World War I – Core Exam Skills
© Paul Kiem, HTA
1. General
1
General Advice Advice
2. Brainstorming Sources
3 HSC Core –
3.
HSC Core Format and Strategies Format and Strategies
‐ Part A Advice and Questions
‐ Part B Advice and Questions Part B Advice and Questions
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
1. GENERAL ADVICE
Essential References
 Syllabus
 HSC Past Exams
2010 – 1st with current
Multiple choice format but
earlier years still useful for
long answers and Part B
style questions
questions.
 Past Marking Guidelines
 Notes From Marking Centre
 Latest Exam Workbook
www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
The Syallabus
1. War on the Western Front
– the reasons for the stalemate on the Western Front
the reasons for the stalemate on the Western Front
– the nature of trench warfare and life in the trenches dealing with experiences of Allied and German soldiers
– overview of strategies and tactics to break the stalemate including key battles: Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele
– changing attitudes of Allied and German soldiers to the war over time
2. The home fronts in Britain and Germany
2
The home fronts in Britain and Germany
– total war and its social and economic impact on civilians in Britain and Germany
– recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda in Britain and Germany
– the variety of attitudes to the war and how they changed over time in Britain and Germany
– the impact of the war on women’s lives and experiences in Britain
3. Turning points
– impacts of the entry of the USA and of the Russian withdrawal impacts of the entry of the USA and of the Russian withdrawal
– Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive and the Allied response
4. Allied Victory
– events leading to the Armistice, 1918
– reasons for the Allied victory and German collapse
– the roles and differing goals of Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson in creating the Treaty of Versailles
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Know enough detail – but not too much!
• Don’t get bogged down in battles. • Do know key dates and turning points.
• Prepare revision summaries for each topic. • Read, look at and use sources. R d l k
d
Develop a broad understanding of major developments
Turning Points and Allied Victory d ll d
Key Points 1917, April US entry
1917, Dec Russian withdrawal hd
l
1918, March‐July German Spring Offensive
1918, July‐Nov Allied Counter Offensive
1918, 29 Oct German Navy mutinied 1918 11 N A i i
1918, 11 Nov Armistice –
war ends d
1919, June Treaty of Versailles For example:
• Stalemate, its consequences and how it was broken.
,
q
• War weariness amongst soldiers and on the home fronts – evidence of this. • Total war, blockade and their impact on the home fronts – compare the home fronts.
Prepare for source based questions
Understanding Understanding
+ Knowledge
+ Source Skills 1.
2
2.
3.
4.
Recognise important detail in sources
U d t d th
Understand the context of sources
t t f
Use evidence in sources + knowledge to answer questions Assess the usefulness and reliability of sources History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Have a strategy for using the 5 minutes reading time at the start of the paper.
Have a well developed multiple choice strategy
Have a well developed multiple choice strategy.
Look  Read  Think  Answer the question asked. Thoughts about Source Work
Be very careful about using mnemonics or scaffolds.
• The danger is that you ‘answer’ the mnemonic rather than the question. • The challenge is to show insight into the sources on the paper, not remember a formula. e c a e ge s to s o
s g t to t e sou ces o t e pape , ot e e be a o u a.
Be careful about sweeping generalisations. g
y
y g
y
Eg.: ‘Everyone loved war when it started but they all got war weary after a while.’
‘British generals were stupid and didn’t care about their men.’
‘Germany lost because its home front was weak while Britain’s stayed strong.’
Don’t be obsessed with Primary and Secondary. Primary sources are not always the best, most reliable or most useful.
Don’t be obsessed with bias. History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
2. BRAINSTORMING SOURCES
Example 1 British Posters used during World War I
Example 1 British Posters used during World War I
GERMANS SINK
HOSPITAL
SHIPS.
BRITONS
WOULDN’T
DO IT
DO IT,
BRITONS
WON’T
FORGET IT
FORGET IT.
1. What is a general response?
2. What about the context and h
b
h
d
any links to your own knowledge?
