AS HISTORY

SPECIFICATION AT A GLANCE

AS Examination

Unit 1

1 hour 15 minutes 50% of the total AS marks

25% of the total A Level marks

Written paper  -- 2 questions to be answered from a choice of 3 two-part questions. Tests understanding of change over time.

Unit 2

1 hour 30 minutes 50% of the total AS marks

25% of the total A Level marks

Written paper -- 1 compulsory two-part, source-based question + 1 structured two-part question from a choice of 2.

Tests understanding of a significant period of history in depth.

1.                  THE UNITS STUDIED AT AS

Unit 1 Change and Consolidation

Unit 1 promotes an understanding of change over time, usually of at least 50 years. It will develop in students a strong sense of historical perspective, enabling them to understand the key features of a period, its particular characteristics and the forces of change, conservatism and consolidation. The distinctive feature of this unit is that of the study of change and consolidation; how governments establish themselves and respond, with varying degrees of success, to the need for change. Students will also develop an understanding of the relationships between key features and characteristics of the period of study.

Students will develop an understanding and an awareness of cause and consequence, and of continuity, within a broad historical context, enabling them to reach conclusions based on an appreciation of longer term developments and the interplay between the long term and the short term causes of change and consolidation.

You will study the following module in Unit 1:

HIS1E Absolutist States: The Reign of Louis XIV, 1661–1715

Unit 2 Historical Issues: Periods of Change

Unit 2 promotes the study of significant periods of history in depth. Each unit requires, initially, that students are made fully aware of the broad historical context of the depth study. The unit promotes an understanding of the complexity of the historical process, allowing students to study in detail the interrelationships between ideas, individuals, circumstances and other factors contributing to change and development. This approach provides an important contrast with the understanding of change and continuity in a longer period, as offered in Unit 1.

Students will develop an understanding, and an awareness, of cause and consequence and of continuity within short periods of significant change, enabling them to reach conclusions based on an appreciation of the dynamics of change as it occurred.

You will study the following module in Unit 2:

HIS2P The Campaign for African-American Civil Rights in the USA, 1950–1968

2.                  Structure of Examination Papers

Unit 1

1 hour 15 minutes

Three questions will be set from which candidates choose two. All questions will be intwo parts, the first carrying 12 marks and the second 24 marks. The first part will have a focus on a narrow issue or development; the second will test the understanding of the links between a narrow issue or development in a wider context.

The first part will focus on the assessment of Assessment Objectives 1(a) and 1(b), the ability to recall, select and deploy historical information accurately, with instructions to candidates to offer explanations for events. The second part will focus on these and also on Assessment Objective 2(b), requiring demonstration of understanding, the ability to arrive at judgments and an awareness of the debate amongst historians around the issues in the question (there will be no requirement for a specific reference to individual historians).

Unit 2

1 hour 30 minutes

Three questions will be set. The first question will be a compulsory question in two parts based around three sources (around 300 words in total). This will test Assessment Objectives 1(b), 2(a) and 2(b). The first part will test the ability to compare two historical sources in context (Assessment Objective 2(a)) and the second, the ability to combine own knowledge and sources to answer a general question on the period of study (AOs 1(a), 1(b), 2(a) and 2(b)). The first part will carry 12 marks and the second 24 marks.

There will be two other questions from which candidates choose one. The questions will have two parts. The first part, testing Assessment Objectives 1(a) and 1(b), will ask candidates to recall information and organise it to answer questions which will ask them to arrive at a substantial judgment on an historical issue. The second part, testing Assessment Objectives 1(a), 1(b) and 2(b), will require candidates to evaluate the validity of a judgment contained within a quotation. This examination will be 15 minutes longer than Unit 1 to allow candidates time to consider the source material contained within the compulsory Question 1.

