PDF (2.4MB) - Scottish Qualifications Authority

2006 History 

Advanced Higher 

Finalised Marking Instructions 

© The Scottish Qualifications Authority 2006 

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Northern Britain from the Romans to AD 1000 

Part 1 

Each question is worth 25 marks 

Question 1 

How far does the evidence support the view that Iron Age society in North Britain was 

hierarchical? 

The candidate is expected to demonstrate awareness of the alleged evidence for Iron Age society 

in North Britain being hierarchical and to assess its worth. The candidate may refer to both 

literary and archaeological evidence. 

The candidate might be expected to use such evidence as: 

• the people at the top displayed their power, prestige and wealth by the sheer size of their 

dwellings, by personal adornment and adornment of horses, chariots, and weapons and 

probably by possession of slaves 

• massive dwellings whose construction involved huge amounts of labour, implying coercion, 

were built to dominate the landscape and display their owners’ power and included brochs, 

surrounded by broch villages, crannogs, round houses and ring-ditch houses as well as mighty 

forts like the Pictish one at Burghead 

• large, impressive underground structures, such as wheelhouses and souterrains (for storage), 

also emphasised their owners’ wealth 

• highly skilled craftsmen made for the powerful ornate jewellery, weapons and horse trappings 

as well as chariots 

• votive offerings of precious metal goods indicate surplus wealth, no doubt owned by the mighty 

• there appear to have been itinerant broch builders working for the powerbrokers of society 

• pictish symbol stones were also possibly the work of itinerant craftsmen and appear to have 

been erected for those with power and authority; they contain scenes of hunting and fighting, 

aristocratic pursuits 

• literary evidence, Caesar’s Gallic Wars, Tacitus’ Agricola, the early Irish law texts analysed 

by D. A. Binchy, all identify Celtic society, which obtained in North Britain, as hierarchical: 

an upper tier of warriors/nobles/leaders, a middle tier of free peasants, craftsmen and a lower 

tier of unfree and slaves – no doubt war booty, as well as a class of seers/Druids/religious 

experts. 

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate historians’ commentary to support their 

views. These may include reference to: 

• Ian Armit: Celtic Scotland, particularly good on the role of dwellings in society 

• Stuart Pigott: especially good on swords, scabbards and the carnyx-war trumpet 

• Nick Aitchison: The Picts and the Scots at War, emphasises the military nature of Iron Age 

society and the role of musters and war bands 

• David Breeze: The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain 

• Smyth: Warlords and Holy Men: argues that the names of barbarian magnates as found in 

Roman authors’ works and on Roman inscriptions, prove there was a warrior elite in N 

Britain, eg Calgacus = The Swordsman and Argentocoxus = Silver Leg. 

Page 2

Question 2 

How important was the part played by tribal resistance in the Roman failure to conquer North 

Britain? 

The candidate is expected to analyse, critically, the factors behind the (alleged) failure of the 

Romans to conquer North Britain and to come to a measured conclusion about the importance of 

the role of tribal resistance in that failure. An awareness of recent historiography questioning the 

difficulties facing Agricola’s invasion is important. 


• the evidence for tribal resistance is all literary, by classical authors, Tacitus, Dio Cassius, 

Herodian, who never set foot in Britain and had a pretty obvious agenda, to highlight military 

glory and make Roman advance look impressive. Tacitus makes much of the native night 

time attack on the Ninth Legion and the heroic native resistance at Mons Graupius but recent 

work on the dating of the Gask Frontier suggests there was probably a walkover by Agricola, 

even that part of N Britain was already still occupied after earlier peaceful incursions. Dio 

Cassius and Herodian describe guerrilla warfare against Severus and Caracalla but it did not 

stop two massive campaigns and the reinstatement of the Roman fort at Cramond which, 

along with the building of a massive vexillation legionary fortress at Carpow on the Tay, 

showed N Britain had been conquered and could have been occupied for as long as the 

Romans wished or were able to afford out of limited imperial resources 

• all the archaeological and factual literary evidence is that the Romans were able to penetrate 

as far North as they wished, whenever they wished, in Flavian, Antonine and Severan times 

• the Romans clearly failed to conquer N Britain and occupy it continuously but tribal 

resistance was not the reason for the failure: besides the points above, the ways in which 

Roman goods found their way to non Roman sites demonstrate peaceful relations 

• it was imperial considerations which doomed continuous Roman occupation: Agricola’s 

successor had to send reinforcements to the Continent and so abandon the legionary fortress 

at Inchtuthill; Antoninus Pius’ successor had no interest in maintaining his predecessor’s 

largely personally motivated advance into N Britain; Caracalla, after murdering his father, 

had other business in Rome and did not for long maintain his and his father’s joint conquest 

• N Britain had no valuable economic resources such as Welsh lead or Cornish tin so there 

were no economic imperatives for occupation 

• Tacitus, Dio Cassius and Herodian made much of the geographical and topographical 

obstacles to campaigning (although they had never seen them) but Breeze eg points out that 

equally apparently insuperable obstacles were overcome elsewhere in Europe with ease by the 

Roman army 

• in the JRSAI Breeze has a long article “Why the Romans failed to conquer Scotland” which 

examines all the factors examined above and concluded the flaw in the ointment was lack of 

consistent Imperial policy: the Empire had the resources to pacify the whole island, and could 

then have reduced the size of the garrison, but the will was simply not there. The Rhine and 

Danube frontiers naturally loomed larger in the Imperial mind. 



• Breeze’s article in the JRSAI op cit 

• David Wooliscroft and Birgitta Hoffmann’s work on the Gask Frontier and the Agricolan 

invasion. Internet 

• Tacitus, Dio Cassius and Herodian, all to be found in S Ireland’s Roman Britain, a 

Sourcebook 

• Hanson and Maxwell: in The Antonine Wall, Rome’s North West Frontier, have a discussion 

on Roman success and failure in N Britain 

• Breeze, The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain 

• Smyth: all three invasions were eventual failures. 

Page 3

Question 3 

How valid is the claim that the Romans had no lasting impact on native society in North 

Britain? 

The candidate is expected to discuss, critically, what impact, if any, Roman contact had on native 

society in N Britain. 


• the gradual evolution in Roman and sub Roman times of a diminishing number of tribes and 

their evolution into kingdoms/states: Ptolemy recorded sixteen tribes in Flavian times, Tacitus 

added a seventeenth. By 200AD the twelve or thirteen tribes N of the Forth Clyde Isthmus 

had apparently been subsumed into two, the Caledones and the Maeatae. By 297 the Picts 

apparently ruled the whole area, except perhaps Argyll, though the tribes apparently lingered 

on as sub kingdoms. In the Lowlands the Votadini became the Gododdin, the Damnonii the 

Britons of Strathclyde while the Selgovae and the Novantae gradually faded from history. It 

would appear the Romans through their presence, pressure and example had had a profound 

impact on society from the point of view of state-building 

• christianity spread to Whithorn in Galloway, after the Romans had left what we call now 

Scotland, but before 410 AD, and endured after that date. Niniavus was sent from Carlisle to 

Whithorn to administer to a Christian community as a Bishop 

• literacy: the point above implies it and at Traprain Law, a Votadini stronghold tolerated by 

the Romans, a piece of mudstone was found with ABC and the down stroke of D on it as well 

as IRI on a fragment of pot 

• pre Roman contact society was rural, tribal, hierarchical, familiar, pagan, heroic and non 

literate. Post Roman was not much different but for the dawnings of Christianity and perhaps 

of literacy 

• the eventual Roman decision to have a defended frontier on the Tyne Solway rather than the 

Forth Clyde influenced profoundly the evolution of a Scottish mediaeval kingdom with a 

frontier near there 

• Romanitas. A feeling or memory of the might and grandeur of Rome lingered on. When the 

genealogies of early British kings were written down many of the early rulers were given 

Roman names: the first king of the Manua Gododdin was allegedly Paternus Pesrut, Patern of 

the Red Cloak 

• on the other hand, no urbanisation, no endurance of the Roman vici, no adoption of coinage 

or any other aspects of Roman material society. 



• Breeze: on the Mediaeval genealogies above 

• Breeze: in Chapter 8, Roman and Barbarian, in The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain 

• Smyth: in Warlords and Holy Men emphasises how fully fledged Celtic kingdoms sprang up 

or rather re-emerged as Roman power webbed 

• Anna Ritchie and Breeze in Invaders of Scotland 

• Nick Aitchison points out that the proximity of Rome’s NW frontier and the wealthy 

province beyond provided an incentive for raiding while the loot supported socio-political 

elites, the emergence of kingdoms and a society organised for war. 

Page 4

Question 4 

How important was the part played by the Scots in the disappearance of the Pictish 

kingdom? 

The candidate is expected to be familiar with a range of factors which contributed to the 

disappearance of the separate Pictish kingdom and to evaluate how important among these was 

the part played by the Scots of Dal Riata. 


• the Picts and Scots had in essentials a common Celtic background (though not a common 

Celtic language), social order, military organisation, way of life, beliefs 

• kingship of the Picts and Scots had been interchangeable: several Kings of the Picts had been 

simultaneously Kings of the Scots and vice versa 

• thus Kenneth MacAlpin’s accession to the Pictish throne as well as earlier to the Scots’ one 

was precedented 

• both peoples were Christian and Christianity had come to the Picts mainly from the Scots in 

post Columban times. Both peoples followed the Columban church model 

• the Church did not favour disunity. In fact the destruction of the Picts by Kenneth MacAlpin 

was attributed to divine punishment for the wickedness of their liturgy and ecclesiastical 

laws. 

• before the 9th century AD the Scots were colonising the lands of the Picts as they moved 

gradually East: the spread of Gaelic place names shows this 

• the agricultural wealth of Pictland was an enormous temptation to the power-hungry warlords 

of Dal Riata 

• seaborne Viking pressure on the Scots also put them under pressure to move their power base 

to the East. Interestingly the part of Dal Riata not taken over by the Vikings did not become 

part of Alba, the new United Kingdom. It became known as Gall Gaidel and eventually 

became part of the Lordship of the Isles. In a sense it was the Kingship of the Scots which 

disappeared, not that of the Picts 

• at the same time, Viking pressure on the Picts, taking from them the Northern and Western 

Isles and Caithness and Sutherland, weakened them 

• in particular, in 839 the Vikings wiped out many of the Pictish nobles: the tradition that 

Kenneth MacAlpin was personally responsible for massacring the Pictish nobility at a feast at 

Scone is now doubted by some Historians 

• Kenneth was an experienced warrior, a leader of a war band, and must have had some claim 

to the Scots’ throne 

• he may also have had a claim to the Pictish throne through his mother. 



• Sally M Foster in Ch 7 of Picts, Gaels and Scots discusses this very question, emphasising 

long term factors and alas debunking the massacre at Scone, an excellent story 

• Alfred P Smyth in Warlords and Holy Men covers the same ground but highlights the genius 

of Kenneth MacAlpin himself 

• Nick Aitchison in The Picts and The Scots at War points out the role of the Church 

• Barbara Crawford in Scandinavian Scotland, Ch 2, assesses the role of the Vikings in 

Pictland and Dal Riata. 

Page 5

Question 5 

How important were factors such as geography and topography in attracting the Vikings to 

the Northern and Western Isles? 

The candidate is expected to discuss a wide range of factors which attracted the Vikings to the 

Northern and Western Isles and to decide upon the comparative importance of the geographical 

and topographical ones. 


• geographically the Northern Isles were unmissable: Shetland was 70 miles and 24 hours from 

Norway and the long chain Shetland, Fair Isle, Orkney, Caithness was bound to yield a 

landfall 

• the coastlines were in some areas similar to fjords 

• the Vikings who came to N Britain were from Norway in the main and were pastoral farmers 

whose life-style was based on the raising of cattle and sheep with a little growing of oats and 

barley where possible; the Northern and Western Isles, as well as looking like home, were 

ideal for this. The Norwegian Vikings also lived in isolated farms, not in village 

communities: once again the Isles were ideal for this 

• island settlements were safe from native attack. They were also ideal bases for raiding 

• the prevailing winds blew the Vikings West in the Spring and East in the Autumn 

• plenty of safe anchorages: Scapa Flow eg could shelter hundreds of longships 

• possession of the Northern and Western Isles opened up the whole of the Irish Sea and the 

Western Approaches 

• topographically the Isles provided a multitude of the type of settlement sites the Vikings 

wanted: ease of access to the sea; grazing land for livestock; plenty of drinking water; fuel 

and building materials; Orkney has very good soil and plenty of sandstone for flags for 

building; Shetland has patches of good soil; the machair on parts on the Hebrides, both Inner 

and Outer, is good for farming; plenty of shelving beaches; the lie of the ground favoured 

portages; conditions were ideal for fishing, both pastoral and arable farming and for fowling 

• climatically the winters were warmer than in Scandinavia, mild enough to outwinter stock, 

especially sheep 

• raiding: abbeys had treasure in the form of communion plate, adornment of Gospels, 

Reliquaries, Vestments and Psalters with gold, silver and precious stones 

• native settlements yielded slaves and livestock in abundance. 



• Barbara Crawford, Scandinavian Scotland, devotes the whole of Ch 2 to “The Geographical 

Framework,” which includes topography and explains the Viking preference for the Isles 

• Anna Ritchie and David J Breeze in Invaders of Scotland discuss the settlements in the 

Isles 

• Alfred P Smyth in Warlords and Holy Men examines and identifies the Viking preference 

for the Isles. 

Page 6

Question 6 

To what extent did pagan religious beliefs exist alongside Christianity in Viking Scotland? 

The candidate is expected to examine the extent to which the pagan religious beliefs of the Viking 

settlers in Scotland persisted and existed as the Vikings were converted to Christianity during the 

9 th and 10 th centuries AD. 

The candidate might use such evidence as: 

• Viking religious beliefs and Christianity were very different. The latter was firmly rooted in 

the Isles and mainland when the Viking raids began. It was not wiped out: the large number 

of Viking place names incorporating some form of papar = priest shows the faith continued 

unbroken. Viking men often took Pictish wives and the children took in Christianity with 

their mothers’ milk 

• crucially the Vikings believed in a real life in the afterworld as opposed to an eternal and 

different one in Heaven and therefore buried their dead with appropriate grave goods 

• they did however usually adopt the culture and religion of the conquered 

• the persistence of Viking/pagan graves during the 9 th and 10 th centuries shows pagan beliefs 

did co-exist with Christian ones, though precise dating and quantification are both difficult 

• some Vikings may have converted quite early on as some early Viking place names 

incorporate kirkja = church 

• on the other hand Viking religion was not personal, it was very closely bound up with the 

family group and was maintained by social and enjoyable occasions like sacrifices and 

feastings so there was a lot of pressure to maintain the old beliefs 

• an increasing number of Viking/pagan graves is being found from the 10 th C, which suggests 

a longer period of paganism than was previously thought 

• Orkney had very close links to Norway, which no doubt hindered conversion. Two out of 

three 10 th C single pagan graves recently found at Buckquoy are very close to the earl of 

Orkney’s supposed residence at the Brough of Birsay. We know that Earl Sigurd was not 

converted (and even then perhaps only nominally) until King Olaf Tryggvason made him an 

offer he could not refuse in 995 AD! 

• tt appears that the Vikings in Shetland were converted before those in Orkney. 



• Anna Ritchie in Viking Scotland develops the “mother’s milk” theory 

• Ch 6 of Barbara Crawford’s Scandinavian Scotland deals with the whole issue, particularly 

the evidence from graves 

• Alfred P Smyth discusses the whole issue 

• all three Historians agree paganism and Christianity co-existed. 

Page 7

Northern Britain from the Romans to AD 1000 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How useful is Source A as a description of Agricola's campaigns in North Britain? (12 marks) 

The candidate may be awarded up to 3 marks for the quality of their evaluation of the 

provenance of the source. 

The candidate may be awarded up to 2 marks for their ability to establish the views of the source 

and accurately support that evaluation with comment from the source. 

The remaining marks will be awarded for the quality and depth of the immediate and wider 

context recall, including historians’ views, that the candidate provides in their overall 

interpretation of the source’s value. 

The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source A in describing 

Agricola’s campaign in North Britain in terms of: 

Provenance: Appropriate and relevant comments will earn credit. These may include: 

• Primary Source. Tacitus was alive at the time of the campaigns, was a top Roman, an 

historian and the son-in-law of Agricola, though he had never been in Britain 

• he wrote his book eight years after last seeing Agricola 

• however he proclaimed his book about his father was intended to “honour” him and it 

pertains more to hagiography than rigorous biography 

• the book is a curious mixture of biography, eulogy, history, geography, panegyric and an 

apologia for top Romans who kept their heads down under the tyrant Domitian 

• style takes precedence over substance 

• recent archaeological work suggests Agricola’s campaigns may have been a walkover. 

Points from source which show the candidate has interpreted the significant view 

• Agricola advanced his forces North when the campaigning season began in the Summer of 

his sixth year as Governor and C in C. 

• He used the fleet to leapfrog up the East coast to counter the enemy’s strength on land and 

inhibit a general rising by the tribes. 

• His forces were confident and boastful of their progress. 

Points from recall which support, develop and contextualise those in the source 

• Agricola was Governor of Britain for seven years and fought, or more accurately led, five 

campaigns in N Britain: Year III, Tyne to Tay: Year IV Consolidation in the South and on the 

Forth Clyde Isthmus: Year V Advance into Dumfries and Galloway – plans for Ireland: Year 

VI Advance NE of Forth: Year VII Alleged great victory at Mons Graupius. 

• The style and statements in the source are what Tacitus’ audience of top Romans, who 

probably had the book read to them after dinner, expected to hear. 

• The dual advance is supposed to have driven the tribesmen to resist by first attacking forts 

and then at night time the camp of a battle group built round the Ninth Legion. Agricola 

saved the day of course. 

Page 8

Points from recall which offer wider contextualisation of the view in the source 

• Agricola is the subject, in either the strict grammatical or the actual sense, in the first three 

sentences – typical of the book. 

• Tacitus claims further on in the account of Year VI that captured Britons were dismayed by 

the appearance of the fleet: this seems very unlikely, rather it’s an example of Tacitus writing 

about what a good Roman would have expected. 

• The Gask frontier, which nowadays covers part of the ground from the Forth to the Tay and 

may have covered it all originally, used to be attributed either to Agricola’s successor or to 

Agricola’s year IV but has now been dated to perhaps a decade before him – which probably 

renders redundant all the heroics of The Agricola. The Romans were in N Britain in Flavian 

times (Archaeological evidence) but it was probably a walkover. 

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate Historians’ commentary to support their 


• David J Breeze: The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britai: Conventional view of Agricola 

• WS Hanson: The Antonine Wall: Rome’s North West Frontier: More sceptical view 

• Work by Birgitta Hoffmann and David Wooliscroft: is uncovering extensive pre-Agricolan 

contacts with N Britain. 

The candidate is therefore able to come to a conclusion, using a range of evidence, about the 

usefulness of Source A in describing Agricola’s campaigns in N Britain. 

Marks 

1-3 Vaguely written, merely re-describing the source; not answering the question or showing 

understanding of the views in the source. The candidate may show minimal understanding 

of immediate or wider context or any historical interpretations on the issue. 

4-5 The candidate’s answer shows a limited understanding of the views in the source, and a 

weak sense of context. Answer may lack clear structure with points made randomly, 

indicating little grasp of significance, although in places the candidate’s interpretation may 

be fairly well-written with some relevant points of explanation made. Candidate may offer 

relevant and appropriate historical interpretations. 

6-8 The candidate makes relevant and appropriate comments of interpretation, and the answer 

is clearly written and sensibly structured. The explanation ranges over several relevant 

points and shows an understanding of the views of the source, sets material in context, 

shows a good factual grasp of topic and a reasonably developed analysis, which may 

include reference to historical interpretations or specific historians’ views. 

9-12 The candidate’s interpretation offers accurate, wide-ranging and convincing argument, 

showing a clear understanding of the views of the source. There is a solid grasp of 

immediate and wider context, and well developed levels of relevant analysis. Greater 

awareness and development of historical interpretations and/or historians’ views will be 

credited highly. 

Page 9

Question 2 

How fully does evidence such as Source B explain Pictish social and cultural life? (12 marks) 



The remaining marks will be awarded for the quality and depth of the immediate and wider recall, 

including historians’ views, that the candidate provides in their overall interpretation of the 

source’s fullness in explaining/analysing the issue. 

The candidate offers a structured explanation of Source B in terms of: 

Provenance: Appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. These may 

include: 

This is a splendid example of what we call a Class I Pictish symbol stone, an undressed boulder 

or stone slab with a number of symbols incised on it. Class I stones are presumed to post-date 

500 AD and appear to have originated around the Moray Firth and they predominate to the North 

of the Mounth, including Orkney and Shetland, whereas Class II stones are predominant to the 

South. 

Class I stones such as the one in Source B, from Sutherland, have been found in association with 

burials, Pictish cairns and barrows. 


• The source is a Class I Pictish symbol stone, a free standing boulder with four figures incised 

on it, a fish, tuning fork or sword, mirror or patera and a comb. 

• The two “ors” show what a minefield the interpretations of the symbols are. Since we do not 

understand the Pictish language and in any case only a few words survive in king lists, we do 

not know what the Picts called these designs. 

• The second from the top used to be called a tuning fork, though as far as is known, no Pictish 

tuning fork has ever been excavated, but is now called a sword. 

• The bottom left one is usually called a mirror, but may have been a patera, a Roman dish with 

a handle on the side. 

Page 10

The source is not a Class II stone as it is not dressed, has no Christian symbols or rather designs – 

with these there is no ambiguity about what they represent – and no scenes of hunting and battle 

or intricate zoomorphic designs. 


• There are at least fifty different symbols used on Class I stones, cave walls, rock outcrops and 

silver jewellery and possibly on wood, leather, textiles and perhaps on people’s skins. Some 

are naturalistic, fish, eagle, snake eg, others are abstract, crescent and v rod, double disc and z 

rod, rectangle. 

• The crescent, double disc and Pictish beast are the most common symbols. 

• Designs are almost always paired and in about a quarter of cases are accompanied by a 

mirror/patera and comb, often at the foot of the stone under the other symbols. 

• Class I stones may be memorials to the dead, testimonies to marriage alliances between 

matrilineal clans, statements of tribal affiliation or stone charters but being used over several 

centuries and on different materials it seems unlikely. The same symbol may have meant 

different things in different contexts but all of them may have demonstrated shared and 

widespread beliefs. They may make most sense when looked at in the light of Celtic 

religious beliefs and practices. 

• Animals were carved because of their religious and symbolic value. About 17 other designs 

may be abstract representations of high-status objects such as sword, harness-ring, cauldron, 

anvil, tongs; many of these were used in votive offerings. 

Points from recall which offer wider contextualisation of the view in the source 

• Symbol stones like this one show the Picts were a cultured and artistic people who carried out 

designs which are masterpieces by world standards. 

• Art, religion and symbolism were obviously important to them. 

• Whatever the stones and symbols signify they were erected by the powerful and wealthy, 

proof of a hierarchical society. 

• The regularity of design suggests a class of itinerant carvers who carried patterns with them 

on parchment or even on their skins. 

• The designs show contacts with Ireland and Northumbria: the Picts were in that sense 

cosmopolitan, open to outside influences. 



• Sally M Foster: Picts, Gaels and Scots: This is one of the most recent works on the Picts: 

much of the above is taken from it 

• Anna Ritchie: Picts (1989) a very sound work: similar views to Foster 

Both Foster and Ritchie: also look at Pictish life in general as well as the part played in it 

by the symbol stones 

• K H Jackson: thought the stones recorded marriage treaties 

• Charles Thomas: thought they were memories of late Iron Age weapons, equipment and 

symbols of rank: plausible 

• Ian Armit: in Scotland’s Hidden History conjectures that the stones and symbols may have 

been painted cf illustrated manuscripts, which do have designs in common 

• the study of Pictish symbol stones produces all sorts of theories, none of which, in the nature 

of things, are provable. WA Cummins: a geologist thinks they are a type of alphabet, 

spelling out the names of Kings. 

Page 11

The candidate is therefore able to come to a conclusion, using a range of evidence, as to how fully 

Source B explains Pictish social and cultural life. 

Marks 



















Page 12

Question 3 

How helpful are the different interpretations in Sources C and D as views on the 

origins of Dal Riata? (16 marks) 

Interpretation (Maximum 6 marks) 

Candidates may be awarded up to 3 marks for their ability to establish the views of each source 

and accurately support that evaluation with comment from the source 

Contextual and Historical interpretations (Maximum 10 marks) 

These 10 marks will be awarded for: 

• the quality and depth of the contextual recall 

• the quality and depth of the wider perspectives 

• the range and quality of Historians’ views 

• provenance comment-if appropriate. 

The candidate considers the views in Sources C and D on the origins of Dal Riata in terms of: 

Source C 


include: accurate comment on Smyth will be credited as historiography 


• Argyll, once Pictish, was colonised by Dal Riata Scots from Co Antrim in Ireland. 

• The Historian Bede believed the Picts gave Iona to St Columba, a prince of Dal Riata in Co 

Antrim. 

• In the post Roman era some of the settlers in Argyll established a new dynasty of kings 

which ruled the people who had migrated across the Irish Sea from the 3 rd C AD. 

• Until the late 6 th C AD the rulers of Dal Riata in Argyll still ruled their homeland in Co 

Antrim. 

Points from recall which develop and contextualise those in the source 

• Dal Riata, the Kingdom of the Scots, though they called themselves Goidil (Old Irish) = 

Gaels, was in Argyll. 

• The king lists claim that the first king, Fergus Mor (and his sons) crossed from Co Antrim to 

Argyll about 500AD. 

• However, beware, king lists were compiled after the event and often to bolster dynastic 

claims: the genealogies in the Senchus Fer nAlban were re-written in the 10 th C AD to 

incorporate the Fergus story. 

• Bede can not be relied upon so far as the origin of Dal Riata in Argyll is concerned. 

Page 13

Source D 


include: accurate comment on Ewan Campbell will be credited as historiography 


• Challenges the traditional view, as expressed in Source C. 

• Argyll does not have Irish types of artefacts and settlements, as it should if its people came 

from Ireland, eg no ringforts. 

• No real Archaeological evidence for a migration. 

• Actually the people of Dal Riata in Argyll were indigenous to N Britain and shared a 

common language with their Gaelic neighbours across the Irish Sea. 

Points from recall which develop and contextualise those in the sources 

• The people of Dal Riata in Argyll obviously knew they spoke the same language as the 

people of Ireland. 

• Equally they knew they did not have the same language as their neighbours to the East, the 

Picts. 

• They therefore naturally concluded they originated in Ireland. 

• However Irish and Dal Riata brooches and dress pins are different. 

• There are hundreds of Ogham pillars in Ireland: two only in Argyll. 

Points which offer a more critical contextualisation of the view in the sources 

• All the evidence points to a continuity of population in Argyll from the early Iron Age 

through to the Mediaeval period and away from a migration from Ireland. 

• The Dal Riata people in Argyll thought they came from Ireland since they could speak to the 

people there and therefore invented a migration theory to fit this. 

• They could not speak to the Picts or Britons whose languages had developed differently: the 

Highland massif was a barrier to travel and contact: the Irish Sea was not. 

• When there was, for a time, not unnaturally, a joint rulership of Dal Riata in Argyll and Dal 

Riata in Co Antrim, an origin legend which showed a migration of kings from West to East 

helped the Argyll Dal Riata claim sovereignty over the Irish Dal Riata. 

Page 14

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate Historians’ commentary to support their 


• Smyth and Campbell above have diametrically opposed views and make more points than 

are in the sources 

• Ritchie and Breeze still refer to a migration or rather a gradual settlement of Scottish from 

Co Antrim over two centuries before 500 AD 

• they refer to imported artefacts, imported to Scotland from Ireland, but that does not 

necessarily imply migration: a lot of china was imported from China in the 18 th C but no 

Chinese came! 

• they think the best evidence is of Scottish fighting alongside Picti against the Romans: surely 

they were more likely to be living there than to have rushed over 

• Sally M Foster in Picts, Gaels and Scots rather sits on the fence; while claiming that the Dal 

Riata of Argyll originally came from the Antrim tribe of the Dal Riata she concedes there is 

no Archaeological evidence for such a migration 

• she does attest to a long tradition of contact between NE Ireland and W Scotland, which is 

Campbell’s point really 

• however she points out there is evidence for Irish settlements in Scotland, Wales and 

England 

• Nick Aitchison: the most recent writer on this controversy (2003) reviews all the points 

above and concludes that the Scots/Scottish/Gaels were descended from the indigenous 

inhabitants of the region. The strong contacts with and influences from Ireland may be 

satisfactorily explained by trade, religious activity and perhaps even a ruling class asserting 

its authority over neighbours. 


extent to which a consideration of the two sources is helpful in offering a full perspective on the 

origins of the Scottish/Gaels of Dal Riata. 

Marks 

1-4 vaguely written, merely re-describing the sources, not answering the question or showing 

understanding of the views in the sources. The candidate may show minimal understanding 


5-7 The candidate’s answer shows a limited understanding of the views in the sources, and a 

weak sense of content. Answer may lack clear structure with points made randomly, 


be fairly well written with some relevant points of explanation made. Candidate may offer 



is clearly written and sensibly structured. The explanation ranges over several points and 

shows an understanding of the views of the sources, sets material in context, shows a good 

factual grasp of topic and a reasonably developed analysis, which may include reference to 

historical interpretations or specific historians. 

12-16 The candidate’s interpretation offers accurate, wide-ranging and convincing argument; 

showing a clear understanding of the views of the sources and their value as interpretations 

on the issue. There is a solid grasp of immediate and wider context, and well developed 

levels of relevant analysis. Greater awareness and development of historical interpretations 

and/or historians’ views will be credited highly. 

Page 15

Scottish Independence (1286-1329) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How well established was Royal Authority by the death of Alexander III in 1286? 

The candidate is required the analyse the characteristics and nature of royal authority under 

Alexander III and come to a balanced judgement about the degree to which it could be claimed 

that Alexander’s royal authority was well-established by 1286. 

Relevant areas for discussion might include: 

Success in establishing royal authority 

• Reduction in the threat of baronial faction as the rein progressed, especially after the threat 

from the Durwards and Bissets had been removed. 

• The victory at Largs and the Treaty of Perth brought the Western Isles under the authority of 

the Scottish crown. 

• Alexander III attempted to continue the ‘feudalisation’ of the kingdom begun by his 

predecessors; attempted to set up a separate sheriffdom in Argyll. 

• Government increasingly operated through the great offices of state: Chamberlain, steward, 

chancellor, marischal, justiciars, sheriffs. 

• Alexander was free to establish his authority without having to face a serious English threat 

following the Treaty of Northampton (1244). 

• The emergence of the ‘Community of the Realm’ in the period may suggest the beginnings 

of a notion of ‘national’ identity and of the nature of government being a ‘compact’ between 

king and magnates. 

Limitations in establishing royal authority 

• Faction during the Minority of Alexander III highlighted the fragility of royal authority. 

• Western Isles never really under royal authority; emergence of powerful local magnates in 

that area. 

• Galloway and Moray were always resistant to royal control. 

• Alexander’s close relationship with the Comyns meant that the re-emergence of faction was 

always possible; the emergence of the Bruce threat. 

• Edward I’s claims to overlordship seem to undermine the sense of the development of the 

Scottish kingdom as a separate entity. 

• Failure to secure the succession. 



• Geoffrey Barrow: argues that a Scottish ‘Community of the Realm’ was emerging by the 

1250s and was strengthened during Alexander III’s reign 

• AAM Duncan: is more cautious about the emergence of a ‘Community of the Realm’, seeing 

continuing faction 

• Alan Young: emphasises the crucial role of the Comyns in the period. 

Page 16

Question 2 

“The real significance of the decision of 1292 in favour of John Balliol lies not with the 

judgement itself but in how it was made”. How justified is this view of the Great Cause? 

The candidate is required to make a balanced judgement about the underlying issues at stake 

during the Great Cause. Candidates are required to consider the view that the choice of John 

Balliol as King was less important than the consequences for Scottish independence of the way 

that decision was made. Candidates may interpret the phrase very broadly – either with reference 

only to the events of 1292, or perhaps including the whole background of the succession crises 

going back to 1286. 


Evaluation of the choice of John Balliol as King 

• Balliol the correct choice according to the law of primogeniture and Scottish precedent over 

the previous 200 years. 

• The nature of Bruce’s claim and reasons for its failure. 

• His claim was better supported by the ‘Community of the Realm’ than Bruce’s. 

• Rejection of the claims of Florence of Holland and John Hastings. 

• Edward’s possible motives in choosing Balliol – close adherence to Scottish law, or selecting 

a ‘puppet’ ruler? 

Evaluation of how the judgment was made 

• No immediate indication of Edward’s intention to press overlordship following the death of 

Alexander III. 

• Debate over the Treaty of Birgham; respect for Scottish independence or is it significant that 

Edward I “reserved his rights”? 

• Appointment of Anthony Bek; annexation of Isle of Man. 

• Edward’s demands at Norham. 

• The Scots’ reply to Edward’s demands at Norham. 

• Edward’s demand of recognition from the contenders. 

• Edward’s ‘reappointment’ of the Guardians. 

• Significance of ‘judgment’ at Berwick as opposed to arbitration. 

• Significance of the choice of legal system. 

• Composition of the Court and the role of Edward’s council. 

• Edward’s sasine of Scottish royal castles. 

• The impact of the Process of Norham on Scottish Independence. 



• FM Powicke: argued that Edward acted with proper regard to Scotland’s traditions 

throughout the proceedings at Norham and during the Great Cause 

• Geoffrey Barrow: views Edward’s involvement as designed to undermine Scottish 

independence, although the choice of Balliol as King was correct 

• Caroline Bingham: has been more inclined to accept the legitimacy of Bruce’s claim, in 

line with a more traditional interpretation of the period 

• Michael Penman: argues that Edward required sasine of royal castles in order to be able to 

enforce his judgment; sees the distinction between judgment and arbitration as critical in the 

case. 

Page 17

Question 3 

How far were William Wallace’s achievements more political than military? 

The candidate is required make a balanced judgement about whether or not William Wallace’s 

achievements were more political than military in order to arrive at a conclusion. 


Political achievements 

• The possible political motivation for Wallace’s uprising; his absence from the Ragman’s 

Roll, the murder of Heselrig. 

• Early success in galvanising resistance; possible associations in his uprising with the Stewart 

and Wishart. 

• Possible political motivation for the attack on Scone. 

• Political significance of Stirling Bridge. 

• Wallace’s resurrection of the notion of guardianship. 

• The Lubeck Letter. 

• The election of Lamberton to the See of St. Andrews. 

• His role in ‘keeping the cause alive’ after the defeat at Dunbar. 

• Wallace’s role in redefining the ‘Community of the Realm’ to include commoners. 

• Wallace as a ‘feudal conservative’; supporter of Balliol. 

• Wallace’s later diplomatic efforts in Paris and Rome. 

Military achievements 

• Speed and success of the rising in spring/summer 1297. 

• Victory at Stirling Bridge. 

• Raids into Northern England. 

• Evaluation of the reasons for the defeat at Falkirk. 

• Revived attempts to lead military resistance in early 14 th century. 

• Wallace’s political role was largely dependent on his military success. 

• Ultimate failure of Wallace to achieve his political ends by military means. 



• Geoffrey Barrow: Sees Wallace as a ‘feudal conservative’ whose main achievements were 

the result of the tacit support of sections of the nobility 

• Andrew Fisher: has argued that Wallace operated largely independently of the nobility and 

that this makes his achievements all the more impressive 

• Michael Penman: argues that Wallace may have been more successful had he been 

supported by the Balliol-Comyn faction after Stirling Bridge 

criticises Wallace’s decision to fight at Falkirk 

• Fiona Watson: has argued that William Wallace’s campaigns showed the nobles what could 

be achieved when ‘unorthodox’ tactics were used 

• Ranald Nicholson: has argued that whilst Wallace may have been ‘under the tutelage’ of 

Wishart and the Stewart before the surrender at Irvine, he operated as a free agent after that 

argues that Wallace’s tactics foreshadow those that would be used by Bruce in later years 

argues that Wallace’s significance in promoting the ‘national’ cause outlasted his defeat. 

