History

As part of the John O’Gaunt sixth form, the History department are pleased to offer the opportunity to study the Edexcel GCE History syllabus. At AS Level, students will studying the dramatic changes in Civil Rights and the effect of each President of the United States throughout the latter half of the Twentieth century. Students currently study the experience of the poor in England in the Nineteenth century; however this unit will change in the next academic year. At A2 level, students go on to look at the effects of the World Wars on Germany; their final unit involves the completion of an independently driven historical enquiry which is assessed as coursework.

AS Level

Unit 1:

  • Pursing Life and Liberty: Equality in the USA, 1945-68 and Politics, Presidency and Society in the USA, 1968-2001
  • The social and economic position of black citizens in the USA in the 1940s and early 1950s: the nature and extent of discrimination and segregation; signs of change by 1955.
  • Martin Luther King and peaceful protest.
  • The Presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton: reasons for the outcomes of elections; Watergate and the constitutional issues to which it gave rise.
  • Social issues and their political impact: feminism; the rights of minorities; religious belief; the importance of the Supreme Court.
  • Popular culture: the media, film, television, radio and journalism; the importance of sport for race relations.
  • Black power and the use of violence; the extent to which equality had been achieved by 1968.

Unit 2:

  • Poverty and Public Health and the Growth of Government in Britain, 1830-1875
  • Reasons for widespread poverty in early 19th century: the operation of the old Poor Law and reasons why it was controversial.
  • The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 and diverse reactions to it up until 1875.
  • The impact of cholera on pressure for public health legislation in the 1830s and 1840s: the role of Edwin Chadwick and John Snow.
  • Local public health provision and legislation: reasons for passing the Public Health Act (1848) and reactions to it in the 1850s; reasons for the passing of the Public Health Act of 1875.

A2 Level

Unit 3: From Kaiser to Fuhrer - Germany, 1900-1945

  • The Second Reich — society and government in Germany, c1900-19: economic expansion; political and social tensions; the impact of the First World War.
  • The democratic experiment, 1919-29: crises and survival, 1919-24; Stresemann and recovery; the ‘Golden Years’ of the Weimar Republic; Weimar culture.
  • The rise of the Nazis: origins to 1928; impact of the slump in town and country, 1928-33; growing support; coming to power.
  • Life in wartime Germany, 1939-45: opposition and conformity; persecution of the Jews and the development of the idea of the ‘Final Solution’; the efficiency of the war economy.

Unit 4: Historical Enquiry – Coursework

Although this unit is subject to change each year as individual students are entitled to select their own key questions, current students are focusing on the impact of warfare on medicine and surgery throughout the Twentieth century.