorated, how Afghanistan, changing leadership and Poland intensified hostility, and why the shooting down of a civilian aircraft exposed the dangers of mistrust.
2R - Developments in Africa and the Americas: the impact of Cuban intervention in Angola and EthiopiaLearn how local struggles in Angola, Ethiopia, Chile, Grenada and Nicaragua became international confrontations, and compare the effects of Cuban and American intervention without reducing local actors to puppets.
The ending of the Cold War, 1985–1991 (A-level only)
2R - Gorbachev and the ending of the Cold War: pressures on and significance of Gorbachev as Soviet leaderLearn how Soviet economic and political pressures encouraged reform, why Gorbachev changed the meaning of security, and how to weigh his choices against the conditions he inherited.
2R - The summits between the USA and the USSR, including Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington and MoscowLearn how successive summits changed the superpower relationship, why SDI both encouraged and obstructed negotiation, and how Reagan's opening developed into Bush's more cautious cooperation.
2R - The collapse of Communism in the Eastern European soviet satellite statesLearn why communist governments lost power in 1989, how Soviet non-intervention changed the possibilities for opposition, and why the route to change differed between countries.
2R - The ending of Cold War tensions in Asia: AfghanistanLearn why the retreat of superpower rivalry produced different regional outcomes, how Malta and German reunification changed Europe, and why the USSR itself disappeared in 1991.
Component 2 option 2S — The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007
The Affluent Society, 1951–1964
2S - Conservative governments and reasons for political dominance: Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Home as political leadersLearn why the Conservatives won three elections between 1951 and 1959, how four leaders governed, and why their advantages weakened by 1964.
2S - Economic developments: post-war boomLearn why Britain became more prosperous after 1951 while repeated external-payments problems limited the government's economic choices.
2S - Social developments: rising living standardsLearn how affluence changed everyday life between 1951 and 1964, and why differences of class, gender, race and age continued to create tension.
2S - Foreign relations: EFTA and attempts to join the EECLearn how Britain tried to reconcile Atlantic security, European trade and imperial commitments as its power and resources changed between 1951 and 1964.
The Sixties, 1964–1970
2S - Wilson and the Labour governments: Wilson's ideology and leadershipLearn how Wilson's promises of modernisation met economic, industrial and constitutional pressures, and why Labour lost office in 1970.
2S - Liberal reforming legislation: private members' bills and the end of capital punishmentLearn how Parliament changed punishment, family law, sexual freedom and education in the 1960s, and why reform did not mean immediate or universal equality.
2S - Social and cultural change: the expansion of the mass mediaLearn how media, leisure, technology and protest changed British society in the 1960s, and why greater freedom coexisted with inequality and resistance.
2S - Relations with and policies towards USA, particularly issue of VietnamLearn how Wilson tried to preserve international influence while financial pressures, war and decolonisation forced Britain to reconsider its commitments.
The end of Post-War Consensus, 1970–1979
2S - Heath’s government: Heath as leaderLearn why Heath’s attempt to change economic management and industrial relations gave way to intervention and confrontation, and why his Northern Ireland settlement remained fragile.
2S - Labour governments of Wilson and Callaghan: political, economic and industrial problems and policiesLearn how fragile parliamentary support, inflation and industrial conflict limited Wilson and Callaghan, and why neither economic recovery nor direct rule resolved their main political problems.
2S - Society in the 1970s: progress of feminismLearn how campaigns for equality and new social movements changed law and public debate in the 1970s, while economic insecurity and discrimination limited their effects.
2S - Britain's entry into and relations with EuropeLearn why Britain joined the EEC, why membership remained contested, and how cooperation with the USA coexisted with European priorities and cautious engagement with the USSR and China.
The impact of Thatcherism, 1979–1987 (A-level only)
2S - The Thatcher governments: Thatcher as leader, character and ideologyLearn how Thatcher’s ideas, ministers and opponents shaped her authority, why three elections strengthened it, and why firmness in Northern Ireland did not remove the need for political negotiation.