Page 18

Question 4 

How successful were the Guardianships between 1298 and 1304? 

The candidate is required to make a balanced judgement about how successful the Guardianships 

were between 1298 and 1304. Candidates should make a judgement based on their own 

definition of ‘success’. 


Successes of the Guardianships 

• Continued existence of Scottish government in the face of repeated English invasions. 

• Appearance of a more unified ‘political community’ during the Bruce/Comyn guardianship. 

• Stabilisation of the Bruce/Comyn guardianship with the inclusion of Lamberton. 

• Continued harrying of English forces, especially in the border areas. 

• Military successes of the De Soules guardianship. 

• Failure of English invasions after 1298. 

• Baldred Bisset’s mission to Rome. 

• Possibility of a Balliol restoration. 

Limitations of the Guardianships 

• Changing nature of the guardianship indicates continued factionalism amongst the nobility. 

• The dispute at Peebles. 

• Bruce’s resignation and the appointment of Umfraville. 

• Bruce’s defection to the English. 

• The ultimate failure of Bisset’s mission to secure a Balliol restoration. 

• The failure to secure a ‘tripartite peace’ in 1303. 

• Military defeat and surrender in 1304. 



• Geoffrey Barrow: has identified a consistent level of noble leadership for the national cause 

in the period 

• Alan Young: stresses the continuing importance of the Comyns 

• Fiona Watson: argues that the Scottish resistance survived due to the superficiality of the 

English occupation as well as the determination of the political community 

• Norman Reid: has suggested that De Soules did not represent the Community of the Realm, 

but Balliol personally. 

Page 19

Question 5 

Why did it take so long for England and Scotland to make peace after the Battle of 

Bannockburn? 

Candidates are required to analyse and evaluate the reasons why it took so long for peace to be 

achieved between England and Scotland after the Battle of Bannockburn in order to arrive at a 

balanced conclusion. 


• Bannockburn not decisive in military terms 

• Edward II consistently refused to acknowledge either Bruce as King, or Scotland’s 

independence 

• Edward II continued to view himself as overlord 

• Scots not strong enough militarily to force a decision on the battlefield after 1314 

• Bruce’s raids into the north of England brought the English to the negotiating table, but no 

lasting peace resulted 

• truces did not result in a comprehensive peace settlement 

• the failure of the Scots to renew the French alliance before 1326 

• Edward II was also not strong enough domestically to ensure a decisive victory on the 

battlefield 

• the failure of English campaigns in 1319 and 1322, the defeat at Old Byland 

• failure of the Scottish campaign in Ireland 

• papacy favoured the English case after 1314; Bruce’s excommunication 

• failure of the Harcla rebellion 

• Bruce faced domestic difficulties; the De Soules plot. 



• Geoffrey Barrow: has emphasised the intransigence of Edward II as a major obstacle to 

peace argues that neither the English nor the Scots were strong enough to force a decision on 

the battlefield. Praises Robert I for his willingness to pay a high price for peace in 1328. 

Emphasises the growing need for peace on both sides 

• Colm MacNamee: has studied the economic impact of the wars on the ability of both sides to 

continue fighting 

• Michael Penman: has argued that the Wars of Independence can be viewed largely as a 

Scottish civil war, and that this was an important factor in the peace settlement. 

Page 20

Question 6 

How important was the role of the Scottish Church in maintaining support for the cause of 

independence between 1296 and 1329? 

Candidates are required to analyse and evaluate the role of the Scottish Church in maintaining 

support for the cause of independence between 1296 and 1329. Candidates may tackle the 

question in different ways. Some may examine the careers of individual churchmen, such as 

Bishops Wishart and Lamberton as well as the Abbot of Arbroath, whilst others may look at the 

Church as an institution. 

Some candidates may restrict their answer to part of the period and still pass. 

Some candidates may wish to achieve balance by comparing the role of the Church with other 

factors which helped to maintain support for the cause of independence. 


• the Scottish Church as the ‘Special Daughter of Rome’ 

• the persistent rejection of the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of York 

• importance of church as represented in the guardianships 

• role of churchmen in drawing up the Treaty of Birgham and at Norham 

• various missions to Rome (eg Baldred Bisset’s appeal in 1300) 

• role of the Church in providing administrative support to the Crown (especially the chancery) 

• interventions to prevent bloodshed at Berwick, also prior to the Battle of Stirling Bridge and 

at the siege of Stirling Castle 

• propaganda value of the Church in legitimising King Robert’s authority including his 

coronation, the Declaration of the Clergy and the drafting of the Declaration of Arbroath 

• support for King Robert despite his excommunication 

• the role of the Church in drafting the truces of the 1320s and the Peace of 1328 

• the role of individual churchmen such as Fraser, Wishart, Lamberton, Bernard de Linton etc. 

• divisions of opinion within the Church, eg Henry Cheyne of Aberdeen 

• Church as the only consistent supporter of independence across the whole period. 



• GWS Barrow: Has written about the importance of the Scottish Church in maintaining its 

own identity distinct from the English church. 

Sees the conversion of Lamberton to the ‘Bruce’ faction as a decisive turning point in Bruce’s 

bid for the throne. 

Emphasises the role of churchmen in promoting the ‘national cause in the wars’ eg Abbot 

Bernard de Linton, “Scotland’s outstanding medieval chancellor” 

Argues that the Declaration of the Clergy was crucial in bolstering support for Bruce in 

Scotland 

• R Nicholson: emphasises the role of churchmen as opinion formers on the side of the 

‘national’ cause 

Notes that whilst it may be difficult to argue that the church held an ‘institutional’ view that 

most of its leading members supported ecclesiastical independence from England 

• Alan Young: holds the view that the pro-Comyn outlook of most bishops before the 

appointment of Lamberton reflects their political dominance before 1306 

• Michael Penman: has shown that many leading churchmen, such as Bishop Henry Cheyne 

of Aberdeen, were never loyal to the Bruce cause. 

Page 21

Scottish Independence (1286-1329) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How helpful are the differing views in Sources A and B as interpretations on the 

reign of John Balliol? (16 marks) 

Interpretation (maximum 6 marks) 

Candidate may be awarded up to 3 marks for their ability to establish the views of each source 


Contextual and historical interpretations (maximum 10 marks) 




• the range and quality of historians’ views 

• provenance comment (if appropriate). 

The candidate considers the differing interpretations of John’s reign in Sources A and B, offering 

a structured critique in terms of: 

Points from Source A 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. These may 

include: accurate comment on Alan Young will be credited under historiography. 

Points from the source which show the candidate has interpreted the significant view (s) 

• John weak and naïve in the face of Edward’s forcefulness. 

• John’s failure to prevent Bruce’s candidate becoming Bishop of Galloway. 

• Concern John was dominated by Anthony Bek. 

• John appeared dominated by Bek at a time when Scottish nobles were preparing to make an 

alliance with France. 


• Balliol was forced to accept Bruce’s candidate as Bishop of Galloway – his own lordship! 

• John forced to pay homage 3 times to Edward I. 

• John forced to give way over the ‘test cases’ when appeals were heard in England. 

• John’s reputation in later sources as ‘toom tabard’. 

• The Creation of the Council of 12. 

Page 22

Points from Source B 


include: accurate comment on R Nicholson will be credited under historiography. 


• Balliol set out to be a ‘real’ King. 

• Family had long had links with Scotland. 

• Representative of the ‘patriotic’ faction. 

• 4 parliaments held – did an unprecedented amount of work. 

• Aimed to secure the authority of the Crown. 


• John did attempt, initially at least, to stand up to Edward during the test cases. 

• John’s parliaments pursued the traditional aims of the Scottish Crown, eg the creation of a 

sheriffdom in Argyll. 

• The Council of 12 may not have removed power from Balliol, but may rather be a symbol of 

the unity of the Community of the Realm. 

• John’s decision not to hand over castles to Edward. 

• John’s homage was made under ‘extreme coercion’. 

• John’s renunciation of homage. 

• Our view of Balliol largely comes from pro-Bruce writers attempting to emphasise King 

Robert’s legitimacy and therefore are at pains to denigrate John. 



• Fiona Watson has been keen to rehabilitate John’s reputation 

• Barrow inclined to see John as a victim of circumstance 

• Alan Young has questioned whether the Council of 12 was acting independently of Balliol. 


extent to which a consideration of the two sources is helpful in offering a full perspective on the reign 

of John Balliol. 

Page 23

Marks 

1-4 Vaguely written, merely re-describing the sources; not answering the question or showing 

understanding of the views in the sources. The candidate may show minimal understanding of 

immediate or wider context or any historical interpretations on the issue. 






8-11 The candidate makes relevant and appropriate comments of interpretation, and the answer is 

clearly written and sensibly structured. The explanation ranges over several relevant points and 



historical interpretations or specific historians’ views. 






Page 24

Question 2 

How useful is Source C as evidence of the military strategy and tactics of King 

Robert? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured evaluation of the usefulness of Source C as evidence of the 

military strategy and tactics of King Robert in terms of: 

Provenance: An extract from a biography of Bruce, written some seventy years after the 

events it describes. Barbour was Archdeacon of Aberdeen, a well informed, but very biased ‘pro- 

Bruce’ writer. He was writing during the reign of Bruce’s grandson, King Robert II, and clearly 

aimed to support the Bruce/Stewart dynasty. 

‘The Brus’ is largely hagiographical and was intended as a poetic comment on chivalry rather 

than as a ‘history’ in the modern sense. 

Most modern historians, notably AAM Duncan, regard Barbour’s general account of the facts to 

be largely reliable, however. 


• Use of ladders to take castles by stealth. 

• Overpowering the guard to capture the castle. 

• Castle razed and the well filled in, to deny future use. 

• Use of siege methods to try to capture Perth. 


• Other castles also captured by ‘stealth’, eg Perth, Edinburgh. 

• Ladders often made of rope, used in conjunction with grappling hooks. 

• Lack of siege engines made use of other tactics for taking castles inevitable. 

• Treachery and deceit sometimes used to take castles as well, eg Aberdeen. 

Points from recall which provide balance and reveal the source’s limitations 

The source does not mention: 

• the ‘Secret War’; use of guerrilla tactics in the South West and the avoidance of pitched battle 

• Bruce’s strategy of isolating and destroying the Comyns before moving on his English 

enemies 

• the development of Bruce’s tactics in pitched battle; Methven, Bannockburn 

• the herschip of Buchan 

• the role of Bruce as a charismatic leader as seen in Carrick, at Oldmeldrum and Bannockburn. 

Page 25


views. 

These may include reference to: 

• many historians have commented at length on Bruce’s strategy and tactics. Most commend 

his skill, though there is also a tendency to emphasise the role of luck and chance in his 

success 

• Barrow has described Bruce’s campaign against castles as “one of the great enterprises in 

British military history” 

• Colm MacNamee has provided a detailed account of the ‘Secret War’ 

• Aryeh Nusbacher has written a detailed account of the Battle of Bannockburn 

• Michael Penman has emphasised those elements of the conflict of 1296-1329 which show it 

to be a ‘Scottish Civil War’. 


extent to which a consideration of Source C is useful in offering a full perspective on the military 

strategy and tactics of King Robert. 

Marks 


understanding of the views in the source. The candidate may show minimal understanding of 









shows an understanding of the views of the source, sets material in context, shows a good 








Page 26

Question 3 

How fully does Source D illustrate the importance of the role of Parliament in the 

government of Scotland between 1306 and 1328? (12 marks) 





interpretation of the source’s fullness in explaining/analysing the issue. 

The candidate offers a structured analysis of how fully Source D illustrates the role of Parliament 

in the government of Scotland in terms of: 


include: recognition of the authority of the summons (see below) 


• The King had the power to summons parliament. 

• Details of who was entitled to attend parliament. 

• Details of dates and location of Parliament. 

• Called to discuss a final Peace Treaty with England. 

• Need for Bishops and prelates to bring seals. 


• A king’s right to summon parliament had been established for some time. King John held 4 

parliaments. 

• More detail about the composition of parliament; the addition of representatives of the burghs 

was new since 1300. 

• Parliament was peripatetic. Others in Robert’s reign were held at St Andrews, 

Cambuskenneth, Scone, Rutherglen, for example. 

• Parliament had the power to negotiate foreign treaties, such as the alliance with France. 

• Need to bring seals indicates that Parliament could give assent to law – the King was not an 

‘absolute monarch’. 

Points from recall which provide balance and reveal the source’s limitations 

The source does not mention: 

• the other functions of Parliament 

• legitimising King Robert’s rule (St Andrews 1309) 

• disinheriting enemies (Cambuskenneth 1314) 

• securing the succession (tailzies agreed in Parliament 1315, 1318, 1326) 

• passing legislation (amendments to the criminal law, 1318; laws concerning details of 

military service) 

• the origins of parliament – a word not used in Scotland until 1286 

• the role of Parliament in appointing Guardians in the absence of a capable monarch (1286 and 

1297-1306) 

• the unicameral nature of the Scottish parliament. 

Page 27


views. 


• Geoffrey Barrow has seen the role of Parliament as a crucial manifestation of the existence 

of a ‘Community of the Realm’ in the period. Parliament became one of the ‘national’ 

institutions which, in his view, makes it wrong to see the conflict in purely feudal or dynastic 

terms 

• Others, such as Alan Young have argued that Parliament and the Community were only 

strong at times when the Crown was weak 

• Nicholson and Duncan have been more inclined than Barrow to see the emergence of 

parliament as a product rather than a cause of the wars with England. 


extent to which a consideration of Source D is helpful in offering a full perspective on the 

importance of the role of Parliament in the government of Scotland between 1292 and 1328. 

Marks 



















Page 28

The Renaissance in Italy in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How prosperous were the great Italian cities in the early fifteenth century? 

The aim of the essay is to enable the candidate to make a judgement on the prosperity of the great 

Italian cities during the Renaissance and critically to assess the different factors that had an effect 

on that prosperity. 

The candidate may use evidence such as: 

• the forms of commercial activity that existed across the Italian states, including the wool 

trade and banking in Florence 

• the links between successful commerce and economic prosperity 

• the link between economic prosperity and the political dominance of certain cities 

• the link between wealth and ability to hire mercenaries to wage war 

• the link between Venice’s naval power and her growth as a sea and land based power 

• the importance of a range of factors which influenced prosperity in the Italian cities, such as: 

• internal and external trade; 

• the outmanoeuvring of rival cities (eg Sienna by Florence or Genoa by Venice); 

• the impact of plague and natural disasters on urban and rural economies; 

• the sponsorship of cities by wealthy courts (eg the Dukes of Urbino); 

• the influence of the papal court on the prosperity of Rome. 


views. 


• P.Jones on the emergence of the despotic states over republican governments 

• Goldthwaite on the role and significance of commerce on Republican economies, especially 

Florence 

• Martines in relation to the links between commercial life and political power 

• Robert Hole on the wealth of Florence and Venice 

• Alison Brown on the strength of the Florentine economy. 

Page 29

Question 2 

What factors best explain why Florence and Venice developed distinctive cultural 

experiences during the Renaissance? 

The question asks candidates to develop a profile of Renaissance cultures in both cities and offer 

insight on similarities and differences. 


• the art and architecture in each city, referring to Donatello and Titian, Brunelleschi and 

Sansovino 

• literary studies and the development of humanism 

• the distinct artistic styles of the two cities, as seen for example in the use of light and 

environment 

• the causes of difference in the cultural experiences of the two cities 

• a consideration of why many aspects of Renaissance culture are seen to develop later in 

Venice than in Florence 

• a consideration of factors such as: 

• physical geography; 

• the political climate; 

• social openness; 

• innovation; 

• proximity to other centres of learning; 

• the strong influence of Byzantine culture from an early date in Venice. 



• Bruckers/Hay/Cronin/Graham-Dixon’s analysis of Florentine culture 

• Norwich/Chalmers/Fortini Brown’s analysis of Venetian culture. 

• Robert Hole for comparison of the Renaissance in Florence and Venice. 

Page 30

Question 3 

How important was the role of classical antiquity in the development of Renaissance 

humanism in the fifteenth century? 

The question asks candidates to develop their understanding of the main themes in humanism 

covering the periods described as ‘civic humanism’ and ‘neo-platonism’, and relating their origins 

to the concept of the Renaissance as the rebirth of classical antiquity and values. 


• the interest in civic humanism and neo-platonism within Florence 

• some of the key scholars associated with humanism, such as Salutati, Bruni, Ficino and Pico 

• the interests of humanist scholars in the ‘studia humanitatis’ 

• a consideration of the “Ladder of Being” as a drift from conventional Christian thinking 

• the influence of classical works, writers and histories on the humanists 

• humanist interest in histories and textual criticism, through the works of Lorenzo Valla, 

Poggio Bracciolini and Niccolo Niccoli 

• the different phases of humanist development and why these phases occurred 

• the evolution from the Roman-based preoccupation to the increased interest in Greek works 

and the writings of the neo-platonists 

• a consideration of the active life of the civic humanists and the link with defence of liberty 

against the strong association with Republican Rome 

• the role of Greek studies in fuelling developments. 



• Hans Baron on the early century and the dominance of civic humanists and the active life 

• Kristellar and Garin on the debate over the moral philosophy element of humanism 

• Burckhardt on the shift from conventional Christian belief 

• Peter Burke on the influence of Greece and Rome 

• Robert Hole on the ever-present influence of antiquity. 

Page 31

Question 4 

How significant was the role played by Lorenzo de Medici in the cultural development of 

Florence in the period 1469-1492? 

The question asks candidates to assess the overall significance of Lorenzo de Medici to the 

cultural life of Florence. 


• the link between the cultural developments of the time and Lorenzo de Medici 

• Lorenzo’s personal contributions in language and design 

• the role of Lorenzo as a mediator for the arts and artists in terms of commissioning 

• Lorenzo as a setter of taste and fashion 

• the works of Botticelli and the young Michelangelo 

• the humanist circle of neo-platonists and the patronage enjoyed by them under the Medici, 

with particular reference to Poliziano 

• art as propaganda and the manipulation of art for political purposes 

• the wider cultural experiences of the period, such as the festivities and carnivals 

commissioned by Lorenzo 

• the development of the villa style of residence at Poggio a Caiano 

• the declining financial position of the Medici bank under Lorenzo and the limitations on his 

impact that this had. 



• Hale on the impact of the Medici on Florence 

• Brown on the specific dealings of Lorenzo on the city and his lasting impact 

• De Roover on Lorenzo’s declining financial base upon which to influence the period 

• Alison Brown on the power of Lorenzo de Medici. 

Page 32

Question 5 

How justified is the view that the Renaissance Papacy was more concerned with politics 

than religion? 

The question asks the candidate to define their understanding of the nature of the Renaissance 

Papacy, selecting examples from a range of characters. 


• the collective identity of the Renaissance papacy and its religious role 

• the balance of demands that the Papacy faced between temporal and spiritual concerns across 

the Renaissance period 

• the interdependence of the political and religious roles played by the papacy 

• the need to be seen as having a worldly role to retain credibility among the other Italian states 

• the broad acceptance of the dual role of the papacy at the time 

• Martin V’s ending of the Papal Schism and the need to re-establish both political and spiritual 

control over the Church and Church lands 

• the attempts of Sixtus IV and Alexander VI to expand papal territory. The campaigns of 

Caesare Borgia and the success of the 1500 Jubilee Year 

• the challenge to the papacy represented by Savonarola and the handling of the crisis 

• the collapse of papal authority in the hands of foreign powers (eg France, Spain, Luther) 

• Julius II and his use of patronage to further his own political claims to greatness, as 

exemplified by the commissioning of Michelangelo for his tomb. 



• Partner on the role of the papacy in establishing Rome as a political and religious capital 

• Graham-Dixon on the use of art to manifest the Papacy as both a spiritual and political 

power 

• Levey on the achievements of the later Renaissance under the papacy linked to the political 

struggles at the time 

• Robert Hole on the Renaissance in Rome. 

Page 33

Question 6 

Was there a “High Renaissance”? 

The candidate is asked to define what were the distinctive features of the High Renaissance, and 

why it may be regarded as a ‘peak’ of the Renaissance. 


• the periodisation of the High Renaissance at the end of the 15 th century, evolving away from 

Florence and establishing Rome as the significant centre of this phase 

• the close of the High Renaissance with the Sack of Rome, with the resulting impact of this on 

the papacy and general Italian self-confidence 

• the role of leading artists of the period such as Michelangelo and Raphael 

• the role of leading architects such as Bramante 

• the political state of the papacy and the Italian states at that time, with foreign intervention in 

the Italian wars 

• the influence of significant popes such as Julius II and Leo X 

• the significance of artistic patronage to compensate for the decline in religious authority 

being felt by the 1520s 

• some of the achievements of the High Renaissance 

• the idea of continuity rather than something new 

• the cultural developments associated with smaller political states during this period eg Urbino 

and Mantua. 



• Levey on the cultural achievements of the High Renaissance 

• Partner on the Roman Renaissance and the relationship between politics and art under the 

papacy 

• Cole on the range of Renaissance courts and their distinctive features. 

Page 34

The Renaissance in Italy in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How fully does Source A describe the concerns of Renaissance Courts? (12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source A in terms of: 


include: accurate comment on Martines will receive marks under historiography. 

Points from source which show the candidate has interpreted the significant view(s) 

• Centres of the union between power and privileged culture. 

• Patronage of letters and arts. 

• A marriage of power and imagination. 

• Arms and politics were fused together. 

• Sforza, Este and Gonzaga Lords were trained in swordsmanship... effort made to fire the 

children at court with the learning of humanism...horses, hunts,... overwhelmed books. 

Points which candidate develops from recall which support and explain the author’s view 

• The fusing of political and cultural activity at Court. 

• The rarefied elitism of Court life. 

• Patronage of the arts. 

• The need for mastery of warfare in political leadership at Court. 

• The semi military structure of Courts with their commander and soldiers at arms and rest. 

• The importance of hereditary succession of political power and the skills needed for this. 

• The interest in humanist learning found at Court. 

• The ultimate enduring strength of the military element of Court life over the intellectual. 

Points which offer a more critical contextualisation of the views in the sources 

• The fusion of political and cultural activity at Court can be exemplified across a wide range 

of centres. 

• The use of mercenary Lords interlinked with Court life, the clearest example being in 

Urbino. 

• The setting of Castiglione’s Courtier sheds light on the interests of a Renaissance Court and 

the pursuit of intellectual debate. There is strong support for the need to be well versed in 

arms to serve the lord. 

• Renaissance Courts were very varied in their intellectual interests and this is not reflected in 

the source. 

• The preoccupation of the Gonzaga family with schooling their children resulted in the 

Vittorino da Feltre Gymnasium which was heavily sponsored and highly successful. 

• Prestige and status could be enhanced by the pursuit of education. 

• The source does not develop the wider patronage aspect of Court life with many being major 

centres for the commissioning of art and the development of distinctive schools and 

innovations. 

• There is insufficient recognition of the role of women in Court life and the concerns that they 

brought to bear. 

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• Cole and the development of distinctive patterns of Court culture 

• Hollingsworth on the patterns of cultural activity seen at Renaissance Courts 

• Grendler on schooling in the Renaissance and the value placed on literacy and learning. 


extent to which a consideration of the Source A is helpful in offering a full perspective on the 

concerns of Renaissance Courts. 

Marks 





weak sense of context. Answer may lack clear structure with points made randomly, indicating 

little grasp of significance, although in places the candidate’s interpretation may be fairly 

well-written with some relevant points of explanation made. Candidate may offer relevant and 

appropriate historical interpretations. 











Page 36

Question 2 

How helpful are Sources B and C in revealing differing views over relationships 

between artists and patrons during the Renaissance? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources B and C and offers a structured evaluation of how 

helpful they are in showing different views of the relationship between artist and patron, in terms 

of: 

Source B 


include: recognition that the writer was a distinguished patron. The letter is personal and 

designed to entice the artist into service. 


• Master Leonardo... we have long desired... to have something by your hand... 

• you…drew our portrait in charcoal... 

• inconvenient for you to move here... 

• we beg you to keep your good faith with us... 

• payment, which you yourself shall fix... 

• we shall think nothing else but to do you good service... 

• offer ourselves to act at your convenience and pleasure. 


• The Master status of Leonardo as an artist. 

• The clear desire to obtain a full work by his hand whatever the subject matter. 

• The previous work done by the artist and the mobile nature of his employment. 

• The deferential tone taken to entice the artist to work for the patron. 

• Financial reward will be big and set by the artist. 

• The ‘carrot’ is offered of preferment by the support offered if willing to do the commission. 

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Source C 


include: accurate comment on Baxandall will receive marks under historiography. 


• A fifteenth century painting is the deposit of a social relationship.... 

• On the one side there is the painter... On the other side... someone else who asked him to make it... 

• painting was made on a made to order basis... 

• the client asking for manufacture after his own specifications... 

• Ready made pictures were limited... 

• painting was still too important to be left to the painters. 


• Art in the Renaissance was not solely the work of an individual. 

• The artist and patron relationship was of defining importance. 

• Prestigious art was commissioned and only low quality was done without a direct commission. 

• Artists were required (by contract) to produce art as directed by the patron. 

• Patrons retained a decisive hand in their involvement in the creative process. 

Points which can be added by way of further contextualisation for both sources: 

The Sources account for part of the range of relationships which occur. Able candidates will be 

able to develop recall which suitably discusses the evolving status of the artist over the period of 

the Renaissance and in terms of the individual reputations of artists. This later point is also 

variable over the career of the artist. 

The limitations of the Sources lie in the lack of development on the differing relationships which 

exist between artists and the sources of their patronage. Different groups such as Guilds, 

confraternities, church authorities, government bodies and individuals could all by their nature 

develop differing styles of dealing and negotiating with artists. The use of contracts applied for 

all but wealthy individuals could afford looser terms than collective, accountable bodies 

commissioning art eg: 

• Isabella D’Este was an avid collector of art works. She collected the artists rather than their 

works eg correspondence with Perugino 

• the Gonzaga of Mantua illustrated the benefit of patronage at a Court through their appointment 

of Mantegna who is financially rewarded but is also given honours at Court 

• the contractual nature of the relationship between artist and patron was common during the 

period and it is rare to find such a loose offer of employment 

• although the great artists achieve the elevated status addressed by Source B it was much more 

common to see the retention of financial control by the patron until delivery of the final piece 

• the assertion of an increasing independence of the artist vis-à-vis the patron can be charted from 

an earlier Renaissance period. Vasari, if accepted, illustrates this growth of independence 

from Giotto onwards 

• many patrons took an active artistic interest in their commissions, eg Rucelli etc 

• prestige of association with a great artist is replicated for patrons across the Renaissance period 

• distinctions can be drawn between the different forms of patrons, corporate, lay, ecclesiastical 

and individual. Each was bound by different pre-occupations in the purpose of their 

commissioning. 

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• Baxandall on the interplay between the arts and the patron 

• Hollingsworth on the value placed on artists by patrons 

• Stephens on the ultimate determining effect that the artist has on the artistic works of the period. 



relationship between artists and patrons during the Renaissance. 

Marks 



















Page 39

Question 3 

How useful is Source D in explaining the political control of Renaissance states? (12 marks) 








The candidate provides a structured evaluation of the value of Source D in explaining the key 

features of the political control of Renaissance states, placing it in perspective and in the context 

of an overview of political management, in terms of: 

Provenance: 

• recognition of Machiavelli as authority on this topic 

• primary Source: detailing the manipulation of power by a Prince in the Italian States during the 

Renaissance 

• controversial in advice offered. 

Points from source which show the candidate has interpreted the significant view (s) 

• Cesare Borgia...cruelty of his reformed the Romagna... 

• brought unity, and restored order and obedience... 

• must not worry if he incurs reproach for his cruelty... 

• so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal... 

• disorders which lead to murder and rapine... 

Points which candidate develops from recall which support and explain the author’s view: 

• Borgia is seen as a model for strong princely leadership 

• the Papal States are finally subdued by Cesare but not solely due to his actions, the ground 

had been laid by previous popes through their use of mercenaries 

• unity of action within the body politic of Italian states is seen as a common goal among many 

writers of the period but was seldom achieved 

• the importance of unity and loyalty is seen by Machiavelli as critical for success among the 

Italian states, cited by others as well as a reason for Italian weakness in the face of foreign 

invaders 

• the issue of cruelty being accepted as part of political power was commonly understood as a 

political reality during the Renaissance but it was not commonly described as a virtue over 

the Christian tradition of compassion and forgiveness 

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Points which can be added by way of further contextualisation: 

• Machiavelli is writing during the period of the Italian Wars when Italy is weakened and seen 

as enfeebled by the failure to contain foreign armies and their rampage through the peninsula 

• murder and rapine were common place in the face of this warfare 

• Borgia is praised by Machiavelli for his decisive action but is also later heavily criticised for 

his lack of political insight in supporting his rival in the elevation of Pope Julius II 

• the political advice offered by Machiavelli is far from universally accepted and his work is 

heavily criticised after publication. Thus the contents are suspect as a clear illustration of 

accepted political control during the period 

• the rule of princes is only one expression of political power during the Renaissance 

• city states and republics remained a potent political reality and there was clear evidence of 

communal political decision-making with less room for arbitrary execution 

• although based on the presumption of princely rule, Machiavelli’s own favoured political 

expression was republicanism under which he served most of his career 

• for a contrasting expression of political leadership: see Castiglione through his work ‘The Courtier’. 



• M. Johnson on the use of power by the Borgia family 

• Skinner on the insights made by Machiavelli on his society 

• Martines on the uses of power within city states as contrast to princedoms. 


extent to which a consideration of the Source D is helpful in offering a full perspective on the 

political control of Renaissance states. 

Marks 



















Page 41

France in the Age of Louis XIV 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How justified is the view that ‘Louis perfected court life to an unprecedented degree’? 

Candidates are being invited to examine the court of Louis XIV and assess what made it novel 

and exceptional, both in the French and European context. Some evaluation would be anticipated 

of the objectives and outcomes associated with the Sun King’s deliberate pursuit of magnificence, 

order and ritual. 

Candidate might be expected to cover areas such as: 

• the development by Louis XIV of a French court of overwhelming splendour and ritual in 

contrast to the more relaxed court life of the early Bourbon monarchy 

• the origins of such a court, perhaps in Louis’ Spanish heritage, and the formality of the 

Madrid Habsburgs 

• where Louis’ court fits into the wider spectrum of royal courts in early modern Europe 

• reasons for moving the French court from the Louvre in Paris to Versailles 

• how the structure and setting of the French court deliberately promoted the image and power 

of the king: 

the propaganda message of both the physical layout of the Versailles palace and its 

ornamentation; 

the use of ritual and etiquette to emphasise the majesty of kingship. 

• the range of attractions provided by Louis to bring the elite to court and keep them there 

• the importance to courtiers of close daily contact with the king, as a way of gaining both 

social status and royal favours 

• how the attractions of court life waned as the king aged and the younger generation drifted 

away 

• the artificiality of court life and the values it inculcated; contemporary critics such as Saint- 

Simon and Boisguilbert 

• the positive and negative effects of the court in general and Versailles in particular on French 

society 

• the importance of Louis’ influence on ancien regime courts internationally. 

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• Beik: Louis perfected court life to an unprecedented degree. No other monarch so 

successfully combined hard work and socialising. Campbell: Louis’ genius lay in the art of 

kingship. Louis the very image of a king, a vital element of his power. The essay could also 

show familiarity with the arguments of historians like Burke about the court as propaganda 

• Sturdy comments on the use of ritual and etiquette to enforce ‘unequivocal submission to 

Louis’ authority’. Briggs: the court was ‘designed to make obedience attractive as well as 

prudent’ 

• there might be some allusion to historians’ views about the negative effects of Versailles such 

as the isolation of the king and his courtiers from the real world. (Briggs – it made the king ‘a 

remote figure’ and ‘isolated the court’ with ‘very unfortunate consequences’). 

Other critical comments include: 

• Sturdy: the court promoted ‘social structures and values that were emphatically traditional’ 

• Wilkinson: Versailles made the French ‘king-worshipping and conformist’ 

• Briggs: Versailles provided a ‘stifling atmosphere’ in which to educate future rulers 

• Briggs also points out that the establishment of Versailles in fact came at the end of the great 

days of Louis’ court life, contrasting the vibrancy of the court of the young king (in Paris) with 

the ‘soulless’ atmosphere of Versailles in ‘the gloomy years of defeat’, while the Louis of the 

Mme de Maintenon era grew older and more straight-laced 

• Levron: contrasts the relative informality of the young king’s court with the rigid ceremonial 

of court life from 1680s on. For courtiers, court life expensive, exhausting, full of tension. 

Later court depressing and boring. 

Other recent writers however have tended to be less critical of the court at Versailles. 

Page 43

Question 2 

“Colbert served his king well, France less well.” How valid is this view? 

Candidates are being invited to discuss critically not just the measures pursued by Colbert in his 

efforts to overcome France’s chronic financial and economic problems, but also the aims and 

outcomes of the full range of the great minister’s activities on behalf of the French crown. 


• Colbert’s key position within Louis XIV’s government in the 1660s and 70s. His wideranging 

remit on behalf of the crown, as minister responsible for the navy, the royal building 

programme, patronage of the arts and promotion of the royal image 

• his talents and work ethic as royal servant: the single-minded dedication with which he 

pursued his task of royal service 

• his main objective not to reform France but to serve the king by promoting his wealth and 

magnificence, and provide Louis with the financial resources needed to achieve his gloire 

both at home and abroad 

• the entrenched problems that made his work of sorting out royal finances and stimulating the 

economy so difficult 

• efforts to boost royal finances, manage the long-term problems within the tax system, the 

strain put on Colbert’s programme by the needs of war 

• his adoption of a range of measures designed to stimulate industry and trade, and how far 

Colbert’s initiatives were hampered by entrenched interests 

• the wider international context of mercantilist thinking with regard to trade and currency 

• Louis XIV’s own priorities and the extent to which Colbert had to tailor his vision to meet 

these 

• how far Colbert’s own personal qualities helped or hindered his programme 

• his success in creating a French navy 

• his promotion of the arts and learning through Academies 

• his importance in the royal propaganda campaign 

• discussion of the main points implicit in the question: in what ways did Colbert prove a good 

servant to the Sun King? 

• did his policies not only fail to benefit France, but in fact do more harm than good? 

• what could he have done better? 

• was it his fault he didn’t do better? 

Page 44



The traditional view of Colbert the great reformer has been replaced by a much more critical 

assessment of his performance (Briggs, Pennington, Goubert) particularly in his management of 

trade and the economy. 

Colbert’s admirers: 

• Lavisse – visionary proto-capitalist ahead of his time; 

• Bluche – Colbert a compendium of talents; 

• Judge – his achievements ‘monumental’, his efforts ‘heroic’; 

• Ogg – a ‘superman’, at his best in spheres of industry and commerce; 

• Treasure – boldness of his initiatives admirable, his vision grander than his master’s, with a 

more comprehensive idea of the state’s potential, his economic imperialism commands 

respect for its vision and range. 

Revisionist views: focus on Colbert’s limitations: 

• Briggs – “prisoner of a whole set of crippling misapprehensions”, 

• Mettam, Wilkinson and also his actual aims 

• Meuvret – “solutions could never be more than expedients”; 

• Sturdy – “short term responses to the fiscal exigencies of the state”. 

• Shennan – Colbert a gifted official whose fundamental concern was to buttress the power 

and reputation of Louis and his state, committed to preparing the state for war; must be 

judged “according to the priorities which he and the king accepted as natural, not those of 

later generations”. 

• Annales historians, like Goubert, stress the very unfavourable context for economic 

development facing Colbert. 

Page 45

Question 3 

Did Louis XIV’s religious policies ultimately serve to discredit the monarchy in France? 

The aim of the question is to examine Louis XIV’s approach to religious issues, and to assess 

whether, in his dealing with the Papacy, with minorities within the Catholic Church, and with 

France’s Protestants, the policies he chose to pursue had such negative outcomes that they 

proved harmful to the reputation of the monarchy. 