3. How might you be able to use the sources as evidence?
4. Comment on perspective, reliability and usefulness.
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Example 2 Allied soldiers on the Western Front, 1917. History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
April 1917
7 
Jan 1917
7 
Example 3 Graph from Martin Gilbert’s The Routledge Atlas of the First World War, 2008 History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Example 4: Extracts from the letters of Ethel Cooper, who lived in Germany during the war and wrote regularly to her family in Australia
the war and wrote regularly to her family in Australia
17 December 1916
You can’tt feed servants now‐a‐days, they won
You can
feed servants now a days they won’tt live on their rations as we do, but live on their rations as we do but
simply take anything that is in the house and moreover there are almost no servants to be had – they are all going to factory and ammunition work, because i i b
it is better paid …
id
11 February 1917
We have got through a queer week … no coal, electric light turned off … and practically no food – there seems to be no more potatoes …
10 November 1918
I have seen the red flag! I think long before this reaches you, you will have seen it too. It began last Monday – we read in the evening papers that the sailors in Kiel too. It began last Monday we read in the evening papers that the sailors in Kiel
had risen, disarmed their officers, hoisted the red flag on all the ships… History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
3. HSC CORE – FORMAT AND STRATEGIES WW1 Core 25
25 marks
k
Two parts: Part A – 15 marks
•Multiple Choice Questions Choice Questions
•Short Answer Questions Part B – 10 marks
•One Extended Response Question
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
PART A ADVICE & QUESTIONS Multiple
p Choice
Written Answers
• consider all alternatives
• choose best answer to
the question
• questions can be easy or
hard
• answer the question asked!
• use BOTH Knowledge AND Sources if asked and
show this,
eg: ‘From Source A we learn …’
• use the number of lines and marks as a
guide to length
• write concisely
• respond with different points when required
• the longer answers mostly require:
- use of sources AND knowledge
- a clear answer to a question
- a well written response
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Question Types for Part A in past HSCs
2012
2013
2014
2015
Multiple Choice
Easy to Hard 5
5
5
5
Short Written
Short
Written Answer
Specific question. Answer in 2‐3 points to gain 2‐3 marks.
2 marks
2
marks
2 lines 2 marks
2
marks
4 lines 2 marks
2
marks
4 lines
2 marks
2
marks
4 lines
Longer Written Answer Written Answer
Use sources and own knowledge to answer broad question. 8 marks 8
marks
1 page 8 marks 8
marks
1 page
8 marks 8
marks
1+ page
8 marks 8
marks
1+ page
1.
2.
3
3.
4.
Plan an answer to the question asked.
Use your own knowledge. Also use evidence from the sources
Also use evidence from the sources. Use the different pieces of information in the best order to answer the question. History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
4. Sample Questions
Source and multiple choice question Source A British officer’s account of how he dealt with conscientious objectors, published in the British newspaper Daily Express, July 1916.
I had them placed in special rooms, nude, but with their full army kit on the floor for them to put on as soon as they were so minded. There were no blankets or substitutes for clothing left in the rooms which were quite bare. Several of the men held out naked for several hours but they gradually accepted the inevitable. Forty of the conscientious objectors who passed through my hands are now quite willing soldiers.
Conscientious objectors, referred to in Source B, were:
(A) Men who refused to volunteer for the army.
(B) E
(B) Enemy citizens who had been interned in Britain.
ii
h h db
i
di B i i
(C) Soldiers who had deserted and abandoned their uniforms.
(D) Men who were opposed to military service for moral or religious reasons.
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Source C Photograph of British soldiers in a trench at Ypres
2011 HSC
2011 HSC
What detail in Source C best suggests that this photograph was taken in the What
detail in Source C best suggests that this photograph was taken in the
early part of the war?
(A) The cleanliness of the soldiers’ uniforms
(B) The wearing of goggles and gauze masks
(C) The newly constructed nature of the trench
(D) The presence of vegetation behind the trench
(D) The presence of vegetation behind the trench
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Source C: Photograph of French soldiers in a communication trench near Verdun.
Short Written Answer
Use your own knowledge and Source C to give THREE reasons why it was difficult to evacuate
THREE reasons why it was difficult to evacuate wounded men from the trenches (3 Marks).
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Long Written Answer
Using Sources A and B and your own knowledge, explain why Germany was defeated in U
i S
A dB d
k
l d
l i h G
d f
di
World War I. 8 Marks
8 Marks 1 page writing space 1.
2.
3.
4.
Plan an answer to the question asked.
