Who is this course for?

Pupils who have successfully completed the S3 History course and shown an aptitude for the skills and knowledge required to be successful. This could also be an option for any S5/6 pupils who are wishing to choose History for the first time.

Course Content

At both National 4 and National 5 pupils cover the following three topics.

A study of the experiences of Scots in the Great War and its impact on life in Scotland. This topic considers the impact of technology on the soldiers on the Western Front. It also considers the way in which the war changed life for people at home as the war began to effect every aspect of life both during and after the war. Some of the content sampled during S3 will be revisited during N5 and the exam skills you were introduced to in S3 will be consolidated during this year.

Scots on the Western Front - Recruitment; experience of life in the trenches; military tactics; technology of war — gas, tanks, machine guns, aircraft, artillery.

Domestic impact of war: society and culture - Defence of the Realm Act; rationing; changing role of women in society; propaganda; conscription and conscientious objectors; casualties and deaths.

Domestic impact of war: industry and economy - War work including women’s war work; reserved occupations; post-war decline of heavy industry; impact on fishing and agriculture; new industries in the 1920s.

Domestic impact of war: politics - Impact of campaigns for women’s suffrage; rent strikes; extension of the franchise; homes fit for heroes.

A study of the nature of the British Atlantic slave trade in the late eighteenth century, changing attitudes towards it in Britain and the pressures that led to its abolition, illustrating the themes of rights, exploitation and culture.

The Triangular Trade - The organisation and nature of the slave trade: its effects on British ports, eg Liverpool, Bristol; its effects on African societies, eg Ashanti, and on West Indian plantations. Slave ‘factories’ on the African coast; the economics and conditions of the ‘Middle Passage’.

Britain and the Caribbean - The importance of tropical crops such as sugar; the influence of the British in the Caribbean and the impact of the Caribbean trade on the British economy (eg banking, ship-building, textiles); the negative impact of the slave trade on the development of the Caribbean islands.

The captive’s experience and slave resistance - Living and working conditions on the plantations; discipline; other forms of slave labour on the Caribbean islands; resistance on the plantations; fear of revolt.

The abolitionist campaigns - Origins of the abolitionist movement and its increased support outside and within Parliament. Role of Wilberforce. Arguments of the abolitionists: Christian, humanitarian, economic.

Methods of the abolitionists: meetings, evidence (eg Clarkson; first-hand accounts by slavers, publicity). Attitudes and evidence of slaves and former slaves (eg Equiano). Resistance to the trade by slaves.

Arguments for the slave trade: planters, MPs, cities; effect of the French Revolution.

The debate over reasons for the eventual success of the abolition campaign: public opinion, Parliamentary debate, economic circumstances.

A study of how Germany was able to expand its territory in Europe and the impact of German occupation on the lives of people in occupied Europe. It will also consider the Pacific Theatre and the American involvement in the war through to the Allied victories in Europe and Japan.

German territorial expansion 1939–43 - Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939. Invasion of Poland. The strategy of Blitzkrieg; invasions of Norway and Denmark; invasions of Belgium; Holland and France. Dunkirk. Operation Sealion and the Battle of Britain. Operation Barbarossa and the advance on Russia up to Stalingrad; the battle for Moscow; the siege of Leningrad.

War with Japan, 1941–45 - Pearl Harbour. The Battle of Singapore. American attacks on Japan: Doolittle raid, Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Midway. Experience of prisoners of war of the Japanese.

Life in occupied Europe - Nature of Nazi control; life for ordinary citizens; forced labour; treatment of Jews and other minorities; concentration camps; death camps. Resistance in occupied territories; collaboration in occupied territories.

Allied victories in Europe and Japan, 1944–45 - Normandy landings. Operation Market Garden. The Soviet offensive and the advance on Berlin. Iwo Jima; Hiroshima; Nagasaki and Japanese surrender.

Assesment

National 5 - 2hr 20 minute exam on all three topic areas. Additionally pupils will complete an assignment which is written under exam conditions in class time and marked externally by the SQA. This assignement can be on a wide variety of historical topic areas.

National 4 - Pupils must pass unit outcomes for all three topic areas above along with their own research assignment known as the AVU (Added Value Unit)

As well as this official SQA assessment, pupils will be continuously assessed through timed questions and homework tasks to monitor progress

Course Progression

Pupils who attain N4 can move on to N5 History or an alternative N5 course within Social Subjects.

Pupils who attain N5 can progress into Higher History

Careers

The course strongly emphasises the development of skills such as analysis, drafting arguments, weighing up competing lines of arguments and evidence. It also gives pupils a chance to build upon and showcase strong literacy skills as well as developing an ability to craft essays and work and research independently. Such skills are helpful if progressing to college or University. There are some jobs where a History qualification is directly helpful, for example, academic researcher, museum curator, History teacher or an archivist to name but a few. But there are other jobs where the soft skills picked up within History are useful and cross transferable, for example, a career in law, journalism, archaeology and civil service.

Additional Resources

SQA History Subject Page - https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47447.html

BBC N5 bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2phvcw