DETAILS OF UNIT 1

AS Examinations

Unit 1 – HIS1E

FOCUS : Change and Consolidation

WEIGHTING : 50% of AS, 25% of A Level

LENGTH OF THE EXAMINATION : 1 hour 15 minutes written examination

TOTAL NUMBER OF MARKS : 72 marks

AVAILABILITY : Available January and June

In UNIT 1 we shall study the following topic: Absolutist States: The Reign of Louis XIV, 1661–1715

FOCUS : To what extent was the reign of Louis XIV one of image rather than of substance?

Introduction

This unit provides an overview of the nature of absolutist rule in seventeenth and early eighteenth century European history. France in the period 1661 to 1715 provides excellent scope for the discussion of a wide range of issues. The focus on Louis XIV allows for assessment of topics such as the pursuit of glory, religious persecution, foreign conquest, and the role of government in a society subject to extraordinary pressures. The significance of the imagery of ‘The Sun King’ provides further opportunity to question the substance of Louis XIV’s reign and to debate the role of the individual in history, in addition to consideration of broader political, social and cultural themes. The topics arising, both from study of the determined individuals of the period and from the circumstances in which sometimes controversial policies were introduced, will allow students to make judgments about change and continuity over time.

Content

Internal affairs, 1661–1685

• Absolutism, Divine Right and the practical and theoretical limits to Louis XIV’s authority

• The growth of central authority: the political and social function of Versailles

• The increase of authority in the Provinces, including the use of intendants

• Financial problems and policies, including the role of Colbert, taxation reforms and attempts to deal with corruption

• Economic policies: Colbert, mercantilism and state-run industries

• Religious policies: the problem of the Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685

Foreign affairs, 1661–1685

• France’s relationship with foreign powers in 1661

• Objectives of foreign policy under Louis XIV

• The War of Devolution

• The Dutch War

• The Reunions

Internal affairs, 1685–1715

• The extension of royal authority and relations with the nobility

• Financial problems, especially the expense of war

• Economic policies, including the successes and failures of overseas trading companies

• Religious policies: the problem of Jansenism and the Parlements

• The extent to which Louis XIV had achieved his objectives within France by 1715

Foreign affairs, 1685–1715

• The origins and consequences of the Nine Years War

• The origins and consequences of the War of Spanish Succession

• The extent to which Louis XIV had achieved his foreign policy objectives by 1715

The Course Content of Unit 2

The Campaign for African-American Civil Rights in the USA, 1950–1968 (HIS2P)

Introduction

This unit provides an opportunity to investigate the issues surrounding the fight for African-American Civil Rights in the USA. Students will need to have a sound understanding of the context of American society in this period. The main emphasis will be on the problems that African-Americans faced and the solutions that they developed for themselves. However the responses of the courts and Federal Government to the issue of African-American Civil Rights, particularly in the field of education, will be considered.

Content

Wider Historical Context

In order to judge the extent of change across the period, candidates will need a broad understanding of the historical context of racial segregation in the United States after the Second World War. Candidates should also have an awareness of attitudes on both sides of the racial divide and of factors leading to pressure for change in the legal and social position of African-Americans by the early 1950s.

The development of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s

• The position of African-Americans in US society in 1950

• Discrimination against African-Americans, including segregation and education and lack of political rights, especially in the south

• The role and influence of the NAACP, the Supreme Court and President

Eisenhower in achieving desegregation in education, 1954

• Non-violent protests including the Montgomery bus boycott

Progress towards Civil Rights 1960–1964

• The growing influence of Martin Luther King and the SNCC

• Attitudes of, and actions by, the Kennedy administration

• Freedom riders and sit-ins

• Supreme Court support for civil rights

• The role of President Johnson in passing the Civil Rights Bill

Opposition to Civil Rights 1950–1964

• The Southern manifesto

• The re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan

• The attitudes of the Democratic Party in the South

• Racist attitudes and reactions against African-Americans in the North and South

The Growth of Radicalism among African-Americans, 1964–1968

• The emergence of radical Black Power movements in the North

• Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and their influence on the Civil Rights Movement

• Urban Riots including Watts and Detroit and the role of the media

• The significance of the death of Martin Luther King: the extent to which African Americans had achieved equality by 1968

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