Course Overview

It will develop your skills of research, analysis, data handling, using evidence and report writing, all essential in the world of work.

It will give you a greater understanding of the world in which you live.

You will do a variety of activities: pair work, group work, PowerPoint presentations, speeches, source analysis, picture annotations, magazine articles, posters and possibly go on study courses on the Tudors and Nazi Germany.

Component 1: The Tudors England 1485-1603

• Part One: Consolidation of the Tudor dynasty (1485-1547)
• Henry VII, Henry VIII and Wolsey, foreign policy, Reformation and Royal Supremacy
• Part Two: Turmoil and Triumph (1547-1603) Edward VI, Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, religious change, Mary I, Elizabeth I, relations with Parliament, Privy Council, Mary Queen of Scots, Catholic and Puritan threats, relationship with foreign powers.

Component 2: Democracy and Nazism Germany 1918-1945

• Part One: Weimar Germany (1918-1924) impact of Treaty of Versailles, economic problems, Golden Age, Weimar culture, democracy, impact of the Depression, rise of extremism, Hitler as Chancellor
• Part Two: Nazi Germany (1933-1945) Hitler’s consolidation of power, Nazi state, economic developments, propaganda and Nazi organisations, Terror state, racial ideology, policies towards the Jews and ‘untermenschen’ before and during the war.

Component 3: Historical Investigation

• Students will need to identify an issue they wish to study and develop a question from this issue which will be the focus of their 3,000-3,500 (limit 4,500) word piece of coursework. It needs to include primary sources and an understanding of different interpretations presented by historians.