Paper 1 – the Cold War
Key questions:
1. Who was to blame for the Cold War
2. Who won the Cuban Missile Crisis?
3. Why did the USA fail in Vietnam?
Who was to blame for the Cold War?
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Ideological differences (communism vs capitalism)
Leaders – Roosevelt, Truman, Stalin, Churchill and Attlee
Suspicions caused by previous events
Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference
The Iron Curtain and the Soviet control of Eastern Europe
Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
The Berlin Blockade
Who won the Cuban Missile Crisis?
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Cuban Revolution – Batista, communism, Fidel Castro, Bay of Pigs
Causes of the crisis – why Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba, Turkey
Events of the crisis – thirteen days, Khrushchev vs. Kennedy
Consequences – test ban treaty, hot line link, Khrushchev’s downfall
Why did the USA fail in Vietnam?
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Reasons for entering Vietnam – French defeat , Ho Chi Minh, Eisenhower and
Kennedy, President Diem, Domino Theory,
Escalation – Rolling Thunder, Johnson, My Lai, Tet Offensive, propaganda
Tactics – hearts and minds, Vietcong, guerrilla warfare, agent orange and napalm, Ho
Chi Minh trail, Vietnamisation
Paper 1 – USA 1919-1945
Key questions:
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How far was there an economic boom in America in the 1920s?
How far did American society change in the 1920s?
What were the consequences of the Wall Street Crash in 1929?
How successful was the New Deal?
How far was there an economic boom in America in the 1920s?
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The impact of WWI (1914-1918) on America
The different reasons for the economic boom - L.A.C.K.P.A.N.T.S (Laissez-Faire,
Assembly Line, Credit, Knowledge, Position of the USA, Advertising, New Consumer
Goods, Tariffs, Share Confidence
Mass production, the assembly line and the work of Henry Ford
New industries to benefit - Car, new consumer goods, electricity and gas, cinema,
construction (skyscrapers), new materials (rayon) and chemicals
Industries that did not benefit – farming, traditional industry (coal, textiles)
People who did not benefit – farmers, black Americans, Native Americans,
immigrants
How far did American society change in the 1920s?
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The Roaring 20s
Mass entertainment – radio, cinema, sport, jazz music, dance crazes, Hollywood
(Rudolf Valentino, MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Talkies, The Jazz Singer, Babe
Ruth Charleston)
Impact of WWI
Changing role of women – impact of WWI, changes in work, Financial independence,
labour saving devices, more leisure time, flappers – also consider where attitudes
towards women did not change.
Intolerance in America – Isolationism, immigration, discrimination (Johnson-Reid Act
of 1924), segregation (Jim Crow Laws), religious intolerance
Red Scare – fear of communism (‘the reds’)
Prohibition (introduction and repeal) - 18th Amendment, Volstead Act, Temperance
Movement, Anti-Saloon League, Gangsters, Al Capone, Speak-easies, Moonshine,
Bootleggers, violence, racketeering, bribery, Federal Prohibition Bureau, the New
Deal
What were the causes and consequences of the Wall Street Crash in 1929?
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Causes and events of the Crash – speculation, Wall Street, stock and shares,
investors, dividends, Black Thursday and Black Tuesday, panic
Other problems with the economy by 1929 – overproduction, under consumption,
credit, tariffs, 60% of population living under the poverty line
Herbert Hoover’s reaction to the crash- Laissez-Faire policies – sit and wait, rugged
individualism, Reconstruction Financial Commission, Federal Farm Board, HawleySmoot Tariff
Economic effects of the crash - worthless shares, bankruptcy, slump in production,
unemployment, trigger to the Great Depression
Social and political effects of the crash - Homelessness- Hoovervilles, Hoover stew,
Hoover blanket Bonus March Summer 1932, move away from Laissez-Faire
Roosevelt’s 1932 election victory – polio, optimism and hope, New Deal
How successful was the New Deal?
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FDRs promise of 3Rs - Relief Recovery Reform
First 100 days of Presidency- Reserving the ‘Spiral of Depression’ and ‘Pump
Priming’, Emergency Banking Act, end of prohibition, alphabet agencies, fireside
chats
Alphabet Agencies
Opposition to the New Deal – those who thought it went too Far = the rich, the
states, businessmen, The Republicans. Those who thought it did not go far enough =
Huey Long, Father Coughlin, Dr Francis Townsend
Supreme Court Opposition- NRA and AAA shut down, ‘Pack the Court’
1936 Second New Deal to help those not previously helped - unskilled workers, poor
tenant farmers and the old, SSA (Social Securities Act), WPA (Works Progress
Administration), RA (Resettlement Administration), NLRB (National Labour Relations
Board(Wagner Act))
Success of New Deal - Reduced unemployment by 40%, AAs created jobs built
schools and roads, saved the banks, gave people confidence
Criticisms of the New Deal - never solved unemployment, a sink back into
Depression 1937-1938, most expensive govt. spending ever, boondoggling, many still
discriminated against – Blacks, Women, poor farmers
Paper 2 – British society
Key questions:
1. How effective were the Liberal Reforms?
2. How did women campaign to get the vote?
3. How was Britain affected by WWI?
How effective were the liberal reforms?
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Conditions for the poor in 1890 – Living conditions, Workhouses, Charities, LaissezFaire attitudes, Seebohm Rowntree and Charles Booth
Reasons why poverty became a political issue – Work of Researchers, Boer War,
Independent Labour Party, Liberal Party and New Liberals
The reforms the Liberal Government passed from 1906- Children Acts, Pensions Act,
Labour Exchange Act, National Insurance Part I and II
Opposition to the reforms –House of Lords and 1909 Peoples’ Budget, Conservative,
Rich, Labour, TUs, Employers and Employees
How effective these reforms were – arguments for and against the liberal reforms
How did women campaign for the vote?
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Position of Women by 1890 – equalities and inequalities
Campaign groups – NSWUU (Suffragists), WSPU or (Suffragettes)
Types of tactics used by each group – peaceful VS. violence
Reaction by the Authorities – the police, prison officers, force-feeding , the
government , Cat and Mouse Act, the papers – The Times
Contribution to the war effort-call off of campaign, Right to Serve, war work 1918
Representation of Peoples Act
The effectiveness of the campaigns – reasons why women gained the vote, did the
violence do more harm than good?
How was Britain affected by WWI?
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Impact of the war on civilians – threats of invasion
Recruitment – reasons for enlistment, conscientious objectors
Conscription and Women’s work –Military Service Acts, shell crisis, canaries,
munitions work, Women’s Land Army
DORA and the changes this brought, propaganda, shipping, coal, railways, land, food
shortages and rationing – Eat Less Bread
Effectiveness of Propaganda - posters/postcards/cartoons/ films
Attitudes at the end of the War – ‘Squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak