Modern History

Change and Conflict

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. Students focus on the events, ideologies, individuals and movements of the period that led to the end of the empires and the emergence of conflict; and the causes of World War Two. Students will then explore social life and cultural expression in the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and their relation to the technological, political and economic changes of the period.

The Changing World Order 

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.

Students focus on the causes and consequences of the Cold War; the competing ideologies that underpinned events, the consequences on people, groups and nations, and the causes of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Students will then explore the ways in which traditional ideas, values and political systems were challenged and changed by individuals and groups in a range of contexts during the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century.