Kilroy's College

Kilroy's College

Online & Home Study Courses

Leaving Certificate History course

Course Contents

Remember, you can complete this Leaving Certificate History course within 6 to 24 Months of enrolling. So take your first step by contacting us today !

Please note the content shown below is 2026 syllabus. This course is also available for 2027 syllabus. Please contact college for details.

Higher Level

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Detailed Content

Topic 2: Nation States and International Tensions, 1871-1920. Politics and Administration

  • 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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Topic 2: Nation States and International Tensions, 1871-1920. Society and economy

  • 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
  • Case Study: Women in the Workforce During World War I
  • Key Personalities: The Krupp Family
  • Key Personality: Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)

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Topic 2: Nation States and International Tensions, 1871-1920. Culture, religion and science

  • Expression of natural 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
  • Anti-Semitism in France and Russia
  • Key developments in science, technology and medicine
  • Key Personality: Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)
  • Case Study: The Invention and Early History of the Motor Car
  • Key Personality: Karl Benz (1844 - 1929)

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Topic 3: The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition, 1912-1949. Politics and administration

  • The Home Rule Bill, 1912-1914
  • The Impact of World War I
  • The 1916 Rising
  • The rise of the second Sinn Féin party
  • The 1918 election
  • The War of Independence
  • Partition
  • Treaty and Civil War
  • State building and the consolidation of democracy
  • From Free State to Republic
  • Northern Ireland – the Unionist Party in power
  • The Impact of World War II, North and South
  • Case Study: The Treaty negotiations, October-December, 1921

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Topic 3: The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition, 1912-1949. Society and economy

  • Impact of partition on economy and society
  • Impact of world economic crisis
  • From free trade to protectionism
  • Impact of World War II.
  • Case Study: Belfast during World War II

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Topic 3: The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition, 1912-1949. Culture, religion and science

  • The Irish language after 1922
  • Religion and education
  • Promotion of cultural identity
  • Key personality: Evie Hone (1894 - 1955)
  • Case study: The eucharistic congress of 1932

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Topic 3: Dictatorship and democracy in Europe, 1920-1945. Politics and Administration

  • 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 and 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 (1889 - 1945)
  • Key personality: Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945)
  • Key personality: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924)
  • Key personality: Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953)

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Topic 3: Dictatorship and democracy in Europe, 1920-1945. Society and economy

  • Economical 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/Russian economy under Stalin.
  • Society during World War II
  • Anti-semitism and the holocaust
  • Key personality: John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946)
  • Key personality: Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

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Topic 3: Dictatorship and democracy in Europe, 1920-1945. Culture, religion and science

  • 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: Jospeh Goebbels (1897 - 1945)
  • Key personality: Leni Riefenstahl (1902 - 2003)
  • Key personality: Bing Crosby (1903 - 1997)
  • Key personality: Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977)

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The Documents-Based Study: Politics and Society in Northern Ireland, 1949 - 1993.

  • The elections of 1885 and 1886, issues and outcomes
  • Dublin, 1913 strike and lockout
  • The GAA to 1891

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