The underlying principles that directed Louis XIV’s religious policies: 

• Louis’ own personal religious mindset: his orthodox, unquestioning Catholic convictions 

• his belief in Divine Right, and the spiritual dimension of the monarchy where power came 

from God and was centred on the Catholic church 

• his dislike of disunity and desire for religious uniformity within his kingdom 

• external influences manipulating him (Jesuits, Pere la Chaise, Mme de Maintenon) 

• his determination to promote French national interests 

• his desire to be Europe’s leading Christian monarch. 

His ambivalent relations with the Pope: 

• his quarrel with the Pope over the regale, arguably harmful to France domestically and 

internationally 

• his use of the Papacy, by contrast, in his campaign against the Jansenists. 

His actions to suppress the Jansenist movement: 

• did these in fact exacerbate division within the Church, and discredit the monarchy. 

His persecution of the Huguenots and the economic and political effects of the Revocation of 

the Edict of Nantes: 

• how far this was welcomed within France 

• adverse reaction outside France, adding to Louis’ already bad image abroad. 

Page 46



Historians generally very critical about Louis XIV’s religious policies: 

• Sturdy: Louis’ ‘obsessive orthodoxy’, his tendency, encouraged by factions around him, to 

attempt simplistic solutions to very complex religious controversies. Louis turned Jansenism 

into cause which attracted much sympathy and influenced religious history of France until 

the Revolution. Revocation of Edict of Nantes earned Louis fewer plaudits than he had 

hoped. Outside France, pilloried as a tyrant. His solutions to religious problems stored up 

serious difficulties for state and church 

• Beik: Louis antagonised ecclesiastical establishment by allowing pope to dictate to French 

church in anti-Jansenist Bulls; Louis came full circle from allying with French church 

against the pope and Jansenists to allying with pope against Jansenists and French church, so 

antagonising many influential people who began to question king’s religious role 

• Campbell: issues faced by Louis XIV predated his reign and reflected longer-term problems. 

Edict of Fontainebleau a bad miscalculation: Protestants remained remarkably stalwart in 

their faith. A mistake for Louis to encourage Jansenist persecution and side with Jesuits: 

later victory of Jansenists over Jesuits in 18th century undermined royal authority 

• Wilkinson: Louis’ policies ‘undermined the prestige, the sacred nature of French kingship’ 

• Ogg: triumph of orthodoxy not won cheaply; suppression of Huguenotism and Jansenism 

had repercussions on French thought; loss of popular esteem for monarchy because of 

association with Jesuits 

• Treasure: royal policies destroyed institutional Protestantism, but also their respect for 

authority and the king, previously very marked. 

Historians also give due weight to what was valid in Louis’ objectives: 

• Louis’ biographer Bluche emphasises the positives in Louis’ Huguenot policy, in terms of 

public opinion and France’s Catholic neighbours 

• Treasure: Louis would have been a man of exceptional independence of mind and moral 

courage to have resisted the pressure to enforce the conformity generally held to be desirable 

• Mousnier: the coronation oath obliged the king to fight against heresy (though the methods 

he used were inhumane, unchristian and tyrannical). 

Page 47

Question 4 

Has the wretchedness of the French peasantry under Louis XIV been exaggerated? 

The question invites analysis of the long-standing economic problems that impacted on France’s 

poorer citizens in the countryside. Candidates will be expected to examine critically the 

traditional view that these problems grew worse in Louis’ reign and to assess how far social 

distress at this time was occasioned by government policy, general economic trends or by acts of 

God such as extreme climate conditions and epidemics. 


Long-term factors impoverishing the French peasantry: 

• the undeveloped state of French agriculture, much of it subsistence farming in small farm 

units, rendering it vulnerable to bad weather, loss of stock through lack of fodder or animal 

epidemics, adverse family circumstances 

• emphasis on grain production in areas better suited to pasture 

• the lack of coinage that restricted rural development 

• the purchase of land by bourgeoisie for status and investment without investing in 

improvement 

• unfavourable tenant-landlord arrangements and surviving feudal laws that helped to 

impoverish the peasantry 

• heavy financial demands from landlord and church as well as state 

• unfair fiscal burden borne by the poorer classes, inefficiency and inequity with which it was 

assessed and collected 

• also the wider 17th century context of population stagnation and economic recession. 

Factors suggesting that things got worse in Louis XIV’s reign: 

• impact of changing government policy on peasants’ fiscal burden 

• the demands of war finance, imposing ever greater burdens which contributed to acute social 

distress in the last 2 decades of reign 

• increased fragmentation of holdings, indebtedness of the rural peasant elite 

• partial collapse of rural economy caused by adverse climate events (severe winters 1693, 94 

and 1708-9), then great bovine epidemic of 1714: resulting in more death, malnutrition, debt, 

destitution 

• the views of contemporary critics such as Fenelon, Vauban and Boisguilbert 

• other primary source evidence such as La Bruyère or John Locke. 

Factors which qualify this model: 

• suffering varied enormously from year to year depending on the success of the harvest 

• there were great regional differences from North to South 

• the authorities’ awareness of, and attempts to alleviate, peasant distress: Louis, through 

Colbert, attempted initially to ease the taille burden, by greater emphasis on indirect tax and 

attacking corruption in the system 

• the alleviating effects of self-help within the rural community, and clerical charity 

• rarity of peasant rebellions in Louis’ reign could be cited as evidence arguing an exaggeration 

of their suffering. 

Page 48



• some historians highlight the government’s serious neglect of agriculture 

• recent local studies show great variety in the pattern of social distress 

• Mousnier: suggests that government policy was not primarily responsible for peasant 

wretchedness but points to the natural calamities of Louis’ reign being cumulative in their 

effect of causing increasing distress to France’s rural population 

• Briggs: talks of the ‘pauperisation of the peasantry’, and of the “parasitic exploitation of the 

peasantry by state, church, landlords and bureaucrats alike”. He sees royal taxation as 

having a “brutal impact”, and suggests that there is massive evidence for a transfer of wealth 

at this time from the rural world for the benefit of privileged minorities that could be as 

much as 20% 

• Wilkinson: warns against exaggerating the wretchedness of peasant life in Louis’ reign, but 

sees evidence for describing France as a ‘great poorhouse’, and the main reason as taxation 

necessitated by Louis’ war. 

Page 49

Question 5 

How valid are claims that the status and influence of the French nobility declined during 

the reign of Louis XIV? 

The question asks candidates to consider critically the traditional thesis that France’s nobility 

suffered a loss of power and importance under Louis XIV, and that this was the result of 

deliberate policy on the part of the king. They should discuss the problems faced by the ‘old’ 

nobility at this time, and evaluate their continuing dominance in various areas of national life. 


• the traditional role of the nobility in French society, in government and power structures, both 

nationally and regionally, in the army and the Church 

• Second Estate not a homogeneous class: many ranks and conditions within nobility. Robe 

nobles recent arrivals in aristocracy; sword nobles included poor provincials of ancient line; 

court nobles a group apart 

• why French nobles might be considered by Louis to be a problem (particularly after the 

Frondes) 

• how far the creation of Versailles was a deliberate ploy to ‘domesticate’ the nobility 

• the position of the majority who were not court nobles: how far they remained part of a wider 

web of royal patronage 

• the growing importance of the Robe nobility in key areas of national life 

• Saint-Simon’s complaints about the decline of the great nobility 

• the financial problems undermining the strength of some noble families: inflation reducing 

incomes from estates; expense of career in army; Versailles lifestyle ruinously expensive; 

many court nobles dependent on king’s generosity for survival; many sword nobles forced to 

marry beneath them 

• the implications of the scrutiny of noble status undertaken by Colbert 

• Louis’ targeting of provincial troublemakers through methods such as the Grands Jours 

• how far noble influence declined as the powers of the parlements and provincial estates were 

reduced 

• how far the development of the intendant system restricted their local power 

• continued progress of Robe nobility thanks to Louis’ patronage: road to advancement and 

riches wide open through service to the crown 

• continuing enormous importance of traditional nobility to the king socially and regionally, as 

well as in the army, Church and on foreign embassies. 

Page 50



• traditional historiography highlights the declining political role of the noblesse d’épée in 

contrast to the growing importance of the robe nobility: Louis, fearful of overmighty 

subjects, deliberately undermined noble power and privilege, sidelined them politically, 

appointed ‘bourgeois’ ministers and officials 

• Levron: Louis successfully domesticated his nobles 

• Ogg: through his court, Louis completed the atrophy of the French nobility 

• recent historians however argue that the once-accepted view of the decline of the French 

nobility under Louis XIV can no longer be sustained 

• Sturdy: suggests that to Louis it was ‘inconceivable that the social status of the nobility 

should be diminished’ and that Louis’ purpose was in fact to ‘revitalise the nobility’ 

• Treasure: suggests that the distinction between the two groups of nobles, sword and robe, 

was weakening 

• Wilkinson: refers to the continuing ‘domination of France by the second estate’ 

• Briggs: refers to Louis’ ‘ambivalent attitude to the nobility’ who were ‘a major prop to the 

state as well as a potential threat’ 

• Kettering’s thesis: is that Versailles undermined the regional power of the great nobles by 

reducing their client networks. Beik disagrees: stresses importance for nobility of 

maintaining regional influence through network of personal connections 

• Bohanan: attacks ‘excessive emphases on Versailles’ in this debate 

• Judge: Versailles misrepresented as a contrivance to demoralise the nobility 

• Campbell: court system one of mutual benefits, rather than triumph of king over nobility. 

Page 51

Question 6 

To what extent was Louis XIV’s reign a ‘golden age’ for French culture? 

Candidates are invited to review the range of artistic output in Louis XIV’s reign, covering 

architecture and art, literature, theatre and music. There should be substantial consideration of the 

artistic world beyond Versailles. The essay should discuss just how vibrant French intellectual 

life was in the later 17th century, assessing perhaps the influence of French culture on other 

countries at this time, and why the French style came to be so admired and imitated. 


Major royal patronage of the arts: the development of Academies to raise the standards of culture 

in France and how far this patronage had a positive cultural effect. 

• the distinctly French style of architecture developed through the Academy system, used not 

just in the construction of royal palaces, but in public buildings in Paris and beyond 

• Colbert’s crucial role in promotion of culture 

• the intellectual style of painting fostered in the Academy of Painting 

• the intensive campaign to harness the talents of artists of all kinds, from France and abroad, to 

promote the king’s image 

• Versailles the ultimate achievement of government sponsorship of the arts: primary purpose 

not so much aesthetic but rather propaganda for Louis, in its use of frescoes, bas reliefs, and 

tapestries to celebrate the glory and achievements of Sun King 

• the quality of the art produced as propaganda by the likes of Le Brun compared to that of 

painters outside the royal sphere such as Lorrain and latterly Watteau 

• the use of sculpture for propaganda purposes, not just at Versailles but in civic settings 

• where French art under Louis fitted into the broader European context of the Baroque 

• the royal patronage of playwrights like Moliere and Racine, musicians like Lully, should be 

critically examined 

• use of patronage to get Louis a good press: writers and scholars, both French and foreign, 

received grants in return for recording Louis’ virtues in print 

• the impact of censorship on literature: how far state control distorted the literature produced 

at this time 

• the appearance of a more critical band of writers towards the end of the reign. 

• the sense among writers, artists and scientists that they were members of an international 

‘republic of letters’. 

Page 52



• the older view was that royal patronage created a golden age in the arts and encouraged ‘the 

French genius’. Recent historians have been more critical in their assessment of the quality 

of late 17th century French culture, particularly in some of the work patronised by the king 

• Burke: suggests Louis’ cultural propaganda campaign was aimed at 3 audiences: Frenchmen, 

foreigners, posterity. Argues that Louvois responsible for a more aggressive style of 

glorification of the king’s image 

• Wilkinson: questions the quality of state-sponsored literature; Briggs describes “soulless 

temples to the cult of monarchy” 

• Treasure: also largely critical, particularly of Colbert’s management of culture: sees court as 

a great setting for established artists, but a difficult place for new talent to emerge 

• Sturdy: points to the decline of French universities in this period, with falling numbers and 

standards and increasing state interference. But otherwise he adopts a much more positive 

approach, seeing a vibrant encouragement of skills and ideas, with France opening herself to 

enriching cultural influences from outside. Control through academies not intended to 

impose a crushing orthodoxy, but create circumstances where creative talent could flourish. 

Page 53

France in the Age of Louis XIV 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How useful is Source A for an understanding of Louis XIV’s personal style of kingship? 

(12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source A in understanding 

the personal style of kingship of Louis XIV. 

Source A 

Provenance: A courtier at Versailles looks back on Louis XIV’s reign just after the King died. 

To offer his own reflections on the shortcomings of Louis’s personal rule and, perhaps, to voice a 

deeply-felt grievance about the exclusion of the old nobility from positions of authority 


• King is susceptible to flattery. 

• He is surrounded at court by yes-men, even among his generals and ministers. 

• He is so open to flattery that he receives the lowest-born. 

• His ministers get by less by their ability than by their willingness to bow and scrape before 

the King. 

• The King was thus open to manipulation by his ministers. 

Page 54

Points which develop and contextualise those in the source 

• Saint-Simon’s criticisms run counter to other contemporary sources, which emphasise the 

King’s hard-work as a personal ruler. On taking personal responsibility for managing 

government after Mazarin’s death in 1661, Louis worked hard and set a daily timetable. 

• The King made efforts to ensure that he, and not his ministers, was in control of policy: he 

not only personally almost always attended the meetings of the key councils, but decided the 

composition of each meeting on a day-to-day basis. 

• No-one could claim a right to attend; had to wait for royal invitation. 

• Even key ministers like Colbert, his finance minister, and Lionne, his foreign minister, were 

not consulted on a daily basis, which might run counter to Saint-Simon’s suggestion that his 

ministers were constantly on hand to caress his ego. 

• Yet his personal control of matters did distance him from the day-to-day running of affairs, 

even if not in the way Saint-Simon suggested. Eg his departure for campaigns made it hard for 

him to keep in touch with domestic affairs. 

• Saint-Simon, as a scion of the old nobility, had a particular axe to grind: he was angered by 

Louis’s apparent preferment of lower-born noblesse du robe who did a good job of serving 

him. He exaggerates the extent to which the King’s ministers were coarse or vulgar. 

• None the less, Saint-Simon’s emphasis on the way in which Louis XIV’s ministers may have 

manipulated him raises the question as to how much personal control the King actually had 

over policy. 

Points which offer more critical contextualisation of the source 

• Historians debate how far Louis’ decision in 1661 to take personal control of government and 

be his own first minister constituted a revolution in government (Lavisse and most French 

historians think it was, Mettam and others suggest it was more a ‘reorganisation’). 

• Scholars have traditionally contrasted Louis’ hands-on approach to the previous regime 

where government was controlled by one key minister: Richelieu in the reign of Louis XIII 

and Mazarin during Louis XIV’s minority and early adulthood. Now historians like Munck 

and Sturdy place more emphasis on, for example, Louis XIV’s input into decision-making. 

• Candidates might also discuss the nature of the council system established by Louis, and how 

far it was an innovation. 

• Historians, such as Guy Rowlands, have shown that, though Louis sought loyal civil servants 

as his ministers, in fact the longest-serving among them (the Le Telliers, for example), 

succeeded in building up their own patronage networks. This, more than the superficial 

flattery at court, was what gave them their power. 

Page 55

Marks 



immediate or wider context. Candidate may make relevant and appropriate provenance comments. 

4-5 The candidate’s answer shows a limited understanding of the views in the source, and little if 

any sense of context. Answer may lack clear structure with points made randomly, indicating 


well-written with some relevant points of explanation made. Candidate may make relevant and 

appropriate provenance comments. 

6-8 The candidate makes relevant and appropriate provenance comments and the interpretation is 



factual grasp of 

topic and a reasonably developed analysis, which may include reference to historians’ 

views. 


showing a clear understanding of the provenance of the source and the views in it. There is 

a solid grasp of immediate and wider context, and well developed levels of relevant 

analysis. Greater awareness and development of historical interpretations and/or 

historians’ views will be credited highly. 

Page 56

Question 2 

How well do Sources B and C illustrate differing interpretations of the nature of French 

absolute monarchy under Louis XIV? (16 marks) 






• the quality and depth of the contextual recall. 

• the quality and depth of the wider perspectives. 

• the range and quality of historians’ views. 


The candidate considers the views in Sources B and C and evaluates the extent that they reveal 

the nature of the absolute monarchy under Louis XIV. 

Source B 


include: accurate comment on Dumont will receive marks under historiography. 


• Writings from end of Louis’ reign suggest unhappiness with development of absolute 

monarchy under Louis. 

• thinks contemporaries felt royal power had become too great (‘overbearing’). 

• such power seemed to them ‘immoral’, not right, not good. 

• couldn’t rely on religious constraints to make king act justly. 

• preferred (what they fondly recalled as) medieval setup where kings had less power and 

ambition. 

• Dumont trying to interpret views of contemporary writers, but suggests it is difficult to 

uncover people’s real views, given the constraints of censorship. 


• Contemporary writers tended to praise Louis fulsomely in first half of reign, be more critical 

later as France’s problems multiplied (eg Fenelon, Saint-Simon). 

• This growing criticism expressed concern with not just policies of Louis’ government, but 

with the extent of his power. 

• The theory of royal absolutism, with its legal framework, was almost universally accepted in 

post-Fronde France. Royal power derived from God alone; there was therefore no limit on 

powers exercised by a king who was the source of law and therefore above the law. 

• Feudal monarchy by contrast was based on relationships between lord and vassal, with rights 

and duties on both sides. Law was never the will of the king alone. 

• Louis himself would have been affronted to be accused of ‘despotism’; his memoirs clearly 

distinguish between ‘absolute’ and ‘despotic’ monarchy. 

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Source C 


include: accurate comment on Treasure will receive marks under historiography. 


Rejects view that Louis XIV’s government could exercise total control over French state. 

Considers Louis’ monarchy was indeed still in some ways like medieval lordship. 

• Stresses king’s sense of duty to his Subjects, His obligation to respect their rights and 

privileges, his restriction by a superior natural law. 

• Concludes that monarchy under Louis was not in fact absolute. 


• Louis’ government did increase central control through increasing use of intendants. But 

Louis generally avoided encroaching on rights of his subjects. 

• While restricting them, he made no attempt to abolish parliaments, provincial estates. 

• Continued to negotiate tax income from provincial estates, Church. 

• Respected nobles’ privileges, eg tax exemption. 

• Shennan remarks that ‘Louis was capable of breaking the law, but not of denying its 

existence’. 

• Parts of France still virtually outwith royal control (eg Clermont, Marseilles). 

• France remained a very complex legal jigsaw until the Revolution. 

Points which offer more critical contextualisation of the sources 

• These sources reflect the on-going debate about the reality of Louis XIV’s absolutism. 

• Traditional historians stressed the increasing control over institutions and regions discernible 

in Louis’ reign, the restricted powers of parlements, provincial estates, and municipal 

governments. 

• They point to the significant lack of political debate or opposition under Louis, the positive 

embracing of absolutism by the public in the aftermath of the Frondes, the huge respect, 

reverence even, for the person of the king, promoted by royal rituals and an active 

propaganda campaign. 

• Modern historians stress the limitations of absolutism in Louis XIV’s France. 

• Some argue that absolutism is a myth (Collins, Henshall). 

• Sturdy distinguishes between ‘absolutism’ as a general phase in European history, a concept 

increasingly discredited; and ‘absolute monarchy’, still an acceptable concept as a set of 

principles relating to ideas of sovereignty and law. 

• Briggs sees absolutism as ‘little more than a facade, beyond which many old limitations 

continued to operate’. 

• Several historians point to the practical limitations on a 17th century king who aspired to be a 

despot or dictator, including poor communications, recalcitrant local officials, and corruption. 

• They highlight Louis’ reluctance to offend local elites whose support was vital to his 

government, his willingness to compromise. 

• Mousnier comments that ‘Louis was not a tyrant because he used his power in accordance 

with the nation’s wishes.’ 

• Some scholars still emphasise, however, the extent to which Louis did increase the power and 

scope of the French crown, and achieved discipline and obedience among his subjects. 

Page 58

Marks 



















Page 59

Question 3 

How fully does Source D account for the origins of Louis XIV’s policy towards the 

Huguenots? (12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D as an adequate explanation and account 

of the origins of Louis XIV’s policy towards the Huguenots, in terms of: 

Provenance : appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. These may 

include: recognition that Voltaire was 18th century French writer of the Enlightenment, one of the 

earliest historians of Louis XIV’s reign, and that he was an opponent of the policy and those who 

promoted it. Religious toleration was a strong theme which pervaded all Voltaire’s writings. 


Various groups, for various reasons, encouraged the king to act against the Huguenots 

• leading Catholic clergy, including the Pope 

• major figures in government, the le Telliers, in pursuit of their political rivalry with Colbert 

(here portrayed as a moderating influence). 

Louis himself viewed Huguenots with suspicion 

• they had organised rebellions against the crown in the past 

• he did not understand their beliefs. 

So Louis adopted a policy of steadily undermining the position of the Huguenots in France. 

Page 60


France’s Protestants had enjoyed limited but substantial religious and civil rights since the Edict 

of Nantes (1598). 

Historians like (Treasure and Sturdy) now emphasise that Louis from the 1660s came under 

intense pressure to end religious division in France. 

• From leading individual Catholic clergy like Bossuet and Fenelon. 

• From the Assembly of the Clergy. 

• He received frequent petitions and protests arising out of local disputes between Catholics 

and Huguenots. 

• Jesuit priests were influential at court, especially Louis’ confessor Pere La Chaise. 

• Chancellor le Tellier was throughout a forceful advocate of persecution; his son Louvois also 

seen as a key influence on Louis, and certainly made troops available for the dragonnades. 

Historians debate as to how far they (and later Mme de Maintenon) should be blamed for 

promoting the policy. 

• The attitude of ‘the Court of Rome’ varied depending on the current Pope. Innocent XI 

unhappy at persecution, preferred schemes of voluntary reunion. 

• Louis himself remembered the Huguenot rebellions of his father’s reign; since 1629, 

however, they had been conspicuously loyal, notably during the Fronde. 

• Louis’ grasp of Catholic theology was simple and basic; Protestant ideology was to him not 

only incomprehensible, but heretical. 

• However, Louis in his 1671 memoirs declares himself still determined to respect his 

grandfather’s promise to the Huguenots – but to restrict the Edict to its narrowest legal limits. 

Points which offer more critical contextualisation of the source 

• Anti-Huguenot activity did not begin in Louis’ personal rule; provincial commissions had 

already restricted Protestant worship in many localities in the 1650s. 

• Religious toleration within a state very rare in 17th century Europe, not seen as a good thing 

by contemporaries. 

• Louis bore a deep sense of responsibility towards God for the salvation of all his subjects: can 

be argued that he acted from idealistic motives rather than prejudice. 

Conclusion: Source D suggests, not always fairly or accurately, a considerable range of 

influences on Louis as he decided how to deal with the Huguenot problem, but does not explain 

adequately the reasons why Louis chose the policy he pursued. 

Page 61

Marks 













historians’ views. 






Page 62

Georgians and Jacobites: Scotland (1715-1800) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How far was hostility to the Treaty of Union the main cause of the1715 rebellion? 

The aim of this essay is to allow the candidate to analyse the causes of the 1715 rebellion and to 

evaluate the extent to which hostility to the Union was the main cause. The long term causes of 

the 1715 rebellion inevitably stretch back to a time before the dates specified in the conditions 

and arrangements. No candidate should be penalised for lack of evidence of this earlier period, 

though credit should be given for appropriate use of earlier material. Narratives of the origins of 

Jacobitism will detract from the quality of the essay. Better candidates would be aware that 

causation is not necessarily simple, and that causes may be interlinked. 

The candidate might use evidence such as: 

Points suggesting that hostility to the Union was a significant cause 

• Use of the anti-Union message in Mar’ proclamation of the rebellion in 1715. 

• Anger of many Scots magnates as they found themselves excluded from the House of Lords. 

They had expected the Union to gain them access to London patronage, whereas in fact it did 

only for a minority. 

• Anti-Union demonstrations, riots and writings from 1707 onwards. 

• Evidence that, unusually, even members of the Kirk became sympathetic to Jacobitism 

because of the Union. 

• A perception that Scotland’s economic problems were caused by the Union (Historians are 

still arguing about the facts of the matter, but in this case it is the perception that is 

important.) 

• The abortive 1708 rising clearly had a lot to do with the Union. There was an element of 

“unfinished business” about 1715. 

Points suggesting that the causes were not to do with the Union 

• Discontent at the accession of George of Hanover. 

• Genuine ideological commitment of the Episcopalian Church to divine right. 

• Obligations felt by certain individuals and families (eg Robertson of Struan). Having pledged 

support to James VII they were reluctant to desert his son. 

• Higher taxes as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession. 

• The personal ambitions of the Earl of Mar. 

• The tensions in the Highlands, especially between the Campbells and their neighbours in 

Lochaber. 

• Failure of the government to manage Scotland properly. For example the rapid running down 

of the armed forces after Utrecht and the disbanding of the Scottish Privy Council in 1708. 

• The existence of significant Jacobite activity in England, especially in Northumberland. 

Page 63

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate commentary from historians to bear upon the 

problem. These might include: 

• Lynch: More than three quarters of Scots disliked the Union 

• Prebble: “A common detestation of the Union imposed some extraordinary alliances” 

• Lenman: Demolishes the idea that the rebellion had anything to do with Highland against 

Lowland, and stresses the importance of the Episcopalian community in the North East. He 

also says that “the main Jacobite recruiting agent was clearly widespread discontent.” 

• Whatley agrees that the Fifteen owed a lot to popular dissatisfaction with the Union, but also 

argues that one can go to far in dismissing the otherness of the Highlands as a factor: after all, 

the Highlands always provided over half the Jacobite armies 

• Szechi’s recent life of Lockhart of Carnwath is a reminder that some lairds simply stuck to 

their principles with loyalty and sincerity – and self-destructive obstinacy. 

Page 64

Question 2 

To what extent was there a distinctive Highland Society before 1745? 

The purpose of this essay is to encourage candidates to analyse the nature of Highland society 

before the 1745 rebellion and, by comparison with Lowland society, come to a valid conclusion 

about the similarities and differences between the two. The word “before” in the title could be 

taken to mean “immediately before” or “from 1715-1745”. Candidates would not be penalised 

for concentrating on the shorter time period, but the longer period would be likely to allow a more 

substantial analysis. 

The problem is so complex that no particular approach should be expected. A candidate might, 

for example, make good use of local knowledge or of a particular clan history. 

The candidate might make use of such evidence as: 

Ways in which the Highlands seem to have been distinct 

• The widespread use of Gaelic 

• The clan structure: paternalistic, authoritarian chiefs with “hereditary jurisdictions”; strong 

clan loyalty; traditional lands; bards who handed down and developed a clan mythology; the 

tacksmen, whose tenancies were based more on kinship than on economic rents 

• The separate Highland dress 

• Different geography created different economics: cattle the main branch of agriculture, the 

lack of any urban environment, comparative poverty 

• Ability of chiefs to raise private armies whose regiments were organised according to the clan 

hierarchy 

• The concept of duthchas, the collective right to land, kept commercial exploitation of estates 

in check 

Points that suggest that the problem is complex 

• The familiar simple view of clan structures was largely invented in the early nineteenth 

century, notably by Walter Scott in time for George IV’s visit to Edinburgh. 

• Highland society not static during these decades. One notable change was the replacement of 

tacksmen with tenants paying an economic rent on the Argyll estates. 

• There was enormous diversity between different clans and the life-style of different chiefs. A 

brigand like Macdonald of Keppoch and a magnate like the Duke of Atholl ought not to be 

lumped together. 

• Many of the greatest families in Scotland had estates and life-styles that spanned Highland 

and Lowland (for example the Gordons). 

• There were still, outside the Highlands, elements of lordly authority, family loyalty and the 

ability to force retainers to “come out” in warfare. 

Page 65

There is a wide range of historians' views that candidates could bring to bear upon the 

issue. These might include: 

• Michael Lynch: Stresses the divisions within clans and the lawlessness arising from broken 

clans. 

• Christopher Duffy: The clan system is still a valuable concept “at the heart of the Highland 

culture” 

• Bruce Lenman: Emphasises that there was no “system”, that many chiefs were embracing 

commercialism before 1745 (for example Lochiel) and that Highland society was of 

“labyrinthine complexity” 

• Christopher Whatley: The dismantling of the clan system by the chiefs began as early as the 

seventeenth century 

• T.C.Smout: More and more chiefs were giving their sons a Lowland education before 1745 

• T.M.Devine: Ties of blood rarely extended beyond the immediate family, but bards, feasts 

and genealogy did help preserve social cohesion. As late as 1724 it was reported that 26 

chiefs could raise 18,890 warriors. 

Page 66

Question 3 

How much did the development of Glasgow, up till the American War of 1776, owe to the 

tobacco trade? 

No one disputes that the development of Glasgow had a very great deal to do with the tobacco 

trade. 

The purpose of this essay is to encourage the candidate to analyse closely the causes of the 

development and to consider how much was due to tobacco. The more broadly the word 

development is defined by the candidate the more interesting points it will be possible to make. 

The candidate might make use of such evidence as: 

Points that emphasise the importance of tobacco 

• Tobacco provided one third of Scottish imports and two-thirds of exports in this period. 

• Numerous small manufacturers (of buckets, crockery etc) were feeding the needs of the 

tobacco growers. 

• The money and the interest of the “lords” – Glassford, Bogle – helped stimulate and direct 

Glasgow’s cultural development. 

Points which suggest that tobacco was not the unique cause of Glasgow's development 

• The West Indies sugar trade was also growing. 

• By 1776 there was the beginning of an export trade in and a domestic demand for 

manufactures that were no longer dependent on tobacco. The Smithfield Iron Company, for 

example. 

• The foundation of reliable banks enabled all aspects of economic life, not just tobacco, to take 

advantage. 

• Note: Candidates might well argue that most of these and other developments began with the 

stimulus of tobacco trade and money. 

By 1776 Glasgow had definitely gone beyond a “one commodity city”. 

• The University had a status that no longer required the patronage of tobacco lords. 

• The Forth-Clyde Canal, begun in 1768, widened the domestic market. 

• Cotton wool imports quadrupled between 1755 and 1770. 

There is no marked historiographical dispute, but candidates should be able to refer to the 

work of a range of historians, including, for example: 

• T.M.Devine: Several books, of which the most recently and easily accessible to candidates is 

“Scotland’s Empire” 1600-1815” in which he writes: “The tobacco trade transformed the 

social and cultural world of Glasgow” 

• Arthur Herman’s “The Scottish Enlightenment” makes similar points and argues that Adam 

Smith learned about business by observing the tobacco trade 

• Christopher Whatley in “Scottish Society 1707-1830” deals more with the development of 

the trade than with the development of Glasgow. He does remind readers of the existence, 

and growing importance, of other sectors than tobacco (for example linen.) 

• T.C.Smout in “A History of the Scottish People” argues that Glasgow’s middle classes were 

unusually enterprising and innovative, in contrast to those in other Scottish cities. Even ones 

whose main trade was tobacco were quick to see the possibilities of other commodities – 

leather, soap or whatever. 

Page 67

Question 4 

To what extent did urban living conditions improve in eighteenth century Scotland? 

The purpose of this essay is for candidates to weigh up evidence for and against the improvement 

of living conditions. It also allows more thoughtful candidates to consider whether change 

necessarily followed a steady path. There may have been decades of rapid change and other years 

of set-backs. 

Different sectors of society may have had different experiences. Candidates may, of course, bring 

examples from any Scottish towns: well used local knowledge would be welcome 

The candidate might use such evidence as: 

Points which suggest conditions improved 

• Planned urban development: Craig’s New Town in Edinburgh and Barry’s George Square in 

Glasgow are only the two most famous. Most towns had a planned Georgian extension. 

• Immigrants moved to the cities because conditions here were better than in the rural squalor 

of their birth. 

• For the middle classes with purchasing power conditions certainly improved. They could 

take advantage of new houses, wider streets, and fresher air. 

• Between 1750 and 1790 wages tended to increase in proportion to prices, which made most 

workers better off. 

Points which suggest conditions did not improve 

• The death rate was higher in the towns than in the country. 

• After 1790, with bad harvests and a foreign war, prices tended to rise faster than wages. 

• The pressure of population overwhelmed the capacity of structures to cope: housing, 

sewerage, water supply, education all at times suffered. (For example, Paisley grew from 

6,800 in 1755 to 31,200 by 1801.) 

• The creation of new towns tended to make conditions worse in the old towns, as the middle 

classes took their education, purchasing power and political influence elsewhere. 

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate historians' commentary to bear upon the 

issue. These may include reference to: 

• any history of an individual town; these are too numerous to list 

• T.C.Smout’s classic “A History of the Scottish People” contains a wealth of material, 

emphasising the impact of population growth. His conclusion on this topic is as follows: 

“The question should be whether or not those for whom the Industrial Revolution came as a 

blessing outnumbered those to whom it brought deterioration. This, however, is 

unanswerable.” 

• Christopher Whatley frequently reminds readers of regional variations and the dangers of 

generalisation. He also emphasises the importance of the relationship of wages to prices, 

mentioned above 

• T.M.Devine’s “The Scottish Nation” devotes a chapter to urbanisation which includes 

emphasis on the public health issues. However, the dates of his survey (1760-1830) illustrate 

a common problem candidates may find in relating their reading on this particular topic to the 

dates of the syllabus. Markers should be aware that evidence from the first decades of the 

nineteenth century may be relevant to this title as illustrations of trends. 

Page 68

Question 5 

“The maintenance of order was the only aim of government as far as Scotland was 

concerned.” How accurate is this judgement with reference to the period 1715-1800? 

The purpose of this essay is for the candidate to review the motives of the government when it 

came to dealing with Scotland during the century. Essays should show an ability to analyse these 

motives and to weigh up points for and against the quotation under discussion. Although 

candidates should review the whole century they should not be penalised for concentrating 

primarily on particular decades. Better candidates should consider whether the aims of 

government changed during the period. 

The candidate might include such evidence as: 

Points in favour of this judgement 

• The comparative neglect of Scotland by Westminster in the first half of the century unless 

there was a public order crisis (Porteous riots, Jacobite rebellions). 

• The Disarming Acts and other repressive measures after the Jacobite rebellions. 

• The huge sums spent on Fort George. 

• The fact that the Wade Roads had a military rather than commercial purpose. 

• The political trials of the 1790s. 

• The time and energy expended by Ilay and Dundas on political management on behalf of 

Westminster. 

Points which suggest that the government had other considerations in mind 

• The way in which Dundas in particular used his patronage to bring money, jobs and 

significance to Scotland. 

• The stimulation and protection of linen manufacture in the decades after the Union. 

• The commissioning of Telford to revive the infrastructure of the Highlands at the very end of 

this period 

Candidates may discuss a range of historical commentary in arriving at their conclusion. 

This might include: 

• Michael Fry: Walpole’s ideal ruler of Scotland was someone who “could do as he liked 

provided he kept the country quiet”. But Fry is also more sympathetic than many to 

Dundas’s motives. He also considers the removal of heritable jurisdictions as a prelude to 

improvements in local government 

• Bruce Lenman: Inclined to be cynical of the motives of governments and calls Scotland “a 

machine politician's paradise” 

• Christopher Whatley: Emphasises the extent of disorder, and the efforts made by the state 

(with the support of the Kirk) to maintain order. “The main function of paternalism was to 

defend authority.” But he also argues that the authorities could be quite sophisticated in their 

approach and saw economic developments as part of the process 

• A.J.Durie: has calculated that government intervention was responsible for as many as 

100,000 jobs. 

Page 69

Question 6 

“Scots accepted the idea that progress was to be achieved by absorbing English civilisation.” 

How justified is this view of eighteenth century Scotland? 