Use your own knowledge. Also use evidence from the sources. Use the different pieces of information in the best order to produce a well written answer. History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Source A The Western Front in 1918
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Source B: Extract from the memoirs of German Crown Prince William of Hohenzollern, published in 1922. (During the war the Crown Prince commanded an army on the W
Western Front.)
F
)
On the evening of the 5 November 1918 I came across a stationary leave train which was flying red flags. As I approached the train the men alighted. A sergeant hi h
fl i
d fl
A I
h d h
i h
li h d A
and a group of men stood before me displaying a very insolent attitude. At this I reprimanded them and appealed to their sense of honour as German soldiers. Very quickly there was a change. A young soldier explained that they did not mean anything by their protest. It was just that they had been travelling for three days without food. y
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
PART B ADVICE & QUESTIONS
Example – 2011 HSC question :
How useful would Sources C and D be for an historian studying the strategies and tactics used to break the stalemate on the Western Front? In your answer, consider the perspectives provided by the TWO sources and the reliability of each one. To answer, you need to:
Make a judgement regarding usefulness of BOTH sources, for the area of study indicated, after considering the perspective(s)
and the reliability of BOTH sources. History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
PART B QUESTIONS
• it is ABOUT the sources; content is less important
• read the source label – it can be very helpful
• write concisely – think more, write less!
• do deal with perspective, usefulness & reliability – use the words!
• don’t quote the source unless there is a good reason to
• do deal with all the sources in the question
• think of Key Questions: Who? When? What? Why? What Use? Tone?
• use the scaffold that follows as a guide
• RESPOND TO THE SOURCES AND QUESTION ON YOUR PAPER
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Q
Question
Perspective
Reliability
Usefulness
Source C
Source D
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Part B Question 2005 HSC Assess how useful Sources C and D would be for a historian studying the nature of trench warfare during World War I. In your answer, consider the perspectives provided by the TWO sources and the reliability of each one. li bili
f
h
10 marks 2 pages writing space
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
Source C
Attack, a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, a British junior officer on the Western Front, 1917.
Western Front, 1917. At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun* In the wild purple of the glow'ring
In the wild purple of the glow
ring sun, sun
Smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud The menacing scarred slope; and, one by one, Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire. The barrage roars and lifts. Then, clumsily bowed With bombs and guns and shovels and battle‐gear, Men jostle and climb to, meet the bristling fire. Lines of grey muttering faces masked with fear
Lines of grey, muttering faces, masked with fear, They leave their trenches, going over the top, While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists, Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
* brown Source D Extract from ‘Life in the Trenches ‘, found on the internet reference site: www.wordiQ.com
d
(
(accessed 15 November 2004). d
b
)
An individual soldier's time in the front‐line trench was usually brief; from as little as one day to as much as two weeks at a time before being relieved... A typical British soldier's year could be divided as follows:
15% front line 10% support line 30% reserve line 20% rest 25% other (hospital, travelling, leave, training courses, etc.) Even when in the front line the typical soldier would only be called upon to Even
when in the front line the typical soldier would only be called upon to
engage in fighting a handful of times a year … Some sectors of the front saw little activity throughout the war, making life in the trenches comparatively easy the trenhces were busiest at night when cover of comparatively easy … the trenhces
were busiest at night when cover of
darkness allowed the movement of troops and supplies, the maintenance and expansion of the barbed wire and trench system … History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
The World War I Answer Booklet is Scanned
Use a BLACK roller ball or felt tip pen ONLY
Use a BLACK roller‐ball or felt‐tip pen ONLY.
Write in the spaces provided in the answer booklet ONLY. p
p
But ask for an EXTRA WRITING BOOKLET if needed.
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au
REFERENCES
HTA Modern History Study Guide, 3
y
y
, rd ed., 2013
,
Dymocks George St Sydney
or Go To Publications at www.htansw.asn.au
Modern & Ancient History Core Questions, CD
Go To Publications at www.htansw.asn.au
Edrolo Online Modern History Tutorials access samples at: www.htansw.asn.au
‘Analysing Sources’ &
‘Myths of Source Work’ Go to Teaching History/Key Concepts at www.achistoryunits.edu.au
History Teachers’ Association of NSW www.htansw.asn.au