Can anyone mark my GCSE History Essay? (Superpower Relations)

Heyy

I have my GCSE History exam (Edexcel) coming up on Wednesday, and as I'm not very good with the Paper 1 (essay based questions), I was wondering if anyone would be able to go through this and tell me where to improve?? In particular, any general comments or tips in relation to answering the types of questions (Why, In What way did, Describe the Key Features Of "x") would be great :yep:

I basically did all the question parts in 30 minutes to give myself a bit less time, so its not as good as I would have liked. Also, I probably have repeated certain facts a lot of times :p:

but normally they ask more varied questions.

Thanks in advance xxx

June 01 Past Paper History.doc32.8KB

Reply 1

0404343m

Perhaps for the Truman Doctrine, you might want to mention that it was the American's belief that Communism would destroy itself if they stopped it from spreading. They felt that by playing the long game, the regime would eventually buckle- this was a crucial underpinning of the containment theory.

For Stalin- its contentous to say 'confirmed US suspicion he planned to take over Europe' - Even at GCSE level, I'd shy away from making statements like that- unless you can find a bonafide historian to back up that claim. Its perhaps beneficial to argue the blockade argument from the other side: Namely, was the blockade the cause of deteriorating relations, or was deteriorating relations the cause of the blockade? As you show yourself, since Yalta (some historians believe 1917 was when the cold war began) the US and USSR had not seen eye to eye, so could it be argued that the blockade only exacerbated and existing feeling of distrust, rather than start anything new?

Also, I'd keep Communism and Nuclear Weapons apart- yes, they were linked, but they were two separate threats- one to democratic ideology, and one to American hegemony as the world's biggest power. Perhaps it'd be better to show that with the nuclear threat, Stalin was in a better position to project Communism around the world, rather than America being more suspicious of Communism because of the nuclear weapons. Besides, its a few years before testing leads to workable weapons, and its Sputnik in 1957 that marks the first point the Soviets stop playing catch up.

Your answer to 'why' relations changed 45-49, is very good- just watch for repetition within the one answer. If you're saying the same thing again, you're wasting exam time. Maybe note that the US saw themselves as superior to a backward USSR in 1945, but by 49, technological advances had shown the Soviets were not only capable of catching up, but overhauling the Americans. This obviously alters the relationship between the two.

A nit picking point: "even though they were 'still' not fighting each other"- remember, the Cold War was a series of stand offs and a breakdown in relations- aside from the odd spyplane being shot down, it didn't escalate into fighting and warfare- it just came close at a few points. I'm not sure that nuclear testing was increased as a result of the blockade failure either- again, they're linked, but its likely testing would have increased anyway. Unless you can cite someone who says otherwise, stay away from making comments that link long term events such as nuclear weapons into short flashpoints like the blockade. 'Each side' didnt 'catch up with the other' either- until 1957, the American's were firmly in the lead.

When Stalin died, remember that Malenkov and Bulganin were in between him and Krushchev- they weren't exciting, but important not to forget about them. Granted, even at this point, Kruschev probably made most of the important behind the scenes decisions, as he was General Secretary from 53-64.

I'm probably going a bit far for GCSE level (its been seven years since I sat anything similar), but I thought I'd put in my two pennies worth, see if its of any help.

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