History

Unit 1: Britain, 1930-1997 (Y113)

This unit has two elements: a Period Study and an Enquiry. The Enquiry centres on the important figure of Winston Churchill in the years 1930-1951. As such, it examines Churchill’s early career before he was Prime Minister and his attitude to events such as the Abdication Crisis, the Empire (particularly India) and relations with Germany after 1933. It also examines his leadership and decision-making during his spell as wartime Prime Minister and his role in international diplomacy throughout this time frame.
The Period Study covers the years 1951-1997 and considers various social, economic and political themes during Churchill’s second stint as Prime Minister and beyond. These themes include (but are not restricted to) the move away from consensus politics with the dawn of Thatcherism, the social and economic policies which shaped Britain in the later twentieth century, Britain’s changing position in the world in the aftermath of the Second World War and throughout the Cold War era and so on.

Unit 2: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: four case studies(Y209)

This course book introduces A-Level students to the richness and depth of several of the kingdoms of West Africa which flourished in the centuries prior to the onset of European colonisation. For hundreds of years, the kingdoms of Benin, Dahomey, Kongo, Oyo and Songhay produced exquisite works of art – illustrated manuscripts, sculptures and statuary – developed complex state mechanisms, and built diplomatic links to Europe, North Africa and the Americas. These kingdoms rose and fell over time, in common with kingdoms around the world, along with patterns of global trade and local warfare. Looking at the history of this precolonial West African past introduces students to the many layers and complexities of both African and world history, and to how the histories of Africa and the world have interacted for many centuries. It is an opportunity both to build on pre-existing study skills which students have developed at GCSE, and to develop a more complex understanding both of African history, and of history itself as a discipline

Unit 3: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857-1965 (Y320)

This unit focuses on the changing nature of the British Empire over this period. Learners should understand the factors which encouraged and discouraged change during this period. Learners should study developments across the whole of the Empire, including Asia (e.g. India, Malaya), North Africa and the Middle East (e.g. Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Iraq), East and West Africa (e.g. Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Gold Coast, Nigeria), Southern Africa (South Africa should be studied only as far as self-government in 1910, apart from as an agent of change in other parts of the region, plus, for example, North and South Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Bechuanaland), the Caribbean, Canada and Australia/New Zealand. The focus is on the British Empire, and knowledge is not expected of other European empires. In isolated depth study units, we will look at India’s 1857 Rebellion, Kenya and nationalism 1945-1965, Palestine 1914-1948.

Coursework (Y100)

This is a non-exam assessment comprising of a 4000 word independent essay that students complete from Year 12 summer till Year 13. In the past, students have done independent topics such as the: Qing Dynasty, the British Indian Army, French Revolution, Turkish National Movement, Churchill, Japan foreign policy 1854-1905, Cold War, Ottoman Empire, Islamic rule over spain, English reformation and many more.