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COLD WAR HISTORY EXAM 8th June!

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Original post by Rebekahnk
:biggrin:! It seems so much more straight forward compared to the start!


Yes I completly agree!! And I find it really interesting! I'm only worried if it's a really hard Q and then I'll have no choice but to do it 😭:/


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Original post by FayeBailey
Yes I completly agree!! And I find it really interesting! I'm only worried if it's a really hard Q and then I'll have no choice but to do it 😭:/


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That's why I asked on here about just doing the end haha! I don't want to be in the situation where I have everything at my fingertips but the sources or question is so god-damn confusing!


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Reply 22
Somebody please link me to past papers, I would greatly appreciate it - thanks
Reply 23
Original post by Cam977
Somebody please link me to past papers, I would greatly appreciate it - thanks




there's also a selection for examiners reports and mark schemes at the top

edit: some strange reason it isn't posting the link
I think detente and the arms race will come up too. My teacher is convinced it's going to be "How far was the Cuban missile crisis a cause of detente" or something along those lines. I'm not even religious but I'm praying it's going to be detente.
In regards to the arms race.. What sort of questions could come up? I've seen the ones on whether the arms race stabilised/destabilised the super power relations but what other ones could come up? I can't see many others apart from one similar that was in June 2013 about if the arms race restrained the actions of the superpowers. Would I just treat that question the same way as I would with the superpower relations question? (Sorry if confusing :s-smilie: )
Original post by Rebekahnk
In regards to the arms race.. What sort of questions could come up? I've seen the ones on whether the arms race stabilised/destabilised the super power relations but what other ones could come up? I can't see many others apart from one similar that was in June 2013 about if the arms race restrained the actions of the superpowers. Would I just treat that question the same way as I would with the superpower relations question? (Sorry if confusing :s-smilie: )


I think maybe "how profoundly did an arms race develop" or maybe a different worded stabilising/destabilising? It's a really small scope, I know.

I always use the arms race as a factor for the pursuit of detente, so I'm obsessively revising it
Original post by Rebekahnk
That's why I asked on here about just doing the end haha! I don't want to be in the situation where I have everything at my fingertips but the sources or question is so god-damn confusing!


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Yeah I know!!😭 but if it's a horrible question we'll all be in the same boat and sometimes it's better knowing one topic really well if that makes sense:smile:
I'm praying Gorbachev comes up as the stated factor, that's not come up in a while


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What I'm most worried about is not understanding the question, and then that's it, I'm screwed :frown:
The question is always standard really they only change the factor don't they .
It's always how far did .... Cause the end of the Cold War

Sometimes It can be tricky though I agree like one of the past paper Q was soviet mounting economic pressure and I wasn't sure what that was asking.

But hopefully we will be okay, surely they can't be too mean 😪😰


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Ouch that one seems difficult haha, I'm just hoping it's something simple and easy haha 👌🏼
Original post by Rebekahnk
Ouch that one seems difficult haha, I'm just hoping it's something simple and easy haha 👌🏼


Yeah it was it was like partly Reagan but partly economic weakness ugh it was so hard!
Yeah I'm hoping it's something nice too! They've already asked every stated factor so I wonder what it will be?? Who knows :frown:


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Original post by rainshadow
I think detente and the arms race will come up too. My teacher is convinced it's going to be "How far was the Cuban missile crisis a cause of detente" or something along those lines. I'm not even religious but I'm praying it's going to be detente.


That's an odd question, I doubt it could be that due to the time scope.

If so, you can talk aboht how the crisis highlighted the needs for nuclear parity due to the disasters of the crisis.

You can also argue that economics, normalisation, SALT and maybe even Sino-US rapproachment was the other causes of Détente.

What do you guys think? Also is it just me or does the Cold War have a lack of content compared to AS?
I'm just hoping the sources are quite easy so I can gain marks where I'll be missing them in the other section :/
Any guesses what the states factor might be for part b end of the CW?


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I hope it is Détente too. Likelihood is that it will be that and the arms race, although I find the arms race difficult to write about! The post stalin thaw is relatively easy but that has come up twice in the past two years. Here are the past questions directly from the edexcel website [url="http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/history-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Document-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK[excludedFace]u[/excludedFace]nit%2FUnit-3-(Option-E)"]http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/history-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:biggrin:ocument-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:u:nit%2FUnit-3-(Option-E)

Also I prefer controversy B in the source question as it is more interesting and relatable in my opinion. Plus the chances are you can almost predict a basic template for the question (depending on how helpful the sources are!!)

My teacher has told me that the four main areas that gave rise to the end of the cold war were The role of Reagan in having a hardline stance towards the USSR, The role of Gorbachev (i.e. reversing the Brezhnev Doctrine, discontinuing the arms race, glasnost and perestroika), people power in eastern europe (i.e. dismantling of the berlin wall, seceding from the warsaw pact, free elections) and the economics problems inherent within the soviet system. However it is more of a chain of events as in the Soviet economy failures led to Gorbachev's New Political Thinking which then caused the people power movement of the USSR which ultimately contributed to its downfall.

I wish everyone the best of luck for the exam on Monday! Not too worried about the source question but quite worried about the essay question
Original post by stxnsfield
I hope it is Détente too. Likelihood is that it will be that and the arms race, although I find the arms race difficult to write about! The post stalin thaw is relatively easy but that has come up twice in the past two years. Here are the past questions directly from the edexcel website [url="http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/history-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Document-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK[excludedFace]u[/excludedFace]nit%2FUnit-3-(Option-E)"]http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/history-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:biggrin:ocument-Type%2FQuestion-paper&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:u:nit%2FUnit-3-(Option-E)


Also I prefer controversy B in the source question as it is more interesting and relatable in my opinion. Plus the chances are you can almost predict a basic template for the question (depending on how helpful the sources are!!)

My teacher has told me that the four main areas that gave rise to the end of the cold war were The role of Reagan in having a hardline stance towards the USSR, The role of Gorbachev (i.e. reversing the Brezhnev Doctrine, discontinuing the arms race, glasnost and perestroika), people power in eastern europe (i.e. dismantling of the berlin wall, seceding from the warsaw pact, free elections) and the economics problems inherent within the soviet system. However it is more of a chain of events as in the Soviet economy failures led to Gorbachev's New Political Thinking which then caused the people power movement of the USSR which ultimately contributed to its downfall.

I wish everyone the best of luck for the exam on Monday! Not too worried about the source question but quite worried about the essay question

Yeah that's what I've revised!!
Do you have any suggestions to what the states factor might be? They've asked them all now for part B end of the CW

Thank you ! Good luck to you aswell!!


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Original post by FayeBailey
Yeah that's what I've revised!!
Do you have any suggestions to what the states factor might be? They've asked them all now for part B end of the CW

Thank you ! Good luck to you aswell!!


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Good!!
I have a feeling it might be economic factors but as I said you can pretty much predict the layout of what your answer will be anyway!
Original post by stxnsfield
Good!!
I have a feeling it might be economic factors but as I said you can pretty much predict the layout of what your answer will be anyway!


Hm I'm not sure it was economic last year!
And yeah I guess so :smile:


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Almost doesn't matter which factor it is because you can always bend it to your own interpretation.

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