2S - Thatcher's economic policies and their impact: monetarismLearn how Thatcher’s governments tried to reduce inflation and change economic incentives, and why privatisation, deregulation and recovery produced different effects across industries and regions.
2S - Impact of Thatcherism on society: sale of council housesLearn how ownership, industrial conflict and protest changed society under Thatcher, including why the poll tax’s design belongs to this period even though its implementation came later.
2S - Foreign Affairs: the FalklandsLearn how the Falklands War and diplomacy strengthened Thatcher’s international position, and why cooperation with the USA and Europe still involved unequal power, negotiation and disagreement.
Towards a new Consensus, 1987–1997 (A-level only)
2S - Fall of Thatcher and her legacyLearn why Thatcher lost office, how Major continued and adjusted her policies, and why economic recovery failed to restore Conservative authority by 1997.
2S - Realignment of the Labour Party under Kinnock, Smith and BlairLearn how three leaders changed Labour's organisation, policies and appeal, and weigh those changes against Conservative weaknesses in explaining the 1997 victory.
2S - Social issues: the extent of 'social liberalism'Learn how liberal attitudes, cultural protest, women's opportunities and race relations changed between 1987 and 1997, and why greater freedom did not mean equal treatment for everyone.
2S - Foreign affairs: relations with Europe, including the impact of the Single European Act and Maastricht TreatyLearn why European integration divided Conservatives, how Britain responded to the end of the Cold War, and what intervention in Bosnia revealed about British influence.
The Era of New Labour, 1997–2007 (A-level only)
2S - The Labour governments: Blair as leader, character and ideologyLearn how New Labour combined markets with public action, changed Britain's institutions and services, and built a Northern Ireland settlement whose implementation remained difficult.
2S - The Conservative Party: leaders and reason for divisionsLearn why successive Conservative leaders struggled after 1997 and why Labour remained in office in 2001 and 2005 despite growing criticism.
2S - Social issues: workers, women and youthLearn how New Labour's policies affected different groups, and judge the difference between a more diverse society, stronger rights and equal participation.
2S - Foreign affairs: attitudes to EuropeLearn how Blair sought influence through Europe, the United States and intervention, and weigh the achievements and costs of Britain's international role by 2007.
Component 2 option 2T — The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000
De-Stalinisation, 1953–1964
2T - The USSR in 1953: the Stalinist legacyLearn why Stalin's death created both an opportunity for reform and a struggle for power, and explain how Khrushchev used the Communist Party to defeat rivals with apparently stronger positions.
2T - Khrushchev as leader: characterLearn how Khrushchev tried to renew Soviet socialism through de-Stalinisation, legal change and party reform, and explain why his energetic leadership repeatedly produced resistance and uncertainty.
2T - Economic and social developments: the reasons for and results of reform of industry and agriculture, including partial decentralisation and the virgin lands schemeLearn why Khrushchev changed industrial and agricultural administration, assess their mixed results, and explain how improved material conditions and a selective cultural thaw altered Soviet life without ending party control.
2T - Soviet foreign and international policies: split with ChinaLearn how peaceful coexistence combined negotiation with intense rivalry, why relations with China broke down, and what Berlin, Cuba and space achievements reveal about Khrushchev's foreign-policy ambitions and risks.
Years of Stagnation, 1964–1985
2T - Brezhnev as leader: reasons for Khrushchev's removal from power and Brezhnev's ascendancyLearn why senior colleagues removed Khrushchev, how Brezhnev consolidated leadership, and why the promise of stability strengthened the Soviet elite while encouraging patronage, ageing leadership and corruption.
2T - Economic and social policies and problems under Brezhnev: attempted reforms of KosyginLearn why limited economic reform did not overcome falling efficiency, and assess the connections between agriculture, defence priorities, consumption and the contrasting lives of Soviet workers and the elite.
2T - Foreign and international policies: détente with the WestLearn why the USSR pursued détente, why that policy remained fragile, and explain how intervention in Afghanistan and renewed superpower confrontation increased the pressures on the Soviet system.
