Year 12 Modern - Recent Exam Questions

Hi folks. I thought I would post the Germany and Conflict in Europe essay questions that have been in the past three years' HSC exams. The new syllabus has only been examined since 2006, so these are the best questions to give you an idea of what they will ask you.

Read them, have a go at answering them, and focus on the wording of the questions, and the dot points that they cover.

Germany:

2008: (a) Account for the successes and failures of democracy in Germany in the period 1918– 1933. OR (b) To what extent can Nazism in power be seen as totalitarianism in the period 1933– 1939?

2007: (a) Explain how and why German social and cultural life changed in the period 1923-1939. OR (b) Assess the impact of Nazism on German foreign policy in the period 1933-1939.

2006: (a) Assess the importance of nationalism as a cause of the failure of democracy in Germany in the period 1918–1934. OR (b) To what extent was Hitler responsible for the development and implementation of Nazi racist policies in Germany in the period to 1939?

Conflict in Europe (only tested since 2006)

2008: (a) Evaluate the view that the air war determined the outcome of the European War. OR (b) Assess the significance of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact to the outbreak of war in 1939.

2007: (a) Evaluate the view that Operation Barbarossa was the major turning point of the European war. OR (b) To what extent did Allied and Axis strategies during World War II affect civilians?

2006: (a) Evaluate the view that the dictators Hitler and Mussolini were primarily responsible for the tensions that led to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. OR (b) To what extent was the Soviet Union (Russia) responsible for the Allied victory in the conflict in Europe?

Year 12 Modern - End of WW2 PowerPoint

As promsied, here is the PowerPoint we watched on Tuesday. It summarises the last few years of the war, from Stalingrad to Berlin:

The End of World War Two

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You can download it here.

Year 12 Modern - The End of World War Two

Hi Modern folks. Welcome back after the trials, and welcome to the end of the war. We are going to polish off the Conflict in Europe topic by the end of next week, and then it's on to some good old-fashioned revision.

First: a few of the online resources we used in class yesterday, inlcuding some rather cool Nazi newsreel footage. I'll put the PowerPoint up soon as well.

You can access an animated map with an overview of WW2 here.

Here is the Youtube clip showing the rescue of Mussolini in 1943:



And here is the clip showing the Battle of Kursk:



And finally, the last film footage of Hitler, awarding medals to some alarmingly young Hitlerjugend members:

Year 12 Modern - Trial Exam Advice

Well, the Trial HSC will be this Friday. A bit of last-minute advice for all you Modern students...

For WW1, focus on perspective, reliability and usefulness of sources. Be prepared to write extended responses on the larger topics: for example, the nature of warfare on the Western Front, the reasons for the stalemate, the changing attitudes of soldiers and civilians, the effects of 'total war' on civilians, the turning points of the conflict, and the aims of the Big Three at Versailles.

For Germany, remember you will have a choice of two essays. Usually, one will focus on Weimar, the other on Nazi Germany. Be sure that you know all about the problems faced by the Weimar Republic, how the Nazis achieved power, and the nature of Nazi society from 1933-1939, as well as Nazi foreign and religious policy.

For Speer, have a working knowledge of his career (maybe memorise ten important landmarks in his life). Make a list of all of his achievements and failures. Formulate an opinion on his significance as a historical personality. Be able to argue whether he was a successful person, or an unsuccessful person, and back it with evidence. Have an opinion on the guy!

For Conflict in Europe, know the steps leading to war (LA-SCRAMCUP, dictatorships, failure of the League of Nations), and the chronology of the war from 1939 to 1943. Have a detailed knowledge of the early successes of Germany (Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia, Greece) as well as the failed Barbarossa campaign up to and including the Battle of Stalingrad. Revise the Battle of Britain, the Battle of El Alamein, and the effects of the war on civilians in Britain and Germany. Make sure you know about Nazi racial policies in Europe.

Have a go at some practice exams on the BOS website. Try this link for last year's paper.

