History
Grade 12 NSC
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Five 80 minute lessons per week
1. Term
Topic: The Cold War
- What were the origins of the Cold War?
What was the Cold War?
End of the Second World War – why did a Cold War develop?
USSR and USA and the creation of spheres of interest:
Creation of satellite states in Eastern Europe
USA’s policy of containment – Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and
Soviet reaction
Containment and ‘brinkmanship’: the Cuban Crisis
Angolan War
Who was to blame for the Cold War?
- How did China rise as a world power after 1949? (to be rotated
annually as a topic with Vietnam)
Establishment of Communist China in 1949 and events leading up to
1949
Cultural Revolution
China’s relations with the Soviet Union and the USA from 1949 to 1973
China’s changing relationships with neighbouring states – Tibet, India,
Vietnam and Taiwan
To what extent was China established as a superpower by the time of
Mao’s death?
Conclusion- impact of China’s economic liberalisation on relations with
the rest of the world from Mao’s death until the present
- How was Vietnam able to win a war against the USA? (1954 to 1975)
(to be rotated annually as a topic with China)
Background – overview of the struggle against colonial powers prior to
the Second World War
Stages of the war
The war from Vietnamese and USA perspectives
1969 to 1975 – USA withdrawal from Vietnam and impact on USA
politics
- Middle East
Early 20th century history as background
1948 War of Independence to 1973 Yom Kippur War
Involvement of the superpowers in the Cold War context
Topic: What was the impact of the collapse of the USSR in 1989?
- Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union – reasons for his reforms and
the impact of these reforms
- Events in Eastern Europe – Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and
Hungary:
Events in Poland – significance of ‘Solidarity’
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Germany: the fall of the Berlin Wall
Collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War
Impact on South Africa
2. Term
Topic: Globalisation
- Defining globalisation
- Balance of world power and impact on Africa – economic divide
- Dominance of global Western capitalism:
USA
Bretton Woods
IMF
World Bank
World Trade Organisation
Multi-lateral organisations
OPEC
Civil society resistance to global capitalism
Topic: How did South Africa emerge as a democracy from the crises of
the 1990s?
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The crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s
The collapse of Apartheid in South Africa – coming together of internal
and external pressures
How the crises were managed:
Conflict – Third Force, Boipatong, Bisho, murder of Chris Hani, AWB,
AZAPO, IFP
Compromise – unbanning of organisations, release of political
prisoners Negotiation – Groote Schuur and Pretoria Minutes, CODESA
Settlement – ‘Sunset clause’
Elections – Freedom Front and IFP join elections
The Government of National Unity- negotiations with Mandela and the
ANC
The new Constitution
3. Term
Topic: Civil Society protest 1960s to 1990
- US Civil Rights Movement:
Reasons and origins of the Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King Junior
Civil disobedience protests – bus boycotts,
desegregation, marches
Short-term and long-term gains
sit-ins,
school
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Black Power Movement
Reasons for the movement
Black Panthers
Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X
Short-term and long-term gains
Women’s Movement in the 1960s and 1970s
Student Movement
Peace Movement – disarmament, hippie movement
Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa:
Nature and aims of Black Consciousness
Role of Steve Biko
1976 Soweto Uprising
Legacy of Black Consciousness on South African politics
Protests in South Africa in the 1980s:
Policies of Botha’s government – Total Strategy
Internal Pressures: response to government policies – labour unions,
UDF, MDM, ECC, Black Sash
External pressures: International anti-apartheid movements – boycotts,
disinvestment, sanctions, support from neighbouring states (Angola,
Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe)
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