2T - Pressures for change and the reaction of the regime: political dissidents and protest, including Andrei Sakharov and Alexander SolzhenitsynLearn how dissidents, human-rights commitments and national grievances challenged Soviet authority, and explain why Andropov's limited reforms and Chernenko's continuity left Gorbachev with an opening for more substantial change.
The Gorbachev Revolution, 1985–2000
2T - Gorbachev as leader: personality, aims and power baseLearn why Gorbachev tried to renew Soviet socialism, how his leadership supported reform, and why domestic restructuring became connected to withdrawal from Afghanistan and the ending of the Cold War.
2T - Economic, political and social policies under Gorbachev: impact of ChernobylLearn how Chernobyl exposed the weaknesses of Soviet government, why economic restructuring produced mixed results, and how political reform changed the relationship between citizens, the party and the state.
2T - Revolution and counter-revolution in the USSR: opposition to Gorbachev's policiesLearn why reform produced rival centres of power, how economic and national crises intensified, and why the failed August coup accelerated a collapse completed in December 1991.
2T - Yeltsin as leader: personality and aimsLearn how Yeltsin tried to build post-Soviet Russia, why market reform and presidential rule produced deep conflict, and what had changed politically, economically and socially when Putin took power by 2000.
Soviet Satellites, 1953–1968
2T - The political and economic condition of the satellite states of central Europe: Poland and the leadership of GomulkaLearn how Communist rule and central planning operated in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Germany, why their leaderships differed, and how these differences shaped the strength and weakness of Soviet control from 1953 to 1968.
2T - Life in the Soviet satellite states: enforced SovietisationLearn how Sovietisation shaped work, education, culture and organised leisure from 1953 to 1968, and why social benefits could coexist with pressure to conform and dissatisfaction with everyday life.
2T - Repression in the Soviet satellite states: state securityLearn how security services, censorship, courts, religious pressure and border controls maintained Communist authority, and why repression varied between countries and changed after Stalin's death.
2T - Threats to stability in the Soviet satellite states: risings in East Germany, Poland and HungaryLearn how grievances became crises in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, why Berlin remained a special problem, and how Soviet responses defined the limits of reform between 1953 and 1968.
'Real existing Socialism', 1968–1980
2T - Political developments in the satellite states of central Europe: Poland and the leadership of GierekCompare how Gierek, Husák, Kádár and Honecker tried to stabilise Communist rule between 1968 and 1980, and judge how far their policy changes amounted to reform.
2T - Economic and social developments in the Soviet satellite states: economic reformsExplain why satellite governments modified economic policy after 1968, why improved welfare and consumption could coexist with structural weaknesses, and how contact with the West created opportunities and risks.
2T - Challenges to Soviet control in the Soviet satellite states: Western influence and the mediaExplain how information, human-rights commitments and independent organisations challenged Soviet-aligned rule, and distinguish limited Hungarian electoral choice from the later reforms of the 1980s.
2T - Strikes and demonstrations in PolandTrace how recurring economic protests became the independent Solidarity movement in 1980, and explain why the Polish authorities and Soviet leadership found this challenge unusually difficult to contain.
The Collapse of the Soviet Empire, 1980–2000
2T - Political developments and activism within the satellite states before 1989: Jaruzelski and attempts to restrain Solidarity in PolandExplain why repression contained opposition without eliminating it in the 1980s, and compare the Polish, Czechoslovak, Hungarian and East German organisations and political openings that preceded 1989.
2T - The state of Communism in the satellite states of Romania and Bulgaria by 1989: leadership of Ceausescu in Romania and Zhivkov in BulgariaCompare Ceaușescu's Romanian dictatorship with Zhivkov's Bulgarian regime, explaining how different relations with Moscow coexisted with political repression and serious economic difficulties by 1989.
2T - The collapse of Communism within the satellite states in 1989: reasons for and results of demonstrations and peaceful revolution in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and violent change in RomaniaExplain the common conditions behind the revolutions of 1989, compare how change unfolded in six satellite states, and distinguish the collapse of Communist rule from the later construction of stable democracy.