Most of all - good luck! Email me if you have any problems on thomas.griffith@det.nsw.edu.au

Year 12 Modern - Civilian Statistics

Hi Year 12. Here is a rather badly copied-and-pasted screenshot of the notes from yesterday's lesson. It gives a list of civilian-related statistics from WW2, for both Britain and Germany. You should be able to click on the image and see it in a higher resolution.

Year 12 Modern - Civilians in WW2

Hi folks. the trial is rapidly descending upon us, and so we move on to our last topic that could be in the exam: civilians in WW2. We will be looking at the social and economic effects of the conflict on civilians in BRITAIN and GERMANY, as well as the HOLOCAUST and NAZI RACIAL POLICIES.

For a good summary of the Home Front in Britain, check out this BBC History page - WW2 People's War. It covers topics such as the Blitz, rationing, and internment of enemy aliens, with a focus on the stories of survivors.

You could also try this other BBC page, with a more political focus.

Also useful is this government site with a focus on school activities, based on the collection of the British National Archives.

For Germany, you could try watching the World at War episode 'Inside the Reich', on youtube. here is the first instalment:

Year 12 Modern - D-Day Landing in Saving Private Ryan

Here is the youtube clip showing the first 20 minutes or so of the D-Day landings in Saving Private Ryan. The action is very realistic, shows the Omaha beach landings in real time, and displays the confusion and horror of warfare during the Normandy landings of 1944.

Year 12 Modern - Battles of WW2

Hi guys. Welcome back to Term 3. I'm sure you're all ready to work super-hard before the Trials in Week 4. We'll be covering the last sections of the Conflict in Europe syllabus in preparation for the assessment, but first, here are some links to webpages about the three major battles we need to know:

Battle of Britain
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of El Alamein

By the way, the attached image is a map showing the location and range of German aircraft during the Battle of Britain.

Year 12 Modern - The World At War

The World At War was an incredible documentary series made in the 70s, covering the whole of WW2 in 26 one-hour episodes. You can access pretty much all of it on youtube, though in 10-minute segments. I am embedding the first sections of some of the most relevant episodes below. Just click on them to start watching, and then you can link through to the next instalments via youtube.

Episode 2: A Distant War (Poland - 1939)



Episode 3: France Falls (1940)



Episode 5: Barbarossa (1941)



Episode 8: Desert (North Africa, 1940-43)

Year 12 Modern - Flash Animations of WW2

Hi guys. As those of you who came to class this week may remember, we watched a pretty exhaustive (and exhausting) flash animation of the conflict in the East. You can find this fantastic resource (in English) here.

You can also find a flash animation outlining the course of the whole war here.

There is a whole range of multimedia resources on WW2 on the BBC History wesite. You can also search around on this site for some equally great WW1 movies, galleries, animations, and interactive sites.

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Poll Results

Hurray! The biggest voting numbers yet! I guess it could have something to do with the assessments last week...(which I hope went well, by the way...)

When it came to Hitler's biggest mistake in WW2 - 69% of you said it was his invasion of the USSR. Certainly, that would be the view of most modern historians.

As for the most interesting battle in the Persian Wars - 71% of you went with Thermopylae. That must be The 300 effect. 19% of you voted for Salamis, and the rest went with Marathon. Surprise, surpise - nobody voted for Artemisium, Plataea, or Mycale.

Year 12 Modern - Exam Advice

Modern History will have their next major assessment on Tuesday afternoon, in the double. The format will be as follows:

Time Allowed: 70 minutes

Part 1: 25 marks (35 minutes)
Essay question on Conflict in Europe, using 'assess' or 'evaluate'.

Assess = make a judgement of value
Explain = make a judgement based on criteria

So the question will ask you to make some sort of judgement about some aspect of the background to WW2. You should definitely revise the following points:

• the dictatorships in Italy and Germany
• the foreign policy actions of Mussolini (e.g. Abyssinia) and Hitler (LA-SCRAMCUP - League of Nations, Austrian coup, Saar plebiscite, Conscription, Rearmament, Anschluss, Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia, USSR-Nazi Pact, Poland)
• the failure of the League of Nations (especially in the Abyssinia crisis, and the Spanish Civil War)
• the policy of appeasement, followed by Britain and France until 1939
• the Nazi-Soviet Pact, signed in August 1939

I have provided some revision sites below.