The purpose of this essay is to allow the candidate to show the ability to generalise effectively 

across a wide field, and bring an analysis of evidence to bear on a broad problem. The concept 

“civilisation” can be interpreted in many ways and candidates should not be penalised for 

omitting some particular area that the marker happens to think is important. 

The candidate may use evidence such as 

Points suggesting an acceptance of “English civilisation” 

• David Hume called Scots “a barbarous tongue”. 

• English elocution teachers (eg Thomas Sheridan) found plenty of pupils in Edinburgh. 

• Many leaders of Scottish society spent part of the year in London after the Union: they 

absorbed English manners and fashions. 

• English entrepreneurs (famously John Roebuck) made a big contribution to the development 

of Scottish industry. 

• The agricultural improvers got many of their ideas from Holland but via England. 

• The Moderate party in the Kirk owed a good deal to Hobbes, Locke, Newton and 

Shaftesbury. 

• Many Scots apparently were happy to talk about “North Britain”. 

• The attempts to “civilise” the Highlands saw many Lowlanders applying English ideas. 

Points suggesting a resistance to English influence 

• The Jacobite rebellion included a good deal of explicit hostility to the Union. 

• The Kirk maintained its independence, and the King had occasionally to be reminded that he 

was not head of the Church of Scotland. 

• Hume spent a good part of his career in France. Many of the Enlightenment ideas were 

cosmopolitan, not English. 

• There was a strong literary movement that was determined to maintain the Scots tongue. 

Fergusson and Burns are the two most famous exponents of this. 

• Some of Burns’ content (“bought and sold for English gold....”) is anti-English. His work on 

Scottish songs in collaboration with George Thomson was an unpaid labour of love. 

• The publication of Macpherson’s “Ossian” in the 1760s began a romantic Scottish revival. 

• Many judges, including Kames and Braxfield, took pride in speaking Scots on the bench. 

Candidates may draw upon a range of historians in arriving at their conclusion, for 

example: 

• David Daiches: “The relation between the British and the Scottish dimensions in the Scottish 

Enlightenment is not always easy to define, because of the pride in the Scottish achievement 

and defensiveness about the Scots language.” 

• Christopher Whatley: “A foray of ironmasters into the Highlands led entirely by 

Englishmen” and “There was hardly an industrial process of any importance in Scotland 

which to some extent or other was not improved with knowledge from England.” 

• Recent books on the Enlightenment such as Arthur Herman’s “The Scottish Enlightenment” 

and James Buchan’s “The Capital of the Mind” all have relevant ideas on the issue. 

Page 70

Georgians and Jacobites: Scotland (1715-1800) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How useful is Source A as evidence of the state of Scottish Agriculture in the mideighteenth 

century? (12 marks) 

The candidates may be awarded up to 3 marks for the quality of their evaluation of the 







The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source A in terms of: 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant comments on provenance will earn credit. These may 

include: 

• Grant of Monymusk was a well known improver, author of, for example “The Practical 

Farmer’s Pocket Companion” 

• he also had lived as an MP in England and studied crop rotation there. 

• he is said to have planted 50 million trees on his estates in Aberdeenshire. 

• the tone of the passage is one of frustration. Words such as “mismanagement”, “neglect and 

“forthwith” show that this is not a calm survey of facts but has the purpose of expressing 

irritation. 

Points from the source which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant views 

• Scottish agriculture suffers from poor drainage. 

• Also from the open field system and from the lack of trees. 

• He says that the main problem on his estates is obstructive, conservative, ignorant and 

improvident tenants. 


• Importance of drainage and tree planting for all the improvers – eg on the Atholl estates 

• Views of other improvers – Lord Kames and Cockburn of Ormiston. 

• Grant's estates were only one region of Scotland. The relatively prosperous East Lothian and 

the mountainous Highlands – to give two examples – were in a very different state. 

• When Grant says “people in other countries” he will be thinking of English improvers such as 

Townshend and Cooke. Also possible of the innovative Dutch. 

• Explanation of what the “open field” and “enclosed” systems involved, their merits and 

demerits. 

• Improvement, when it came, involved massive rural depopulation. It may have been selfpreservation 

not “mismanagement” that made tenants inclined to stick to labour-intensive 

practices. 

Page 71

Points from recall which offer a wider contextualisation or which show gaps in what the 

source can tell us about the state of Scottish agriculture 

• The gradual introduction of crop rotation. 

• The black cattle trade. 

• The gradual introduction of lime and manure. 

• The fact that in the mid-century there were still bad years when marginal land became 

entirely unprofitable – as happened to Burns at Mossgiel. 

Candidates may discuss a range of historian's commentary to reach their conclusion. This 

could include: 

• James Handley’s traditional view (followed in simpler text books) that takes the improvers 

at their own evaluation 

• Bruce Lenman’s more sceptical view of Improvement as “a rich man’s non-paying hobby” 

• T.C Smout makes a similar point quoting one of Kames’s tenants: “My Lord, to hear you 

talk of farming you would think you were born yestreen” 

• the consensus at present (Christopher Whatley, T.M.Devine as well as those already 

mentioned) is that real improvement only came towards the end of the century, made possible 

by the rising prices that accompanied the French Wars. 


extent to which Source A is useful as evidence for the state of agriculture in Scotland in the 

middle of the eighteenth century 

Marks 



immediate or wider context. Candidates may make relevant and appropriate provenance comments. 
















Page 72

Question 2 

How well do Sources B and C illustrate the differing interpretations of Charles 

Edward Stuart's abilities as leader of the '45? (16 marks) 

Interpretation (Maximum 6 marks) 






• the quality and depth of the wider perspective 

• the range and quality of the historians views 


The candidate considers the interpretations in Sources B and C of Charles Edward Stuart’s 

abilities as a leader and offers a structured evaluation of them in terms of: 

Source B 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. Accurate 

comment on Susan Kybett will be credited under marks awarded for historiography 

Points from the source which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant view: 

• Charles was “irked” by the popularity of his subordinate commanders 

• Charles was impetuous 

• he tried to undermine Lord George Murray by spreading gossip 

• there is a claim that he had ideas of assassinating Murray 

• he treated “men of noble birth” discourteously. 


• Charles’s tendency to moods of irritation inappropriate in a leader can be illustrated by his 

sulky demeanour and words after Derby. 

• Examples of Charles’s “impetuosity” might include the decision to invade England, the 

famous “I am come home” speech and the decision to launch the rebellion at all. 

• He notoriously favoured the Irish (Sheridan, O’Sullivan) over the Scots in the later stages of 

the campaign. 

• Various exchanges of letters between Charles and Murray, which are published in books to 

which the candidates may have access, can be used to exemplify the ill feeling between them. 

• Lord Elcho, the source of some of Source B’s most damaging claims, was not an impartial 

witness. Having lost everything for the cause, he wrote memoirs very hostile to Charles and 

he is said to have described him, at Culloden, as “a damned cowardly Italian”. 

Page 73

Source C 


comment on Christopher Duffy will be credited under marks awarded for historiography 

Points from the source which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant view 

• Charles was inexperienced. 

• Charles had thought deeply about war. 

• He was blessed with luck. 

• He kept himself physically fit. 

• He was a good motivator. 

• If he had had conventional leadership qualities he could not have “generated the unique style 

of the Jacobite army...élan, impudence and opportunism”. 


• “Luck” may seem an unscientific quality to rely upon – but Napoleon, for one, thought it a 

vital attribute in a leader. Charles’s luck may be exemplified by his dodging the Royal Navy, 

by the atrocious weather that kept Wade on the wrong side of the Pennines, and by the 

feebleness of the government's arrangements in Scotland in the summer of 1745. 

• Numerous examples of his ability as a motivator: persuading Lochiel to join against his better 

judgement; numerous eye-witness accounts of his charisma; his walking with his men in all 

weathers. 

• This point may, however be challenged with reference to the number of his followers who 

were forced to fight by chiefs and landlords, and by the fact that Lochiel’s “motivation” was 

the result of hard financial bargaining. 

• His physical toughness was never more apparent than in the flight in the heather, but equally 

none of his detractors deny that he always kept pace with the army, sharing the hardships of 

the troops. 

• The “unique style” of the Jacobite army can be exemplified by their rapid march on 

Edinburgh from Lochaber, by their crossing of the swollen Esk as they withdrew from 

England, by their use of the Highland Charge and by their secret outflanking march before 

Prestonpans. 

Points which offer a wider contextualisation of the views in the sources 

• Charles’s wrong assumptions that the French would invade to support him, and that there 

were thousands of English Jacobites ready to rise as soon as they crossed the border. 

• Charles’s contribution to the mishandling of Culloden – including indecision when the order 

to charge should have been given, giving too much responsibility to the incompetent 

O’Sullivan. 

• Charles’s failure to attempt any negotiation after Culloden. His total capitulation left his 

followers doomed to submit to whatever punishments the government chose to apply. 

Page 74

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate historians commentary to support their 


• Jeremy Black and others argue (as does Duffy) that it was a mistake to retreat from Derby 

• Bruce Lenman, on the other hand, agrees with Kybett that the whole enterprise was by then 

bound to fail. 

• T.M.Devine says it was doomed from the start for lack of support, even in Scotland 

• Most historians are hostile to Charles: Daniel Szechi says that, on the question of whether or 

not the French would invade and the English rise, he was not even being naively optimistic, 

he was telling lies. He also, however, thinks that an advance from Derby might have worked 

• every account of the “Forty-Five” has a view on this question. Traditional romantic histories 

emphasised Charles’s charisma. Then a new orthodoxy developed in the 1970s which took 

for granted Charles’s deficiencies and Murray’s brilliance as a soldier. Now this is being 

challenged by historians (such as Duffy) who try to take a balanced view without committing 

themselves to extremes. 


extent to which Sources B and C illustrate differing views of Charles Edward’s abilities as a 

leader. 

Marks 









8-11 The candidate makes relevant and appropriate comments of interpretation, and the answer is clearly 

written and sensibly structured. The explanation ranges over several relevant points and shows 

an understanding of the views of the sources, sets material in context, shows a good factual 

grasp of topic and a reasonably developed analysis, which may include reference to historical 

interpretations or specific historians’ views. 






Page 75

Question 3 

How fully does Source D explain the motives for educational reform in Scotland 1715-1800? 

(12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D as an adequate explanation of the 

motives for educational reform in Scotland, in terms of: 


include: 

• genuine proposals from the 1760s, so clearly accurate statement of at least some of the 

motives for educational reform, probably the writer’s own, but certainly ones which he 

believes his readers will respond to 

• the writer is trying to persuade his readers that the new Academy is worth supporting, so this 

source will only include creditable and convincing motives. 

Points from the source which show the candidate has interpreted the significant view 

• Lack of education causes unnatural distinctions between persons 

• An educated person will be “better able to fill any station to more advantage” 

• Educated people can give practical advice to “merchant, mechanic and farmer” 

Points from recall which support develop and contextualise those in the source 

• The idea that social distinctions were not based on “natural superiority” was radical for 1761, 

but certainly such radicals existed. This is only a few years before the American Revolution. 

• Diderot’s “Encyclopaedia” in France had been dedicated to the link between learning and 

practical improvement, as was the “Encyclopedia Britannica” which was being compiled in 

Edinburgh at this time. 

• The agricultural improvers believed that learned men could give practical advice to farmers 

• The “Academy movement” was based on the ideas expressed in the source, which shows it 

was typical of one section of opinion. 

• There were also Mechanic Institutes being set up. 

• Navigation was introduced into the school curriculum in Dunbar. 

Points from recall which offer a wider contextualisation of the view in the sources 

• Dugald Stewart, for example, thought that education's main purpose was to improve public 

morality. 

• Adam Smith saw education as a way of ameliorating the lives of those in unskilled drudgery. 

• The SPCK, who provided a great deal of education in practice, saw education as a way of 

promoting the Protestant religion and the House of Hanover. 

• Edinburgh, for example, had plenty of new private schools whose main attraction was 

training in fashionable arts for social climbers: fencing, dancing and English elocution. 

Page 76

Candidates may bring a range of appropriate historian's commentary to help them reach a 

conclusion. These may include reference to: 

• Bruce Lenman: “Dutch influence was still important (to university reform) for most of the 

eighteenth century in Scotland” 

• Donald Withrington: Points out that the attempt by Perth Academy to rival the Scottish 

Universities only lasted about 40 years, and its methods were not adopted by any public 

institution (though by many private ones) 

• T.C.Smout: Emphasises how educational reform in the towns was confined to the middle 

classes. The growth of towns swamped the parish system (Edinburgh had roughly one in 

three of its population illiterate) and money was not spent remedying the deficiencies 

• Arthur Herman: Argues that the process in Glasgow was more or less the reverse of the one 

suggested in Source D. Merchants had made money wanted to spend it on education, for they 

valued learning for its own sake, as a source of general moral and cultural enrichment. 


extent to which Source D fully explains the motives for educational reform in eighteenth century 

Scotland. 

Marks 



















Page 77

“The House Divided”: USA (1850-1865) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

To what extent did the Compromise of 1850 merely store up trouble for the future? 

The aim of the essay is to enable the candidate to assess the impact of the Compromise of 1850 

and to place it in its historical context in the decade of the 1850s and to assess its impact through 

the 1850s. The candidate could view this as “an armed truce” between North and South. 


• the Wilmot Proviso 

• the terms of the Compromise 

• impact on national politics 

• unease over the Fugitive Slave Law 

• need for a new policy on admission of states – popular sovereignty 

• the issue of Kansas-Nebraska 

• impact of 1856 presidential and congressional elections 

• the collapse of the Whigs/rise of Republicans 

• Personal Liberty Laws in North to circumvent Fugitive Slave Law 

• success of Republicans in 1856/1858 elections 

• analysis of Dred Scott decision 

• the senatorial campaign in Illinois in 1858 (Lincoln-Douglas debates) 

• analysis of voting patterns for Democrats showing dominance of Southern minority in the 

Party 

• explanation of why compromise was achieved in 1850 but not in 1860. 



• McPherson: compromise averted a great crisis but only postponed the trauma 

• Wilson: manifest destiny and expansion of territory would bring a renewal of sectional 

controversy 

• Collins: 1850 Compromise was an armistice and a dress rehearsal for the show-down of 

1860-61 

• Reid: Compromise had few genuine supporters who would ensure its defence. Settlement 

merely glossed over a deep-seated dispute over the territories acquired from Mexico. It was a 

truce between politicians 

• Brock: few were prepared to defend the Compromise against attacks from North and South 

• Potter: Compromise constituted an armistice. 

Page 78

Question 2 

“Lincoln was forced into issuing the Emancipation Proclamation due to the actions of 

others”. 

How valid is this view of Lincoln’s actions over emancipation? 

N.B. Candidates may tackle this essay in one of two ways: a chronological approach or a thematic 

approach to the question, looking at the case for and against the quote. Either approach is 

acceptable and candidates should be given credit for the way they tackle the question. 

The aim of the essay is to enable candidates to discuss the pressures that surrounded the President 

over this issue and to assess whether he was the driving force or reacting to the actions of others. 


• inaugural Address as official view of the Administration 

• annual message to Congress in December 1861 

• plan of March 1862 

• attempts to persuade Border Slave states into taking the lead 

• decision of July 1862 to assert the War Powers of the President 

• need to await a favourable military moment 

• actions of September 22 nd 1862 and 1st January 1863 

• actions of Congress: First/Second Confiscation Acts; the Militia Act 

• actions of the Generals: Butler, Fremont and Hunter 

• actions of individuals like Charles Sumner (state suicide theory) and Horace Greeley (‘The 

Prayer of Twenty Millions’) 

• need for Lincoln to carry public opinion with him 

• transform Union war aim from ’Union as it was’ to ‘Union as it should be’ 

• role of the abolitionists in keeping up pressure on Administration 

• assessment of actions of Generals and Congress would show that few slaves had been freed. 

• war powers of President and the 13 th Amendment could ensure equal treatment for all. 



• Fields: Lincoln forced into freeing the slaves due to the actions of the Blacks themselves 

• Tulloch: Lincoln had been fighting for the Union but was forced to change his mind due to 

the exigencies of war. The Emancipation Proclamation was justified not only on the grounds 

of necessity but also because it was just 

• Stampp: Lincoln was a reluctant emancipator 

• La Wanda Cox: Lincoln’s actions looked towards long-term racial equality 

• McPherson: Congressional acts lacked the impact of a general emancipation proclamation 

• Reid: act justified as an exercise of the presidential war powers. 

Page 79

Question 3 

How far did the war change social and economic conditions in the North and the South? 

N.B. Candidates may choose to include a brief analysis of the socio-economic structure of North 

and South before the war or to compare the situation during the war with the ante-bellum 

structure in order to assess the degree of change. Either approach is valid and candidates should 

be given credit for their approach. However, an answer that concentrates on the ante-bellum 

period is not answering the question and should be marked accordingly. 


• rise of big business in North to supply army demand 

• expansion of existing manufacturing centres eg in Pittsburg 

• development of new industries eg canning industry of Swift and Armour 

• increasing mechanisation of farming and industry to meet civilian/military demands 

• introduction of the ‘Greenback’ currency 

• army as a vehicle of social mobility 

• rise of entrepreneurial classes and age of ‘new money’ 

• examination of thesis that war retarded growth of Northern economy 

• wartime experience of Swift, Carnegie etc set US on a new economic path and laid the 

foundations for the rise of ‘American capitalism’ 

• loosening of restrictions on the role of women eg Clara Barton 

• development of Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond 

• need for change in use of plantations from cotton to food production 

• need for direction of various economic activities by Confederate government 

• use of taxation to fund war 

• army as a vehicle of upward social mobility in the South 

• analysis of make-up of Confederate officer corps where, with the exception of Nathan 

Bedford Forrest, the members were drawn from the plantation aristocracy 

• southern dependence on women to keep the home front going 

• challenge to domination of planter class by new businessmen 

• new economic activity 

• assessment of permanence or temporary nature of much of the change in both areas. 

Page 80



• Batty: Southern resentment at imposition of conscription led to friction between Congress 

and the ordinary white voter 

• Parish: complaints (on both sides) of a ‘rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.’ Southern 

people could not adapt quickly or efficiently enough to new ways thrust upon them. 

Confederacy, despite upheavals of war, remained a predominantly rural and agricultural society 

• McPherson: southern wartime taxation exacerbated class tensions and caused growing 

alienation of the white lower classes from the Confederate cause. Northern economy more 

adaptable to demands of war. War speeded up mechanisation of industry due to tight labour 

market. Great increase in the employment of women 

• Ashworth: war years were ones of increasingly severe economic dislocation and for most of 

the Southern white citizens, of severe economic hardship. Southern agriculture was 

pauperised by the war. Southern capitalism was severely damaged by war. Negative impact 

of ending of slavery on Southern economy. In North, the war produced institutional changes 

that were beneficial to Northern capitalism 

• Thomas: Ante-bellum agrarian inertia proved a formidable obstacle for the South during the 

war. Southern economic dependence on women. Transformation of Southern political 

economy was a temporary response to demands of war. Planters dominated Confederate 

officer corps. 

Page 81

Question 4 

How significant were the attitudes of foreign powers in influencing the course of the 

American Civil War? 

The aim of this essay is to enable the candidate to assess the nature of foreign intervention in the 

Civil War and to assess whether or not this affected the outcome of the war. 


• foreign policy aims of both North and South 

• calculations of European self-interest, particularly on the part of Britain eg national priority of 

defence of Canada 

• contradictory policies of Napoleon III – support for North as a bulwark to British dominance 

yet supportive of the Mexican adventure 

• impact of incidents like Trent Affair, Laird Rams, Cotton Embargo 

• British hope that Union paper blockade would be recognised and used by Britain in any 

future conflicts 

• selling of goods to both sides by European powers 

• impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on European attitudes 

• conflict viewed in Europe as struggle between an aristocratic oligarchy and a true democracy 

• role of US ambassador to Britain Charles Francis Adams and his role in keeping Britain 

neutral. 



• Owsley: bitterly anti-British, arguing that war profits for British industries outweighed any 

genuine sympathy for the South 

• Crook: predominantly diplomatic considerations dictated Britain’s neutral stance 

• Ellison: little evidence of overwhelming working class support in Britain for the Union 

• Hurnon: strong anti-Northern, anti-democratic and pro-Southern currents in Britain 

• Jenkins: British foreign policy was motivated by a cool calculation of benefits to Britain 

• Boaz: using Cotton Embargo to coerce Europe into recognising the Confederacy was doomed 

from the outset 

• Commager: Britain saw an opportunity to humiliate her US rival by supporting the South. 

Page 82

Question 5 

Was Confederate military strategy doomed to failure? 

The aim of this essay is to enable the candidate to discuss the merits or otherwise of the strategy 

and tactics adopted by Confederate politicians and generals in fighting the war. 

The essay is not about the reasons for Southern defeat in the war and if an answer is based on the 

latter, it should be marked accordingly. 


• focus on the military achievements of the South eg First and Second Bull Run, 

Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville but candidate needs to explain why such victories did not 

lead to Southern victory 

• assessment of the odds that were stacked against the South eg military, economic and 

demographic and how these influenced Southern strategy 

• explanation of why the war still lasted for two years after Northern successes at Vicksburg, 

Gettysburg and Chattanooga 

• analysis of Southern strategy viz the offensive/defensive and East/West arguments 

• need for candidate to challenge the Current thesis to explain why South was able to hold out 

for so long 

• contribution of individual Southern generals eg Bragg, Jackson, Lee and Longstreet and 

explanation of their role in shaping and executing Southern military strategy 

• role of Lee: eg the merits of his invasion of the North after Second Bull Run in that even if 

victorious, withdrawal would have been likely due to the inability of his army to forage and 

maintain an army in enemy territory during the winter and that such a withdrawal (as again in 

1863) would be seen as a defeat in Southern eyes 

• analysis of idea of Southern cordon defence. 



• Parish: Southern demand that every square mile of the Confederacy should be defended. 

War was won by a policy of attrition, by the stronger side wearing down its opponent. Lee 

was too focused on Virginia to take overall strategic view. Lee and Jackson won the type of 

battles which did not decide this kind of war 

• McPherson: critical of South’s cordon defence as it spread men too thinly, allowing Union 

forces to break through at will. South adopted a policy of waiting to be attacked. Strategy of 

offensive/defensive was never defined in any systematic way – it emerged as a result of a 

series of campaigns in 1862 

• Jones: need for generals to be aware of political effect of military actions. Maintenance of 

Confederacy’s territorial integrity had important effect on Southern morale 

• Gallagher: Lee was unable to confront the broader dimensions of a modern war 

• Fuller: Lee unable to comprehend the immense scope of the conflict 

• McWhinney and Jamieson: Lee’s reckless devotion to the offensive bled the South of 

manpower and sealed its fate 

• Tulloch: Southern military divided over strategy. Beauregard thought Confederate war effort 

was too defensive whilst Joseph E Johnston thought it was too offensive and ultimately selfdefeating. 

Page 83

Question 6 

How important was the contribution of Northern blacks to Union victory in the war? 

The aim of this essay is to enable candidate to discuss the role that Northern blacks played in 

deciding the outcome of the war. The essay may focus on the military contribution or the 

contribution of blacks in the Northern war effort in general. Candidates should be rewarded for 

either/or/both of these approaches. The essay is not about the reasons for Northern victory in 

general and such an approach should be marked accordingly. 


• numbers of blacks involved in Union war effort – 10% of Union total in 1865 

• use of these regiments as support for white fighting forces 

• contribution of individual regiments eg 54 th Mass. As characterised in the film Glory 

• issue of discrimination in terms of rates of pay, blacks excluded from officer corps 

• contradictory policy of Federal government in refusing to enlist blacks into army yet 

welcoming them into Federal navy 

• discussion of impact of Emancipation Proclamation on black recruitment 

• use of blacks crossing into Union lines and providing Northern commanders with valuable 

strategic information 

• black involvement helped alter Northern opinion towards blacks by seeing their contribution 

and sacrifices for the Union cause 

• impact of Southern atrocities eg Fort Pillow massacre 

• contribution of blacks was limited in that of 30,000 killed, only 3,000 died in combat 

• blacks did release more white manpower for the front 

• reference to evidence from generals eg Grant and Sherman 

• reference to opinion of Northern leaders, like Lincoln, on contribution of blacks 

• states’ rights 

• numerical/industrial superiority 

• political failings of South. 



• Quarles: blacks entered Union forces at time of serious depletion and made up 10% of Union 

total by end of conflict 

• McPherson: enlistment of Negro troops in Union army was one of the most significant 

events of the Civil War 

• S-M Grant: decision to raise black regiments was viewed as a necessary war measure 

• Glatthaar: leadership on neither side saw the varied and dramatic contribution that blacks 

would make to Confederate defeat 

• Batty: black contribution, though seldom spectacular, was still notable and caused many 

Northern whites to revise opinion of blacks 

• Parish: arming of blacks was only one phase in a revolution that remained uncompleted 

• Current: superior Northern resources 

• Donald: political failings of South 

• Owsley: issue of states’ rights. 

Page 84

“The House Divided”: USA (1850-1865) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How helpful are the differing views in Sources A and B as interpretations of the 

condition of slaves in the ante-bellum South? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources A and B on the conditions of slaves in the antebellum 

South, and offers a structured evaluation of the two perspectives in terms of: 

Source A 

Provenance: secondary work based on slave and white primary sources with the aim of 

illustrating the daily lives of slaves in the ante-bellum South. 


• poor living conditions 

• Lack of furniture 

• Limited and boring diet 

• Lack of appropriate clothing. 


• details of slave work 

• use of discipline to enforce rules 

• threat of slave sales 

• hierarchy of jobs not same as career structure. 

Page 85

Source B 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. Work of 

cliometricians using statistical data to reach a conclusion on issues arising from slavery in the 

ante-bellum South 


• Slaves not poorly fed – better than 1964 recommended levels. 

• Most slaves lived in single-family homes. 

• Little sharing of homes by several families. 

• Some barracks for unmarried men and women. 

• Poor medical care – not deliberate – due to primitive nature of medical knowledge and 

practices. 


• Slaves received the equivalent of 90% of their labour. 

• Rate of whippings exaggerated. 

• Hierarchy of slave jobs which was equivalent to a free person’s career structure. 

• Slavery was a profitable business. 

• Slave clothing was coarse but durable and good quality footwear was issued. 



• Gutman and Sutch: critical of methods of Fogel and Engerman eg assertion that whipping 

was limited to 0.7% is based on records kept over a period of two years on a single plantation 

and this still equates to a public whipping every four days. Concentration on whipping as 

means of control overlooked other punishments – jail, death threats, humiliation available to 

master. Punishment was given for bad work. Slave sale at only 1.92% per year still meant 

that every slave during their lifetime had a 50% chance of being sold 

• Phillips: slave benefited from an uneconomic but benign institution 

• Stampp: slavery was profitable but cruel 

• Genevose: saw slavery in a paternalistic light but slave was psychologically handicapped, but 

the slave did enjoy comparatively good material standards 

• Elkins: slave crippled by all-encompassing nature of the institution. 


extent to which a consideration of Sources A and B is useful for interpreting the conditions of 

slaves in the ante-bellum south. 

Page 86

Marks 



















Page 87

Question 2 

How useful is Source C as evidence of the tensions that existed in American society by 1861? 

(12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured consideration of the value of Source C in providing an adequate 

explanation of the reasons for tensions in American society in 1861 in terms of: 

Provenance: taken from the first Inaugural Address of the sixteenth president of the United 

States. Seven states had already left the Union prior to Lincoln’s inauguration with the Upper 

South adopting a policy of ‘wait and see’. 

Aim was to re-assure both North and South by outlining events and to show that the South had 

nothing to fear from the Republican Administration 


• Aim is not to interfere with slavery. 

• No right/desire to do so. 

• Will use power of Federal government to defend Federal positions in seceded states. 

• Has no plans to attack South. 

• Democracy and people’s acceptance of it (win or lose) is the only way to guarantee freedom. 

• Issue is whether slavery should/should not be extended. 

• Warns that if attacked, North will respond. 


• Problems created by acquisition of new territory in the period 1850-1860. 

• Southern annoyance at Northern abuse of Fugitive Slave Law through personal ‘Liberty 

Laws’. 

• Democratic Party now dominated by Southern wing which will disrupt the Union if not given 

all their demands. 

• Issue of defence of states’ rights. 

• Fear of South becoming a minority within the Union. 

• Fear of eventual amendment abolishing slavery due to point above. 

• Impact of abolitionists on Southern defence of its peculiar institution. 

Page 88



• Schlesinger: protection of states’ rights offered South the chance to retain slavery. More 

important than the doctrine itself 

• Randall: real issue was the significance of territorial extension 

• Ramsdell: slavery was already on road to ultimate extinction 

• Craven: highly critical of the abolitionists who heightened sectional tensions with their illtempered 

attacks on Southern slavery 

• Owsley: argued that essentially it was a clash of values and that the moral issue of slavery 

was a red herring 

• Nevins: emphasis on the moral issue of slavery 

• McPherson: both sides claimed to be acting defensively in 1860/1861. 


extent to which a consideration of Source C is useful for explaining the tensions in American 

society before 1861. 

Marks 



















Page 89

Question 3 

How fully does Source D illustrate Lincoln’s political abilities as a wartime leader? (12 marks) 




context, recall, including historians’ views, that the candidate provides in their overall 


The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D as an adequate explanation of Lincoln’s 

political abilities as a wartime leader in terms of: 


comment on Rawley will receive marks under historiography. 


• Good speaker. 

• Good knowledge of the political system. 

• Would not be out-manoeuvred by eg experienced political engineers. 

• Followed his own policies in building up a national party. 


• Details of his dealings with Seward over eg Fort Sumter and the political crisis of December 

1862. 

• Lincoln’s role as Commander-in-Chief and dealings with his generals as exemplified in his 

letter of appointment to Hooker as Commander of the Army of the Potomac. 

• His handling of the issue of emancipation. 

• His re-election campaign of 1864. 



• Tulloch: Lincoln as a consummate politician 

• McPherson: Lincoln was flexible and pragmatic 

• Thomas: Lincoln as a cautious and conservative politician 

• Carwardine: Lincoln adept at reading public opinion 

• Paludan: Lincoln inspired and explained and guided soldiers and civilians to continue the 

fight. Effectively defined events and shaped public opinion. 


extent to which a consideration of Source D is useful for understanding Lincoln’s political 

abilities as a wartime leader. 

Page 90

Marks 



















Page 91

Japan: From Medieval to Modern State (1850’s-1920) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How significant a role did religious beliefs play in shaping Japanese society in the second 

half of the nineteenth century? 

The aim of this essay is to examine how important the various religious beliefs were in 

influencing the direction and shape of Japanese society. 


• details of Shinto, Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs with an awareness of the relationships of 

these beliefs to obedience not only within the family but in society and to the Emperor 

• details of Shinto, Confucian and Buddhist beliefs in terms of giving family, community and 

civic stability and direction within society 

• the importance of Shinto in shaping society especially during the Meiji era 

• the influence Confucianism has on the values of Japanese society 

• the impact of the Meiji restoration on the status of Shinto beliefs particularly amongst the 

samurai, and on the role of Confucian values 

• the values and beliefs promoted during the Meiji era through religion and the connection 

between state control and religion 

• the stance on Christianity. 



• Hunter – ‘the ruling class had long viewed both religion and education as vehicles for 

furthering the purposes of the state’ 

• H D Harootunian – ‘the believers sense of joy would make him feel obliged to tend to his 

household and state duties’ 

• Waswo – ‘neo-Confucianism stressed the ethical nature of the government, stressing 

obedience to one’s superiors’ 

• Hane – ‘Christian missionaries also began to arrive with the lifting of the ban against 

Christianity’ (in Meiji era) 

• Pyle – ‘Shinto as adopted by the Japanese state was largely an invented tradition’ 

• Beasley – ‘samurai values and religion played a significant part of modern Japanese life’. 

Page 92

Question 2 

To what extent did nationalism undermine the Bakufu rule? 

The aim of this essay is to examine the reasons for the overthrowal of the Bakufu and specifically 

assess the importance of nationalism in contributing to it being undermined. 


Nationalism 

• Details of nationalist thinking with reference especially to Shozan and ‘Eastern ethics: 

Western science’ and how this encouraged a sense of national pride and a devotion to the 

Emperor. 

• Role of nationalism as a contributing factor due to the Unequal Treaties uniting nationalist 

anger which produced violent outbreaks which the Bakufu could not contain. 

• The humiliation of the Unequal Treaties caused many Japanese to think nationally in terms of 

their country rather than their domain. 

• Complexities of Japanese society in the early nineteenth century which contained a range of 

tensions and that nationalism was only one of the pressures that the Bakufu could not 

suppress or contain. 

• The nationalistic role of the Sonno Joi movement of revere the emperor; expel the barbarian, 

illustrating many now looking to the Emperor rather than Edo and the Bakufu for leadership. 

Other Factors 

• Giving in to foreign pressure stirred increasing resentment of the Bakufu. 

• Some background evidence will be given to illustrate the position of the Bakufu; like the 

failure of the Tempo Reforms as they did not have the administrative power to enforce their 

policies. 

• The resentment of lower ranking samurai also caused difficulty for Bakufu, who followed 

Yoshida Shoin and his preaching anti foreigner and anti Bakufu slogans. 

• Lower status samurai were also beginning to demand a greater say in the running of political 

affairs as they were domain bureaucrats. 

• The Bakufu’s position was fatally flawed by having little economic or political power. 

• This will be balanced by analysing details like the economic troubles caused by upwardly 

mobile merchants, economy becoming money-orientated away from rice as their own debts 

rose, 

• A Daimyo who were becoming increasingly independent and harder to control. 

• Foreign pressures brought to a head the weak position internally of the Bakufu. 



• Wall – ‘arrival of Perry in July 1853 brought the whole complicated debate to a head’ 

• Beasley – ‘exemplary action by ‘men of spirit’, putting conscience before calculation’ 

• Storry – ‘a school of thought aggressively nationalistic in tone’ 

• Kornicki – ‘it is therefore more appropriate to see the pressures upon Japan as international 

in nature’ 

• Bolitho – ‘open deteriorations in relations between the Daimyo domains and the Tokugawa 

government’ 

• Storry – ‘Tokugawa system of government might have continued essentially unchanged had 

it not been for the forcible opening of the closed door’. 

Page 93

Question 3 

How valid is the view that women’s place in Japanese society had improved significantly by 

1920? 

The aim of this essay is to explore the political, social, legal and economic reforms and analyse 

their effects on women. 


• some of the implications for women and girls in Japan, like women being submissive and 

obedient to the wishes of their fathers and husbands, having no legal right of property and no 

divorce rights 

• end of feudalism and its impact on women 

• the limited changes in Japanese society for women 

• factory working conditions 

• details of rural life, where women status was not so low due to their labour being essential to 

the family/village 

• the role of women as concubines, prostitutes and geishas 

• being treated as a minor by the law, employment of married women scarce, even in factories 

they were released upon marriage 

• the working and living conditions in rural and urban areas and that small numbers of women 

went from textile workers and domestic service to become typists, telephone operators and 

store assistants 

• educational reforms and the role in enforcing traditional values 

• exclusion of women from the political process, showing an appreciation of women’s rights 

movements and that it took until 1911 to limit their working day to twelve hours, although 

enforcement was scant 

• politically they were denied the franchise and prohibited from joining political parties; they 

were even forbidden to attend public political discussions 

• The Blue Stocking Society which was established in 1911, a pioneer effort to try and combat 

ingrained customs 

• there may be reference to prominent figures like Ito Noe and Hiratsuka 

• women under Meiji era being expected to be good wives and wise mothers and even when 

factories were ‘womanned’ no interference of this ideology was allowed. 



• Totman – ‘Japanese society does not resist the active participation of women in its activities 

so much as it has difficulties seeing any need for women to become active when their 

husbands are already taking part’ 

• Pyle – ‘great lifelong duty of a woman was obedience’ 

• Hunter – ‘only when a wife became a mother-in-law could she in turn enjoy a brief heyday 

of influence’ 

• Waswo – ‘women were to be good wives and wise mothers’ 

• Beasley – ‘initiatives by bureaucrats to limit factory hours met with determined opposition 

from employers’ 

• Benson & Matsumura – ‘the new educational system treated boys and girls very 

differently’. 

