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Year 12 - Modern History (ATAR)

Lessons

32 lessons

  1. Russia in 1914: Autocracy, Empire and a Society Under Strain The economic, political and social conditions in Russia in 1914. Russia's geographical and economic context (industrialisation and modernisation); Tsarist political structures and bureaucracy (the Okhrana, the Russian Orthodox Church, the empire and the Dumas); political challenges and rising opposition; the significant ideas of autocracy and communism; and Russia's social structure and the growing discontent between social groups.
  2. World War I and the Crisis of Tsarist Leadership The internal divisions and crises within Russian society. The outbreak of World War I and Russia's place in Europe; reasons for going to war and the significance of the Russian Army; military successes and failures (Tannenberg, the Masurian Lakes and the Brusilov Offensive); conditions on the home front; and the leadership of Tsar Nicholas II, including his decision to take personal control of the army and the impact of Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin ('ministerial leapfrogging').
  3. The February Revolution and the Fall of the Tsar The causes and events of the February Revolution of 1917: social and economic discontent, military losses and the failure of political reform; demonstrations in Petrograd, International Women's Day and troop mutinies; the establishment of the Petrograd Soviet (Order No. 1) and the Provisional Government (Dual Power); and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.
  4. The October Revolution: The Bolsheviks Seize Power The causes and events of the October Revolution of 1917. Lenin's return from exile and the April Theses; the problems facing the Provisional Government (the war, the land question, peasant unrest, national minorities and the economy); Bolshevik agitation and propaganda, the July Days, the leadership of Kerensky and the Kornilov Revolt; the formation of MILREVCOM and the Red Guard; and the Bolshevik seizure of power, including the fall of the Winter Palace and the formation of Sovnarkom.
  5. Civil War, the Red Terror and the Birth of the USSR The causes, events and outcomes of the Russian Civil War. Initial Bolshevik reforms and decrees and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk; the nature of the opposition (White forces, Right Socialist Revolutionaries and Allied Intervention); the leadership of Trotsky and the Red Army; the Red Terror and the Cheka under Dzerzhinsky; War Communism and nationalisation; reasons for victory including the Kronstadt Uprising and the Tambov peasant revolts; and outcomes including the 10th Party Congress, the Ban on Factions, the NEP and the creation of the USSR.
  6. The Struggle for Power: Stalin's Rise, 1924–1929 The significance of Stalin's rise to power and the reasons for his success by 1929. An assessment of Lenin and Leninism, his death and legacy; the contenders for power and the nature of party rivalry and factionalism; the defeat of the left opposition (1924–27) and the right (1927–29); debates over economic policy; the ideological debate between permanent revolution and socialism in one country; the role of figures such as Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky and Krupskaya; and historical perspectives on the power struggle.
  7. The Great Turn: Collectivisation and Industrialisation The economic changes that transformed Russia/the USSR to 1945. The results of the NEP, including the scissor crisis and the kulaks; the Great Turn and the 15th Party Congress, and the reasons for it (autarky, military strength, grain supply and socialism); collectivisation and famine — the nature of Soviet agriculture, dekulakisation, peasant reaction and the Great Famine including the Holodomor in Ukraine; and industrialisation through Gosplan and the Five-Year Plans, including Stakhanovism, achievements, the human cost, urbanisation and the New Soviet Man.
  8. Society, Repression and the Great Terror The social impact of communist policies to 1945 and the methods used to control society. Under Lenin: social welfare and Alexandra Kollontai, the impact on women, the family, abortion and divorce, education and literacy, the Komsomol, and the campaign for atheism (the Union of the Militant Godless). Under Stalin: the Cultural Revolution, the 1935 Education Law, the Great Retreat and the 1936 Family Code; and the methods of control — propaganda and socialist realism, the OGPU/NKVD, Kirov's murder, the Purges, the Great Terror and Show Trials, the Yezhovshchina, the death of Trotsky, and Stalin's cult of personality, assessed against Leninism and Tsarism.
  9. The Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945 The factors that enabled the USSR to secure victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45). A brief overview of Soviet foreign policy in the 1920s and 1930s and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact; Operation Barbarossa; Stalin's leadership including the purging of the Red Army, Orders 270 and 227, the Great Evacuation, Lend-Lease and the use of the Russian Orthodox Church; military engagements such as Stalingrad (Operation Uranus), Kursk and Bagration; the role of military leaders such as Zhukov, Chuikov and Vasilevsky; and the impact of social and political forces including Russian nationalism, the role of women, propaganda, STAVKA and the NKVD.
  10. Australia in 1918: Conditions and Significant Ideas The economic, political and social conditions in Australia in 1918. An overview of the political parties; protectionist economic policy and reliance on wheat and wool; and social conditions including the Immigration Restriction Act ('White Australia'), the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and the position of women in the family and workforce. Introduces the significant ideas of egalitarianism, assimilation, communism, Aboriginal activism and nationalism.
