History Course Description

Modern History

Unit 1: 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. The late 19th century marked a challenge to existing empires, alongside growing militarism and imperialism. Empires continued to exert their powers as they competed for new territories, resources and labour across Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Americas, contributing to tremendous change. This increasingly brought these world powers into contact and conflict.

World War One was a significant turning point in modern history. It represented a complete departure from the past and heralded changes that were to have significant consequences for the rest of the twentieth century. The post-war treaties ushered in a period where the world was, to a large degree, reshaped with new borders, movements, ideologies and power structures and led to the creation of many new nation states. These changes had many unintended consequences that would lay the foundations for future conflict and instability in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Economic instability caused by the Great Depression contributed to great social hardship as well as to the development of new political movements.

The period after World War One, in the contrasting decades of the 1920s and 1930s, was characterised by significant social, political, economic, cultural and technological change. In 1920 the League of Nations was established, but despite its ideals about future peace, subsequent events and competing ideologies would contribute to the world being overtaken by war in 1939.

In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), millions of people were forced to work in state-owned factories and farms and had limited personal freedom. In the United States of America (USA), foreign policy was shaped by isolationism, and the consumerism and material progress of the Roaring Twenties was tempered by the Great Depression in 1929. Writers, artists, musicians, choreographers and filmmakers reflected, promoted or resisted political, economic and social changes.

Unit 2: 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.

The establishment of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 was intended to take an internationalist approach to avoiding warfare, resolving political tensions and addressing threats to human life and safety. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948 was the first global expression of human rights. However, despite internationalist moves, the second half of the twentieth century was dominated by the Cold War, competing ideologies of democracy and communism and proxy wars. By 1989 the USSR began to collapse. Beginning with Poland, Eastern European communist dictatorships fell one by one. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a significant turning point in modern history.

The period also saw continuities in and challenges and changes to the established social, political and economic order in many countries. The continuation of moves towards decolonisation led to independence movements in former colonies in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

Units 3 and 4: Revolutions

In Units 3 and 4 Revolutions students investigate the significant historical causes and consequences of political revolution. Revolutions represent great ruptures in time and are a major turning point in the collapse and destruction of an existing political order which results in extensive change to society. Revolutions are caused by the interplay of events, ideas, individuals and popular movements, and the interplay between the political, social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions. Their consequences have a profound effect on the political and social structures of the post-revolutionary society. Revolution is a dramatically accelerated process whereby the new regime attempts to create political, social, cultural and economic change and transformation based on the regime’s ideology.

Change in a post-revolutionary society is not guaranteed or inevitable and continuities can remain from the pre-revolutionary society. The implementation of revolutionary ideology was often challenged internally by civil war and externally by foreign threats. These challenges can result in a compromise of revolutionary ideals and extreme measures of violence, oppression and terror.

In these units students construct an argument about the past using historical sources (primary sources and historical interpretations) as evidence to analyse the complexity and multiplicity of the causes and consequences of revolution, and to evaluate the extent to which the revolution brought change to the lives of people. Students analyse the different perspectives and experiences of people who lived through dramatic revolutionary moments, and how society changed and/or remained the same. Students use historical interpretations to evaluate the causes and consequences of revolution and the extent of change instigated by the new regime.

The two revolutions studied at Our Lady of Sion College are:

Unit 3: Russian Revolution
Unit 4: American Revolution

Unit 3: Russian Revolution

Area of Study 1: The Russian Revolution from 1896 to October 1917 (Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II to the announcement of the Soviet government on 26 October 1917)

· the events and conditions that contributed to the outbreak of revolution, including institutional weaknesses and tensions in Tsarist Russia, economic and social inequalities, the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, the October Manifesto, the Fundamental Laws, limitations of the Dumas, World War One, the February Revolution, the effectiveness of the Provisional Governments, The Dual Authority, Lenin’s return and his April Theses, the July Days, the Kornilov Affair, and the events of October 1917

· the ideas that played a significant role in challenging the existing order, including discontent with Tsarist autocracy, liberal ideas and reforms, Marxism and Marxism-Leninism

· the role of individuals in challenging or maintaining the power of the existing order, including Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, Pyotr Stolypin, Grigori Rasputin, Alexander Kerensky, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky

· the contribution of popular movements in mobilising society and challenging the existing order, including workers’ protests and peasants’ uprisings, soldier and sailor mutinies, and the role of political parties: Socialist Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks and Mensheviks (SDs), Octobrists and Kadets.

Area of Study 2: The Russian Revolution from 26 October 1917 to 1927 (Early Sovnarkom decrees to the end of the NEP)

· the challenges the new regime faced in attempting to consolidate its power, including the initial problems faced by the Sovnarkom, the Constituent Assembly and its dissolution, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Civil War, Red and White Terror, the policies of State Capitalism and War Communism, and Kronstadt Revolt

· the changes and continuities in political, social, cultural and economic conditions that influenced leaders to compromise and/or achieve their revolutionary ideals, including the role of the Cheka, issuing of New Decrees, State Capitalism, War Communism, the 1921 Famine, the Tenth Party Congress, the effects of the NEP, artistic experimentation, initiatives in education, and women’s rights

· the role of significant individuals that influenced and changed society including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Felix Dzerzhinsky and Alexandra Kollontai

· the diverse revolutionary experiences of social groups and their responses to the challenges and changes to the conditions of everyday life, including nobles, peasants, workers, the bourgeoisie and women

· the extent of continuity and change in Russian society 1896–1927.

Unit 4: American Revolution.

Area of Study 1: The American Revolution from 1754 to 4 July 1776 (French and Indian War to the signing of the Declaration of Independence 1776)

· the events and conditions that contributed to the outbreak of revolution, including the colonial experience, British mercantilist policy, the French and Indian War, British management of the colonies, the Proclamation Act, British tax revenue acts and colonial responses to these acts, objections to taxation without representation, the Boston Massacre, the Coercive Acts, Powder Alarms, the First and Second Continental Congress, battles of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill and the Declaration of Independence

· the ideas that played a significant role in challenging the existing order, including the Enlightenment ideas: Natural Rights, Representative Government, Republicanism, and Liberty

· the role of individuals in challenging or maintaining the power of the existing order, including King George III, George Washington, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson

· the contribution of popular movements in mobilising society and challenging the existing order, including the Patriots, the Sons of Liberty, the Daughters of Liberty, the Committees of Correspondence and the Provincial Congresses.

Area of Study 2: The American Revolution from 4 July 1776 to 1789 (Declaration of Independence to the acceptance of the Bill of Rights)

· the challenges the new regime faced in attempting to consolidate its power, including the War of Independence, creating and maintaining a political system under the Articles of Confederation, the Treaty of Paris 1783, Shays’ Rebellion, the Philadelphia Convention 1787 and framing of the Constitution, debates between the Federalists and Anti-federalists, and ratification of the Constitution

· the changes and continuities in political, social, cultural and economic conditions that influenced leaders to compromise and/or achieve their revolutionary ideals, including post-war recession, opportunities for economic development, the debates on federal and state rights, features of the Constitution, Individual Rights, the Bill of Rights and slavery

· the role of significant individuals that influenced and changed society, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry and James Madison

· the diverse revolutionary experiences of social groups and their responses to the challenges and changes to the conditions of everyday life, including Patriots, Loyalists, Continental Army soldiers, Women, Native Americans, African Americans and slaves

· the extent of continuity and change in American society 1754–1789.