The AS level is made up of two units and the A level is made up of four units. Units 1,2 and 3 are assessed by examination.

 Unit outlines:

 1) Germany/Stuarts
v  Unit 1: Religious strife and rebellion:  Stuart England 1603-42 
v  Unit 2: Anti-semitism in Germany  1900-1945
v  Unit 3: The world turned upside down: England 1642-1689: Republican England, Restoration and Revolution
v  Unit 4: Individual Assignment (Outline taught course on German history 100 years)       

2) USA Russia, Britain
v  Unit 1: Russia 1881-1917  The crisis of the Tsars and revolution
v  Unit 2: USA 1754-1783   The American War of Independence
v  Unit 3: Britain 1865-1915  Political threats and change
v  Unit 4: Individual Assignment  (Taught course on 100 years of American history) 

3) Britain, Russia, Cold War
v  Unit 1: Britain 1906-1951
v  Unit 2: 1689-1725 Peter the Great
v  Unit 3: The Cold War from 1945
v  Unit 4: Individual Assignment (Taught course on 100 years of British history)

Outline of Study Unit 3: British State and People 1865-1915 (HIS3G)

This unit promotes and understanding of change and continuity over 50 years. Through the study of key events in depth, candidates will be able to demonstrate and understanding of the interrelationship of individuals such as Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, ideas such as socialism, nationalism and liberalism and other factors such as the impact of changing patterns of economic growth and their relative importance to the process of change and consolidation in politics and society. Additionally candidates will be able to demonstrate how issues, ideas and other factors (such as British foreign and imperial policy) change during the period.

Unit 3: Aspects of International Relations, 1945–2004 (HIS3N)

This unit promotes an understanding of change and continuity over approximately 60 years. Through the study of key events in depth, such as the introduction of containment as the foundation of US foreign policy after 1947, candidates will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationship of individuals, ideas and other factors and their relative importance to the processes of change and consolidation. Additionally, as a result of the study of the period as a whole, candidates will be able to demonstrate how issues, ideas and other factors changed during the period. The continuity of the Cold War within a framework of shifting intensity is particularly evident in this period of study. The impact of nuclear technology and economic strength are both primary elements in understanding the nature of international relations in the second half of the twentieth century and into the beginning of the 21st century. This unit enables students to understand the key forces which have driven international relations and will enable them to place future developments in a meaningful context.

Unit 4-Historical Enquiry: 100 years of British History: The Radical Threat 1750-1850

To what extent were short-term economic factors the main reason for the intensification of radical protest in this period?

Introduction: Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century was the scene of unprecedented economic and social change: so much so that when Friedrich Engels came to describe society in the 1840s he could compare what was happening to the French Revolution of 1789. Some historians have seen the period 1760-1860 as one in which revolution was possible in Britain. The food riots of the 1790s, the unrest of the 1810s and the Chartist agitation of the 1830s and 1840s, suggests to some that revolutionary activity, fuelled by radical political theory and given impetus by economic hardship, was capable of threatening the established order.

Unit 4-Historical Enquiry: From Civil War to Civil Rights: A Study of American History from 1850 till 1975 – The Land of the Free?

In the context of the 100 years c.1865-1975, how important was war in the development of Civil Rights in the USA?

The course is a survey of American history from 1860 to the 1980. It examines the major social, political, and economic events that shaped America after the Civil War (Reconstruction, Industrialisation, the New Deal, WWI and II, McCarthyism, Feminism, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, Great Society Liberalism, etc)

Key Themes:- The development of the Civil Rights Movement, Constitutional Development, Capitalism and the State, Foreign Policy.

Unit 4-Historical Enquiry: Dissent and heresy in Medieval and early modern Europe

In the context of the period 1150-1330, was Pope Innocent III’s leadership the key reason for the failure of Catharism in the Languedoc region?

In the context of the period 1189-1314, to what extent was the elimination of heresy the key reason for the suppression of the Templar Order carried out by Philip IV of France?

What factors caused the emergence and spread of heresy and popular anti-clericalism? To what extent was the spread of heresy influenced by economic change including the growth of towns and long-distance trade? Why did political leaders often struggle to suppress heresy and dissent? What was the role and significance of key individuals?

Assessment