  11. World War I, Conscription and the Anzac Legend World War I and its impact on Australia. Reasons for going to war as individuals and as a nation; the effects of enlistment, wartime government controls and propaganda; the role of women; the conscription debate, the role of Billy Hughes and the resulting split in the Labor Party; social divisions and economic impact; and the growth of nationalism through mateship and the Anzac legend, including contested views of the legend and the exclusion of groups from the idea of 'mateship'.
  12. The 1920s: National Priorities and Foreign Policy National priorities and foreign policy in the 1920s. The tensions between urbanisation, industrialisation and rural development; the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the role of Billy Hughes; membership of the League of Nations; the 1926 Imperial Conference and the Statute of Westminster and relations with Britain; the challenges of returned soldiers, the RSL and the Soldier Settlement Schemes; the rise of the Country Party and the Bruce–Page government; and the 'Men, money, markets' policy and the Empire Settlement Act of 1922.
  13. The Great Depression: Causes, Impact and Responses The Great Depression in Australia. An analysis of the causes 1929–32; the impact on different groups — social classes, women and children, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples; the political responses of Scullin and Lang and the effectiveness of the competing recovery plans; the causes and consequences of the 1931 Labor Split; the emergence of the right-wing New Guard and left-wing parties; and the path to recovery under the Lyons government from 1932.
  14. Australia and World War II: Europe, the Pacific and the Home Front Australia and World War II. The background and outbreak, including the rise of Fascism and Australia's response; relations with Britain (the 'Singapore strategy') and the growing fear of Japan; the nature and scope of Australia's war effort in Europe, Asia and the Pacific; the wartime leadership of Menzies and Curtin; the alliance with the United States; austerity and total war on the home front; the Fall of Singapore and Curtin's appeal to America; the formation of the Liberal Party in 1944; and Australia's role in the United Nations.
  15. Post-War Reconstruction and the 1949 Election Post-war reconstruction and the 1949 election. The leadership of Ben Chifley and the 'Light on the Hill' — post-war reconstruction, the White Paper on Employment, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, banking reform and social welfare; immigration and 'Populate or Perish' and its social impact; post-war foreign policy and the role of Evatt at the United Nations; post-war social change and Aboriginal activism (William Cooper, Faith Bandler, Jack Patten); and the 1949 election — the contrasting policies of Chifley and Menzies and the impact of communism and the 1949 Coal Strike.
  16. Origins of Australia's Engagement with Asia by 1949 The origins of Australia's engagement with Asia by 1949. John Curtin's response to the Fall of Singapore and the shift from the UK to the USA; the impact of the American alliance and the Pacific theatre; social attitudes towards Japan; Australia's leadership of the Commonwealth Occupation Forces in post-war Japan; the influence of the White Australia Policy and the reasons for 'Populate or Perish'; Evatt's role in establishing the UN and supporting colonised nations; and the Chifley government's response to Indonesian independence 1945–49.
  17. Powerful Friends: the Colombo Plan, ANZUS and SEATO Alliances, treaties and forums in the 1950s. The reasons for the establishment of the ANZUS Treaty and its defensive nature; Australia's involvement in the Colombo Plan (1951) and its political, economic and social motives; Australia's position in SEATO and the ideological motives of the organisation; and the influence of the significant concepts of 'powerful friends' and regional security in the context of communism.
  18. Forward Defence: China, Korea, Malaya and the Communist Threat Forward defence and the Menzies era. The policy of forward defence and Menzies' leadership in responding to the success of the Communists in China, the Korean War (and Australia's early engagement) and the Malayan Emergency (the Far East Strategic Reserve and Konfrontasi); and the threat of communism as a domestic political force, including the Communist Party Dissolution Bill, the High Court challenge and referendum, the Petrov Affair, the 1954 election and the 1955 ALP/DLP split.
  19. The Vietnam War and Its Impact on Australia The Vietnam War and its impact on Australia. The long- and short-term causes, including Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese nationalism, the First Indochinese War and the Geneva Accords, and American involvement in South Vietnam; the nature of the warfare, including chemical weapons, media coverage and the 'hearts and minds' strategy; the reasons for Australia's engagement, including fear of communism, ANZUS, regional security and the Holt–LBJ alignment; and the impacts within Australia, including the protest movement, the treatment of returned servicemen and changing attitudes towards communism and Asia.
  20. Australia as Peacekeeper: Cambodia and East Timor Australia as a peacekeeping nation in Cambodia and East Timor. Cambodia: the causes, events and impacts of the Khmer Rouge regime and genocide; Australia's response through SEATO, ASEAN and the UN; the Vietnamese invasion of 1978 and the debate over Cambodia's UN seat; and Gareth Evans' leadership of the Cambodian Peace Process. East Timor: the relationship with Indonesia 1945–75, the Balibo 5 and the Timor Gap Treaty, the movement for independence, Howard's diplomacy, and Australia's leadership of INTERFET and support for UNTAET after the 2001 elections.