2T - The new national states of Eastern and Central Europe: political issuesAssess how the former satellite states built new political and economic systems after 1989, why some divided or united, and how freedom, recovery and Western integration coexisted with continuing difficulties by 2000.
Component 3 — Historical investigation
Choosing a valid independent investigation
AQA 7042 · C3.01 - What makes the Historical Investigation independent historical work?A Historical Investigation turns a question about the past into a researched, reasoned answer. Learn how evidence, reflection and sustained writing fit together, and why supervision supports rather than replaces your independent historical work.
AQA 7042 · C3.02 - The 100-year context, no-duplication rule and 200-year chronology testA century in a title is not enough: the period must help answer the historical question. Learn to separate meaningful context, content duplication and whole-course chronology, then use those checks without mistaking a preliminary screen for approval.
AQA 7042 · C3.03 - Screening a topic for scope, debate and available evidenceA promising topic can fail because it is too vague, its supposed debate is unverified or its evidence cannot be consulted. These fictional cases show how to identify the precise gap before you develop your own historical question.
AQA 7042 · C3.04 - Two valid question routes: development or significance in contextYou can trace a development across a long period or investigate a narrower issue within it. The key is to make the wider context test the argument, rather than serve as background decoration. Compare both routes and the evidence they need.
AQA 7042 · C3.05 - Stress-testing a question for valid dates, genuine debate and answerabilityA polished title can hide impossible dates, an unmanageable scope or a question that invites only description. Use fictional cases to test whether a question permits a genuine historical argument across its whole period.
AQA 7042 · C3.06 - Approval, title changes and Candidate Record Form checkpointsApproval and authentication happen at different stages. Follow the 2027 forms from a proposed question to the completed investigation, and learn why a changed title or an unverified signature breaks the record trail.
AQA 7042 · C3.07 - Individual ownership when a centre uses a common topicSharing a topic does not make an investigation group work. Learn which support a centre may provide, which decisions each student must own, and why similar questions or sources need a process check rather than an automatic rejection.
Researching evidence and interpretations
AQA 7042 · C3.08 - Independent research: finding, checking and using a range of resourcesLearn how to find, verify and consult a useful range of historical resources, then make your own decisions about using them. You will practise by auditing a wholly fictional research trail, keeping that exercise separate from any live Historical Investigation.
AQA 7042 · C3.09 - Building a valid primary and contemporary source setLearn to check whether an investigation has access to three primary sources of at least two different types, and why that minimum alone does not establish a strong source set. A fictional catalogue lets you practise the check while keeping the choices for any live assessed investigation your own.
AQA 7042 · C3.10 - AO2 source interrogation in historical contextLearn to judge what a primary or contemporary source can contribute to a precise historical enquiry. A supplied public-domain source lets you connect content, provenance, tone and historical context before reaching a bounded judgement. This is a skills exercise; source selection, analysis and eva...
AQA 7042 · C3.11 - Judging a source's value for a specific questionLearn why a source's value depends on the question being asked and how to turn content, provenance and context into a supported judgement. A public-domain source and fictional practice enquiries let you challenge shortcuts such as “biased means useless”, while keeping the evaluation of live asses...
AQA 7042 · C3.12 - Selecting two differing interpretations by academic historiansLearn to recognise academic historical work and identify two relevant interpretations whose difference may be subtle. A fictional bibliography lets you test whether a pair can support sustained comparison, while choosing and verifying the works for a live Historical Investigation remains your own...
AQA 7042 · C3.13 - AO3: comparing interpretations through time, context and limitationsLearn to compare historical interpretations and test their arguments using knowledge of the past, relevant writing context and grounded limitations. A wholly fictional case lets you practise evidence-based evaluation without using a live Historical Investigation or its selected historians.
AQA 7042 · C3.14 - How interpretations may relate to the 100-year contextLearn the three ways a pair of interpretations can relate to an investigation's approximately 100-year context, and what each relationship permits you to compare. Fictional examples help you distinguish coverage from quality; understanding and evaluating the historians chosen for live assessed wo...
