[crocker710]

(Original post by GraviticWar)
Yes, I wouldn't think that you would study this at university! that would be-weird. Yes, for-example the barbaric work of people like Mengele at the concentration/extermination camps is the only-reason we know what happens during hyperthermia and thus, how to treat-it - Nazi research is used every-single day...disturbing but reality. The Nazis are so-very interesting though... especially, if you dive deeper in-to their ideology - Sumerian mythology, Hyborian gods etc...its just bizzare.

Hmm I think it's one of the sad truths they say war is the engine of society, so the most horrific war has become the most far reaching of engines. It's one of the sad truths of war,

Tom

[GraviticWar]

(Original post by crocker710)
Hmm I think it's one of the sad truths they say war is the engine of society, so the most horrific war has become the most far reaching of engines. It's one of the sad truths of war,

Tom

Yes, I couldn't agree more. Trying to re-call a quote but cant remember-it exactly! some quote about the only-way that Humans can and have advanced is by-war...its an unfortunate truth. Total-war creates a fundamental necessity to-survive and thus, inventions to-solve it will appear on an similar scale - aka. technologically ground-breaking inventions that allow a nation to survive, a-nation that is combating other nations doing the same-thing and thus, the boundaries are constantly being raised/pushed. It's only really total-war that creates this unique-situation. This can be seen clearly during WW2 with the Nazis, the British and the Americans...they all eventually ended-up creating a jet-engine before the end of the war. The Nazis were first but because this was war-time, the British and Americans were never going to-be/allow themselves to-be to-far behind because of-course this would have allowed the Nazis to dominate the skies.

[samxsnap]

(Original post by crocker710)
Whow, Thanks That's one of the best compliments (related to TSR )I've received! I'm glad they were of help to not just you but your whole class . It's made even better by the fact i do want to become a history teacher (as boring as that sounds :P) cheers Sam you've kinda made my day (as sad as this sounds :P)

Tom

You'll be a fantastic teacher :] You're v patient and explain things in a number of different ways. I'm v pleased to have made your day! Have a good'un :]

[Basmati]

(Original post by yesioo)
I'm trying to answer this question

Explain why the pace and extent of industrialisation were much greater under the Communists then the Tsars.

With that question I'd approach it from a political, social and economic perspective, giving reasons from each aspect explaining the reasons why and giving examples of each explanation from a few different rulers
but hey thats just me personally

[jawain04]

'Communists and Tsars ruled Russia in the same way.' How far do you agree with this view of the period from 1855 to 1964?

for a question such as this which is basically change and continuity of Russian government what paragrpahs are people doing?

Ideology of autocracy
Repression - including censorship, propaganda, secret police and army
Government structures
Reforms

Have i missed anything?

cheers

[londonmiss]

Hey guys I am also taking the exam on June 10th on Russia. So I know a lot of you are convinced war will come up, do you thing there's a possibility that there will be a question about which was more significant, war or revolution? Also after studying the last 3 exam papers, maybe a question on industry, maybe a turning point question for example, The Great Spurt was the biggest turning point in the development for Russian industry?

Becca

[mc13177]

Hi! I think we are all agreed that a War question is likely. So, I would be interested to see how different people would answer: 'Out of all the wars that influenced the development of Russian government, WW1 was the most significant.' How far do you agree with this statement as it applies to the period from 1855 to 1964.

Thanks!

[crocker710]

(Original post by jawain04)
'Communists and Tsars ruled Russia in the same way.' How far do you agree with this view of the period from 1855 to 1964?

for a question such as this which is basically change and continuity of Russian government what paragrpahs are people doing?

Ideology of autocracy
Repression - including censorship, propaganda, secret police and army
Government structures
Reforms

Have i missed anything?

cheers

Sounds good to me, it doesn't matter if you 'miss' anything as long as you've got three or four themes you can analyse you're fine only 1 thing I would add to 'Government Structure' is the size and extent of Government as well (I.e became hugely bureaucratic under Communism compared to Tsarism),

Tom

[crocker710]

(Original post by londonmiss)
Hey guys I am also taking the exam on June 10th on Russia. So I know a lot of you are convinced war will come up, do you thing there's a possibility that there will be a question about which was more significant, war or revolution? Also after studying the last 3 exam papers, maybe a question on industry, maybe a turning point question for example, The Great Spurt was the biggest turning point in the development for Russian industry?

Becca

If there is a war question on this years exam paper, it's most likely to be a named war as the most significant influence upon Russia and you'll have to argue against that view point, if this type of question does come up it's a gift

again with the industry I think you're on the right lines, however trying to second-guess a paper which can ask 3 questions out of the 4 different areas of study isn't too helpful. Just make sure you've got a sound understanding of key events and how they would have affected society / politics and the economy and you'll do fine, good luck,

Tom

[flywithemma]

Would someone be able to help me?

I've come across the question:
'The greatest change in Russian domestic policies was during the rule of Stalin'. How far do you agree?

1. What EXACTLY does 'domestic policies' encompass? Everything to do with industry, workers, peasants, agriculture, change in government, policies towards national minorities...this just seems MASSIVE.