Page 94

Question 4 

What factors best explain the successful modernisation of Japan? 

The aim of this essay is to explore the multifaceted explanations surrounding Japan’s success in 

modernising in such a short period of time. 


• the effects of the Unequal Treaties in shaping Japan’s modernisation and the pressure to 

change to be accepted as an equal 

• the international environment led to Japan expanding and adopting the new industrial 

technologies which helped her to catch up 

• cultural borrowing like ship building, iron and steel mills, banking and commerce, textiles 

(the silkworm disease in Europe being advantageous for Japan as the revenue from exports 

were vital to pay for modernisation) 

• using foreign experts then dismissing of them once Japanese were confident to continue 

• Japanese society had highly developed agriculture with inter-regional trade and good 

communication infra-structure to build upon 

• role of the state in the process and that the policies they implemented, like placing orders for 

British gunboats and munitions factories inherited from the old regime, being further 

developed to become self-sufficient 

• the value of the Tokugawa legacy as providing the sound basis for modernisation, in that 

Japan had potential for industrial development 

• Japan had an abundance of human labour who were well educated and loyal especially as 

large burdens were borne by the peasantry 

• government having limited reliance on foreign loans and taking firm control over 

expenditure to ensure capital being available for modernisation by partial funding of large 

scale private enterprises in areas like the generation of electricity 

• Iwakura mission – forward planning 

• political and military reforms. 



• Maddison – ‘there was a heavy emphasis on education and the creation of a situation in 

which the rate of investment ultimately became very high’ 

• Nakayama – ‘stability of the social structure served as a general foundation for 

modernisation’ 

• Hane – ‘modernisation would depend heavily upon the adoption of western science, 

technology and industrialisation’ 

• Wall – ‘for a short period the government attempted to stimulate modernisation by 

subsidising private enterprise’ 

• McPherson – ‘the role of the government was crucial’ 

• Hiromatso – ‘foundations of Japan’s modernisation were to a large extent laid during the 

years of peaceful isolation’. 

Page 95

Question 5 

How great an impact did military and naval reforms have on Japanese society? 

The aim of this essay is to examine how great an affect the military and naval reforms actually 

had on the Japanese people. 


• details of the military and naval reforms that took place and that they were moulded from 

French then German for the army and Britain for the navy 

• the introduction of conscription eg three year service for 20-year old men followed by four 

years subsequent service in the army reserve with exemption from conscription being very 

limited therefore it impacted on all families 

• the controversy surrounding the introduction of conscription in January 1873 commentating 

that it effectively ended the samurai monopoly on warfare and undermined their warrior 

status 

• conscription was unpopular especially as it deprived families of their sons for labour 

• Land Tax paying for the reforms – farming families worked hard for long hours and little 

remuneration which saw them as benefiting little from the government’s plans for the military 

and navy 

• the powerful role of Yamagata Aritomo in the reforms 

• military priorities meant women were important as the bearers of sons who would fight in 

future wars 

• importance of the armed forces in shaping Japanese society and that after the Meiji reforms 

the Emperor was the Commander-in-Chiefs with military chiefs having direct access to him 

• the cost of these reforms on the population especially the long hours, low wages and working 

in very bleak conditions eg coal mining, for the good of the nation’s military 

• an appreciation of the arduous industrial task to execute these reforms and the toll they took 

on the people 

• industrialism in Japan was inextricably interwoven with military reform. 



• Beasley – ‘in an attempt to devise some kind of official ideology a precept was issued in 

1882 and addressed to the country’s soldiers and sailors emphasising obligations to the nation 

and its monarch’ 

• Hane – ‘common soldiers came from the lower classes but the officers, especially the 

generals, came from the Satsuma and Choshu clans’ 

• Wall – ‘the importance attached to the armed forces is shown in the fact that in the 1870s the 

Japanese government invested as much in the navy and twice as much in the army, as in 

industrial enterprises as a whole’ 

• Hunter – ‘military priorities meant that women were important as the bearers of sons who 

would fight Japan’s wars’ 

• Waswo – ‘military service intensified the impact of basic education on many young Japanese 

males’ 

• Pyle – ‘Taxes were progressively raised as military expenditures more that tripled in the 

decade 1893-1903.’ 

Page 96

Question 6 

How far do you agree that Japan benefited from the First World War? 

The aim of this essay is to examine Japan’s role in the outcome of World War One and the 

subsequent peace treaties and to analyse whether any benefit was gained. 


Benefits 

• Japan joined the conflict on the winning side, acquiring Germany’s Chinese sphere of 

influence in Shantung, extending its control of Manchuria and its overall influence on China 

with the Twenty One Demands in 1915 which were interpreted by the West as an attempt to 

bring China under its control. 

• From 1915 Japanese industry underwent considerable expansion because it was able to 

capture markets from European powers actively involved in the war, eg the Indian markets 

for textiles had been dominated by Lancashire products before 1914. 

• Awareness that Japan emerged on the winning side in 1918 virtually as a non-combatant and 

without having occurred any of the costs of war, unlike Britain and America. 

• The war also confirmed Japan’s position as a westernised nation when she participated in the 

Versailles Peace Conference. 

• The expansion of other Japanese industries, for example ship building and heavy engineering. 

Costs 

• The international economy was also very unstable after the war and Japan was forced to trade 

in a very uncertain political world. 

• The growth that had taken place had only been possible because of the absence of 

competition and that on the return to peace Japanese industry suffered severe dislocation. 

• Not all workers had benefited equally as wages had not risen as fast as prices and high food 

prices led to Rice Riots in 1918. 



• Ayira Iriye – ‘The Japanese were rewarded by being invited to the peace conference, the first 

time Japan attended a conference as a full-fledged member’ 

• Hunter – ‘the economic boom that Japan experienced during WWI resulted in considerable 

inflation in the country’ 

• Beasley – ‘the German islands in the northern Pacific were put under Japanese control, but as 

a mandate not in outright ownership’ 

• Storry – ‘it was not long before Japan became a creditor instead of a debtor among the 

nations’ 

• Pyle – ‘the outbreak of WWI in Europe in the summer of 1914 provided extraordinary 

opportunities to advance the twin objectives of empire and industry.’ 

• Hane – ‘the Anglo-Japanese Alliance provided them with the excuse to enter the war but the 

real motivation was to take over the German concessions in China.’ 

Page 97

Japan: From Medieval to Modern State (1850s-1920) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How fully does Source A illustrate the structure of society in mid-nineteenth century 

Japan? 

(12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of the completeness of the evidence in Source A, as 

to how fully it illustrates Japanese society in the mid-nineteenth century in terms of: 

Source A 


include: accurate comment on Megarry will receive marks under historiography. 

Points from source which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant views(s) 

The argument presented by Megarry illustrates factors like: 

• a land based economy 

• subservient peasantry who were tied to the soil 

• importance of strong bonds between lord & armed retainers 

• the latter having landed estates as a reward for their services. 


• Illustrations to complement Megarry’s outline, namely: 

- Farmers 80% of population who grew rice by shared labour, obligations of peasants – not 

allowed to leave land or country and their sole job was to produce rice from which a tax 

was levied. 

- They supplied men and hordes for the country’s courier service. 

• Country divided into domains controlled by various lords called Daimyo who were further 

split into Fudai (lords supporting Tokugawa) and Tozama (independent Daimyo). 

• The armed retainers were the samurai who were sword bearing, numbered 2 million and were 

attached to different lords. 

• Role and position of women. 

Page 98

Possible points of recall in the wider context, to illustrate the individuality of Japanese 

society will be given to contrast with Megarry 

• Society was essentially a caste system not class system. 

• Samurai borrowed heavily from the caste below to sustain their lavish lifestyle leading to 

debt. 

• Position of peasants varied – some diversified into sugar and pottery whilst others on bare 

subsistence. 

• Artisans who were not a large group supplied fine goods for samurai and lords. 

• Merchants were bottom of caste system yet despite this they flourished as they bought rice 

from the samurai, stored it, then re-sold for a profit, they also provided loans for the samurai. 

• Lower classes like the eta worked as in prostitution, life of 7 eta = 1 citizen. 



• Waswo states that ‘Conditions in Japan most closely resembled those of high feudalism in 

Europe’ 

• Hane is of the belief that ‘in order to ensure political and social stability the Tokugawa 

Bakufu set out to fix a rigid class system’ 

• Hunter states that ‘a rigid hierarchy of hereditary caste continued to prevail both in theory 

and to a larger extent in practice’. 

Candidate is therefore able to come to a conclusion using a range of evidence about the structure 

of Japanese society in the mid-nineteenth century to evaluate Megarry’s stance. 

Marks 



















Page 99

Question 2 

How helpful are the differing viewpoints in Sources B and C as interpretations on 

the political development of Meiji Japan? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources B and C on the political development of Meiji 

Japan and offers a structured explanation of the value of these two perspectives in terms of: 


comment on Mikiso Hane or Benson and Matsumura will receive marks under historiography. 

Points from sources which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant views: 

Source B’s view is that 

• Political changes were oligarchic not democratic. 

• Political changes were not participatory but patriarchal. 

• Political power in the Meiji era lay with the samurai. 

Source C’s view is that 

• Post feudalism the local power of administration was in the hands of the clan chief. 

• Nationally a council of state with three branches was created. 

• A cabinet system was created but not until 1885. 

• Political authority was deferred from the centre to governors and then to local leaders. 

Sources B & C both highlight the changes in the political structure of the Meiji era with Source B 

offering a judgement as to the reality against the ideal. 

Page 100

Points from recall which develop and contextualise those in the sources 

• New government lacked income and in 1871 Japan was turned into a series of prefectures 

directed by prefects appointed from Tokyo. 

• Ex-samurai and ex-Daimyo paid off by awarding them interest-bearing government bonds. 

This structure gave control to Tokyo and the growing bureaucracy gave some former samurai 

positions. 

• Western style political parties did not sit comfortably with a centralised constitution – main 

political parties were – Liberal Party and Progressive Party. 

• 1884 – A House of Peers established, 500 peers created with western titles like Viscount and 

Baron. 

• 1885 – Cabinet system was established with a Prime Minister usually from clans of Choshu or 

Satsuma. 

• The Diet was made up of two houses an upper and a lower. 

• The upper being the House of Peers could veto legislation from the lower house. 

• The lower being the House of Representatives which was elected by well-to-do property 

owners, all male. It met for three months a year. 

• Half a million voters out of a population of 40 million. 

• Ito Hirobumi was Japan’s first Prime Minister. 

• 1888 – A Privy Council was set up to consult on matters like constitution and matters of law. 

• Population were assured of their rights – freedom of speech and writing however rights were 

in reference to their duties and for the need for peace and order. 

• Nevertheless the pace of change was remarkable even though political rights were limited. 

• Women were excluded from voting. 



• Jansen reference to the samurai is that ‘a modernising elite had emerged, a group firmly 

committed to making their backward country a modern nation-state’ 

• Beasley on the Japanese leaders of the Meiji period ‘in founding a bureaucracy and shaping a 

governing elite they offended many who were left outside the newly drawn boundaries of 

power and influence’ 

• Buruma on the Meiji oligarchs states that they ‘wanted to be modern and invoke ancient 

traditions at the same time. This was achieved by grafting German dogmas onto Japanese 

myths’. 

Candidate is therefore able to come to a conclusion, using a range of evidence, about the extent to 

which a consideration of the two sources reveals differing perspectives on the political progress 

of Meiji Japan. 

Page 101

Marks 



















Page 102

Question 3 

How useful is Source D in illustrating Japan’s foreign policy aims in the Meiji era? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured answer on the usefulness of Source D in illustrating Japan’s 

foreign policy aims in terms of: 

Provenance: A contemporary figure who was a leading reformer from the Satsuma clan. He 

co-operated with the Choshu and the radical factions at court to bring about an imperial 

restoration by force. He was regarded as one of the architects of the restoration. In 1871 he went 

on the Iwakura mission. 

To lead opposition to the proposed invasion of Korea by Saigo Takamori by stressing that priority 

must go to domestic development as a means of strengthening Japan in the long term. 

Points from source which show that the candidate has interpreted the significant views(s) 

• Treaties with Europe and America not equal and Japan has lost her dignity. 

• England and France setting up barracks as if Japan their territory. Desire expressed for Japan 

to evolve and rid herself of bondage and become independent again. This was seen as the 

urgency of the moment in 1873. 


• Japan’s relationship with foreign powers had been changing as she aimed to rid herself from 

the Unequal Treaties and sought to control nearby territories. 

• Unequal Treaties ended in 1893. 

• Long term resentment over the Unequal Treaties. 

• Examples of Japan’s dealings with countries in her sphere of influence as she built up her 

credibility include – 

• Victory over China in a war in 1894-5 provided European countries with proof of 

Japan’s rise to power (Sino-Japanese War) 

• Treaty of Shimonoseki: Japan gains Taiwan, as well as rights in Korea and 

economic privileges in China (1895) 

• Japan contributes troops to international force sent to China to deal with the 

Boxer Rising 

• Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Trade and Navigation with Britain in 1894 

• Alliance with Britain 1902 

• Victory over Russia 1904-05 and the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth. 

Page 103



Awareness of debate over whether FP aims were planned or evolved as opportunities arrived. 

• B Oh is of the belief that ‘it is inconceivable that Japan became an empire and a world power 

in forty four years without long-range goals and plans’ 

• Harrington is of the stance that ‘a combination of opportunity and capability spun the web 

we know as Meiji imperialism’ 

• Duus states that ‘all the evidence to build an empire came fairly late in the Meiji period’. 

Candidate is therefore able to come to an evaluation using a variety of evidence to reach a 

conclusion on the usefulness of Source D in illustrating Japan’s foreign policy aims in the Meiji 

era. 

Marks 



















Page 104

Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of the Second World War. 

Part 1 


Question 1 

Was hatred of the Versailles Treaty shared to the same extent by Germans of all social 

classes and political beliefs? 

The question’s aim is to enable candidates to review the terms of the Versailles Treaty and the 

responses of the Germans towards this imposed peace settlement. In displaying their knowledge 

of the treaty, both as a thing in itself and in its component parts, candidates should be able to 

review and analyse the range of responses to Versailles and show an understanding of historical 

debate. 

The candidate might be expected to use evidence such as: 

Widespread expectation that the Fourteen Points (9 January 1918) accepted as a basis for the 

Armistice?(11 November 1918) would lead to a fair peace. An illusion shattered by the Diktat of 

Versailles. 

Terms: 

Territorial 

Confiscation of colonies 

Returned Alsace-Lorraine 

to France 

Internationalised the 

Saar for 15 years 

Creation of Polish 

Corridor 

Responses: 

Economic 

Reparations to be 

paid (finally agreed 

in 1921. Cash and 

kind) 

-high level and 

long time scale of 

payment 

Military 

Demilitarisation of 

Rhineland 

Army reduced to 

100,000 

Navy’s strike potential 

removed 

Airforce disbanded 

Page 105 

Article 231 

The ‘War Guilt’ clause – 

the basis for reparations. 

Article 232 did have some 

conciliatory promises 

but ‘many German 

political leaders .. turned 

Article 231 into an act of 

national humiliation..’ 

(Paul Bookbinder) 

• of individuals such as Hitler, Kessler, Preuss, Rathenau, Stresemann 

• shared hatred across the political spectrum from the predictable loathing of the German 

Nationalists of all stripes, to the KPD on the extreme left denouncing Versailles as an 

imperialist peace 

• while hatred of the Diktat was universal, a variety of strategic responses emerged. On the one 

hand there were advocates of ‘fulfilment’ (such as Wirth) who wanted to demonstrate their 

good will towards the Allies while making it clear that in practical terms, Versailles was 

unworkable, and might thus endanger the new democracy. At the opposite extreme were 

nationalists, inflamed and outraged, bent on revision and restoration of German pride 

• the punitive peace settlement as a potent factor ensuring Germans remained a nation at war, 

with itself and the rest of the world.



• Hite and Hinton: Most Germans, as late as 1918, had expected victory and to make major 

gains.’ 

• Stephen Lee (1998): ‘Versailles created a deep and widespread resentment (which) was 

increasingly targeted against the republic (and) revived the cause of the conservative right.’ 

Widespread acceptance of the ‘stab in the back’ and of Versailles as a dictated peace afforded 

Hitler and NSDAP a bridgehead into business, conservative circles. 

• Richard Bessel (1990): argued that in the 1920s, German society suffered from a collective 

unwillingness to accept defeat and its consequences. 

• Paul Bookbinder: argued that ‘many German political leaders turned Article 231 into an act of 

national humiliation.’ 

• Richard Evans (2004) ‘Germany failed to make the transition from wartime back to 

peacetime after 1918.’ The shock of the Treaty united virtually every part of the political 

spectrum.’ 

• Eberhard Kolb (1984): ‘In Germany between the wars. the great national trauma… on no 

political question were the parties and groups so unanimous. But Kolb differentiates between 

the left and centre who saw Versailles ‘as one of the main reasons for the desperate state of 

the German republic.’ and the right who strove to undermine the republic ‘by agitating 

against fulfilment’, the ‘stab in the back’ and the ‘November Criminals’. 

• Detlev Peukert: writes of an inflamed nationalist sense of outrage and the emergence of what 

he labels as ‘katastrophenpolitik’, ‘defiance to the point of confrontation’. By contrast, the 

emergent subtleties of ‘erfullungspolitik’ (fulfilment) failed to project itself ‘as a superior 

form of revisionism in the eyes of the German people.’ 

Page 106

Question 2 

Assess the reasons why political life was so violent and unstable in Germany between 1919 and 1923. 

The aim of this question is to enable candidates to review and evaluate the nature and form of German 

politics in the period, while revealing awareness and understanding of historical debate on the discrete 

characteristics of those years. 


• The catalogue of violence, of putsch and assassination, the prelude to which was the caesarean section 

of the Republic’s birth in November 1918, viz. 

Spartakist Rising in Berlin –suppressed 

by Freikorps 

Soviet Republic declared in Bavaria. Red 

republic overthrown; 606 dead. 

Kapp Putsch led by 5000 strong 

swastika-wearing Ehrhardt Brigade 

thwarted by general strike in Berlin. 

KPD revolt in the Ruhr crushed by 

Reichswehr – 1250 dead. 

Ultra-left period of the KPD. Risings in 

Merseberg, Hamburg and the Ruhr. 

Economic collapse spurs KPD to 

organise a German ‘Great October’ in 

Saxony. 

Abortive KPD rising in Hamburg 

KPD-SPD coalition overthrown. 

Munich: 

Beerhall Putsch in November. 

1919 

1920 

1921 

1922 

1923 

Page 107 

Hite and Hinton record 376 

political assassinations in this 

period. Over 90% were by right 

wing terrorists. 

10 left wing terrorists were 

sentenced to death, none from the 

right. 

Extreme leftists carry out campaigns 

of armed robbery and 

expropriations. 

Walther Rathenau, protagonist of 

fulfilment, assassinated by rightwing 

terrorists. 

Finance minister, Matthias 

Erzberger, assassinated. 

• Political instability in part stemmed from an insufficiently large democratic bloc inside the 

Reichstag. Pro-Weimar parties (SPD, DDP, Centre (and to a lesser extent) DNVP), were 

squeezed between the vocal and large national conservative right and the revolutionary left. 

• Peculiar features of the Weimar constitution and in particular, proportional representation. An 

apparent failure of stable governing coalitions to emerge. 

• Failure of the republic to win the hearts and minds of most Germans. 

• Notion of ‘trahison des clercs’; the alienation from the Republic of those who ought to have 

been its loyal servants; civil servants, judiciary, educationists, Army officers (von Seeckt).



• Paul Bookbinder: has isolated the ingredients making political life violent and unstable, viz., 

- hatred and violence generated by the Great War, 

- the trauma of unexpected defeat, 

- the universally reviled peace treaty, 

- economic and political chaos (cf stability of Kaiserreich), 

- bitterness, insecurity and an adversarial view of the world. 

He argues that ‘The breakdown of human values and legal objectivity contributed to the eruption of 

the political violence which became one of the hallmarks of Weimar Germany’. 

• Piers Brendon: ‘ A lost war and a cruel peace poisoned the atmosphere.’ 

• Richard J Evans: ‘Fear and hatred ruled the day in Germany at the end of the First World 

War.’ 

• Eberhard Kolb: ‘In particular sections of the population and elite professional groups there 

was still a massive reservoir of anti-republicanism and anti-democratic feeling.’ 

• Stephen Lee: encapsulates the first four years of the Weimar Republic thus: ‘it seemed... to 

be poised between survival and collapse.’ Military defeat made Germany additionally 

vulnerable at a time of unprecedented and seemingly irreversible inflation accompanied by ‘a 

political malaise’ with the republic facing hostility ‘from both political wings.’ 

• Detlev Peukert: In these years, ‘The Republic on the defensive’, He argues that ‘the exceptionally 

severe check to Germany’s economic growth’ post -1918 severely damaged the Republic’s 

innovations, political and welfare.’ Thus, ‘social fragmentation and polarisation became more 

pronounced.’ 

• Kershaw: argues that ‘Acceptance of a high level of political violence was a hallmark of the 

political culture of Germany between the wars.’ Society had been brutalised. 

Page 108

Question 3 

“His foreign policy steered Germany to a remarkable recovery.” How accurate is this view 

of Stresemann’s diplomacy? 

The question’s aim is to provide candidates with the opportunity to review the evidence for and 

against the glowing reputation achieved by Stresemann both before and after his death in 1929. 

In doing so, candidates can be expected to discuss the component parts of his diplomatic 

strategies and evaluate his reputation as views by a range of historians. 


• August 1923: Stresemann becomes Chancellor for a brief time in Weimar’s darkest period. 

He was to remain as Foreign Minister until his death on 3 rd October 1929 

• the core strategy under-pinning Stresemann’s diplomacy, viz., pursuit of the long-term goal 

of revision of the hated Versailles system, while at the same time seeking rapprochement 

with the victors of 1918 

• the limited means at his disposal. With German military clout hugely reduced post- 

Versailles he could only pursue his ends through negotiation and open-diplomacy, though 

post-Dawes the stabilised, resurgent economy was a potent factor 

• his inheritance as Chancellor (albeit briefly) in 1923; the economic chaos wrought by hyperinflation 

• key features of diplomatic activity 1923-29 and evidence for and against its success, viz., 

‘astonishingly successful.’ (Kolb) 

Liberation of the Ruhr [after all, the French had 

achieved in 1923 what they had failed to do in 1918]. 

The early evacuation of allied troops from the Rhineland. 

A business-like and realistic settlement of 

reparations. 

Stabilisation of the German economy after the 

catastrophe of 1923, enabling it to become an active 

participant in the growth of the European and world 

economy 1924-29. 

Admission of Germany to the League of Nations and 

membership of its council. 

Normalising Germany’s relations with the victors of 

1918 [but without surrendering revisionist aims] in 

the Locarno Treaty. 

Removal of the threat of French hegemony over 

Germany. 

1923: Germany lay vulnerable and isolated. 

1929: USA, the world’s greatest economic power, 

had been wooed and won to assist German recovery. 

Page 109 

‘from the longer term perspective… he 

achieved very little.’ (SJ Lee) 

Territorial terms of Versailles remained intact. 

The plight of ‘Ausland deutschen’ remained 

unsolved. 

Rhineland remained demilitarised. 

Germany’s military, naval and aerial capacity 

was well below that of France and UK. 

The Young Plan mortgaged future generations 

of Germans. Payment would have continued 

up to mid 1980s. This enraged the nationalist 

right, Hugenberg (DNVP) bankrolled Hitler. 

Peukert has argued that by 1924 the goal of 

revisionism was not being scored through the 

tactic of rapprochement. Brüning’s tougher 

methods brought quicker success. 

Stresemann’s own cautious realism: Germany 

is ‘dancing on a volcano’ acutely dependent 

on USA and global market stability.’

Candidates might also examine Stresemann’s ‘Ostpolitik’, continuing and developing the Rapallo 

relationship between Germany and USSR, use of this by him as a bargaining counter in his 

dealings with France, UK and Italy. 

• Stresemann’s subterfuge: his clandestine overtures to the former Crown Prince. 

Candidates might bring a range of appropriate historians’ commentary to support their 

views. These might include reference to: 

• John Hite and Chris Hinton: ‘Stresemann transformed Germany from being a distrusted 

outcast to being actively involved in European diplomacy. However, the concrete gains from 

his diplomacy were not great.’ 

• Eberhard Kolb: ‘The central objective of Stresemann’s foreign policy was the restoration of 

Germany as a sovereign ‘great power’ with equal rights’ and in this he was astonishingly 

successful. 

• Marshall Lee and Wolfgang Michalka: crucial to Stresemann’s strategy was the 

development of close German-American co-operation, which benefited Germany’s 

revisionism against French desire to maintain the status quo. Thus ‘Stresemann’s foreign 

policy, based largely on confrontation and co-operation, bequeathed to Brüning a situation in 

which, for the first time since 1918, Germany enjoyed a significant degree of diplomatic 

maneuver (sic)’ 

• Arthur Rosenberg: ?‘This lonely man, who had neither armed force nor a reliable mass 

organisation behind him, was nevertheless able to set his stamp on the development of 

Germany ... He was able in foreign policy to achieve for defeated Germany more or less 

what he considered necessary.’ 

• HA Turner: has labelled him ‘a pragmatic conservative.’ As Foreign Minister he had to 

pursue the long-term goal of revision for the hated Versailles system while at the same time 

seeking rapprochement with the victors of the Great War. 

• Jonathan Wright: (2002) argues that Stresemann was ‘Weimar Germany’s greatest 

statesman.’ He lets Stresemann speak for himself: ‘There is no doubt that today we command 

a position of respect in the world which no one would have believed it possible to achieve within 

five years.’ Three days after this speech Stresemann died. 

• Detlev Peukert’s: note of caution that: ‘Germany was more dependent on the American 

economy and more vulnerable to the instability of world markets.’ And, ‘for all the realism 

of the process of rapprochement in the West… these difficulties in the East were never dealt 

with constructively.’ 

Page 110

Question 4 

How great was the impact of the Depression of 1929-1932 on German economic and political 

life? 

In this question the candidate is being asked to assess the nature and significance of the economic 

catastrophe that struck Germany, evaluating the resultant social, economic and political 

consequences and showing an understanding of the range of historical commentary and analysis 

of this subject. 


The integral relationship between economic and political factors may be exemplified by two sets 

of figures. Many answers may use and comment on this evidence: 

Unemployment in Germany Nazi party in Reichstag elections 

1928 1.4 million May 1928 12 seats 

1929 1.8 million 

1930 3.1 million Sept 1930 107 seats 

1931 4.5 million 

1932 5.6 million July 1932 230 seats 

Nov 1932 191 seats 

The corollary of the above: the rise of support for the KPD on the extreme left and the squeezing 

of the votes cast for parties of the conservative right. 

Key features of the German economy were especially significant: 

• even before 1929 the agrarian sector was struggling badly. Ominously the Nazis made their 

first meaningful gains among the sorely pressed farmers of northern Germany 

• Dawes Plan 1924: American loans assisting German economic recovery. Many short-term 

investments were essentially long-term projects. Withdrawal of American loans post-Wall 

Street Crash proved disastrous 

• the economy had a weak consumer spending base as compared to heavy industry 

• if unemployment escalated the Weimar welfare state would hit the wall 

• in the weeks preceding the Wall Street crash the interplay between economic factors and 

German political life was apparent. A nationalist front, including the Nazis, campaigned 

against the Young Plan which aimed to reduce and re-schedule (but not abolish) reparations 

payments 

• thus, the economic depression when it came, in effect detonated Weimar’s political 

structure 

• the first political casualty of the Depression was the Grand Coalition with Chancellor Muller 

(SPD) at its head. Muller and his SPD comrades were unwilling to cut welfare benefits. 

This angered one of its coalition partners, the DVP (People’s Party), who quit the coalition. 

On 27th March 1930 Muller resigned. The SPD, the Republic’s largest party and its 

mainstay, never returned to government 

• the period of ‘Presidential Cabinets’ began under the leadership of Chancellor Brüning. The 

slide to authoritarianism begins before September 1930 elections 

• Sept. 1930 elections: Nazis leap the credibility gap 

• failure of Brüning’s economic prescriptions. Brüning increasingly resorts to rule by Emergency 

Decree, Article 48 

• growth of political extremism, alarm of the mittlestand at KPD surge 

• the phenomenal growth of the Nazi vote: who voted Nazi? Success of Nazis in becoming the 

catch-all party of social protest 

• Hitler as the main beneficiary of the Depression; his millenarian appeal 

• the eclipse of Brüning; the emergent politics of intrigue. 

Page 111

Candidates might bring a range of appropriate historians’ commentary to support their views. 

These might include reference to: 

• John Hite and Chris Hinton: ‘The massive impact of the Great Depression on Germany is the 

essential context for the collapse of the Weimar republic and the rise of Hitler.’ They quote 

William Carr: ‘It is inconceivable that Hitler could ever have come to power had not the Weimar 

republic been subjected to the unprecedented strain of a world economic crisis.’ 

• Stephen Lee: argues that ‘The Depression did not start the process of decline… (rather) it was a 

catalyst or accelerator.’ 

‘A multiplicity of factors were involved which upset the Republic’s equilibrium and made it 

vulnerable.’ Lee argues that it is essential to be aware of a set of circumstances which made the 

Republic ‘uniquely susceptible’. 

• D. Evans and J Jenkins: ‘By mid 1932 four out of every ten Germans were without jobs… the 

economic crisis which created armies of unemployed was also going to have major political 

consequences.’ 

• Michael Burleigh: ‘Chronic unemployment was as likely to lead to a day in bed as to seeking 

the overthrow of the Weimar constitution.’ 

• KD Bracher: in his ground-breaking The German Dictatorship – ‘To be sure, the Depression 

offered the partially submerged destructive forces of an anti-democratic radicalism a major 

opening. But the political development that culminated in the overpowering of the republic by 

National Socialism was by no means inevitable.’ 

• Piers Brendon: ‘The Depression struck Germany harder than anywhere else except the 

United States. In part this was because the German economy relied so heavily on short-term 

foreign loans, which soon dried up after the stock market collapse.’ 

‘For other countries the Depression was primarily an economic crisis, for Germany the 

crisis was primarily political.’ 

• AJP Taylor: ‘only the depression put wind into Hitler’s sails’. 

• Ian Kershaw: ‘Economic crises frequently unseat governments. It is much rarer for them to 

destroy systems of government… Hitler and his party were the beneficiaries of this systemic crisis 

of the Weimar state. They were not its primary cause.’ 

• Detlev Peukert: ‘Even before the onset of the world slump, the political system of the Republic 

had reached a point of crisis, evidenced particularly by the sustained decline in support for old 

liberal and conservative parties.’ While, ‘the protracted crisis 1930-33 gave the Nazi movement 

a prime opportunity to project itself as a dynamic modern totalitarian mass party.’ 

• Conan Fischer: ‘The worsening economic situation triggered the slide towards some form or 

other of authoritarian government.’ 

• Richard J Evans: The KPD ‘was the party of the unemployed par excellence’. The upward 

surge of support for it alarmed many of Germany’s middle class, a layer of society which 

suffered far more during the Depression than did its British counterpart. ‘The chances of the 

Weimar Republic surviving were very small after the Depression began in 1929.’ 

• Eberhard Kolb: ‘No-one disputes that the appointment of a ‘Hindenburg Cabinet’ under 

Brüning was a far-reaching and dangerous transformation of the system of government.’ 

‘The fragility of the political system and the increased potential for social conflict 

combined to produce fertile conditions for radicalisation of the left and right.’ 

• David Welch: ‘By means of an efficient propaganda apparatus… the (Nazi) Party was in a 

strong position to make a highly effective response to the growing sense of crisis and through 

its propaganda to appeal to both the interests and the ideals of the mittlestand.’ 

Page 112

Question 5 

What factors best explain the success of the Nazis in consolidating their control of Germany 

between 1933 and 1936? 

The aim of this question is to enable candidates to review and evaluate the manner in which the Nazi 

Party imposed its power structure on the German people, thereby creating a qualitatively new form of 

state power over civil society. Such a scrutiny might hope to review the range of explanations and 

models advanced by historians. 


• Hitler’s Chancellorship begins with him heading a coalition; the peeling away of his coalition 

partners: 

• The chronology of terror and intimidation, viz., 

− 27 th February 1933: Reichstag Fire 

− 28 th February: emergency Decree 

− 22 March Dachau concentration Camp opens 

− 24 March Enabling act 

− April: Goring sets up Gestapo 

− 14 July: Law against formation of new parties (KPD and SPD already banned) 

− 30 January 1934: Law for the reconstruction of the state (Gaus, Gauleiters) 

− 30 June: Night of the Long Knives 

− August: Death of Hindenburg: Hitler becomes head of State. 

• Gleichschaltung (Co-ordination) of Society: 

• May 1933: free trade unions abolished, replaced by DAF, the German Labour Front 

• Qualitative alteration in Church: state relations 

• July 1933: Concordat with Vatican 

• November 1933: ‘German Christians’ church established 

• Non Nazi youth movements abolished; replaced with Hitler Youth 

• Education: Party control over curriculum, ‘coordination’ of teachers 

• Professional and institutional groups lose identity eg lawyers coordinated into German 

lawyers’ front. 

• Ministry of propaganda: 

• Party control over the media 

• The continuing development of The Hitler Myth. 

• Propaganda coups culminating with the bloodless re-militarisation of the Rhineland. 

• Economic policies: 

• The Nazi inheritance: an acutely depressed economy 

• March 1933: Schacht appointed Reichsbank President then Minister for Economics 

• Schacht’s successes: 

− Trade surplus 

− Decreased unemployment 

− Increased industrial production 

− Mefo bills: fiscal policy 

− Rearmament (rather than production for the consumer market) 

− Popular responses to dictatorship 

− The consolidation of power at the local level 

− Nazism at the local level: coordination of the fabric of localities (choirs, sports 

clubs) 

Page 113



• Hite and Hinton: ‘Within 18 months of being appointed Chancellor, Hitler had turned himself 

into a dictator. He had the power to issue decrees and there was no legal way to replace him… The 

process by which Hitler gained control of Germany was called Gleichschaltung. 

Hitler skilfully increased his power legally from above, combining this with arbitrary violence from 

below. Hitler mixed fierce repression of his potential opponents with conciliation towards the 

elite. He ensured the government had control of all key aspects of society,’ 

• Richard J Evans: ‘Nazi propaganda was able to build on existing beliefs and values and create 

a new consensus that may well have encompassed a majority of German people… the Nazi spin 

on specific events (eg The Reichstag Fire) could usually convince people if it appealed to their 

existing fears and prejudices.’ 

• D Evans and J Jenkins: ‘(Gleichschaltung) aimed at a complete unity of political, social and 

economic life with the application of terror as a deterrent to resistance… there is evidence that it 

[terror] was also begun by the rank and file. It was often unplanned and uncontrolled by the 

Party’s leadership.’ 

• Robert Gellately: ‘Hitler wanted to create a dictatorship, but he also wanted to support the 

people. The most important thing he could do to win them over was to solve the massive 

unemployment problem… In the short term, Hitler conveyed a sense of strong leader who was in 

charge… after the years of upheaval that marked the Weimar Republic…he soon won patriotic 

acclaim.’ 

• Neil Gregor: ‘The early years of Hitler’s rule were characterised by a substantial degree of 

cooperation between the Nazis and the conservative establishment which did much to stabilise 

the regime in the initial period.’ 

• Franz Neumann (1942): in a pioneering study of the charismatic function of Hitler as leader; 

‘who is not the organ of the state, but who is the community, not acting as its organ but its 

personification.’ 

• Richard Overy: in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany;‘ broad sections of the German and 

Soviet public supported the dictatorships, often with enthusiasm and devotion, or at least with a 

general approval… the extent to which that enthusiasm was the product of genuine ideological 

identification, or the product of political education and self interest remains open to conjecture.’ 

