History

Analysing primary sources is one of the most important and interesting parts of studying history as they give you an insight into the topic you are studying through the voice/s of contemporaries who experienced the period.   A primary source can be anything which survives from the past: a written document; a painting; a monument; […]

Primary sources are a key part of the historians work and will provide important points that will strengthen your argument. However primary sources are often difficult to analyse; it is impossible to not see them through our own particular and subjective lens. The examiner will want you to show that you can study these sources […]

First rule of sources: don’t simply claim bias. Bias means nothing without explanation and shouldn’t be assumed, if you’re going to dismiss a source because of this, you need an explanation such as ‘this source emphasises the week point of King Henry VIII because at the time, the writer had just been exiled by the […]

Both of these phrases were coined during the expansion of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.  The Americans believed that countries in Asia and Eastern Europe were falling ‘like dominos’ to communism. So in other words as one country succeeded to communism, so too the countries bordering it would follow. And this theory, as […]

In order to better understand the causes of WWI, we use the following acronym- ANIMAL, which stands for Alliances: Triple Alliance (1882) of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy vs Triple Entente (1907) of the UK, France and Russia. Other alliances: Franco-Russian Alliance (1894), Entente Cordiale between France and Britain (1904) Nationalism: France’s resenment towards Germany the […]

The question can be answered from three different historical perspectives: the orthodox, the revisionist, and the post-revisionist. The orthodox account blames the expansionary tendencies of the Soviet Union, well exemplified by the consolidation of Soviet-friendly regimes in Eastern Europe and the promotion of Communist ideology in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The US containment policy […]

Writing an A Level essay which successfully hits the mark scheme with fluidity and a clear style can sometimes seem to be a daunting task. Where at GCSE level it is adequate to simply demonstrate subject knowledge through point, evidence and explanation, A Level markers look for a bit more in their essays. There are […]