Course Contents

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Please note the content shown below is 2025 syllabus. This course is also available for 2026 syllabus. Please contact college for details.

Ordinary Level

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Detailed Content

• The Second Reich and the changing balance of power
• Anglo- and Franco-German tensions
• Bismarck’s foreign policy
• The structures of European diplomacy
• The New Imperialism and colonial rivalries
• Wilhelm II and Weltpolitic
• Serbia as a fulcrum of Great Power rivalry
• The Second International
• The outbreak of war in 1914
• The conduct of war
• War and revolution
• The Peace Settlement
• Case Study: The naval policy of Wilhelm II

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• Economic growth and social tensions
• Industrialisation in Germany and its impact on society
• Industrialisation and economic crisis in Tsarist Russia
• The impact of war on society and economy

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• Expression of natural identity through literature and the arts
• The literature of World War I
• Church/State tensions in Germany and Italy
• Anti-Semitism in France and Russia
• Key developments in science, technology and medicine

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• The Second Reich and the Changing Balance of Power
• Bismarck’s Foreign Policy 1871-1890
• The Structures of European Diplomacy: Anglo and Franco-German Tensions, Wilhelm II and ‘Weltpolitik’
• The New Imperialism and Colonial Rivalries
• The Rise of Serbia
• The Second International
• The Outbreak of War in 1914
• The Conduct of War
• War and Revolution
• The Peace Settlement
• Key Personality: Otto von Bismarck
• Key Personality: Kaiser Wilhelm II
• Key Personality: Douglas Haig
• Key Personality: Woodrow Wilson
• Case Study: The Naval Policy of Wilhelm II

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• Industrialisation in Germany and Its Impact on Society 1871-1914
• Industrialisation and Economic Crisis in Tsarist Russia
• The Impact of War on Society and Economy
• Case Study: Women in the Workforce During World War I
• Key Personalities: The Krupp Family
• Key Personality: Rosa Luxemburg

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• Expression of National Identity through Literature and the Arts: The Literature of World War I
• Key Personality: Wilfred Owen
• Church / State Tensions in Germany and Italy
• Key Personality: Pope Leo XIII
• Church / State Tensions in Germany and Italy
• Key Developments in Science, Technology and Medicine
• Key Personality: Marie Curie
• Case Study: The Invention and Early History of the Motor Car
• Key Personality: Karl Benz

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• Origins and Growth of the Fascist Regimes in Europe
• The Nazi State in Peace and War
• Communism in Russia: the Regimes of Lenin and Stalin the Stalinist State in Peace and War
• Case Study: Stalin’s show trials
• France: the Third Republic, 1920-1940, and the Vichy state
• Wartime alliances, 1939-1945
• Key Personality: Adolf Hitler
• Key Personality: Benito Mussolini
• Key Personality: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
• Key Personality: Joseph Stalin

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• Economic and Social Problems of the Inter-War Years, with Particular Reference to Britain and Germany
• Case study: the Jarrow March, October 1936
• The Soviet Alternative / the Russian Economy under Stalin
• Society During World War 2
• Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
• Key Personality: John Maynard Keynes
• Key Personality: Winston Churchill
• The Impact of World War II
• Case Study: Belfast During World War II

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• Nazi Propaganda – State Control and the Use of Mass Media
• Case Study: The Nuremberg Rallies
• Church-State Relations under Mussolini and Hitler
• Anglo-American Popular Culture in Peace and War
• The Technology of Warfare
• Key Personality: Joseph Goebbels
• Key Personality: Leni Riefenstahl
• Key Personality: Bing Crosby
• Key Personality: Charlie Chaplin

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• The Sunningdale Agreement and the power sharing executive, 1973-1974
• The Coleraine University Controversy
• The Apprentice Boys of Derry

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