Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) History Syllabus

What was the 1832 Great Reform Act and what were its limits?

It redistributed seats to growing industrial towns, removed many 'rotten boroughs' and gave the vote to more middle-class men. However, most working men and all women still could not vote.

Who were the Chartists and what did the People's Charter demand?

A working-class movement (1838-1850s) demanding political reform. The six points were: votes for all men, secret ballot, no property qualification for MPs, payment of MPs, equal constituencies and annual parliaments.

What was the role of trade unions in social reform?

Trade unions organised workers to bargain collectively for better pay, shorter hours and safer conditions, and pressured government for reforming laws; the 1871 Trade Union Act gave them legal recognition.

Who were the suffragettes and the suffragists, and how did they differ?

Both campaigned for votes for women. The suffragists (Millicent Fawcett, NUWSS) used peaceful, lawful methods; the suffragettes (Emmeline Pankhurst, WSPU) used militant, direct action such as protests and hunger strikes.

List the four main long-term causes of the First World War (the MAIN factors).

Militarism (arms race), Alliances (Triple Alliance vs Triple Entente), Imperialism (competition for colonies) and Nationalism (national rivalry and pride).

What event triggered the outbreak of the First World War in 1914?

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, which set off the chain of alliance commitments leading to war.

What was the Schlieffen Plan?

Germany's strategy to avoid a two-front war by quickly defeating France through neutral Belgium, then turning east against Russia. Belgian and British resistance caused it to fail, leading to deadlock.

What was trench warfare and 'no man's land'?

Soldiers fought from long defensive ditches (trenches) protected by barbed wire and machine guns. 'No man's land' was the dangerous open ground between opposing trenches.

Name two major battles of the First World War and a key fact about each.

The Somme (1916): about 60,000 British casualties on the first day. Verdun (1916): a long, costly French-German battle of attrition. (Passchendaele, 1917, was known for mud.)

How and when did the First World War end?

An armistice came into effect at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, after Germany's failed 1918 offensive, the arrival of US troops and naval blockade forced it to seek peace.

What were the main terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919)?

Germany accepted war guilt (Article 231), paid reparations, lost colonies and land (e.g. Alsace-Lorraine), and had its army limited to 100,000 men with no air force and a demilitarised Rhineland.

Why did the Great Depression of the 1930s cause hardship in Britain?

The Wall Street Crash (1929) collapsed world trade; British exports fell, factories and mines closed, and mass unemployment hit industrial areas hardest, causing poverty and events like the Jarrow March (1936).

How did Hitler and the Nazis come to power in Germany?

Resentment at Versailles, the Depression and unemployment boosted Nazi support; Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933 and then established a dictatorship by removing democratic rights.

What was the policy of appeasement in the 1930s?

Britain and France's policy of giving in to some of Hitler's demands to avoid war, seen in the Munich Agreement (1938) which let Germany take the Sudetenland.

What event began the Second World War in Europe?

Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, after which Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939.

What was the Dunkirk evacuation (1940)?

Operation Dynamo, the rescue of around 338,000 trapped Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk by naval and civilian 'little ships' after the German advance through France.

What was the Battle of Britain (1940)?

The air battle in which the RAF defended Britain against the German Luftwaffe, preventing a planned invasion. Radar and Spitfire/Hurricane fighters were key to the British victory.

What was the Blitz and how did it affect British civilians?

The sustained German bombing of British cities (1940-41). It killed thousands, destroyed homes, and led to blackouts, air-raid shelters, rationing and the evacuation of children to the countryside.

What was D-Day (6 June 1944)?

The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France, landing troops on the Normandy beaches (Operation Overlord). It opened a Western Front and began the liberation of Western Europe.

How did the Second World War end in Europe and in the Pacific?

In Europe with Germany's surrender on VE Day, 8 May 1945. In the Pacific with Japan's surrender (VJ Day, August 1945) after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

What was the Cold War?

The period of tension and rivalry (c.1945-1991) between the capitalist West, led by the USA, and the communist East, led by the USSR, fought through propaganda, an arms race and proxy wars rather than direct fighting.

What was the 'Iron Curtain'?

A phrase popularised by Winston Churchill (1946) describing the political and physical divide separating communist Eastern Europe from the democratic West.

What was the Welfare State set up in post-war Britain?

A system of government support 'from cradle to grave' based on the Beveridge Report (1942), including the National Health Service (1948), National Insurance, council housing and free secondary education.

How did everyday life change for ordinary people from the 1700s to today (give examples)?

Changes in housing (from cottages to mass housing), work (farm to factory to service jobs), travel (foot/horse to car and rail), health (high to low death rates) and leisure, education and diet.

In a local study, what is a 'fieldwork' investigation?

First-hand investigation of a place or site by going there in person to observe, record, sketch, photograph and measure features, gathering primary evidence about how it has changed.

List three sources you could use to study how your local area has changed over time.

Old maps and photographs, census and parish records, local newspapers, street names and building styles, oral history interviews with older residents, and museum or archive records.

Define a primary source in history.

A source created at the time of the event by someone present or directly involved, e.g. a diary, letter, photograph, official document, artefact or eyewitness account.

Define a secondary source in history.

A source produced later by someone who was not present, which interprets or analyses past events, e.g. a textbook, biography, documentary or historian's article.

When evaluating a source, what does considering its reliability and bias involve?

Asking who made it, when, why and for whom (provenance), whether the author had a reason to exaggerate or hide facts, and checking it against other evidence to judge how trustworthy it is.

What is the difference between the 'utility' and the 'reliability' of a source?

Reliability is how trustworthy/accurate a source is. Utility is how useful it is for a particular enquiry; a biased or unreliable source can still be useful as evidence of opinions or attitudes.

How should a historian reach a sound conclusion from evidence?

By cross-referencing several sources, weighing reliable evidence on each side, distinguishing fact from opinion, and forming a balanced judgement supported by the evidence rather than assumptions.