• Ian Kershaw: ‘underpinning Hitler’s unchallenged authority in spring 1936 was the adulation 

of the masses. Large sections of the population simply idolised him… revelling in the national 

pride that Hitler had restored to the country.’ 

• Laurence Rees: producer of ‘The Nazis: a Warning from History’, writes; ‘almost everyone we 

talked to emphasised the Nazi’s achievement in reducing unemployment and clearing the streets 

of the desolate-looking jobless.’ 

• WS Allen: in his pioneer study (1965) of the consolidation of power at the local level in 

Northeim: ‘What was predominant on the part of leaders and townspeople was mutual 

accommodation to make daily life tolerable.’ He notes the upsurge of apathy in the Non-Nazi 

Northeimers after 1935 – ‘their only non-dangerous form of escape.’ 

• David Welch: ‘The so called ‘Nazi Revolution’ was essentially compounded of three elements, viz 

‘utilising the legal authority of the state, terror and coercion, propaganda.’ 

Page 114

Question 6 

To what extent was there a Nazi social revolution in Germany between 1933 and 1939? 

The candidate is being asked to assess the component parts of Nazi social policies and evaluate 

the extent to which there was what can be defined as a ‘social revolution’, taking into account the 

range of historical debate on the validity of the concept. 


• The declared aim of Hitler and his Nazi comrades to create an ‘organic community’ of the 

‘volk’, of shared identity. The Nazis aim to transform the citizen state into the 

‘volksgenosse’, the ‘volksgemeinschaft’ 

• The component parts of the ‘volksgemeinschaft’, literally ‘the people’s community’, for 

example: 

− Working class; replacement of traditional forms of organisations in and outwith the 

workplace by Party-controlled bodies such as DAF and KDF. 

− The peasantry; the rhetoric of ‘blut und boden’. Ideological commitment to the small 

German farmer as the backbone of the ‘volk’. 

− Women; objective to return women from the workplace to the home (the three k’s) 

− Family; Nazis stress the role of the family in the organic community 

− The young; boldness of Nazi policies in attempting to mobilise young pole and 

indoctrinate them with Nazi ideas 

− Social mobility; professed aim to create an upward mobility, undermining existing 

status barriers 

− ‘Purify’ the community by purging it of those defined as ‘gemeinschaftsunfähig’ 

(outsiders), viz the ideologically, biologically and socially ‘impure’. 

Page 115



• Historical debate over the extent to which secular modernising trends pre-dated Nazi 

policies. Some key Nazi measures only accelerated developments already underway (eg 

mass leisure in a consumer society; euthanasia – not a policy exclusive to Nazi Germany (cf 

Sweden)) 

• John Hite and Chris Hinton: like fellow textbook writers review historians’ assessments. 

‘Recent research has discovered that there was a great variety of reactions to the Nazis, 

depending, for example, on class, region, gender, age, and religious and personal factors.’ 

• D Evans and J Jenkins: provide a review of the issue comparing the affirmative views of 

writers such as Schoenbaum, Grunberger and Dahrendorf. They quote the last named thus: 

‘National Socialism completed for Germany the social revolution that was lost in the failings 

of Imperial Germany and again held up by the contradictions of the Weimar Republic.’ 

They review the ‘contra’ arguments of those such as: 

• Tim Mason: ‘Hitler failed to overcome the stubborn despairing refusal of the working 

classes to become the selfless servant of the regime.’ 

• Neil Gregor: ‘Some scholars have argued that the absence of trade unions under National 

Socialism… encouraged the emergence of an individualistic, upwardly mobile attitude 

amongst workers who now sought advancement… in a manner which pre-figured the familycentred 

workers-as-consumer of the 1950s and 1960s.’ 

• WS Allen: ‘No matter what their Nazi leaders told them, Northeimers would not stop going 

to church, because that was what they had always done.’ 

• Michael Burleigh: ‘bosses remained exploitative ‘capitalists’ while the Social Democrat 

and union bossocracy (sic) of the Weimar period was replaced by a sybaritic army of 

‘Brown’ policemen, who were regarded with universal loathing.’ 

• Richard J Evans: ‘society was a not really a priority for Nazi policy. .. status, though not class, 

was to be equalised as far as possible in the new Reich. But much of this was to be achieved by 

symbols, ritual and rhetoric... their revolution was first and foremost cultural rather than social… 

yet … underpinned by … the idea of racial engineering.’ 

• Detlev Peukert: ‘The Nazis had set out to impose a new order on the disquieting 

complexities and social upheaval that the modernisation of the twenties had brought with it; 

as they promised, to bring harmony. The visionary force of their ideas... was never sufficient 

to generate more than some half-baked attempts at reorganisation.’ 

• David Schoenbaum: argued that the changes wrought by the Nazis in social structures and social 

values merited the term ‘social revolution’. For all the elements of social atavism inherent in 

Nazism, it was nonetheless a profoundly modernising regime accelerating secular trends present in 

mature industrial society towards individualisation and consumerisation. 

• Ian Kershaw: writing a quarter of a century after Schoenbaum, emphatically rejected the 

American’s views; ‘Nazism’s intentions were directed towards... a ‘psychological revolution’ 

rather than one of substance – and could only have been effected through the attainment of 

long term goals which were themselves illusory, contradictory and thus innately destructive 

and self-destructive.’ 

• Richard Overy: refers to Hitler’s ‘apocalyptic enthusiasm’ for the construction of a Nazi 

utopia. Profoundly anti-bourgeois, the Fuhrer and his acolytes sought to create an organic 

community of the ‘volk’. ‘The work force of both systems (USSR and Germany) adapted to 

the new conditions rather than confront them… For the millions of workers who had not been 

active union or party members before 1933, National Socialism provided opportunities for social 

mobility and political responsibility or shaped new forms of status and identity.’ 

• The Marxist, Tim Mason, with his theory of the ‘primacy of politics’ argued that the Third Reich 

(specially in the rearmament drive), became intrinsically more capitalist. Commenting on 

Mason, the Hungarian Marxist Mihaly Vajda, has argued that ‘the bourgeoisie willingly gave up 

intervening in politics because the loss of its political power was accompanied by a huge 

increase in its economic power.’ 

Page 116

Germany: Versailles to the Outbreak of the Second World War. 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How valuable is Source A in helping us to understand the nature of the German 

Revolution of 1918-1919? (12 marks) 

The candidate may be awarded up to 3 marks for the quality of their evaluation of the provenance of the 

source 



The remaining marks will be awarded for the quality and depth of the immediate and wider context 

recall, including historians’ views, that the candidate provides in their overall interpretation of the 

source’s value. 

The candidate provides a structured evaluation of the value of Source A in explaining the key 

features of the German revolution, placing it in perspective and in the context of an overview of 

the revolution, in terms of: 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant comments on provenance can earn credit. These may include: 

Origin: a primary source from the time of the outbreak of the German revolution (fall 

of Kaiser, installation of new democratic government) in November 1918. 

Authorship: not given precisely but candidates should be able to comment from recall on 

possible role of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht 

Purpose: polemic, offering a Marxist analysis of the German revolution’s key features so 

far. 


• Reference to the ‘masses’ who have revolted.. viz soldiers and workers. 

• Refers to end of the Kaiserreich… Prussian militarism and Kaiser are no more. 

• Authors’ comment on the nature of the new state power. Not yet a people’s 

revolution. Source is very critical of those who have betrayed the workers. 

• The text reveals the socialist internationalism of the Spartakists. 


The best answers should focus on the tension between reformist and revolutionary socialism. The 

crisis of German (and European) social democracy in August 1914 and throughout the war… 

leading to splits. 

MSPD pro war USPD centrist Spartakists 

Wanted to transform the war 

into a people’s revolution. 

• Spontaneous revolt in October 1918; mutinies and political strikes. Emergence of the councils 

(broadly imitative of Soviets) 

• Tension between reformist and revolutionary socialists, especially evident after rival proclamations 

of the Republic. Role of Ebert, Scheidemann and Noske. 

• The unfolding of the revolution from the Ebert-Groener pact to the crushing of the Spartakist 

Revolt in January 1919. 

Driven by their Marxism and inspired by the Bolshevik’s seizure of power in October 1917, 

the Spartakists demanded not what they would have termed a ‘bourgeois democratic 

republic’ but a dictatorship of the workers’ and soldiers’ councils. 

Page 117



• Historical scholarship on the German Revolution and its nature has over the decades 

remained remarkably constant in its analysis and evaluation of the nature of the German 

Revolution and the tensions that lay at its heart. 

• Luxemburg herself commented on the political immaturity of the insurrectionists who thus 

gave Ebert and his comrades their chance to smuggle themselves into the revolution (in the 

phrase of one radical) and pose as its leaders. 

• Generations of German historians from the Weimar Republic’s first historian Arthur 

Rosenberg through to later scholars such as Kolb and Peukert have commented on the 

‘revolution that ran aground’ (Kolb) 

• AJ Ryder (1959) in a pamphlet six times reprinted, pioneered British scholarship, seeing the 

revolution as ‘half completed’. Eschewing any misplaced romanticism about Red Rosa, 

Richard J Evans (2004) refers to the German revolution ‘not resolving the conflicts that 

had been boiling up in the country in the final phases of the war.’ 


extent to which a consideration of Source A is useful in offering a full perspective on the causes 

of the German Revolution. 

Marks 



















Page 118

Question 2 

How fully does Source B explain the effects of the inflation of 1922-1923 on the 

German people? (12 marks) 






Candidate offers a structured evaluation of the completeness of Source B, in terms of: 


include: accurate comment on Richard J Evans will be credited under historiography. 


Short term effects 

‘at its height.. terrifying’ 

‘money lost its meaning’ 

‘families on fixed income’ forced to sell 

possessions 

‘Germany .. grinding to a halt’ 

effects on business 

effects on municipalities 

Long term effects 

‘are hard to measure’ 

‘used to be thought that it destroyed the 

economic prosperity of the middle class.’ 

on German conservatives; feelings of ‘a world 

turned upside down’. 

Candidate should be able to bring recall to bear to illustrate and contextualise the author’s viewpoint, and 

to point up any omissions/limitations of the source extract. 1923 is rich on anecdotage. 

Page 119


The question is on the effects of the hyper-inflation, but the candidate could give some analysis of 

the origins and development of the inflationary crisis to help explain the scale of the impact…. 

1914-18 Kaiserreich’s failed gamble on victory leading to huge fiscal deficit. 

1919 Germany is ‘made to pay’ whilst its economic resources and domestic market 

shrink. 

1919 onwards. With currency not pegged to gold and collateralized paper, galloping inflation 

becomes a stampede. 

January 1923 Ruhr crisis. Government’s passive resistance policy – rising unemployment 

falling production – dropping tax revenues – refusal to raise taxes – resort to 

the printing presses – hyper inflation results. 

Exchange rate Mark/dollar 

1:4 8:1 47:1 263:1 493:1 7000:1 353000:1 

25260000000:1 

1914 1918 Dec 1919 Nov 1921 July 1922 Dec 1922 July 1923 Oct 1923 

Effects of inflation: 

Economic 

Soaring price of 

staples (eg bread) 

Hoarding 

Looting 

Break down of public 

utilities 

Bartering 

Cartelisation 

Destitution of many 

Post-stabilisation 

effect on savings 

Recognition of those who did well 

Social 

Crime rate rises 

Increase in suicide 

rates 

Food riots 

Malnutrition 

Political 

Upsurge in 

extremism 

Exemplified by 

Nazi’s Munich 

putsch 

and KPD’s 

Hamburg rising 

Cultural 

Erosion of 

‘solid’ 

bourgeois 

values 

Fear 

Alienation 

‘criminal chic’ 



Candidates may refer to a range of similar evaluations from contemporary chroniclers to textbook 

writers to academic historians on the insidious effects of the inflation on all layers of society. 

(There further exists a considerable body of sources found in CSYS and Advanced Higher 

History past papers). 

Page 120

Effective answers should reflect on the complex and frequently contradictory nature of the 

inflation’s effects, both in the short term and the long term, viz: 

• ‘there were winners too’ Erma Pustau eg (initially at least) in the short term borrowers and currency 

speculators. 

• ‘Landowners actually benefited, often paying off their mortgages in depreciated marks. So did 

industrialists, especially if they sold abroad.’ (Piers Brendon) 

Richard J Evans in Source B notes that ‘it used to be thought that it destroyed the 

economic prosperity of the middle class.’ But the middle class was a very diverse group in 

economic and financial terms. Individuals were often both savers and borrowers. Evans proceeds 

to point out how the post-stabilisation effect of inflation affected all social groups. 

• Hugo Stinnes is the best known (notorious?) beneficiary of inflation. 

• Inflation and popular memory. 1923, ‘the year money went mad,’ seared German consciousness. 

• Like Evans, Paul Bookbinder, while describing the beneficiaries (eg underlying trend 

towards cartelisation process was consolidated during, and continued after the period of 

inflation) notes the corrosive impact of the great inflation. ‘The ruin it brought to many 

contributed to undermining confidence in the Republic for broad segments of the 

population.’ 

• A candidate might note that despite the short term benefits for some, by autumn 1923 inflation’s 

de-stabilising impact affected all layers of German society. Hence Brendon’s argument that 

‘here was a revolution as sweeping as that of the Bolsheviks.’ It can be argued that the 

redistributive effect of the inflation was more significant than the Revolution of 1918. 

• Perhaps inevitably the crisis had political effects creating further crises for the already 

troubled Republic. 


extent to which a consideration of Source B is helpful in offering a full perspective on the effects 

of inflation on the German people. 

Marks 



















Page 121

Question 3 

How well do Sources C and D illustrate differing viewpoints on the process 

whereby Hitler became Chancellor in 1933? (16 marks) 






[i] the quality and depth of the contextual recall 

[ii] the quality and depth of the wider perspectives 

[iii] the range and quality of historians’ views 

[iv] provenance comment [if appropriate] 

Answers which refer only to provenance and content merit a maximum of 7 marks 

Candidate considers the views on the process whereby Hitler became Chancellor, found in 

Sources C and D and offers a structured review and evaluation of the two perspectives in terms 

of: 

Source C 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant points may be given credit. These may include; 

Authorship: high ranking government official who served first Hindenburg, then 

Hitler [tried before Military tribunal No 4 post-war. Acquitted] purpose: inside 

knowledge of the manoeuvres for power, 1932/33 


• The role of Papen and his powers of ‘persuasion’ over Hindenburg. 

• Hindenburg as ‘extremely hesitant’ in accepting Hitler rather than von Papen as Chancellor. 

• Source located in January 1933, a month of intensive intrigue in the Chancellery and 

President’s office. 

• ‘the other right wing parties..’ especially role of Hugenburg and DNVP in the creation of a 

Nationalist coalition with Hitler at its head. 

• ‘a revolt of the national socialists and civil war was likely..’ tense political atmosphere. 

Page 122

Points from recall which develop and contextualise those in the source: 

• Von Papen, aristocratic, Catholic, ex-Reichswehr officer, powerfully connected; on extreme 

right of Centre Party, lacking mass support forced to win over Hitler in his attempt to fend off 

his bitter rival, General von Schleicher. 

• Hindenburg, 85 years of age, head of state since 1925; increasingly feeble and open to 

manipulation by members of his immediate circle such as son Oskar, Meissner and von 

Papen. 

• Parliamentary rule in the Reichstag in flux, replaced by intensive manoeuvring within the 

Presidential Camarilla by January 1933. 

• The ambitions of the nationalist media tycoon, Hugenburg; along with von Papen thought that 

he might use Hitler to win political power. 

• Public disorder widespread throughout Germany, especially the brawls between Nazi and 

Communist organisations; the SA and Rotfront. 

Source D 

Provenance: appropriate and relevant points may be given credit. These may include; accurate 

comment on Ashby Turner will receive marks under historiography. 


• ‘A remarkable political come-back…’ Hitler and the Nazi Party had appeared on the slide. 

• ‘A staggering set back’ Nazi losses in the November 1932 elections. 

• ‘Discussion and rebellion.’ Splits within the NSDAP; Gregor and Otto Strasser as rivals to 

Hitler’s leadership. 

• ‘the economy’ indicators that the Great Depression had bottomed out with ‘signs of 

improvement’ 

• Field Marshal von Hindenburg’s active dislike of (ex-corporal) Hitler. 

• But, 30 January 1933, the President appoints Hitler as Chancellor. 


• November 1932 Reichstag elections; though NSDAP remains largest political party, the 

number of its deputies is reduced to 191. 

• NSDAP finances weak after the huge political campaigns of 1932. 

• General von Schleicher, briefly Chancellor in December 1932, attempted to split the Nazi 

movement by wooing Hitler’s chief rival within the NSDAP, Gregor Strasser. 

• Evidence of recovery of the economy. 

• The aristocratic President’s contempt for his social inferior, Hitler; he had earlier (30 August 

1932) offered Hitler a cabinet post in an administration led by von Papen. Hitler had refused. 

• January 1933; having prevailed upon the President to dismiss von Schleicher, von Papen and 

Oskar von Hindenburg persuade the old man to appoint Hitler as chancellor; heading a 

nationalist coalition. 

Page 123

Points which offer wider and more critical contextualisation of the views in the sources: 

• Source C describes one level of a complex process, focusing on von Papen’s role as archintriguer, 

an aristocratic fop whose huge ambition was in inverse proportion to his political 

skills and judgement (ie ‘we’ve engaged him (Hitler) for ourselves” – his hopelessly mistaken 

view of the 30 th January deal). 

• The collapse of parliamentary democracy in Germany from 1930: the inability of the 

democratic parties to rule, the upsurge of revolutionary extremism on the left and on the right; 

burgeoning civil disorder. 

• Its corollary; the advancement of ‘saviours’, first Brüning, then von Papen and von 

Schleicher, each seeking a return to authoritarian rule. 

• But the emergence of ‘presidential cabinets’, and of intriguing rivals for power is only a 

partial explanation. Hitler, as leader of Germany’s largest political party and supported by 

the paramilitary bands of Brownshirts, the SA, was the ultimate arbiter. 

• Hitler’s charisma as leader of the Nazi mass movement and his huge self-belief as Germany’s 

messiah. 

• The shallow roots of political democracy in Germany contrasted with the prevalent 

authoritarian ethos. 

• The political fallout from the Great Depression, the destruction of Weimar democracy. 



• KD Bracher in The German Dictatorship (1969) was one of the first German historians to 

burrow beneath the layers of intrigue, uncovering the worsening structural problems of 

Weimar political life. 

• Likewise Hans Mommsen who placed blame for 30 th January 1933 on the conservative 

elites, and saw Hitler’s appointment as only partly being the product of a backstairs intrigue: 

‘The complex and opaque process… gave the appearance of a palace coup, but they occurred 

within a broader social context.’ 

• Detlev Peukert talks of ‘the old elites, all too successful in destroying the Republic but too 

feeble to restore the pre-war order.’ Thus the intriguers had to seek a Faustian compact with 

the man they despised, Hitler. 

• Michael Burleigh: contrasts Papen’s ‘effete, drawing room Machiavellianism’ , with Hitler’s 

‘rat-like cunning’. Papen’s tragic over-estimation of his ability to manipulate Hitler. 

• Richard Bessel: on German society’s collective unwillingness to accept reality, to accept the 

Republic. 

• Richard Overy: ‘Hitler came to power only because a group of conservative nationalists… 

judged reluctantly, that Hitler was essential to carry on the broader national revolution..’ 

• Ian Kershaw: his encapsulation is of Hitler ‘levered into power’ while ‘the elites had proven 

themselves incapable of establishing a viable authoritarian alternative of the old type and without 

mass support.’ For all the weakening of his power base in November 1932, as indicated in Source D, 

Hitler could not be ignored. 

• Richard J Evans emphasises the importance of von Papen’s deposition of the SPD-led state 

administration of Prussia in summer 1932. He thereby ‘dealt a mortal blow to the Weimar 

republic.’ The only alternatives were a conservative authoritarian regime or a Nazi 

dictatorship. 



process whereby Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. 

Page 124

Marks 

1-4 Vaguely written; not answering the question or showing understanding of the particular 

views in the sources; minimal explanation; little sense of context; merely re-describes the 

sources 

5-7 Fairly well-written and some relevant points of explanation made. Shows a limited 

understanding of the particular views in the sources. Shows a basic sense of context but 

lacking clear structure; points made randomly, indicating little real grasp of significance. 

8-11 Clearly written and sensibly structured; explanation ranges over several relevant points; 

sets material in context fairly accurately; good factual grasp of topic and a reasonable 

review and evaluation of relevant issues within the sources, which may include reference to 


12-16 Well written, soundly structured and wide-ranging, with a clear and convincing argument. 

This answer offers detailed explanations which range over many relevant points within the 

sources, with a solid grasp of context and significance. Greater awareness and development 

of historical interpretations and/or historians’ views will be credited highly. 

Page 125

South Africa (1910-1984) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

How important a part did the demand for cheap labour play in the development of 

segregationist policies in South Africa, 1910 – 1948? 

The candidate is being asked to assess the relative significance of the demand for cheap labour in 

the development of segregationist policies between 1910 and 1948, while also evaluating other 

possible factors that should be taken into consideration. The question requires the candidate to 

reach a conclusion about the relative importance of cheap labour as a factor in the development of 

segregation. 


Evidence relating to the cheap labour explanation of segregationist policies: 

• ways in which segregation met the needs of industry and white farming 

• the links between segregation and migrant labour 

• the apparent advantages of migrant labour for mining and agriculture 

• the continuing concerns of the mining industry relating to cheap labour 

• the ‘alliance of gold and maize’ 

• the reserve-subsidy theory of migrant labour 

• the ways in which segregationist policies made cheap labour more accessible 

• the 1913 Land Act and the way in which this benefited white farmers 

• the creation of Native reserves and migrant labour 

• the introduction of the colour bar and civilised labour policies. 

Evidence relating to other possible explanations of segregationist policies: 

• migrant labour did not suit the growing needs of manufacturing industry 

• the traditional ‘racial’ explanation of segregation emphasising Afrikaner assumptions about 

race 

• the contributions of Anglophone communities in the early twentieth century as a basis for 

further segregation 

• the sanitation syndrome of the early twentieth century 

• the growing fear of the ‘black peril’ in the 1920s 

• the fears of ‘miscegenation’ and ‘white degeneration’ 

• the views of ‘liberal segregationists’ and the desire to protect Africans from the dangers of 

over-rapid urbanisation 

• the migrant labour system was significantly shaped by the dynamics of African societies. 



• the traditional explanations put forward by Liberal historians, emphasising Afrikaner values 

• the revisionist arguments of the 1970s put forward by Legassick and Wolpe, emphasising 

the economic arguments 

• Saul Dubow’s study Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa, which 

challenged the revisionist view by placing greater emphasis on the fear of the black peril and 

contemporary racial ideology 

• William Beinart’s argument that the dynamics of African societies contributed to the 

development of migrant labour. 

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Question 2 

What factors best explain why African resistance to government policies achieved so little in 

the years 1910 – 1948? 

The question asks the candidate to analyse the reasons why African resistance achieved so little 

between 1910 and 1948. Answers should not be limited to comments on the ANC during this 

period, but should include reference to other forms of African resistance. 


• the diversity of African resistance movements and the lack of agreement about aims and 

methods 

• the nature of white rule in southern Africa after 1910 and the political, social and economic 

difficulties of resistance 

• the extension of state and employer control made resistance harder 

• the aims and leadership of the ANC throughout the period 

• the ANC played a secondary role throughout much of the 1920s and 1930s 

• the revival of the ANC during the 1940s under Xuma 

• the radicalism of the Youth League and its criticism of traditional ANC approaches 

• the greatest challenge came from organised labour eg after WW1 and again after WW2. 

• the ICU and its short lived successes in the 1920s 

• the failure of the ICU to identify with the every day problems of ordinary Africans 

• the financial scandals and internal disputes which destroyed the ICU 

• the influence of Garveyism and those who favoured a more co-operative approach and 

opposed Garvey’s ideas 

• the failure of the CPSA to create a mass movement 

• the failure of the All-Africa Convention to reach agreement about how to act in the face of 

Hertzog’s legislative attack on African rights: Petition and deputation versus mass action. 



• Tom Lodge: ANC leaders were middle class men who feared ‘being thrust back into the 

ranks of the urban and rural poor’ 

• Nigel Worden: African protest was less successful (than the protests of white workers) and 

lacked the link with political mobilization’. 

• Dubow: assesses the early ANC more leniently than many other historians: ‘The resort to 

oral suasion was a pragmatic strategy that had to be exhausted before being abandoned’. 

Nevertheless, Dubow describes the ANC as ‘moribund’ by 1936 

• James Barbour: The ICU was the ‘first effective black movement’ which was ‘less 

important for promoting new ideas than for demonstrating the power of a mass black 

movement’. 

• Worden (following Bradford): the ICU ‘had given a sense of unity to diverse local struggles 

and had briefly combined urban and rural issues into a national movement... It had achieved 

an unprecedented level of support throughout the Union and its memory was maintained for 

many decades afterwards, but nothing more tangible was achieved’. 

• Odentaal: The early ANC mistakenly pursued a policy of ‘hopeful reliance on the common 

sense of justice and love of freedom so innate in the British character’. 

• Clark and Worger emphasise the considerable achievements of organised labour before 1948 

: the African Mineworkers Union had 25 000 members by 1943 

• Candidates may also be aware of the hagiographical approach of Meli ( South Africa belongs 

to us!) and of the Marxist interpretation of D. T. McKinley in The ANC and the Liberation 

Struggle. 

Page 127

Question 3 

Why were Hertzog and Smuts able to overcome their apparent political differences and 

agree to Fusion, and the formation of the United Party in 1934? 

This question invites candidates to consider both the immediate and longer term circumstances 

(social, political and economic) which led to the formation of the Hertzog-Smuts coalition in 

1933 and the formation of the UP a year later. 


Immediate reasons for Fusion 

• By 1931 the Great Depression was having a serious impact in South Africa. 

• The rest of the world could not afford to buy South Africa’s main exports. 

• Diamond exports fell in value from £16.5 m in 1928 to £1.4 m in 1934. 

• The world price for wool fell from 16.6 pence per lb. to 4.4 pence per pound in 1931-2. 

• Between 1928/9 and 1931/2 national income dropped by 19% 

• By 1933, approximately 22% of whites and coloureds were unemployed 

• ‘For God’s sake, General, forget the language and gives us bread!’ 

• The Carnegie Commission, investigating the problem of poor whites, found that 30% of 

all families could not feed or house their children adequately. 

• In December 1932 the government abandoned the gold standard and the SA pound fell to 

parity with the pound sterling. Many personal fortunes were made. 

• Although the economy began to recover after SA abandoned the gold standard, Smuts 

and Hertzog agreed to start talks about forming a coalition government to guide SA 

through the depression 

• Hertzog’s fear that the NP might be defeated at the next election and that this could 

destroy what he had achieved for Afrikanerdom. 

• Smuts saw Fusion as the Great Experiment: a way of countering the emergence of 

fascism in Europe by emphasising common ground. 

Longer term reasons for Fusion 

• The differences which had separated Hertzog and Smuts in the 1920s 

• These differences may have been exaggerated 

• Both believed in white supremacy and supported the creation of a white nation drawn 

from the two white cultures 

• Issues about the SA position within the Empire appeared to have been resolved by the 

Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the subsequent Statute of Westminster 

• Hertzog no longer feared Imperial or British cultural domination 

• Economic changes, such as the greater degree of state intervention which had taken place 

since 1924, would be safeguarded 

Page 128



• Davenport argues that Fusion was intended to settle imperial, economic and native issues 

which had previously divided the white community 

• Giliomee points out that Fusion was a way of safeguarding the interests of English voters. 

Demographic problems militated in favour of Fusion. There was a rough ratio of 55:45 

between Afrikaner and English voters and, additionally, the electoral system favoured 

Afrikaners. 

• Barber: The crisis of 1933 underlined the common ground between Smuts and Hertzog. 

‘Past disputes appeared to be of emphasis rather than direction, of means rather than ends’ 

• CFJ Muller: quotes Hertzog as saying: ‘We will suffer defeat and it will be the end of 

Afrikanerdom’ 

• Davies, Kaplan, Morris and O’Meara: Hertzog had replaced ‘imperial’ mining capital with 

‘national’ capital after 1924 (ie the government paid more attention to the interests of white 

commercial farmers and local manufacturers) through state intervention and this economic 

change continued after Fusion. 

Page 129

Question 4 

Why was opposition to apartheid “relatively muted” during the 1960s? 

The aim of the essay is to enable the candidate to consider and evaluate the range of factors which 

contributed to the relative quiescence of the 1960s. The candidate would be expected to reach a 

conclusion about the relative importance of political factors, including the power of the state and 

the weakness of the resistance movements, and socio-economic factors such as the rapid growth 

in the SA economy. Some candidates may recognise that relatively muted is not the same as 

silenced and that there may have been developments taking place that would be of significance in 

the future. 


The government response: 

• the banning of resistance organisations 

• increased government control over the press and personal mobility 

• urban removal policy. 

Economic stability: 

• a decade of unprecedented economic growth 

• GNP grew at 5% pa 

• while white South Africans gained the most, black unemployment fell to less than 10%. 

The weakness of the resistance movements: 

• the banning of the ANC and PAC drove African opposition to direct action 

• divisions in both the ANC and PAC 

• The Rivonia Trial led to the imprisonment of the most significant ANC/MK leaders 

• the problems facing the exiled organisations 

• the difficulties of co-ordinating guerrilla campaigns 

• lack of international support. 

The international response: 

• the UN was highly critical of the SA government by the end of the 1960s 

• OAU set up a Liberation Committee but the new African regimes lacked influence 

• SA government made effective propaganda use of the alleged link between the SACP and the 

ANC 

• the West continued to invest in the South African economy. 

Page 130



• Leonard Thompson: ‘Quiescence did not mean acquiescence’ 

• Dale McKinley (Marxist-Leninist) blames the ANC: ‘the reactive armed struggle was born 

of a historical failure to organise and mobilise around the actual and potential militancy of 

the masses.’ As a result, McKinley argues that ‘The ANC was no closer to seizing power 

than it had been in the late 1950s’ 

• Francis Meli finds encouraging signs of continuing resistance: ‘The ANC concentrated on 

heightening the political consciousness of its cadres and keeping up their morale’ 

• Tom Lodge: “Despite the frustrations and apparent triviality of much exile political activity, 

the experience of exile and the fashion in which South African political movements survived 

was an important phase of the history of South African resistance. It was a rite of passage 

…” 

Page 131

Question 5 

How important a part did the Black Consciousness movement play in causing increased 

militancy among black Africans in the 1970s and early 1980s? 

This question asks the candidate to evaluate the relative significance of the Black consciousness 

movement’s contribution to the increased militancy among black South Africans in the 1970s and 

early 1980s. Candidates are expected to evaluate both the part played by black consciousness and 

the other possible factors involved. 


The nature of the Black Consciousness Movement: 

• the ideology of Black Consciousness 

• the leadership of Steve Biko 

• the influence of the American Black Power movement 

• the formation of SASO in 1969 and subsequently of SASM 

• 1972 student strikes on university campuses 

• 1975 SASO banned 

• The Black Communities Project encouraged self-help schemes 

• Biko rejected policies of violence adopted by ANC/PAC in early 1960s 

• the impact of Black Consciousness on a generation of Africans 

• The ideological and political vacuum created by the banning of the ANC/PAC 

• Black Consciousness influenced the student leaders in Soweto as well as students elsewhere 

• the impact of Biko’s trial 1975-6. 

The limitation of Black Consciousness: 

• the limited influence of the Black Peoples’ Convention 

• vague and undefined political and economic policies 

• Black Consciousness failed to penetrate into working class or peasant communities 

• students in Soweto had no formal links with worker organisations. 

Other factors: 

• the related ‘liberation theology’ in church circles, as well as a vigorous movement in the arts, 

with works such as Bloke Modisane’s Blame me on History taking a liberationist message to 

the townships 

• the rebirth of African trades unions with a consequent series of strikes 

• 60 000 African workers were on strike in the first three months of 1973 

• the great unpopularity of Afrikaans-medium instruction in the Bantu schools, 

• poor living conditions and simple reaction to oppression. 

• developments in other African countries, especially the liberation of Angola and Mozambique 

• the international oil crisis and the subsequent recession which halted the long period of 

industrial/economic success in SA 

• the increased size of the African urban workforce, including skilled and semi skilled workers 

• the increased class-consciousness of that workforce 

• the growing unpopularity of the homelands policy of the NP. 

Page 132



• S. Dubow emphasises the influence of the BC movement on the Soweto uprising 

• Robert Price has shown that the students in SASO were influenced by developments in 

Mozambique and Angola. 

• Hirson in Year of Fire, Year of Ash highlights increased worker militancy as an explanation 

of the revolt in the townships 

• Nigel Worden: describes Black Consciousness as ‘an important part of the renewed 

conflicts’ of the 1970s 

• Adrian Guelke: How far the Black Consciousness movement actually extended beyond 

intellectuals and students remains a matter of debate 

• Robert Ross: ‘The leaders of the Black consciousness movement had little immediate 

affinity with the working class of the cities’ 

• Beinart argues that the Black Consciousness movement extended the bounds of possibility 

and that anger and the symbols of resistance survived the death of Biko and the banning of 

BC. There remained ‘a strong belief amongst politicised black youths that ‘the system ‘was 

so unjust that it could not last. 

Page 133

Question 6 

‘A complex attempt to adapt to changing circumstances, without sacrificing Afrikaner 

power’. How accurate is this assessment of the reforms introduced by PW Botha’s 

government, 1978– 1984? 

This question asks the candidate to identify the changing circumstances of the late 70s and early 

80s – both within SA and abroad – which led to the ‘adapt or die’ policies of the Botha 

administration, and then assess the extent to which the reforms were ultimately a means of 

retaining white, predominantly Afrikaner, power. 


Changing circumstances 

• Changing demands within the economy and manufacturing industry’s need for a more stable, 

educated workforce. 

• Growing worker militancy. 

• Changes in the NP power base meant that Botha was now more ready to listen to the demands 

made by industry. 

• The break-away Conservative Party won the blue-collar workers’ support, leaving Botha in 

need of a new power base. 

• The changing international situation: black majority rule elsewhere in Africa meant SA faced 

total onslaught from the front line states. 

• The PAC and ANC embarked on new campaigns to end white rule 

• SA’s economic problems in the 1970s. 

The main reforms and their aims 

• The recommendations of the Wiehahn and Riekart Commissions. 

• The Lange Commission ( education). 

• The recognition of African Trade Unions. 

• The granting of certain rights to urban Africans in the hope that this would create stable 

African urban communities. 

• The ending of white job reservation in manufacturing industry. 

• The ending of restrictions on the mobility of labour. 

• The tri-cameral constitution of 1984. 

• Botha needed allies in his struggle against the perceived threat of international communism. 

• Botha hoped to win the support of middle class blacks. 



• Merle Lipton: apartheid and the capitalism were in conflict. Segregation was no longer 

appropriate to the changing needs of the SA economy, hence the changes. However, SA 

remained a ‘racially ordered society’ 

• Adrian Guelke: Botha sought to influence Western opinion towards SA directly through 

domestic reform’. 

• O’Meara: Under pressure for the Urban Foundation and other business groups, the Botha 

government now relaxed some of the restrictions on the black middle class, allowing it a 

measure of social mobility’. 

• Robert Ross: ‘Botha’s Nationalists did not reject the basic assumptions or methods of 

apartheid… They merely recognised that some degree of economic and social reform was 

necessary in order to maintain Afrikaner supremacy and white prosperity’. This was a 

‘piecemeal, unconvinced reform programme based on the government’s realisation that it 

could no longer maintain its power without building up alliances among its subjects’. 

Page 134

South Africa (1910-1984) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How well do Sources A and B illustrate differing explanations of the rise of 

Afrikaner nationalism before 1948? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources A and B, and evaluates the extent to which they 

illustrate differing explanations of the rise of Afrikaner nationalism in terms of: 

Points from Source A: 


include: recognition that this is a recent history of South Africa, written by a leading Afrikaner 

academic. 