Integrating AO1, AO2 and AO3
AQA 7042 · C3.15 - AO1 across approximately 100 years: concepts, change and continuityLearn how to analyse change and continuity across approximately 100 years, using precise knowledge, meaningful phases and a judgement supported by evidence. You will practise with a wholly fictional period; the chronology, evidence and argument for a live Historical Investigation must remain your...
AQA 7042 · C3.16 - From description to analysis and substantiated judgementLearn to turn relevant description into analysis, use sources and interpretations to test an argument, and develop your own judgement with evidence and reasoning. Fictional examples help you recognise these moves without handing over any part of a live Historical Investigation.
AQA 7042 · C3.17 - Integrating AO1, AO2 and AO3 in one extended responseLearn how knowledge, primary-source evaluation and historical interpretations work together in one developing answer. Topic-neutral symbols and fictional planning cases let you practise integration while keeping your real question, evidence, structure and reasoning your own.
AQA 7042 · C3.18 - Word-count rules and a compliant process budgetLearn which words count towards the Historical Investigation limit, who applies an over-limit penalty, and how a private word budget can support a focused argument. Fictional monitoring records let you practise the method; the decisions about cutting or rewriting your assessed prose must remain y...
AQA 7042 · C3.19 - Quotation, paraphrase and writing in your own wordsLearn how to use short quotations and genuine paraphrases, acknowledge their sources, and keep the reasoning and wording of a Historical Investigation your own. Supplied fictional text lets you practise without rewriting any live assessed work.
AQA 7042 · C3.20 - Footnotes, bibliography and an auditable evidence trailLearn to connect borrowed words, facts and ideas to precise footnotes and a bibliography of sources genuinely consulted. Wholly fictional records let you practise checking an evidence trail while keeping responsibility for your live Historical Investigation with you.
Authentication, supervision and responsible AI
AQA 7042 · C3.21 - What general teacher support is permitted?Learn how teachers can explain requirements, provide research resources and teach general methods while preserving your ownership of a Historical Investigation. Fictional cases show where useful support must stop so that selection, evaluation, argument and writing remain your own.
AQA 7042 · C3.22 - Where teacher feedback must stopA helpful comment can point you towards a criterion while still leaving the historical decisions to you. Learn how to recognise that boundary, use general feedback independently and understand why marked work cannot be reopened for improvement.
AQA 7042 · C3.23 - Supervision, progress evidence and authentic declarationsA teacher needs to recognise how your investigation developed, not just read its final page. Learn how genuine notes, plans, drafts and discussions support an honest authentication decision and the 2027 Candidate Record Form.
AQA 7042 · C3.24 - Malpractice boundaries before and after authenticationThe same ownership problem follows different reporting routes before and after a candidate signs. Learn to recognise the breach, preserve an accurate record and understand the roles of the candidate, centre and AQA.
AQA 7042 · C3.25 - Valid preliminary uses of AI without surrendering independent thoughtAn AI search lead can start a useful line of research; it cannot do the historical thinking for you. Learn which preliminary uses AQA permits, how to check what they produce and where your independent decisions must begin.
AQA 7042 · C3.26 - Referencing and independently verifying AI useA useful AI-use record explains what happened, what you checked and what you did yourself. Learn to build that trail from real evidence and connect it to the declarations on the 2027 Candidate Record Form.
AQA 7042 · C3.27 - Unacceptable AI use in AO1, AO2 and AO3Changing AI-generated words does not necessarily make the historical reasoning your own. Learn to recognise when a tool has taken over AO1, AO2 or AO3 achievement, and distinguish that problem from incomplete acknowledgement.
AQA 7042 · C3.28 - AI authentication, monitoring, marking and malpractice reportingAuthenticity is built through the work, while a mark reflects what the learner independently achieved. Learn how monitoring, fair investigation, reporting and human judgement connect without replacing the learner’s decisions.