Course Information Evening for 2025 is Wednesday 6th August. Subject information is current for 2026
More change has occurred to human societies and life in the last 100 years than any other era in human history. Modern History focusses on understanding the most significant events which brought about and resulted from such change. Events like the rise of the totalitarianism in Nazi Germany and the outbreak of WWII, the radical cultural changes embodied by art, music and cinema, the shift in power and alliances as the world stood on the brink of nuclear apocalypse. No study will prepare a young person more for understanding current global events.
In this unit students investigate the nature of social, political, economic and cultural change in the later part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Modern History provides students with an opportunity to explore the significant events, ideas, individuals and movements that shaped the social, political, economic and technological conditions and developments that have defined the modern world.
In this unit students investigate the nature and impact of the Cold War and challenges and changes to social, political and economic structures and systems of power in the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century.
A historical inquiry
An essay
Evaluation of historical sources
Short-answer questions
Extended responses
A multimedia presentation.