2. How would I structure this essay? Like a turning point question? Or would I split changes under Stalin into social/economic/political, and then debate to what extent these were the biggest changes in the period by comparing them to other regimes/examples?

[GraviticWar]

(Original post by flywithemma)
Would someone be able to help me?

I've come across the question:
'The greatest change in Russian domestic policies was during the rule of Stalin'. How far do you agree?

1. What EXACTLY does 'domestic policies' encompass? Everything to do with industry, workers, peasants, agriculture, change in government, policies towards national minorities...this just seems MASSIVE.

2. How would I structure this essay? Like a turning point question? Or would I split changes under Stalin into social/economic/political, and then debate to what extent these were the biggest changes in the period by comparing them to other regimes/examples?

Yes, 'domestic-policies' does encompass allot of different things basically everything but foreign-policy.

To answer your second-question. That question is asking for a leader-comparison style of essay-structure. So you could for-example, analyse Stalin's industrial policies first, show the change and continuity & then pick another leader or two, who you think potentially changed it more & thus, disagreeing with the question or if you judge that Stalin did change that industrial policy the greatest then you-could possibly show another leader or two that shows/supports this line of argument.

IE. INDUSTRIAL POLICY(One-theme I have picked, lets say).

(paragraph structure)
Show how Stalin changed & continued industrial policy.
Show how other-leaders changed and continued industrial policy.
Judgement - did Stalin instigate the greatest change or not?, substantiated by the patterns of change and continuity that you should have discerned in-the paragraph.

Do-this for 3/4 other themes. Make-sure you cover all-leaders in-the essay collectivley, you don't have to for every-single paragraph though! Again, this is what I would do, other essay-structures for this question do-exist.

[GraviticWar]

The Russian Civil-War - placing it-in comparison with the other-wars that it exhibited change & continuity with.

In-this post, I will be discussing the effects of the Civil-War on the development of Russian-government. First matter that one should note, is-that in-comparison to WW1 it had far less impact/significance, one must also always remember that it wouldn't have occurred without WW1. Obviously, this was because It would have been highly-likely that Lenin and the Bolsheviks wouldn't have been in-the position to fight a Civil-War that they found themselves in-during 1917.

Perhaps the biggest change that the Civil-War brought was largely as a result of the way in-which the Bolsheviks won the war. Unlike, under the Tsars or the Prov. Gov., the men who fought and won the Civil-War for the Bolsheviks had achieved victory thanks to a particular kind of discipline, admin & management - largely implemented by Trotsky. This meant that these men became loyal towards the Bolshevik party because of their roles of victory during the Civil-War. This was important because these men were then assimilated in-to the Communist government. This meant that they brought all their skills of loyalty/comradeship etc. from the Red Army/Cheka & this resulted in a government that was largely ardently loyal to-the Bolshevik-party. This clearly would have and did strengthen the nature of Communist governance & thus, this furthers the importance of the Civil-War in-the allowance of the Bolsheviks to consolidate/tighten their control. This effect of war and its victory subsequently strengthening the Communist-regime can be also similarly be-seen during WW2 with the USSR's 'glorious' victory over Nazism(as Stalin portrayed-it to-the people)...party-membership increased, their was little-'inside' opposition(the army remained very-loyal, just like the Red Army did during the Civil-War) though one-could of-course regard the Nazi's as a rather prominent source of outside-opposition(compared to the 'Whites' etc.), many Tartans & others were accused of collaborating with the Third-Reich. Certainly, the damage that the Third-Reich did economically to Russia should not be understated(though the free slave-labor that they gained from German and other POW's as-one example, mitigated the aftermath to-an extent by helping greatly towards a rather fast-paced reconstruction-effort), even though of-course this and the whole of WW2 had very-little substantial effects on Russian Government...Politburo composition was largely the-same has it had been 10-years ago, for-example(I'm drifting on-to WW2 here!...who-cares though ).

One-could argue that the Civil-War was the moment in-which all-hope of a truly Communist-state being established was lost, as Lenin certainly now seemed to be dictating to the Proletariat, rather than being dictated by-it. Bolshevik supporters were being assimilated in-to all positions of governmental-importance, as a result of the consolidation of power that the Civil-War allowed the Bolsheviks to achieve - you would also be advised to take a look at Lenin's 'Constitution'. The Civil-War created a need/sense to protect/further the gains made-in the October-Revolution & thus, War-Communism and 'War-Labour' took priority over-increasing any-kind of political-power to-the Soviets. The NEP could obviously be-seen as a product of the Civil-War. As it was the harshness of War-Communism that created the pressure that led Lenin to succeed to the capitalist-esque system of NEP. The NEP clearly being significant for many-reasons, not at-least because it marked a significant departure and seemed to be a significant contradiction to everything that Communism represented.


If one wants to discern some continuity from the Civil-War then one does not have to look very-far. Once-again the Red-Army in-this case was defeated by an enemy that was vastly less-superior on-paper - by-the Poles. This continuity can be-seen particuarly in the pre-1914 wars with Russia losing to the Ottomans and the Oriental-Japanese. However and crucially, Russia was victorious on-the grander/ultimate scale this-time and thus, it did not have the same impact/significance on the development of Russian government, as when Russia was utterly defeated and thus, humiliated by the Japanese. The Red-Army militarism plays in-to this.