• Afrikaner intellectuals deliberately exaggerated both the effects of British imperialism and 

the fear of being overwhelmed by the black drift to the cities 

• Afrikaners were encouraged to see themselves as ‘victims’ 

• They were being exploited both from above (by the British) and from below (by the 

uncivilised African majority) 


• the longstanding Afrikaner hostility to British Imperialism 

• the anti-capitalist stand of Afrikaner politicians, especially Hertzog in the 1920s 

• Hertzog’s determination to restrict Imperial authority 

• Afrikaner fears of the African majority, especially in towns, and the impact of ‘the Black 

Peril’ in the 1929 election 

• the efforts made by extreme nationalists to create a sense of identity among Afrikaners by 

playing on these prejudices and fears 

• candidates who are able to provide content detail and analysis on any of these aspects are 

showing that they can offer support for the wider picture of the view expressed in Source A. 

Page 135

Source B 


include: accurate comment on Clark and Worger will receive marks under historiography. 


• The leadership of the Broederbond was drawn largely from the intelligentsia 

• The FAK was established to promote Afrikaner culture 

• Ethnic identity was promoted through Afrikaner culture and especially the use of Afrikaans 

• The Broederbond fostered ethnic identity through economic activity 

• The Broederbond saw political power as a means to establishing social and economic goals. 


• Information about the origins and role of the Broederbond 

• The Broederbond was based largely in the Transvaal 

• The relationship between the Broederbond (established 1918) the FAK (established 1929) 

• The role of the Broederbond in the Eeuwfees celebration of 1938 

• Isobel Hofmeyr has emphasised the role of language, and Afrikaner publications, in creating 

a sense of national identity. (‘Building a nation from words: Afrikaans language, literature 

and national identity’). 

Candidates who are able to provide content detail and analysis on any of these aspects are 

showing that they can offer support for the wider picture of the view expressed in Source B. 

Points which offer wider and more critical contextualisation of the view in the sources. 

The two sources consider some of the factors which historians have suggested as significant in the 

rise of Afrikaner nationalism. 

Mention could also be made of the following: 

• Earlier ‘Liberal’ views also argued that Afrikaner nationalism was a product of fear. 

• Others have seen the rise of Afrikaner nationalism as a response to the problems of the poor 

whites. 



• Dunbar Moodie’s emphasis on the role of ‘civil religion’ in the Rise of Afrikanerdom (1975) 

• O’Meara’s emphasis on the creation of an Afrikaner economic movement to counter what 

were seen as the interests of English capital. (Volkskapitalisme: O’Meara (1983) 

• The significance of the Cape, where, as Giliomee has shown, a Nationalist bourgeoisie 

(farmers and intelligentsia) had emerged as early as 1915. The significance of Die Burger 

and the Nasionale Pers – Cape publications – in promoting Afrikaner national identity 

• Giliomee has questioned the significance of the Broederbond and the Transvaal in the rise of 

Afrikaner nationalism 

The candidate is therefore able to reach a conclusion, using a range of evidence, about the extent 

to which Sources A and B illustrate differing explanations of the rise of Afrikaner nationalism. 

Page 136

Marks 



















Page 137

Question 2 

How useful is Source C as an explanation of the apartheid policies of the 1950s? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured evaluation of the usefulness of Source C as an explanation of 

apartheid policies after 1948 in terms of: 


Provenance: A contemporary source from the Nationalist politician who became 

known as ‘apartheid’s master builder’ 

To justify National Party policies to the (advisory) Natives Representative 

Council, the only body representing Africans, after the disenfranchising 

of Cape Blacks in 1936. One African representative described the 

Natives Representative Council as a ‘toy telephone’. 


• The government advocates baasskap apartheid 

• Verwoerd presents this as supremacy for whites in white areas, and for Africans in African areas 

• There will be opportunities for prosperity and development in each ‘sphere’ 

• NP policies will ensure the development of the Bantu peoples, taking into account their 

languages, traditions, history and ethnic differences 


• Comparison of Verwoerd’s beliefs here with the theories developed by Afrikaner academics 

in 1940s (eg Geoff Cronje, Piet Cillie) 

• Reference to the content of the Sauer report of 1948 

• Verwoerd had been appointed Minister for Native Affairs in October 1950 

• Verwoerd was instrumental in the passing of the Bantu Education Act (1953) which provided 

a separate – and inferior – education system for Africans, preparing them for a future 

determined by whites. 

• Key aspects of baasskap apartheid such as the attempts to restrict those Africans who could 

live in white-designated areas ( those who had section 10 rights) and the tightening of the 

Pass Laws for Africans; the ‘removal’ of non-whites from areas designated white , most 

notably at Sophiatown; separate development after 1959 with passing of Bantu Self 

Governing Act. 

Page 138



Possible reference to the historiographical debate about how far apartheid was a single, defined 

ideology in the 1950s, with reference to Posel’s work on ‘practical’ apartheid 


extent to which a consideration of Source C is useful in explaining the apartheid policies of the 

1950s. 

Marks 

















analysis. Greater awareness and development of historical interpretations and/or historians’ 

views will be credited highly. 

Page 139

Question 3 

How fully does Source D explain the appeal of Africanist ideas at the time of the PAC split 

from the ANC? (12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D as an explanation of the appeal of 

Africanist ideas, in terms of: 


include: recognition of who Sobukwe was and why his views mattered. 


• Africanists reject both apartheid and the multi-racialism of the ANC 

• Multi racialism encourages ethnic particularism 

• Multi-racialism is effectively a means of protecting white interests 

• All Africans – throughout Africa (hence Afrika) should stand united 

• All whose first loyalty is to Africa, and who accept black majority rule, are to be considered as 

‘Africans’ 

• PAC slogan was ‘Africa for the Africans’ 


• Africanists rejected the Freedom Charter and its advocacy of multi-racialism 

• Africanists were suspicious of the white Congress of Democrats, and the involvement of the SACP 

• Originally strongly influenced by Garveyism 

• Africanist views were present in the Congress Youth League (1943) and in Anton Lembede 

in particular 

• Under Luthuli’s leadership, the ANC had co-operated with other organisations opposed to 

apartheid: this led to conflicts between Charterists and Africanists 

• Worden suggest that the appeal of Africanism was part of the ‘wider African assertiveness in 

this period’, and the growth of African nationalism throughout the continent, as evidenced by 

the 1958 Accra Conference. 

• PAC appealed to the alienated in the townships, particularly on the Rand but also in the 

Western Cape 



Dubow suggests that the Treason Trial, and the power vacuum it created within the ANC, led to 

dissent and internal problems which weakened the ANC and played into the hands of the PAC 

Lack of clarity about what Sobukwe meant when he attempted to define an ‘African’. 


extent to which a consideration of Source D is helpful in explaining the appeal of Africanist ideas 

at the time of the PAC split from the ANC. 

Page 140

Marks 

















analysis. Greater awareness and development of historical interpretations and/or historians’ 

views will be credited highly. 

Page 141

Soviet Russia (1917-1953) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

To what extent can the decline of the Provisional Government be dated from the July Days? 

In an account and an analysis of its failings, factors within the Provisional Government itself 

should be analysed and compared to external events and the impact of alternative groups. There 

should be a sense of continuous debate and an awareness of the players involved. Personalities, 

policies, actions and miscalculations will inform the piece. Discussion should include the key 

policy issues – social reform, land, economy, national minorities and war. 


The Provisional Government itself: 

• the weaknesses inherent in the government 

• divided government (Dual Power and the Petrograd Soviet), the composition of the 

Provisional Government and the Soviet 

• the positive achievements at the outset in the ‘honeymoon period’ of the first month. 

• the constitutional problem (the Constituent Assembly) 

• different groups with conflicting demands which were difficult to meet, and the resulting 

splits (eg over the national minorities) 

• the undermining of authority in the army by Order No 1 and why the Soviet did not take 

power at this time should be examined 

• the policies, the land question and the food crises. 

The external factors which served to exacerbate the problems: 

• the impact of the war, the more sophisticated line of argument leading with the 

underestimation of the social revolution in 1917, citing desertions from the army after the 

June Offensive and looking at the July Days as a catalyst for more 

• addressing the fact that in the July Days the threat of Bolshevism could have been arrested 

• a consideration of the right (Kornilov) and the role of Kerensky. 

The question of the Bolshevik challenge: 

• the significance of Lenin’s return, the April Theses and the radicalisation of the workers 

• in this acute situation the July Days are evidence of limited Bolshevik commitment to 

revolution and Kerensky’s actions served only to bring the Bolsheviks back in the aftermath 

of the Kornilov affair 

• discussion about the seizure of power in October and the roles of the main leaders, Lenin and 

Trotsky 

• the issue of the popular revolution as evidence of the complete failure of the Provisional 

Government, the coup d’etat by the Bolsheviks as further evidence of limited opposition. 

Page 142



• Robert Service’s view that ‘for most of the year the Provisional Government survived on 

guile and rhetoric’ 

• M Howard contends that it collapsed ‘under the immense stress imposed by an industrialised 

war’ 

• Rabinowitch states that the long term causes of unrest made ‘the desire for an end to the 

coalition government very nearly universal’ 

• Kowalski noted that the system was also victim to ‘a number of unpredictable accidents and 

improbable coincidences… such as, for instance, the attempted coup by General Kornilov’ 

• Robert Service noted that ‘the timing of the collapse of the Provisional Government was 

more of his (Lenin) work than the consequence of the socio-political environment, or of the 

actions of the Soviets’ 

• Richard Pipes states that ‘it was only a question of time before Kerensky would be 

overthrown by someone able to provide firm leadership’. 

Page 143

Question 2 

How far had the ideals of the October Revolution been betrayed by the time of the Tenth 

Party Congress in March 1921? 

The relationship between the Party and government should be central to this answer as an analysis 

of events as they link to ideals or as a pragmatic response to circumstance are discussed. They 

will consider the evolution of the party over the government and over the Party membership. 

These answers will be likely to discuss democratic centralism as a justification of the extent of 

control alongside the idea of the earlier signs of dictatorship of the Party. 


The main promises made by the Bolsheviks: 

• sweeping away the ‘pillars of Tsarism’ 

• rejecting liberal democracy, as represented by the Provisional Government 

• moving towards the ideal of proletarian democracy as embodied by the Soviets and 

introduced by the leadership of the Party 

• ideology may be considered by referring to the main works (eg ‘What is to be done’, ‘April 

Theses’, ‘State and Revolution’, ‘War and Revolution’). 

Contrast this with events and actions taken to create a one-party state: 

• the political impact of the Civil War on the Party 

• the change in membership, more peasant based after the purge in 1919 and more to do with 

self-interest than Marxism 

• the loss of the proletarian base 

• discussion of the relationship of the government to the Communist Party. In the latter the 

roles of the Politburo, the Central Committee, the Congress, the City and provincial parties 

and the local parties should be included. In the former the Sovnarkom, the Central Executive 

Committee, the all-Russian Congress of Soviets, the provincial and city soviets and the local 

and district soviets should be considered 

• the ban on factions in 1921 and its impact 

• a discussion of the nomenklatura and their role in the development of authoritarian 

government. The RSFR (January 1918), the assertion of the urban and proletarian 

dictatorship and the relationship with ‘non- Russian’ areas (given varying degrees of 

autonomy), which some may contend was reminiscent of the tsarist empire 

• a consideration of the roles of Lenin and Trotsky 

• the activities of others eg Kamenev, Zinoviev. 

Justification for this phase should be presented: 

• harsh measures and strong leadership being vital to contain the situation post – Civil War 

• to prepare for the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ 

• this democratic or bureaucratic centralism would ensure that the tight knit group in Moscow 

would control and dictate to the country 

• the best answers may refer to the French Revolution (even the period of the Directory) and 

the path to Stalin. 

Page 144



• Sheila Fitzpatrick notes that the changing circumstances of the Civil War meant that to 

‘cope with a desperate situation’ they turned to a more centralised government control 

• For Alec Nove War Communism was both a response to war needs and a leap towards all out 

socialism. Furthermore he points out that if the market were to be abolished the creation of 

centralised bureaucracy was ‘a functional necessity’ 

• Kowalski points to the undeniable fact that ‘a democratic form of socialism was unlikely to 

emerge’ 

He further states that there was ‘an even greater centralisation of power in the hands of the 

Sovnarkom and its spawning bureaucracy at the expense of the power of the local soviets’ 

• James White notes that in industry central boards had been appointed to run different 

industries. 

Page 145

Question 3 

“Red victory in the Civil War was a foregone conclusion.” How justified is this view? 

Essays here will not read like a ‘fait accompli’ but should demonstrate a more detailed 

understanding of the range and importance of the different factors involved and the variety of 

influences on the outcome of the conflict. 


Discussion of the main factors in the Red victory including: 

• the organisational skills of the Bolsheviks strong leadership, role of Trotsky, a sense of unity, 

and the skill of the Red Army 

• geographical advantages, control of the Russian heartland 

• support of the peasants, the issue of popular support for the different sides in the Civil War 

• propaganda, Red exploitation of White weaknesses (eg efficient use of propaganda, terror) 

• the inability of the Whites to forge a common purpose or military front against the Reds, the 

inadequacies of the White leaders’ policies and methods 

• the role of non-White opposition to the Bolsheviks (eg the Greens, the foreign 

interventionists) and their impact on events. 

At this level answers should acknowledge the disorganisation of the Bolsheviks’ opponents, 

but will note that victory cannot be explained in these terms alone: 

• the political propaganda and the battle for the hearts and minds of the people 

• the promise of land for the peasants where the Whites returned it or gave it to former 

landlords 

• the Whites lost the support of the nationalist groups by their pre-1917 policy on the borders 

which would deny autonomy to some 

• detail on the armies will cover the leadership and the behaviour of the ordinary soldiers 

• the limited impact of foreign interventionists and their half-hearted attempts did little to aid 

the White cause. Here the Reds did not win, the Whites were losing. 

In the best pieces the debate will note the subtleties of support and varieties of causes within this 

one Civil War which did not help the Whites but, because of the ‘one cause’ belief, did help the 

Reds. 



• Evan Mawdsley cites the advantage of the ‘Aladdin’s cave’ regarding the territory 

• Robert Service cites Trotsky’s brilliance 

• Richard Pipes sees the objective factors (like the territory the Reds controlled) as the cause 

of victory, rather than leadership or motivation. 

• Orlando Figes suggests the crucial advantage the Reds had, which meant more men 

volunteered to be part of the fighting force, was the claim that they were defending ‘the 

Revolution’ 

• Figes also states that the root of White failure was one of politics 

• Bruce Lincoln also highlights this in Wrangel’s attempt in 1920 to offer land to the peasants 

as well 

Page 146

Question 4 

To what extent did NEP solve the economic problems experienced during the period of War 

Communism? 

Answers should demonstrate knowledge of what War Communism and the New Economic Policy 

were. 

The evaluation of success should include a consideration of why each policy was introduced. 


War Communism: 

• Handing over control to peasants and workers and the subsequent chaos 

• The adoption of War Communism in 1918 to ensure the economy would be sustained and the 

Army would be fed 

• Key features eg grain requisitioning, the banning of private trade, state controlled industry, 

the introduction of single managers to replace workers’ committees, internal passports, fines 

and rationing. 

NEP: 

• Restrictions removed, ‘tax in kind’ introduced, and private trade – small businesses re-opened 

and rationing abolished. 

The principles which drive the debate: 

• War Communism faithful to the cause 

• NEP almost a return to tsarist economic structures. 

The success of each in economic terms should be considered: 

• There is little doubt that NEP resulted in economic recovery, which was much better than 

expected. Details should be given. Industry did benefit. However candidates might also 

consider the role of ‘Nepmen’, the growth of ‘capitalist’ ideas, corruption and property 

speculation. That progress was uneven should be discussed eg the ‘scissors crisis’. 

• Peasants also benefited and candidates should provide evidence of rapid recovery. 

• Candidates might note that the liberalisation of the economy was beneficial to the country as 

a whole. 

The political success should be considered including: 

• The link to the aims of the revolution 

• The reason for political expediency 

• The long-term impact on the USSR. 



• Sheila Fitzpatrick and Orlando Figes both agree that NEP was introduced as ‘an 

impoverished response to desperate economic conditions’ 

• Alec Nove and Geoffrey Hosking contend that it was through political expediency – a fear 

of being overthrown, thus taking the sting out of popular discontent 

• Chamberlin, Shapiro and Figes note the detrimental effects such as the rise in unemployment, 

class tension 

• Katrina Clark states that it allowed the intellectuals to flourish 

• Shapiro cites this period as a golden age in intellectual life 

Page 147

Question 5 

How far had a new Soviet society had been created by the end of the 1930s? 

Here it might be expected to see some assessment of the nature of the ‘new society’. Candidates 

may compare developments with Lenin’s Russia in order to see progression, or may be more 

critical and note the totalitarian model and the emergence of ‘Stalinism’ as distinct from earlier 

periods. Each aspect should contain a detailed explanation of the changes and should assess the 

extent of their impact. There should be some sense of balance in the piece and some awareness of 

the criticisms of the regime. 


Changes in society (in education, the family, religion, and Socialist realism in the arts) 

• The Cultural Revolution should be addressed with its vision of new cities, communal living 

spaces, and emergence of ‘homo sovieticus’ 

• The agents of change and their impact would include the Komsomol, Shulgin and the 

influence of similar in education, RAPP, Association of artists, cinema makers 

• The success this brought to this ‘new society’ should be assessed alongside its impact on the 

family. Upheavals, homelessness and crime by the mid-thirties saw a move to more rigid 

censures on society, called by some the ‘Great Retreat’ because it was a return to the values of 

pre-Communist days. So the candidate might evaluate the Family Code of May 1936, cite the 

example of Pavlik Morozov, the Stakhanovite movement, and may also comment critically on 

this. 

• Consideration of the changes in education with the move from the abstract and the class 

struggle to that of the heroic and the imperial, using terminology like ‘motherland’ 

• The creation of the new society, perhaps mentioning Zamyatin, highlighting the limitations in 

its success. Opposition to the Stalinist ideal did exist and was not eradicated. Although at 

this stage ‘career communists’ did seize their chance and did change society, the ordinary 

people still held to their own beliefs 

Changes in politics (centralisation, the Stalinist cult, the totalitarian state). 

The interpretations of the extent of ‘Stalinism’ and the imposition of codes, rather than the 

acceptance and participation by the ordinary people, might be considered. The conflict of ideas 

and the shadow culture may be discussed. The political changes and the imposition of policy 

from the centre may be debated alongside the evidence of acceptance at local level. 

Changes in the economy (in agriculture and industry) 

Discussing the impact of industrialisation and the ‘quicksand society’, and collectivisation. 



• Kowalski states that propaganda, education and cultural developments were central to 

building socialism 

• Beryl Williams notes that the traditional gender roles were maintained 

• Sheila Fitzpatrick states that family came first at this time 

• Robert Service notes that there was a very positive response of the youth to the Komsomol 

• Richard Stites notes the negation of all existing culture because it is better to have no culture 

rather than bourgeois culture 

• Sheila Fitzpatrick notes the difficulty of ‘spontaneously’ creating this Proletkult, to be 

proletarian and distinct from the formerly dominating bourgeois culture and that it was halted 

in its infancy, its idealism and aspirations smothered by the desire to control on the 1930s. 

Page 148

Question 6 

Which factors best explain the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War? 

Answers may include background to the Nazi invasion; the ‘shock’ of Barbarossa and a 

consideration of the unpreparedness in light of the expected alliance of the two powers. 

Candidates may refer to a range of basic military factors from Barbarossa to Stalingrad, to the 

Leningrad Blockade to Kursk. 


Candidates may consider the negative factors: 

• Huge loss of life and its impact on the war machine should be highlighted as evidence of the 

potential outcome 

• Problems caused by the Red Army purge in the 1930s 

• Initial economic dislocation (eg loss of agricultural lands) 

• Diplomatic context (Nazi-Soviet Pact to buy time?). 

Candidates should note the reasons for victory: 

• The War for the Russian Motherland… now not the USSR… 

• Role of propaganda and the Orthodox Church, turning the negatives around of rationing, 

conscription, loss of homes; eventual efficiency of war economy as a result of 1930s 

policies… and loyalty to the Motherland and to Stalin 

• The relocation of industries to beyond the Urals (evacuation of approx 10 million people) 

• The scorched earth policy 

• The role of Stalin in rallying the people 

• Geo-strategic issues (size of the country, climate etc, making it difficult for the Wehrmacht) 

• Russian strengths might include the economic stability attained allowing the supply of the 

military with adequate materiel; the constant upgrading of the Red Army; opening up new 

fronts and Allied support; Kursk, evidence of Russian military development enough to beat 

the Germans in tank battles. 

• Stalingrad may be discussed in terms of the type of fighting required; suiting the Russians; 

the use of snipers; manipulating the war zone. Stalingrad is seen at this level as ‘a matter of 

prestige between Hitler and Stalin’, which alongside the ‘dogged, rugged, Siberian obstinacy’ 

and ‘the stamina of Soviet soldiers was incredible’ shows the determination involved 

• Enemy weaknesses (dealing with Russian climate, land mass meaning Germans overstretched 

and cannot apply same tactics as in France; effects of Allied bombing of Germany; 

Allied invasion in the West). 

Page 149



• Richard Overy notes the strengths and the weaknesses of the Soviet forces as reasons for the 

outcome. He also highlights the ‘uneasy symbiosis’ of the ‘efforts of the people in defiance 

of the system they inhabited’ and the role of the state and the leader. 

• Roy Medvedev criticises the Generalissimo as being ‘short-sighted and cruel, careless of losses’ 

• Chris Ward notes the economic, military and the political, but also points out the importance 

of the social factors – the people’s ear. He also notes Hitler’s blunders. 

• Richard Sakwa notes that Stalin ‘appeal(ed) to Russian pride rather than Marxism or 

Leninism as inspiration for resistance’ 

• John Laver highlights the establishment of a command economy and authoritarian rule and 

the appeal to patriotism in order to galvanise support for ‘Mother Russia’ 

• Richard Sakwa notes that there were two wars being fought simultaneously, ‘against the 

Nazi aggressor and the continuing war of the Stalinist regime to stay in power’ 

• John Laver notes the suitability of Russia economically to the demands of total war and 

Geoffrey Hosking stresses that productivity was impressive in terms of military output. 

• Reconciliation with the Church and religions is highlighted by many historians including J N 

Westwood, Richard Overy and Geoffrey Hosking… 

• Roy Medvedev notes the special ‘united front’ 

Page 150

Soviet Russia (1917-1953) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How fully does Source A explain the causes of the February Revolution? (12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source A as an adequate explanation of the causes 

of the February revolution in terms of: 


include: 

• Recognition of Rodzianko’s role in those revolutionary times; therefore his authority as 

witness. 

• Recognition of Ruskii as Commander-in chief of the Northern front 


• The events were spontaneous 

• The mutiny is from the ranks… from peasant soldiers 

• Aims reflect peasant causes – for rights to land and freedom 

• The failure of the Tsar and autocracy 

• The failures in the War because of the officers 

• The revolt is substantial but not organised, and not in essence political… not Bolshevik 


• Key leaders of the revolt were in fact the women but not by design, built on the International 

Women’s day, and then the soldiers 

• Industrial discontent, increased number of strikes, (Putilov) but this does not necessarily 

mean they were ready for revolution. Might refer also to Tsarina Alix’s views on the nature 

of the unrest on the streets of Petrograd 

• The original cries were for bread (shortages and queuing and inflation Figes) but then this 

moves to criticising autocracy 

• Evidence of war weariness, an international situation by 1917. 

• The Army units joined the rioters from 25 February onwards (Volinsky regiment), also the 

role of the Petrograd Garrison 

• The abdication of the Tsar on the 2 nd March as ‘instructed’ by the generals at Pskov, the 

notion of the military plot… Guchkov and the Generals, and Alexeyev having a draft of the 

abdication document in his pocket. 

• This is part of the line of argument where Nicholas is betrayed by the upper elites. 

Page 151

Points from recall which offer a more critical contextualisation of the view in the sources 

• Some consideration of the workers’ organisations… Schliapnikov and the Petrograd Bureau, 

shop stewards, the Viborg workers etc. As Corin and Fiehn state ‘the main push came from 

the workers in the cities’ 

• Some consideration of the impact of the revolutionary movement 

• Lenin abroad but influence felt 

• Influence of mutinies abroad 

• Sukhanov’s views and accurate description of events 

• Whether this is a consideration of revolution from the people or whether this is actually revolt 

from the centre itself… 

• Trotsky’s analysis that it was the revolution from below. 

• Richard Pipes contends that it was not a worker revolt at all, rather it was the Generals and 

the politicians who really brought about the downfall of Tsarism, and here are two in 

correspondence. 



• Robert Service contends that February was complex, that there was no certainty that this 

would be the end of the Romanovs, that the abdication was instigated by the Duma 

politicians, not the revolutionaries. 

• Dimitri Volkogonov states that war weariness was a main factor, particularly after 1916 

when Nicholas became Supreme Commander. So it is the war and the weakness of the 

regime. 

• Tsuyoshi Hasegawa contends that the War stopped the process of modernisation and in a 

way ‘cemented all sections of society together’ and then the same War tore it apart. 

• Richard Pipes states that this was no workers revolution, but that the Tsar yielded to generals 

and politicians out of a sense of duty and Peter Kenez confirms this as he states that it was 

not a workers’ revolution, but because of the soldiers refusal to obey. 

• Orlando Figes claims that ‘it all began with bread’. 

• Chamberlin notes it as spontaneous and anonymous. 

• Kowalski cites the ‘dithering of the Council of Ministers’. 


extent to which a consideration of Source A is helpful in offering a full perspective on the causes 

of the February Revolution. 

Page 152

Marks 





weak sense of context. Answer may lack clear structure with points made randomly, indicating 


well-written with some relevant points of explanation made. Candidate may offer relevant and 

appropriate historical interpretations. 











Page 153

Question 2 

How useful is Source B for understanding the leadership struggle in the 1920s? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source B in understanding 

the events surrounding the leadership struggle of the 1920s in terms of: 

Provenance Note dictated by Lenin, late December 1922- early January 1923, for the 12 th 

Party Congress (April-May 1923). 

Background on state of mind when writing it. Lenin already ill. 

Purpose – to express concern about in-fighting among the Party’s leadership; to 

suggest that Stalin be removed as General Secretary 


• Lenin’s views on several Party leaders, including Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev 

• Evaluation of the critical points made 

• Concern about the use of power / abuse of power 

• Stops short of endorsing anyone as a successor, but succession is likely on his mind 


• That this is written at the end of the Civil War 

• Lenin’s illness is obvious by now 

• Detail on other communist figures mentioned in testament (Bukharin, Pyatakov etc) 

• That each of the players may be jostling for succession 

• Lenin’s differences with Stalin (especially over nationalities issue, Georgia in particular). 

• Stalin’s manipulation of the situation and posts attained eg 1922-3 general secretary of the 

Central Committee and up until then a party leader, a specialist on the nationalities 

(commissar) and a major trouble-shooter (head of inspectorate)… but not in positions in the 

first rank. 

• Stalin’s use of positive and negative patronage, roles of Molotov and Kaganovich 

• The role of the Party in the localities 

• The power struggle in the Politburo, factional infighting and personal rivalries 

• How the opponents were removed and disgraced. 


• Attempts to keep the ‘Testament’ a secret 

• Politburo fails to remove Stalin 

• Lenin recognises Stalin’s ambition (and dangers?) 

• Lenin’s views of his comrades, and not just of Stalin 

• Is Lenin warning of a struggle, or is he creating a struggle? 

• This can be seen as the beginning of the leadership struggle ie before Lenin dies 

• Complicated issues are being highlighted, policy as well as personality 

Page 154



• Christopher Ward states that Stalin’s policy of ‘socialism in one country’ made sense to many. 

• Deutscher states that Trotsky did not attack Stalin because he felt secure. 

• Conquest highlights Stalin’s ability as he manoeuvres the political situation. 


extent to which a consideration of Source B is useful in offering a full perspective on the 

leadership struggle in the 1920s. 

Marks 



















Page 155

Question 3 

How much do Sources C and D reveal about the differing views on the Purges? 


Page 156 

(16 marks) 








• provenance comment (if appropriate) 

The candidate considers the views in Sources C and D and evaluates the extent that they reveal 

the motivations for and actions taken during the Purges and the Terror. 

Source C 


include: accurate comment on Chris Ward will be credited under historiography. 


Ward here sets up the traditional commentary on the Purges from Molotov and then highlights the 

treatment of Bukharin. Candidates may include reference to – 

• That there were ‘spies and saboteurs’, hence political 

• And in all aspects of life ‘at large in the State Bank and the commissars of light and heavy 

industry, food production, forestry, agriculture and communications’, at least here noting the 

criticism of Five Year Plan and collectivisation. 

However 

• Motivation may be to please Stalin, to fulfil quotas’ ‘the NKVD was “four years behind”.’ 

• Actions were a result of those placed in power, and their place was equally fragile (Yagoda) 

• Reasons given were merely excuses – ‘fascist hireling’ 

• Machinery set up at this level to focus on process rather than rationale – setting up a subcommittee.


• The lies that were told to get rid of others, candidates may mention Kirov (Dec. 1934) the 

popular alternative to Stalin at the Seventeenth Party Congress, and the Show Trials 

• That opposition first emerged with the launch of the Five Year Plan and collectivisation in 

1928, Kirov being conciliatory 

• Detail on what happened to Kamenev and Zinoviev, as they were linked to Kirov’s assassin, 

tried and imprisoned as part of the Left Opposition and accused of being Trotsky’s agents. 

They confessed to crimes which they could not have carried out, not the least of which was 

conspiracy to murder Kirov 

• Bukharin was implicated by Zinoviev and Kamenev along with Tomsky and Rykov, as 

leaders of the Right Opposition, accused of forming a ‘rightist bloc’ – did they confess? 

There is no evidence of a plot, but Bukharin did criticise Stalin’s economic policies in ‘Notes 

of an Economist’ 

• The numbers involved as the Terror escalates 

• The extent to which others were responsible – from Yagoda to Ezhov to Beria 

• The appointment of Beria to stop the over zealous Ezhov and the coining of the period as 

‘Ezhovschina’. 

Source D 


include: recognition of Molotov’s role in the Bolshevik party and through the Purges. These 

conversations allowing him in 1993 to explain and to justify his actions. 


• That only Stalin alone could have coped with the magnitude of the task. He therefore is 

responsible 

• That these actions did in fact prevent further instability, stopping ‘vacillation and 

irresolution’ 

• That he prevented fascist aggression from the remnants of the ‘tattered enemies of various 

stripes (which) survived’ the revolution 

• That one justification could be that there was no fifth column…and links to foreign 

intelligence 

• He does admit that there were mistakes, but that they were necessary… for the greater cause 

as it were. Certainly Bukharin is not highlighted as a mistake. 


• Links to Source C in the over-stating of the threat of war and link to foreign powers, although 

this may have been the case for some after Rapallo, the real criticism is over collectivisation 

• Development of the ‘cult’, and Stalin’s demands for results 

• Detail on the numbers involved in the Purges, that Gulag inmates rose by half a million 

between 1937-39: that two thirds of the 1.3 million inmates in 1939 were described as 

‘political criminals’ or ‘socially harmful’. 

Page 157


• The problems of division and factionalism had to be controlled and these methods were not 

new in Russia. 

• The mood of the old Party workers and the Purging of them: officials like Radek and 

Pyatakov accused of working for Trotsky and foreign governments to undermine the Soviet 

economy… but in reality they were critical of the Five Year Plan 

• The move then to the Army leadership: 1937-8, 3 of 5 marshals, 14 of 16 commanders, 

37,000 officers shot or imprisoned, Navy lost all admirals. Here pushing again the foreign 

links, but while it may have been true for some it was also to control the peasant rank and file. 

• The step to the totalitarian regime and getting rid of all elements linked to ‘class’ – kulaks, 

bourgeois NEPmen etc. 

• Purging the Secret Police not traitors but those now having too much power. 

• Stalin’s megalomania and paranoia 

• Denunciations and the spread to the ordinary people… and the Terror… for everyone. 

• That this spread to every aspect of society and perhaps could be justified in that it aims to 

produce ‘vintiki’ 

• Source C does not acknowledge any mistake in action or purpose whereas Source D does 



• J Arch Getty contends that obsession with Stalin’s personality has dominated Western 

historians’ views and the political and institutional nature is lost 

• S Cohen and A Bullock both highlight personality 

• Roberta Manning contends that scapegoats were sought out and blamed for difficulties in 

industry and the economy from 1934-41 

• Alec Nove states that it was Stalin’s decision to purge the party and society of what he 

thought were unstable elements 

• Robert Conquest thinks the main drive was to strengthen his own position. 

• Robert Service sees Stalin’s personality as important, the purges being a pre-emptive 

measures against a fifth column, but there was no master plan as such 

• Christopher Read notes the random nature of the denunciations as do Roy Medvedev and 

Conquest 



reasons for the Purges. 

Page 158

Marks 



















Page 159

The Spanish Civil War (1931-1939) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

To what extent was royal incompetence the main reason why a Republic was established in 

1931? 

The candidate is asked to explain Spain's transition from monarchy to Republic in 1931 and the 

extent to which Alfonso XIII was responsible for his own downfall. 

The candidate may explain both the reasons for the fall of the monarchy and the former political 

system, and the specific decision to form a Republic. 

The candidate may be expected to use evidence such as: 

Long term factors which led to discontent with the monarchy: 

• The agrarian problem 

• The relationship with the church 

• The relationship with the army 

• Regional differences. 

More immediate factors: 

• The Dictadura (discrediting dictatorships) 

• Incompetence of the King 

• Pact of San Sebastian 

Page 160



Carr: ‘The Republicans rejected monarchy as an illegitimate and outmoded form of 

government; the Carlists rejected the Alfonsine branch... The Socialists 

considered (it) reactionary... The anarchists rejected it in toto. To the regionalists 

it... strangled local interests... the radical regenerationists believed (in) root and 

branch reform...’ 

‘The destruction of the historic provinces and their replacement by ‘artificial 

entities’... was at the root of the regionalist movements.’ 

‘(it was) the personal unpopularity of the king himself (which brought down the 

monarchy).’ 

‘the conservative classes, during 1930, lost confidence in the monarchy.’ 

Agrarian problem: “Over half of Spain goes to bed hungry.” 

Brenan: ‘Unlike England and France there was no upward movement from one (class) to 

another.’ 

‘...the corruption of all the upper layers of society.’ 

‘The ease with which the dictator had been brought down encouraged the middle 

classes... to think that Alfonso could be got rid of too.’ 

‘Since 1788 not a single Spanish sovereign had had a natural reign.’ 

‘The Army had become increasingly sensitive to any criticisms...’ 

Callachan: ‘(The church) was weakest in the great latifundia lands... where a rural proletariat 

lived in desperate circumstances.’ 

Malefakis: ‘...the large domains were managed without initiative or imagination...’ 

Esenwein 

and Shubert: ‘Where rapid industrialisation and massive immigration (took place) traditional 

culture and identity were seen as seriously threatened.’ 

Fraser: ‘A state within a state, (the Army) came to see itself as the incarnation of national 

will.’ 

Beevor : “Alfonso treated the ruling of Spain as little more than a fascinating hobby.” 

“Sanjurjo made it clear he could not maintain the King in power.” 

“The Spanish Church was said to have owned up to one-third of the total wealth 

of Spain.” 

“(The Latifundias’) subjects were treated almost as a subject race.” 

Preston: “loss of Imperial power coincided with emergence of left wing movements.” 

‘(the monarchy) had fallen into disrepute by the time Primo seized power.’ 

Thomas: “(Primo) left behind him no basis for a regime.” 

Republicanism (was) the most explicit challenge to the establishment. 

Municipal elections. Only 2 loyal cabinet members. 

A revolution of boredom with a monarch... who appeared an anachronism. 

The only dedicated monarchists in Spain were the Court aristocracy. For others 

it was conditional... on the benefits each group sought. 