  21. From White Australia to Multiculturalism The transition from the White Australia Policy to multiculturalism. The impact of the White Australia Policy 1901–48 on Australian demographics and attitudes towards Asia; the gradual deconstruction of the policy (the Colombo Plan, Japanese war brides, Australian citizenship, the visa system and the Migration Act 1958); the leadership of successive governments from Menzies through Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke and Howard; the humanitarian response to Indochinese refugees and Chinese students after Tiananmen Square; and the influence of Blainey, Perkins, Fitzgerald and Hanson on debates over multiculturalism and immigration.
  22. Trade with Asia: ASEAN, APEC and the Asian Tigers The changing nature and importance of Australia's trade with Asia. The Bretton Woods Agreement and its impact on trade relationships; the 1950s balance of payments crisis and the identification of Asia as a beneficial trade source; the 1957 Commerce Agreement with Japan and post-war relational repair; the role of Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke in developing trade and political relations with China, including recognition; leadership in developing the APEC and ASEAN forums; and the Asian Financial Crisis and the rise of the Asian Tigers.
  23. Origins of the Conflict and the Creation of Israel The origins of the Arab–Israeli conflict and the creation of Israel. The legacy of the Ottoman collapse and the British Mandate in Palestine; the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism; the impact of the Holocaust on Jewish migration and international sympathy; the 1947 UN Partition Plan; the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the first Arab–Israeli war (the War of Independence / Nakba); and the origins of the Palestinian refugee question.
  24. The Arab–Israeli Wars: Suez, 1967 and 1973 The major Arab–Israeli wars. The causes, course and consequences of the Suez Crisis (1956); the Six-Day War (1967) and its decisive territorial outcomes (the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and the Golan Heights); and the Yom Kippur War (1973) and its diplomatic aftermath. The role of Cold War superpower involvement, the significance of UN Security Council Resolution 242 ('land for peace'), and the impact of these wars on the prospects for peace.
  25. Attempts at Peace: Camp David, Oslo and the UN Attempts to settle the conflict. The Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty as the first major breakthrough; the Oslo Accords (1993) and mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO; the Camp David Summit (2000), its failure and the outbreak of the Second Intifada; and the role and limitations of the United Nations (UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338, and UNRWA's support for refugees). An evaluation of why some attempts succeeded and others failed.
  26. Palestinian Nationalism and the Intifadas Palestinian nationalism and the conflict from the ground. The formation and changing role of the PLO under Arafat; the experience of Palestinian refugees and life under occupation; the First Intifada (1987) as a popular uprising and its effect on international opinion; the Second Intifada (2000) and its violence; and the use of terrorism and asymmetric resistance, and their impact on public opinion and the peace process.
  27. Regional Forces, External Powers and Significant Leaders Wider regional and external forces. The Iranian Revolution (1979) and the rise of political Islam and its impact on the region; the involvement of the Cold War superpowers and the later role of the United States as principal broker; the role of oil as a strategic and economic lever; and an assessment of the significance of individuals such as Nasser, Sadat, Begin, Rabin and Arafat in shaping the course of the conflict and the attempts to resolve it.
  28. Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Europe The origins of the Cold War in Europe and the division of the continent. The legacy of World War II and the Yalta and Potsdam settlements; the competing roles of ideology and Stalin's desire for security in shaping post-war Europe; the creation of the Soviet buffer zone and Churchill's 'Iron Curtain'; the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Berlin Blockade and airlift; and the formation of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955).
  29. Divided Germany and the Berlin Wall The division of Germany and Berlin as the focal point of the Cold War. The post-war occupation zones; the creation of the Federal Republic (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany); the political and economic contrast between the two states; and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, its purpose in stemming the flow of refugees, and its significance as the symbol of a divided continent.
  30. Soviet Control of Eastern Europe and Its Challenges Soviet control of Eastern Europe and the challenges to it. The nature of the Soviet bloc and the satellite states; the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and its suppression; the Prague Spring of 1968 and the formulation of the Brezhnev Doctrine; the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s; and the methods — military, political and economic — the USSR used to maintain control over the bloc.
  31. The Collapse of Communism and the End of the Cold War The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev's reforms — glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) — and the decisive abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine; the revolutions of 1989 in Poland (Solidarity's electoral victory) and Hungary; the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989; and an evaluation of the relative significance of internal pressures and external forces in bringing about the collapse.
  32. German Reunification and a New Europe The reunification of Germany and the reshaping of Europe after the Cold War. The rapid process of German reunification following the fall of the Wall; the Two Plus Four Treaty (1990) and the concerns of the four occupying powers (the USA, UK, France and USSR) about a strong unified Germany; the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR; and the shift from a bipolar, divided continent toward European integration through the European Union after the Maastricht Treaty of 1992.