Ultimately, it-was the way in-which the Civil-War allowed the Bolsheviks to consolidate their control across the WHOLE of Russia and not-just in Petrograd/central-regions has had existed before the war, that was the most-important change. It-gave Lenin/Trotsky the excuse to implement the 'Red-Terror' etc. in-order to ensure 'Revolutionary-defensism' and thus, the 'bourgeoisie' had to-be eradicated the from Russian soil forever - this was a excuse on-the level of a 'god-send...bad-phrase ' for-many Bolsheviks. Importantly, this word 'bourgeoisie' encompassed anyone who opposed the Communist-regime, including people like the 'Greens', who were far-from bourgeoisie. This is-what made the Civil-War partly unique, one could argue.

Anyway, theres allot more to-come(on the international-aspect of the Civil-War, NEP and War Communism), I will add-it on when I've got more time to-do-so. Hope that helped somebody. I'm going to-be focusing on war for-the majority of-the time now in-the run up-to June 10th. Expect paragraphs on all-the wars and the change and continuity they represented!

Once again, this is a discussion, so feel free to add things - on the same subject or a different one - or even challenge the things that I have said, maybe offer better example etc!

[yesioo]

Once again, this is a discussion, so feel free to add things - on the same subject or a different one - or even challenge the things that I have said, maybe offer better example etc!

If the question was asking about the Cold War rather than the Civil War how would you attack it?

Also please do some stuff on Industrialization? You wouldn't believe how helpful this thread has been for me!

[heartsandminds]

Now I'm starting to **** myself. Just over a week until the exam! ARGHHH

I can't be bothered with reading my book anymore and I've done all my practise essays, which I can't be bothered to read again.

Worst part is, this isn't even my main exams!

[GraviticWar]

(Original post by yesioo)
If the question was asking about the Cold War rather than the Civil War how would you attack it?

Also please do some stuff on Industrialization? You wouldn't believe how helpful this thread has been for me!

I'll write a paragraph(or a few-paragraphs more-like! looking at the Civil-War one!) on the Cold-War latter today. As for Industrialization, darn I hate that topic/theme...I'll see what I can do though I'm hoping to avoid the social/economic policy focussed questions in-the exam on June 10th & yes, heartsandminds, 1-WEEK! or-so, starting to-get nervous...! Just stick with-it guys, keep revising etc. and you'll be fine, remember to practice/practice/practice planning questions. In-fact, I will put up a question later-today, will post the-question and put a plan alongside with-it because a good/effective-planning method is crucial for June 10th - you'll have 15-mins to plan-remember. Anyway, good-luck in-this final-week everyone! make-it count! & keep visiting this thread(don't stay glued to-them though...get out your-books!), its going to stay-active all-the way up-to June 10th!...Darn WoW and Facebook are constantly trying to distract-me!

[o.blake]

although its a really bad idea to try and second guess the examiner (as my old teacher found out last year to a barrage of U grades in the Churchill paper) if it helps anyone i have a list of every exam question, sorted by theme, since Jan 2002. its quite useful to see which themes are most popular with the examiner.

sorry about the poor quality of the photo but its the only way i could get it online,

in-case you cant read them the headings of the headings of the table read: government, repression and reform, opposition, agriculture, industry, condition of the workers, leadership, turning points and the last one is strange beasts
(the strange beasts questions are really hard to pick an angle for as they don't really fall into any topic, the Jan 07 one of these was - " how far do you agree that a study of Russia in the period 1855 to 1956 suggests that change was always imposed from above?")

hope this helps someone

[crocker710]

(Original post by o.blake)
although its a really bad idea to try and second guess the examiner (as my old teacher found out last year to a barrage of U grades in the Churchill paper) if it helps anyone i have a list of every exam question, sorted by theme, since Jan 2002. its quite useful to see which themes are most popular with the examiner.

sorry about the poor quality of the photo but its the only way i could get it online,

in-case you cant read them the headings of the headings of the table read: government, repression and reform, opposition, agriculture, industry, condition of the workers, leadership, turning points and the last one is strange beasts
(the strange beasts questions are really hard to pick an angle for as they don't really fall into any topic, the Jan 07 one of these was - " how far do you agree that a study of Russia in the period 1855 to 1956 suggests that change was always imposed from above?")

hope this helps someone

Hiya Blake,

You don't possibly have a scanner to put them on TSR do you? Also you don't actually have the exam questions instead of just the themes they addressed,

Cheers Tom

[o.blake]

Ok then here are lists of every question ever set for this exam, in readable quality this time,
just make sure you take heed of the warnings on the first page, don't just gamble on what questions will turn up.

hope it all helps

[crocker710]

(Original post by o.blake)
Ok then here are lists of every question ever set for this exam, in readable quality this time,
just make sure you take heed of the warnings on the first page, don't just gamble on what questions will turn up.

hope it all helps

This is fantastic! cheers this should help with everyones revision, especially when doing plans for essays,

Tom

[yesioo]

I'm going to fail this exam.

Has anyone got any A/B type answers?