Page 161

Question 2 

To what extent were the actions of the government during the “Bienio Negro” of 1933 to 

1936 responsible for the eventual outbreak of the Spanish Civil War? 

The candidate is required to evaluate the effect of the right wing government of 1933 to 1936 and 

the extent to which civil war was probable by the time of its defeat at the polls. 


• Attacks on the advances made by the previous administration 

• Polarising effect on Spanish society and politics 

• Robles’ use of the Radicals to implement attacks on the reforms of 31 -33 

• CEDA’s intolerant actions and rhetoric and their increasing portrayal of a pro-Fascist stance 

• Robles’ frequent attempts to increase the likelihood of his own advancement, destabilising 

the government further 

• Specific legislation attacking the poor and the left 

• Re-establishing the domination of the Catholic Church 

• Robles’ personal role as Jefe 

• Fear generated amongst the left by increasingly Fascist stance 

• Movement away from legalist stance by both the left and right 

• Refusal of the left (eg Asturias miners) to accept the legal right wing government 

• Evaluation as to what extent the Asturias was ‘the first battle of the civil war’ 

• Responsibility of the Right should be compared to that of other sectors of Spanish politics 

and society. 



Carr: “Robles had declared…that socialism must be defeated at all costs.” 

“When it (the Asturias rising) was over the nation was morally divided between 

those who favoured repression and those who did not.” 

Payne: “The stance and rhetoric of the CEDA were often provocative and threatening.” 

“Some degree of electoral reform would have moderated electoral polarisation.” 

Preston: Increasing mimicking of Fascist tactics – “A crowd of 20,000 gathered and shouted 

jefe!jefe!jefe! and “Our Leaders never make mistakes!” 

Thomas: Left also at fault – (After Right’s victory) El Socialista regularly argued that the 

Republic was as bad as the monarchy had been. 

Largo “reaffirmed his belief in the necessity of preparing a proletarian rising.” 

Thomas describes this as “a fatal error of judgement.” 

Page 162

Question 3 

Why was neither side able to achieve immediate victory in 1936? 

This essay needs the candidate to discuss the events of July 1936 and to examine reasons why the 

Army coup did not immediately take control of Spain and why the Republican forces failed to 

crush the rebellion. 


• The actions of the Army and some explanation why they were not immediately successful 

• The failure of the Republican Government to completely defeat the rebels 

• Help from Germany/Italy/Soviet Union 

• Account of coup including the plans of the generals 

• Need for the army of Africa 

• Divisions within the left 

• Rift within the armed forces 

• Why were some places easy to take? Why others difficult? 

• Attitude of government. 

• How strong was resistance? 

• Understanding of the events 

• Reasons why coup failed in some areas – Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao etc. 

• Part played by Civil and Assault Guards 

• Confusion among Generals – death of Sanjurjo, capture of Fanjul etc 

• Decision to attack Madrid – wise? 

• Delay caused by Alcazar, arming of workers. 



Failure of right – 

Carr ‘senior officers were, on the whole, loyal to the Republic’ 

‘geographical loyalty’ 

‘relatively weak (until Army of Africa transported)’ 

Republic held industrial resources in early stages. 

Salvado ‘at no point had the conspirators anticipated massive popular resistance’. 

Preston and Ellwood concur. 

Failure of Left – 

Ealham ‘the old state collapsed under the impact of the military coup’. 

Bookchin ‘the workers…viewed the Republic with almost as much animosity as did the 

Francoists’. 

Foreign Intervention. 

Most historians concur that the role of Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union and the policy of 

Non-Intervention by Britain and France are all crucial factors in the failure by either side to win 

quickly. Quotes from any should be credited. 

Page 163

Question 4 

"The supreme farce of our time" 

How valid is this assessment of the policy of non-intervention during the Spanish Civil War? 

Candidates are asked to make a judgement on Non-Intervention during the Spanish Civil War. 

Was it the farce Nehru suggested? 


• Why Non-Intervention was suggested and by whom 

• The workings of the Committee 

• Why did GB/France suggest the policy? 

• Why was it followed despite the obvious breaches by Germany, Italy and the USSR? 

• Was it simply a cynical ploy by GB to see Spain back in right-wing hands again? 

• Did it achieve anything? 

• Certainly the Spanish Republic blamed the policy and GB for their defeat. 

• How significant was Nyon? 

• Could this have worked earlier? 

• What were Stalin’s motives? 

• What did Non-intervention achieve? 



H. Thomas: Non-intervention graduated from equivocation to hypocrisy. 

Alpert: Non-intervention was based on the wider aims of GB and France ie an alliance 

with Italy and appeasement of Hitler. 

Moradiellos: GB wished Franco to win and did not wish to upset the Axis powers. 

Preston: GB was inclined towards Franco due to business interests 

Meneses: it was cynical detachment. 

Page 164

Question 5 

“We must be generous comrades, we must have a great soul and know how to forgive.” 

(General Yagüe, 19 th April, 1938). To what extent was there still the possibility of a 

negotiated peace by 1938? 

The candidate here is asked to consider the possibility of a negotiated peace in the summer of 1938 

– taking into account Yagüe’s open respect for Republican forces, his attack on the Germans and 

Italians and Negrin’s speech laying down peace terms. 


• Analysis of events in 1938 

• Opening of the French frontier 

• Franco’s consideration of asking the Axis powers to leave Spain. 

• When Great Britain signed a treaty with Italy, Negrin made his speech offering terms when a 

war was avoided over Czechoslovakia, Negrin gave up 

• Yagüe’s speech shows unrest among the nationalist troops – but it is not an offer of peace 

• Franco’s intentions – did he ever seriously consider terms? 

• Worried over France’s attitude, but Blum’s government fell 

• Franco had always insisted on no amnesty for communists 

• How realistic were Negrin's hopes? 

• Franco wished unconditional surrender and although suggested that Axis troops might leave, 

only did so to placate Great Britain and France 

• No evidence of any desire for a compromise which could have reduced his personal standing. 

Negrin always hoped a European war would break out – it did not. 



H. Thomas: “From the time that he (Negrin) had become PM.he had been attempting to 

achieve peace by negotiation”. 

On Franco – “Whoever desires negotiation serves the Reds.” 

Right Wing media campaign demanded “unconditional victory by Franco”. 

Preston: Hitler believed “a 100 per cent victory for Franco” was undesirable. 

Franco’s suggestion that Axis troops be removed merely “a sop to British and 

French sensibilities”. 

Mussolini predicted the defeat of Franco – “The Reds are fighters, Franco is not.” 

Franco feared French intervention – French frontier had reopened in March. 

Fraser: “(Franco) wanted the Republican regime’s complete destruction, its 

unconditional surrender.” 

Yagüe described Germans and Italians as “birds of prey”. 

Page 165

Question 6 

“The Republicans were divided between those who were fighting in defence of the Second 

Republic and those who sought to use the war as the launch-pad for social revolution.” 

How satisfactory is this explanation of the reasons for divisions within the Left during the 

Spanish Civil War? 

The candidate should examine Heywood’s explanation with reference to a variety of reasons for 

the lack of unity within the Left in Spain during the Civil War. The ideological conflict should be 

discussed. References should also be made to the personal enmity between politicians and the 

reasons for these damaging relationships. The concentration should be on causal factors for these 

divisions. 


• Differences in the fundamental beliefs of the major political parties on the left (Communists, 

Socialists, anarchists and POUM) 

• Incompatibility of this variety of aims 

• Key events (Madrid, Barcelona) 

• Protagonists (Caballero, Prieto) 

• Collectivisation of agriculture and industry and the different political views of groups to these 

developments 

• Personal enmity 

• Reaction to poor leadership (political and military) 

• Regional priorities (Catalonia, Basques, Madrid) 

• Any other factors which caused divisions 

• Communist tactics such as the limited distribution of arms and the eventual ruthlessness in 

their treatment of POUM 

• Personal enmity existed between senior protagonists (Caballero and Prieto) 

• Political ideologies of Anarchists and Communists were entirely incompatible 

• Arguments also arose as to military tactics (Communist criticisms over Aragon offensive. 

Prieto’s criticisms of Teruel campaign) 

• Influence from outside Spain (Soviet influence over Communists). 



Heywood: argues that the Republic’s key problem was re-establishing order which had 

effectively passed on to revolutionary groups (Barcelona – CNT, Madrid-UGT) 

“Revolutionary experiments” (spontaneous and forced collectivisation) had 

drastically undermined the government’s authority 

Preston: “A civil war within a civil war” 

“Morale in the Republican zone was increasingly being undermined by political 

disputes.” 

Thomas: “the political parties (of the Left) all held back such a proportion of their arms as 

they could for possible use against their friends.” 

Page 166

The Spanish Civil War (1931-1939) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How helpful are Sources A and B in illustrating differing viewpoints on the 

problems facing the Spanish government between 1931 and 1933? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources A and B and evaluates the extent that they reveal 

the problems facing the Spanish government between 1931 and 1933. 

Points from Source A 


include: recognition that this is an historian who lived in Spain at the time of the Civil War. Seen 

as neutral. 


• The Socialists were putting pressure on the Republic to grant wide ranging agricultural 

reform. 

• The FAI were revolutionary – they saw the greater freedom of the Republic as a chance to try 

and bring it down. Their disruption was intended to make the government's job as difficult as 

possible and to awaken the working class to revolution. 


• Agriculture was the most pressing problem in Spain in 1931. The Agrarian Reform Bill was 

meant to deal with it. But to the Libertarian Left it was too moderate. However they disliked 

the Republic as much as any other government. 

• Also the government got the blame for the unrest in the countryside and was even blamed by 

both sides for Casas Viejas. 

• There were other problems too which are not touched on here like the Church and army. 

Page 167



include: accurate comment on Peter Anderson will be credited under historiography. 


• Opposition in parliament slowed down the Agrarian Reform Bill. As a result the Left gained 

support in the countryside. 

• The Church supported the landowners – it help to set up a right-wing party, the CEDA which 

was anti-republican. 

• This group vowed to destroy the Republic. 


• The CEDA sprang from the Accion Popular – a party based on the social teachings of Leo 

XIII. But its leader Gil Robles became an admirer of Mussolini. 

• The republic had gained the enmity of the Church by its reforms seen as threatening the 

Church's role in Spain. 


• Source A and B agree on the way in which the Left was not satisfied by the level of 

agricultural reform. But this was due to the fact that the government had no money! 

• Both sources show how the behaviour of the Left caused opposition to grow which was 

directed at the Republic not the FAI. 

• Neither source mentions the Army reforms or the problem of regional issues. 



• De Meneses: the Republic intended to keep to the letter of the law – behaviour of the 

FAI/CNT de-stabilised the Republic. 

• Preston: the media blamed the Republic, not the FM. 

• H. Browne: The Technical Commission’s solution pleased no-one. But Azana made things 

worse by changing the bill in 1932. 

• Carr: agriculture was a decisive struggle – but the reform was a muddle and lack of money 

caused it to fail. 



problems facing the Spanish government between 1931 and 1933? 

Page 168

Marks 



















Page 169

Question 2 

How useful is Source C as evidence of the role and effectiveness of the International 

Brigades during the Spanish Civil War? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source C in understanding 

the role and effectiveness of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, in terms of: 

Points from Source C 

Provenance: a primary source from the farewell address on November 1 st 1938 in Barcelona 

by Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria), a communist politician and journalist. She is justifying the 

involvement on the International Brigades, praising their contribution to the Republican side. She 

lauds their heroic example of fighting for the solidarity and universality of democracy. 

Propaganda speech. 


• Refers to the military importance of the brigades in defence of Madrid 

• Refers to the features/characteristics of their fighting (enthusiasm, heroism, sacrifice etc) 

• refers to specific battles they fought in 

• goes on to talk about political dimension of their role and their leaving. 

Page 170


Candidates are able to pick up any of the above points and give developed detail which shows 

their understanding of the role or effectiveness of the brigades. This is not a ‘Why did they 

serve?’ question, it is a ‘What did they do and did it have any effect?’ question. 

Candidates may give detail and analysis of the International Brigades, referring to: its founding, 

how/where it was organised, its numbers, training, experience, the way they were used in battle, 

their casualties, specific battles they made a contribution. 

Candidates may have much more recalled detail on aspects of the speech, other things she 

covered and other points she made. They may develop on why she is making the speech at that 

time; when the Brigades were being demobbed in a political attempt to end the war. 

• Brigades were crucial in certain campaigns including the defence of Madrid (11 Brigade 

under Miaja). 

• They also gave the impression of foreign support which was lacking in any real terms for the 

Republic. 

• Brigades were organised by Communists and were not universally popular with Spaniards but 

were better ‘drilled’ and equipped than Militias. 

• Support deliberately withheld from POUM militias – difficult to compare their success with 

Brigades. 

• Speech is made as Brigades leave and many would argue defeat was inevitable. 

• Brigades no real match for support given by Fascists in the shape of 100,000 Italian troops, 

German Condor Legions etc. 

• Casualties high amongst Brigades (eg defending Madrid-La Coruña road). 

• Around 60,000 Brigaders altogether, by October 1938, 12,673 still in Spain. 


• Candidate may discuss other detail of the importance of La Pasionaria in the Spanish Civil 

war, other speeches, her legendary role in exhorting the Spanish people against fascism ... 

‘Better to die on your feet than live on your knees’. 

• Mention could be made of the biased nature of many of the sources on the Brigade... this has 

helped shape their view in history. 

• What of consideration of the view that their achievement is often by comparison to behaviour 

of the Communist Party. 

• Did they keep the war going and save the Republic from an earlier demise, or it is just 

propaganda? 

• Candidate may bring to bear wider knowledge of other campaigns or features of the fighting 

which help ‘place’ the role of the International Brigades in a wider picture. 



Historians’ views on the part played by the International Brigade vary widely: 

Preston: their part in the defence of Madrid should not be exaggerated; it was part of a heroic effort. 

Koestler: the rendezvous of International Leftist bohemia. 

Taylor: emotional experience of a life-time. 

H.Browne: sign of international support. 


extent to which a consideration of Source C is useful in offering a full perspective on the role and 

effectiveness of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. 

Page 171 

th

Marks 

















analysis. Appropriate reference to historians’ views will be credited highly. 

Page 172

Question 3 

How fully does Source D explain the reasons for Nationalist victory in the Spanish 

Civil War? (12 marks) 






The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D in providing an adequate explanation of 

the reasons for Nationalist victory in terms of: 


include: accurate comment on Hugh Thomas will be credited under historiography. 


• Franco’s forces: ‘better organised’. ‘political unity’, ‘disciplined’, ‘logistical arrangements 

excellent’, superior training, availability of educated middle class. 

• Militias: ‘unimaginative in attack’, ‘failure of militia’ due to not being ‘regular army’. 


• Divisions within the Socialists – Largo, Prieto. Communists domination and anger of Anarchists. 

• Nature of Militias, democratic, poorly equipped but enthusiastic and often loyal. 

• Description of specific campaigns. Defensive successes followed by failure to consolidate 

(Guadalajara, Madrid). 

• Paradox arising for need for order and desire to secure ‘pure’ revolution. 

• Refusal by Communists to arm POUM. militias. 

• Eventual routing of anarchists and effect on morale. 

• Extent to which right were unified. 

• Franco’s good fortune in loss of rivals (Primo, Sotello). 

• Franco’s delaying of campaigns sometimes argued to allow time to consolidate position. 



Ellwood: ‘inhibition on behalf of the western democracies, together with the active 

involvement of Italy and Germany, undoubtedly swung the balance decisively in 

favour of Franco.’ 

Browne: ‘Foreign aid was critical for the Nationalists from the very beginning.’ 

Thomas: ‘the timing of certain foreign supplies was critical.’ 

Carr: ‘…to him (Stalin) Spain was an expendable.’ 

Heywood: ‘Internal political conflicts…together with military and economic inferiority 

combined to ensure that the republic was effectively doomed.’ 

‘Most importantly, and tragically, they (the republic) were often at war with 

themselves.’ 

Thomas: ‘…disunity among the republicans was a prime cause of defeat.’ 

Blinkhorn: ‘…Soviet aid to the republic was principally calculated to prolong resistance. 

Axis help for Franco was aimed successfully at victory.’ 

Preston: ‘…the CNT and POUM militia were denied adequate weaponry (by the 

communists).’ 


extent to which a consideration of Source D is helpful in offering a full perspective on the reasons 

for Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War. 

Page 173

Marks 



















Page 174

Britain At War and Peace (1939-1951) 

Part 1 


Question 1 

“Marching into war backwards with their eyes tightly closed.” How accurate is this 

assessment of the government’s preparations for war in 1939? 

The purpose of the essay is to enable the candidate to discuss the arguments about Britain’s 

preparedness for war when it broke out and to analyse whether more could have been done in the 

immediate years before 1939 to enhance that preparedness. 

It is important to see this question in the context of 4 main areas of content, namely the degree to 

which preparedness had been achieved in the military, economic, diplomatic and civil defence 

terms. It is not enough to see this merely as a judgement of military preparedness. 

Relevant areas for discussion might include 

Military: The extent to which the armed forces were ready for war. In the case of the army it 

would be expected that the candidate would examine the degree to which this service branch was 

ill-equipped to fight a continental war with only 5 fully equipped divisions in 1939. Some 

analysis of the thinking behind the army as an imperial defence force would be evident and the 

lack of financial investment in armoured vehicles would be mentioned. 

The navy was still Britain’s best equipped branch of the forces but some caution would be 

expected over its ability to counteract German U-boats and its reliance on the French navy to 

secure the Mediterranean and the US navy to patrol the Pacific. 

Significant amounts of money had been spent on the air force and the creation of shadow 

factories but was the emphasis on bomber aircraft at the expense of fighter aircraft switched too 

late? The creation of a string of radar stations across south-east England should be noted. It 

would be perfectly acceptable for the candidate to view this military preparedness retrospectively 

in the light of the Norway campaign. 

Diplomatic: Here the candidate has to beware rehashing the pros and cons of appeasement but 

might better spend time of dissecting Churchill’s claims that we should have created a Grand 

Alliance prior to 1939. A review of each of Britain’s potential allies would be helpful and an 

analysis of Chamberlain’s failure to make common cause with the Soviets until it was too late and 

even then in only a half-hearted way. 

Economic: Perhaps the area most indicative of Chamberlain’s reluctance to commit to war 

preparation. Candidates should eschew a simple description of the ailing state of British industry 

in 1939 and concentrate more on Chamberlain’s failure to gear the economy effectively for total 

war. A very good answer would display a clear understanding of the ambivalence shown by 

Chamberlain towards state regulation of the economy and his ideological opposition to working 

more closely with the labour movement. 

Civil Defence: A review of the measure taken in terms of air raid shelter provision, gas mask 

distribution and evacuation schemes would be expected but in a critical as well as descriptive 

fashion. 

Page 175


views. 


• Mowatt’s military critique of lack of spending on the armed forces and Howard’s 

examination of each of the armed forces capabilities. 

• Historians such as Tiratsoo have a jaundiced view of the state of Britain’s civil defence 

measures, a view subscribed to by Hylton but contradicted by Roberts. 

• Paul Addison is highly critical of Chamberlain’s economic policies up to 1940 and is 

reinforced in this by Mackay to some extent. 

Page 176

Question 2 

To what extent was naval power more important than air power in Britain’s ultimate 

victory in the Second World War. 

Most candidates will treat this essay as a straight comparison between the relative importance of 

the battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic in ensuring British survival and ultimate 

triumph in the war. However, an analysis of the importance of the part played by Bomber 

Command would also be a vital ingredient of a good essay. 


• The importance of air power in averting a potential German invasion and forcing Hitler to 

look east, hence ensuring his ultimate destruction. 

• The role played by Bomber Command in hampering the Nazi war effort and in lowering 

popular morale within Germany. 

• An analysis of the importance of the Royal Navy’s campaign against the submarine menace 

will be vital in explaining Britain’s ability to maintain her economic, industrial and military 

capabilities. 

• Equally, a description of the strategic importance of the Merchant navy would enhance the 

answer as would some reference to the part played by the navy in other theatres of war. 


views. 


• Correlli Barnett might be cited as a proponent of the central importance of the navy in 

winning the war. 

• Other historians like Keegan and Hastings are more likely to stress the short-term 

importance of averting the more immediate threat posed to British security by the Luftwaffe . 

Page 177

Question 3 

“The war had a profound and lasting impact on the daily lives of British women” 

How valid is this view? 

The candidate is expected to analyse the impact of war on women’s lives and not simply 

describe how it affected them. 

The answer should cover a range of issues from the obvious one of war work to the impact of 

evacuation, rationing, and the blitz. 

Less obvious but none the less important is the psychological impact of war on women’s 

perceptions of their role in society in terms of sex-stereotyping at work and the issue of greater 

equality in marriage and in domestic decision making. 

The crucial question for the candidates to analyse is whether the changes to their lives 

experienced by women during the war were merely a temporary adjustment to extraordinary 

circumstances with a post-war return to normality or a significant and permanent change in the 

status and role of women in society. 


• The impact of conscription on the female workforce and the extent to which war work was an 

emancipating experience as suggested by Arthur Marwick. 

• The number of new women workers as opposed to married women returning to work. 

• The ending of the marriage bar. 

• The empowering impact of being head of the family and chief decision maker when the male 

of the family was absent and the subsequent psychological impact this had on women’s 

perceptions of their role within marriage and society in general. 

• The increased incidence of divorce during and after the war as an indicator of changing 

perceptions of marriage? 

• The impact of evacuation on all women affected and the extent to which this led to changing 

class views and expectations. 

• The post-war situation and the impact of the Beveridge Report on the status of women 

especially in the area of family allowance and the national insurance scheme. 

• The Butler Education Act as an agent of restoring pre-war ideals and reinforcing the domestic 

position of women in society. 

• Some summary of the position of women in British society in the early 50s would be 

expected as a way of rounding of the analysis of the original question. 


views. 


• A critique of the revisionist school of thought which sees the war as less than an 

emancipating experience and indeed one which many women deeply disliked. Historians 

such as H.L. Smith and Penny Summerfield cast significant doubts on the veracity of 

Marwick’s 1960s thesis of war as an agent of social change for women. 

Page 178

Question 4 

“Only the Lend-Lease programme prevented the collapse of the British economy” 

How valid is this view of the impact of the war on the British economy? 

This question calls for a detailed knowledge of the impact of the war on the economy and hence 

some appreciation of the country’s finances and economic position at the beginning of the war. 

Central to this theme is an appreciation of how much the war cost Britain in lost exports and its 

impact on the industrial infrastructure of the country. 

The candidate would have a clear knowledge of government strategies for paying for the war and 

the shortfall in fiscal policies which resulted in the necessity of approaching the USA for their 

economic aid. 


• The levels of government taxation and forced savings policies 

• The impact of the war on the balance of payments 

• The extent to which demand management and state intervention regulated the economy and 

to what end? 

• The origins, nature and extent of the Lend-Lease programme (£5.5 billion) 

• Why lend-lease was needed and an explanation of the shortcomings in the British economy 

• The level of debt incurred by Britain and the reliance on the USA for machine tools and other 

essential production tools even prior to the programme 

• A clear examination of the argument that Lend-Lease was essential to British survival, an 

argument espoused by the likes of Addison, Calder, Jefferys and Mackay who argue that the 

government fiscal policies (even a 50% basic income tax rate) and the returns from indirect 

taxation and the sevenfold increase in personal savings would not as he says in the Test of 

War “taken together, have been sufficient to finance the protracted war in which Britain was 

engaged”. 



Historiographically there is unlikely to be much divergence of opinion on the centrality of the 

importance of Lend-Lease but older historians like Cairncross and Cole may offer a different 

angle on the issue from Barnett and Tomlinson and in particular, Barnett’s thesis that the British 

economy was a rotting Victorian hulk anyway and unlikely to have stood on its own two feet for 

very long within a total war effort. 

Page 179

Question 5 

Do you agree that there was a huge inequality of suffering on the Home Front in the period 

1939-1945? 

This question gives the candidate ample scope to display their knowledge of the impact of war on 

society and the extent to which the notion of equality of suffering and hardship endured by the 

public can be validated. 

Clearly, this not simply an essay about physical suffering engendered by the bombing of British 

cities, although that should form part of the answer, but demands a wider understanding of class 

differences and the extent to which some were more equal than others. 

Reference should therefore be made to the provision of bomb shelters, the vagaries of the 

rationing system and the existence of luxury restaurants, the facility of the rich to evacuate their 

children abroad or to avoid their responsibilities in accepting evacuees or in participating in vital 

war work. 


• The argument by Tiratsoo and Hylton that far too few deep shelters were provided by the 

government in working class areas for fear of promoting a “deep shelter mentality” and the 

fact that a working class person was 10 times more likely to be killed in an air raid than 

someone of higher social status. 

• The bad feeling caused by the inequities of the rationing system and the existence of the black 

market for the better off. Calder is particularly scathing of this problem in the People’s War. 

The availability of British restaurants for those who could afford them and the dining habits 

of the rich in luxury hotels like the Dorchester. 

• The experience of evacuation and the ill-treatment of many working class evacuees by their 

upper or middle class hosts as well as evidence of racist attitudes towards Jewish evacuees 

and the whole issue of the treatment of aliens who were British subjects. 

• The ability of some to use rank and privilege to avoid conscription, whether male or female 

and the issue of whether women workers were treated differently form their male 

counterparts. 



• A more balanced view of the issue would be found in references to the works of Andrew 

Roberts who discounts the notion of inequality of suffering and the more middle ground 

opinion of Mackay in his latest work on civilian morale. A more balanced and considered 

view would be the result of such analysis and reference. 

Page 180

Question 6 

How successful was the foreign policy of the Labour Governments in the period 1945-1951? 

Candidates should approach this question from the point of view of assessing the aims of British 

foreign policy in this period against the backdrop of the changing world circumstances deriving 

from the Second World War and the vastly reduced economic capability of Britain. 

The central theme should be an assessment of Britain’s success in carrying out its pre-war 

responsibilities, an interpretation of its post-war commitments and its ability to find a role that 

fitted in with the demands of the new superpowers, USA and the Soviet Union. 

The best answers will see a critique developed of Britain’s policies relating to the Empire, the 

superpowers and Europe and an analysis of the extent to which any withdrawal from overseas 

commitments was a necessary response to the financial burdens imposed on Britain by the war. 

Reference should be made to Bevin’s central role in developing British policy at this time and 

also to the familiar criticism of right-wing historian Barnett who accuses Britain of global 

overstretch and clinging on the dreams and illusions of power we neither had nor could afford. 


• An analysis of Britain’s financial situation post-45 

• Evidence relating to those areas Britain was forced to withdraw from eg Greece and Turkey 

and why. 

• An analysis of Britain’s role between the superpowers and how successfully Bevin steered a 

course. 

• The whole issue of decolonisation (particularly Indian independence) and why this came 

about. 

• An examination of Britain’s contribution to the resolution of issues relating to Germany in the 

context of the Cold War. 

• Bevin’s role in helping to create NATO and to tie the USA to European security for the first 

time 

• Some reference to our relations with Europe and the alleged missed opportunity to participate 

in the Schumann plan and to further European integration. 

• The thorny problem of the Middle-East, particularly Israel and Palestine, and the degree to 

which Britain pursued an acceptable policy in this area. 

• The issue of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. 



• An overview of the whole period and an examination of the historiography, with reference to 

Barnett abut also Morgan and Robbins to give a more balanced view of the issue and to 

establish whether Bevin was a very successful Foreign Secretary in a very difficult period of 

adjustment. 

Page 181

Britain At War and Peace (1939-1951) 

Part 2 

Question 1 

How useful is Source A in explaining why Churchill became Prime Minister on May 

10 th 1940? (12 marks) 








The candidate offers a structured consideration of the usefulness of Source A in understanding 

the events surrounding the appointment of Churchill as Prime Minister in May 1940, in terms of: 

Provenance: A primary source written by Winston Churchill in 1948 as the first book in his 

history of the Second World War. To record the history of the war as seen through his own 

experience. Possible bias and omission. 


• Reference to the debate on the Norway campaign in the Commons 7-9 th May. 

• Churchill’s tactics of making no response to Chamberlain’s questions. 

• Halifax’s reference to his difficulties of becoming PM as a peer of the realm and his 

reluctance to accept the role. 

What extra details can be added by way of wider contextualisation of this issue to expand 

the debate? 

The candidate would be expected to expand on the principal reasons why Chamberlain chose to 

resign from office and why his successor was Winston Churchill. 

• The nature of the Phoney War and the fiasco of the Norway campaign as a background to the 

source. 

• Chamberlain’s personal failings as PM and his association with the policy of appeasement. 

• Failure of the government to effectively gear the country’s economy for total war. 

• Rejection by the Labour Party of Chamberlain’s overtures to join a Coalition government. 

• Churchill’s popularity within the country and the public’s perception of him as a likely war 

leader. 

• Reasons for unrest within the Conservative Party. 

Page 182



The historiography of this topic is fairly straightforward. 

• Addison sees the failings of the Chamberlain government as central to this issue. 

• Adelman focuses on the political intrigue within the Conservative Party, whilst Tony 

Corfield concentrates on the role of the Labour Party and Trade Union movement in rejecting 

Chamberlain. 

• Other writers offer a variation on these themes eg Jefferys, Morgan, MacKay, including 

Churchill’s own notion that he was walking with destiny. 


extent to which a consideration of Source A is useful in offering a full perspective on the 

appointment of Churchill as Prime Minister in May 1940. 

Marks 



















Page 183

Question 2 

How well do Sources B and C illustrate the differing views on the domestic 

achievements of the Labour governments in the period 1945-1951? (16 marks) 










The candidate considers the views in Sources B and C and offers a constructive evaluation of how 

far they offer insight into the domestic achievements of the Labour governments, in terms of: 



include: Recognition of Dalton’s role in the events of that time, and his authority as a witness. 


• Highlights Labour’s tremendous legislative achievements in this period. 

• Stresses that Labour had fulfilled all of its election manifesto commitments. 

• Indicates that this legislative programme resulted in a complete social and economic 

regeneration of the country compared to the pre-war situation. 

• Points out that the task was unfinished by 1951 and much still had to be accomplished. 

What extra can be added by way of wider contextualisation of this view? 

• The candidate should develop Dalton’s allusion to the raft of legislation passed in this period 

with specific examples in the social and economic context. Clearly an analysis of the creation 

of the welfare state and the economic policies of the Labour governments should be 

examined, particularly the nationalisation programme and the policies implemented to deal 

with financial crises. 

• The candidate would be expected to develop Dalton’s theme that Britain was a completely 

different country by 1951 and in particular his assertion that the seeds of economic 

regeneration had been sown. 

• A very good candidate might expand on Dalton’s theme of the unfinished business and areas 

which still had to be tackled. 

• Overall the answer would offer a critique of Labour’s domestic achievements, building on 

Dalton’s broad assertions, but including a range of recall information which would 

substantiate his claims and those of historians who see this as a period of immense 

significance in changing the basis social and economic fabric of British society. 

Page 184

Points from Source C 


comment on Corelli Barnett will receive marks under historiography. 


• Barnett’s assessment of the Labour governments’ policies is highly critical. 

• Sees industrial and economic decline inextricably linked with illusions of continuing to be a 

great power in world affairs. 

• Illustrates the extent to which economic decline and demotion in the ranks of world 

economies took place within this period. 

• Focuses heavily on what he sees as the folly of pursuing New Jerusalem policies which were 

expensive and at the cost of economic regeneration. 

• Criticises the Labour welfare reforms for creating a culture of welfare dependency and low 

educational standards, thus creating a “nanny state”. 

What extra details can be added by way of wider contextualisation of this issue to expand 

the debate? 

The candidate should be able to contextualise this source within the framework of its origin and 

the period of history when it was written. 

• Barnett accuses Labour of engendering an illusory image of Britain’s status in the world, 

committing the country to an expensive and ill-judged foreign policy which in turn has a 

disastrous impact on the British economy. 

• That this process of economic decline was in place right from the end of the war and was 

exacerbated by the economic and social policies of the Labour governments. 

• That we fell significantly behind the economic progress made by even defeated countries like 

Germany and that our relative decline in GNP was attributable to misguided policies and lack 

of economic regeneration. 

• Barnett saves his most savage criticism for the welfare policies of the Labour governments 

which he says set in motion a progressive decline in educational standards and reliance on the 

state to provide, instead of fostering a spirit of self-betterment and individual responsibility, 

which is a trend he feels is perpetuated by successive governments beyond Labour in 1951. 



• The most obvious critic is Barnett himself who poses the central theme that in its pursuit of 

dreams and illusions of continued world power status, successive British governments 

squandered a unique opportunity to regenerate British industry and upgrade the technical 

skills of the workforce by pursuing the goal of a welfare state and superpower status, both of 

which were beyond our means in the period studied. In this respect he is given some 

additional credence by Andrew Roberts and other right wing historians of the Thatcherite 

period. 

• Perhaps the staunchest supporter of the Labour governments of this period is Kenneth O. 

Morgan in his book Labour in Power, 1945-1951 in which he states “the Attlee government 

had a clear record of achievement and competence, which acted as a platform for successive 

governments, Conservative and Labour.” In this respect he is ably backed up by others such 

as Hennessey, Jefferys, Pugh, Tiratsoo and Fielding to name but a few. 



domestic achievements of the Labour governments 1945-1951. 

Page 185

Marks 



















Page 186

Question 3 

How fully does Source D explain the reasons behind the Conservatives’ election victory in 

1951? (12 marks) 


and accurately support that evaluation with comment from the source The remaining marks will 

be awarded for the quality and depth of the immediate and wider context recall, including 

historians’ views, that the candidate provides in their overall interpretation of the source’s 

fullness in explaining/analysing the issue. 

The candidate offers a structured evaluation of Source D as an adequate explanation of the 

reasons behind the Conservatives’ election victory in 1951 

Points from Source D 


include: Recognition of Douglas Jay’s role in the events of that time, and his authority as a 

witness. 


• That the election was a very close affair. Development thereof. 

• A recognition by Jay that everything was against Labour including; the redistribution of seats 

under the Boundary Commission and the implications of this in electoral terms; the 

resignation of Bevan and others over the Health Service cuts and the loss of Stafford Cripps. 

The anti-Labour propaganda of the press. 

• An explanation of the ironic situation of winning more votes but losing the election. 

What extra can be added by way of a wider contextualisation and afford a fuller 

explanation of the Conservative victory? 

• A full development of the issues raised by Jay in the source, as examples of ways in which 

everything was against Labour. 

• The candidate would be expected to develop the theme of Labour’s misfortunes in the period 

immediately prior to the 1951 election. 

• The impact of the press and public opinion on the austerity period and the continuation of 

rationing into the early 1950s. 

• The decision to enter the Korean War and the impact this had on domestic spending and the 

left/right split in the party. 

• The failure of the Liberals to field more than around 100 candidates and the effect this had on 

voting patterns. 

• The concept that Labour had become ideologically becalmed by 1951 and was no longer 

considered a crusading, reforming party. 

Page 187



• K.O. Morgan who sees the roots of Labour defeat in the continued austerity and bureaucratic 

nightmare of officialdom which characterised this period of power. In his book People's 

Peace he states “It is not remarkable that Labour duly lost the October 1951 election. What is 

surprising is that the defeat was so narrow.” Whilst Sked and Cook suggest “The root 

trouble was really the wider disaffection of middle opinion (not necessarily m/c opinion) 

against a programme of consolidation which at best was drab and puritanical, and at worst 

illiberal and restrictive of individual choice”. 

• Pearce sees the deteriorating international situation and participation in the Korean war as 

necessitating further unpopular belt-tightening measures and being instrumental in the 

philosophical Bevanit/Gaitskellite rift whilst left wing critic John Saville goes so far as to say 

that by 1951 the Labour Party was “morally and politically bankrupt” and that “Labour’s 

socialism had come to a dead end” whilst B. Schwartz would place more emphasis on the 

reconstruction of Conservatism as a reason for their increased popularity. 


extent to which a consideration of Source D is helpful in offering a full perspective on the reasons 

behind the Conservatives’ election victory in 1951. 

Marks 



















[END OF MARKING INSTRUCTIONS] 

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