"I am going to fail A2 Edexcel Unit 3: Germany 1900-1945" -- OFFICIAL thread.

Section B of the exam paper will give you a choice of 2 questions, one on each controversy.
The first controversy being - to what extent was Germany responsible for WW1? The main things you need to look at are German foreign policy c.1900-14 and the controversy surrounding Germany's 'war guilt'.
The second controversy is how popular was the Nazi regime and how effectively did the Nazi state operate from 1933-39? The main issues for this one are degree of consent the Nazi regime received, extent to which this was reliant on terror and repression, the role of Hitler, cumulative radicalisation and whether Nazi state was a chaotic 'polycracy'.

You do only need to revise one of these but then your giving yourself no option in the exam, i'm only going to revise the first one.

By the way, I am going to be writing notes in the coming days from the revision guide from edexcel onto powerpoint if anyone wants it?

can someone please explain to me the difference between did germany's aggressive FP 'cause' war and their 'war guilt'.
are cause and guilt too different questions?

They most likely will be. The whole topic is interrelated though so depending on the Question you may be able to include both. The foreign policy question is likely to appear as a controversy rather then the first question.

I have focused more on the Weimar period but I will try and answer this.
The German Foreign Policy can be interpreted as aggressive and provocative due to their extortionate handling of the Second Moroccan Crisis, their support for the Boers (I think?) against the British and The Naval Race. These can be argued however as just Germany's attempts at establishing colonies rather then an attempt to provoke conflict, the fact that they were in some way connected to the Boers (I dont know ). The navy race, rather then a direct attempt to take on Britains Naval supremacy, could have just been an attempt to counter the British domination of the Northern European seas so that Germany could effectively run her African colonies.

Much more difficult to excuse were Germany's "blank cheque" given to Austro-Hungary, Germany's insistence that A+H take a hardlined approach to Serbia and Russia's refusal to acknowledge the annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina that and the plans written in the diary of Bethmann-Hollwegs secretary. Even these could be countered.

War Guilt however was established with article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles. It was necessary as it justified the extortionate reparations imposed on Germany by the Allies. It was forcing Germany to
acknowledge that the war was all their fault even though other countries had their own plans for war, ie France Plan XVII, Austria Plans B and R and Russia Plans G, A and 19.

So in a sense the two are related but war guilt isnt a willing sign showing who was responsible for the war, rather an imposed admission of guilt despite other countries having nearly as aggressive foreign policies and plans.

And yes when I write them up I will send them to you, pm me your email?

also: [another message from me!]
can someone please explain the UMS workings for this year.. obv last year was just two exams out of 100 ... but coursework is only what? 60%? so.. how many UMS is this exam out of and what roughly is an A/B?!
if people are saying about 50/70 for an A what do you reckon a B will be?

coursework is UMS /80, grade boundaries can be found somewhere on Edexcel
this exam, I think would be:
RAW 50/70 A = 96/120 UMS
RAW 45/70 B = 84/120 UMS

shiiiit.. not a lot in it?!
and for a C?
i'm hoping i only need around a C because of my marks last year.. but it's still soo hard to get a C in history!
i'm so scared.

do you know exactly where the coursework ums boundaries are?
thanks!

C would probably be around 40/70? I'm not entirely sure, it's just a guess!

Coursework in January was:
41/50 = A = 64/80
35/50 = B = 56/80
30/50 = C = 48/80
I think...

Does anybody know the possible topics we could be asked on for the part B source controversy on Nazi government 1933 - 39? Obviously one possibility is whether or not Hitler was a strong dictator, what else can we be asked on?

the popularity of the nazi party, ie how much of it was due to goebbels propaganda or alternatively was it down to the terror of the gestapo, ss etc

Thanks So are these the only two options or are there more?

well the controversy will either ask you:

-something about how far was germany responsible for ww1

-did the nazis get compliance through popularity or through terror/was the structire of the third reich deliberately in conflict or was it due to hitlers ideas about social darwinism and his reluctance to get involved in bureaucratic decisions

There's one question on both (which is why I'll be doing Germany's responsibility.)

same, seems easier then learning both chapters for the other one and it also seems more interesting.

And less confusing. I might end up doing the essay on the other topic - if the Kaiser essay is difficult. But, I have this nagging feeling that it would be on how they maintained status-quo before the war. [I'd be super-happy if I get that, because the last time I did that question, I did very well! ]

ohh that sounds difficult actually

how did you go about answering that? i can put together a decent essay on how far was germany responsible for ww1 and how far did it polarise politics but havent got much idea about that?