Edexcel A2 History - Germany 1900-45 - Monday 8th June 2015 [Exam Discussion Thread]

Haha! Yeah I'm so thankful for it! I can't imagine the painstaking work people would have to put in to memorise numbers!! I just generally memorise numbers after a minute or so with familiarity. Like I help some of my friends study for History and when I tell them the stats I basically memorise it myself too and then it just solidifies!


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Haha jealous. That must help a lot.


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Yup!!! I sent it by the way


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Thanks!

Do you tend to revise chapter by chapter or all at once when going over notes?


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I hate the way the book laid it out.

The way I revise is like this:

Kaiser

Weimar

Nazis

And split those up into sections and revise each section


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That makes sense! Can I also ask how you prepare for part B? I tend to just go over theories for WW1.


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Yeah I know!! The book is so bad in that respect!

And for part B WW1 I just go over the theories yeah it's really not that much work! Aside from that, practice reading sources I guess because I'm almost certain that the WW1 controversy will be harder than the Hitler one!!


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Okay I've been working my way through Nazis and figured they could ask how successful their consolidation of power was by the end of 1933.

What would yall put for that? I was thinking, for agreement with the question, about the powers enabling act gave, abolition of other parties etc. although I fell like by myself I wouldn't be able to construct a good enough essay

I'd use an agree/disagree tactic.

Veneer of legality
Terror and violence
Pragmatism
Key support

I'd say that their main support was basically consolidated by 1933 but they still had to rely on support of key institutions and compromise (EG: the concordat) so it wasn't entirely consolidated.


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It is bad :/ I'm glad there's other resources!
Last year's source paper for my unit had next to no resources

What makes you think that?


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What's everyone predicting for the questions? Exam is pretty soon and it would surely be really useful if we concentrated on the more likely topics that could essentially come up.

Umm hmm... I don't understand what you mean by that. Could you elaborate on your points please?

I would focus on the impacts of their consolidation etc.

What do you think?


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I think that because the content is generally easier

Also I asked my teacher! And she said this:

Theres enough time to learn both controversies so I don't see why schools wouldn't teach it. And no edexcel doesn't recommend doing just one otherwise they wouldn't put two in the first place. Also, the source question is worth 40 marks, are you really telling me you'd rather risk it on WW1? What would you do if you just didn't understand the sources (can definitely happen)? You have no back up plan. Doing 2 controversies should be a necessity for anyone who wants an A/A*.


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For example, the support of Hindenburg was key to Hitler being able to pass the Emergency Decrees after the Reichstag fire. All the way along the conservatives had helped him come to power and allowed his violence to be ignored for the sake of creating a mass movement which they could dismiss him from and take control.

It's a fairly one sided argument as to the extent that their power was consolidated, but several areas such as the church and civil service remained largely untouched when the Nazis came to power.

The concordat meant the church stayed out of politics but it could still pose a potential political barrier to Nazi law.

The civil service was removed of only 5% of its workforce in the reform laws of April 1933, meaning many civil servants were largely unscathed.


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Ah well. Each to their own. My teacher has confidence in the people who are getting A/A*s.

Roughly 10/200 students last year from my college chose the Nazi controversy when my college still taught it. It has allowed 5 weeks more revision time in class, and gives me less to revise, allowing me to focus more on WW1 knowledge, making sure I have an answer nailed.

Also, the Nazi controversy appears to be two questions in one - the efficiency of the state and the obedience to Hitler. It is hard to make these mutually exclusive.


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Well yeah but let's look at it realistically, Hitler doesn't have a party full of professionals!! He can't fire everyone and rehire a Nazi for each job position! Think of the judiciary! He cant fire all the judges because it takes time and skill to become a judge!

This is the idea of Party vs State and its something you explore in Controversy 2 in Hitler (see my point?).


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Well yeah but let's look at it realistically, Hitler doesn't have a party full of professionals!! He can't fire everyone and rehire a Nazi for each job position! Think of the judiciary! He cant fire all the judges because it takes time and skill to become a judge!

This is the idea of Party vs State and its something you explore in Controversy 2 in Hitler (see my point?).


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I would personally argue that power has been consolidated essentially by 1933, but that this compromise of allowing the "old" church and state roles does show pragmatism and that a totalitarian state hasn't necessarily been achieved - look at the Night of the Long Knives for example, where threats were still being posed to leadership after 1933.


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