Factual-description questions
In the first paper, you know that you will meet three kinds of question:
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Basic factual recall (‘describe’) |
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Interpretations (‘Do you agree’ with an interpretation) |
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‘Either-Or?’ (Which of two options is the most important?) |
What you probably do not realise is that you can get 30% by knowing only the facts. In addition to the four marks available for the 'describe' question, there are two marks available for facts in the 'Either-Or' question.
In particular, you can prepare totally for the factual/description question, because the syllabus lists the events/facts that you might be quizzed about.
Make sure, therefore, that you could give a detailed answer if you are asked about any of the following:
FOR PAPER ONE
Origins of the First World War
Development of the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Weltpolitik
The Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911 and their effects on the alliances
The Bosnian Crisis 1908–1909 and its effect on the alliances
The arms race (including the Anglo-German Naval Race)
The Schlieffen Plan
Peacemaking 1918–1919 and the League of Nations
Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau – their views and motives
The main terms of the Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations Membership 1919–1939
League of Nations Organisation, powers and peace keeping role
The Manchurian Crisis 1931–1933
The Abyssinian Crisis, 1935-1936
The reasons for the collapse of the League
Hitler’s foreign policy and the origins of the Second World War
Hitler’s aims in foreign policy
The return of the Saar, 1935
Rearmament in Germany, including the Pact with Poland 1934 and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement 1935
The remilitarisation of the Rhineland 1936
The Anschluss with Austria 1938.
The Sudeten Crisis and Munich Agreement, 1938
The collapse of Czechoslovakia March, 1939
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
The Origins of the Cold War 1945–1955
Ideological differences and their effects
The Yalta Conference
The Potsdam Conference
Soviet expansion in East Europe
The Truman Doctrine
The Marshall Plan
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence
The Warsaw Pact
Crises of the Cold War 1955–1970
Hungary, 1956
The space race
The U2 Crisis 1960
The Cuban Missile Crisis,1962 (including Castro’s seizure of power and the Bay of Pigs)
The Brezhnev Doctrine
Failure of Détente and the collapse of communism 1970–1991
Détente
AfghanistanReagan and the renewal of the Cold War
Solidarity in Poland
Glasnost and Perestroika
The end of the Cold War
The end of Soviet control in Eastern Europe
The end of the Berlin Wall
The collapse of the USSR