The Exam Structure SECTION A Gobbet 50% of grade Do one of three Based on Wars block. There were 4 topics in this block. SECTION B Essay 50% of grade Do one of six Based on Ideologies and Revolutions blocks There were 10 topics in these blocks.

D, W & R Topics Ideologies Wars What is Political History? Nationalism Liberalism and Democracy Socialism and Communism Capitalism Revolutions Industrial Revolution French Revolution Revolutions of 1848 Russian Revolution 1989 Revolutions Wars Indian Mutiny (1857) South African War WW1 WW2

Revision Tips Select your topics carefully. Lecture/seminar notes are not enough. You need to read more scholarship and take notes. Select your reading from the Reading List or by searching the Library catalogue or JSTOR. Use the most recent Summarise the scholarship: ‘facts’ and arguments.

Revision Tips Revise in groups. Share reading material, notes and ideas. Practice using old exam papers (on the Library website).

The goals of gobbet exercises 1. Identify the source of the text/image (beyond the information given to you). When was it produced and in what circumstances? To what historical events, if any, does it relate? Is it characteristic of the work of a particular author/movement? 2. Comment on the content of the source and clarify any points that are unclear. This requires close reading and consideration of the internal evidence, that is to say the evidence provided from within the text/image itself. 3. Assess the significance of the source by relating it to some more general historical context, movement or event. Where does it fit in the historical debate?

War Block Topics 1. The Indian Mutiny (1857) Weekly Question: How would you classify the events of 1857? The First War of Indian Independence? A War against the British Empire? A Civil War? A military mutiny? Primary Source – The Queen’s Proclamation, 1858 2. The South African War Weekly Question: Was the South African War the final 'nail in the coffin' of the British Empire? Primary Sources – Emily Hobhouse reporting on concentration camps, Vereeniging Peace Treaty, 1902 3. Empire and WW1 Weekly Question: In what way can the First World War be seen as a 'War for Empire'?  Primary Sources - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, 'Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism‘ 4. Empire and WW2 Weekly Question: How important was empire to the outcome of the Second World War? Primary source – Recruitment posters

Ideologies Block Topics Weekly Question: What is Political History? Weekly Question: What is nationalism? Weekly Question: How compatible is the liberal principle of 'individual freedom' with the democratic notion of 'majority rule'? Weekly Question: What are the main differences between socialism and communism? Weekly Question: How has capitalism shaped the history of modern Europe?

Revolutions Block Topics Weekly Question: What impact did industrialisation have on modern Europe? Weekly Question: Was the French Revolution a bourgeois revolution? Weekly Question: How important was the role of intellectuals in the European revolutions of 1848? Weekly Question: Why was the Russian revolution of 1917 more successful than that of 1905? Weekly Question: What factors led to the end of the communist rule in Eastern Europe?

Example questions Assess the importance of political history today. ‘Nations have existed for at least hundreds of years’. How valid is this statement? ‘ ‘Communism is a variant of socialism’. How accurate is this statement? ‘Capitalism had a negative impact on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe.’ How accurate is this statement? Analyse the events leading to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 What were the main reasons for the outbreak of the revolutions of 1848? Analyse the events leading to the outbreak of the Russian revolution of 1917.

Exam Tips Choose question carefully! PLAN the essay quickly – if you can’t think of enough to say, don’t do that one! Plan your answer. This should be the argument on a flow diagram – include dates/events and scholars/the historical debate Check your plan before you start to write. Does it answer the question? Essays need: An introduction, 3 or 4 points, with detail and analysis or arguments for and against, conclusions Name scholars where you can Handwriting!