Part 2: 25 marks (35 minutes)
25-mark question assessing/evaluating the life of Albert Speer

Make sure you know:

• his personal background, and the main events in his life/career
• his main achievements (as an architect, as Minister of Armaments, as a Nazi, as a repentant war criminal, as a historical figure)
• his main failures
• the major controversies about Speer: did he know about the Holocaust? To what extent did he use slave labour? Was he complicit in demolishing Jewish residences? Was he a willing Nazi, or a man thrust into an important position by Hitler? Was he really sorry for what he did? Did his work as Armaments Minister make the war last longer than it would have?

The key to this question is to have an opinion, as you will be making a judgement about Speer. Make sure you back your opinion up with real evidence!!

Revision Links:

Causes of WW2:

http://www.johndclare.net/RoadtoWWII7a.htm
http://www.johndclare.net/causes_of_world_war_two_revision.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes_of_WW2.htm
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/causes.htm

Albert Speer:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2318929114565469665 (Video about Speer)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/speera1.shtml (Audio interviews with Speer himself)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/speer.html (Speer's own sworn testimony at Nuremberg)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Speer1.html (Short bio of Speer)

Year 12 Modern - Battle of Britain

Hi guys. Sorry there hasn't been much Modern stuff recently, the Ancient classes had their assessment this week, so the focus has been on their material. I will hopefully be putting some exam advice up for you tonight, ready for Tuesday. For the moment, though, here is the very detailed and well-produced documentary on the Battle of Britain. I reckon this whole series (Battlefield Britain) is worth watching just for fun!

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Polls Closed

Okay, so not many votes, but the results are still pretty clear this week...

All of you said that Hitler was to blame for starting WW2, but only 66% ascribed the complete blame to the Fuhrer.

88% of you believed that the Battle of Salamis was the turning point of the Persian Wars...so pretty overwhelming.

New polls up soon!

Year 12 Ancient/Modern - Polls Closed

Here are this week's poll results:

For Ancient, 54% of you believe that Xerxes was a failure as a military commander; 27% each said that he was a great ruler, and that he was ifted in running domestic affairs. So you have not all been sucked in by the anti-Xerxes Greek sources!

For Modern, 40% of you asserted that the Allies should have gone to war with Hitler when he reoccupied the Rhineland; 30% each said they should have done so after he announced rearmament, or after he invaded Czechoslovakia. Based on that, none of you believe that the policy of appeasement should have been followed all the way to the invasion of Poland.

Year 12 Modern - D-Day Landings

Today is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, when 150,000 British, American and Canadian troops landed on 5 beaches in Normandy, in northern France. These landings saw the opening of a western front in the fight against Nazism, and within a year the German military machine had been crushed, and Hitler had committed suicide.

You can read this article on the BBC website, and from there you can find links to further information, maps and FAQs about the landings.

Year 12 Modern - WW2 Anniversaries

Some important anniversaries of events in World War Two are coming up in the next few days:

June 5th: 65th anniversary of the liberation of Rome (1944)

June 6th: 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France (1944)

June 22nd: 69th anniversary of the surrender of France (1940)
68th anniversary of the invasion of Russia (1941)

Keep an eye on the news for any stories about these events, especially the D-Day landings.

Year 12 Modern - Conflict in Europe PowerPoint

As promised, here is the PowerPoint from last week which provides an overview of the whole topic.

Conflict in Europe 1935-1945

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Year 12 Modern - Syllabus for Conflict in Europe

Here is a copy of the relevant page from the syllabus, for our current topic: Conflict in Europe, 1935-45.

You can find the whole syllabus here.

Year 12 Modern - Hitler's Foreign Policy 1933-39

Remembering LA-SCRAMCUP is a good way to start with Nazi foreign policy...but for a little more depth than the acronym alone, try visiting some of these sites:

This is a brief summary of Nazi foreign policy, written by Stephen Tonge.

This revision PowerPoint by Louisa Andersen is a very detailed and useful resource.

These student notes by John D. Clare might assist you in creating your own revision notes.

I will put the LASCRAMCUP PowerPoint up soon.