Is anyone doing A-level History? In particular CIE History 9389?

Hi so I'm a self-taught homeschooled student and I literally have no idea what to do as I don't have any guidance at all.

I am having trouble with Paper 3 and Paper 4 of A2 History. Paper 3 is on Historiography of the Holocaust and I have no idea which books to revise from to best prepare myself for the exam. So if you do CIE History yourself or can provide any input on this I'd be very grateful.

As for Paper 4 I have to do In Depth Study on any of the 2 dictators from an option of Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. I have chosen hitler which seemed quite obvious but which would be the other dictator that would be a 'smart' choice to have?

I really hope I get responses for this as I'm stressing out like crazy.

EDIT: The syllabus code for the A-level History I'm doing is CIE History 9389.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

jamestg

Original post by hilrho

Holocaust stuff - look at the documentary 'Auschwitz the final solution' as a starting point. Make notes of interesting and useful stuff, go from there.

If you're doing Hitler, the other should be Mussolini. Both were Fascist dictators, with many links and interesting comparisons between them.

Reply 2

hilrho

Original post by jamestg

Heya thank you for your response. Mussolini it is then! As for the Holocaust, do you mind linking the documentaries as I just did a youtube search myself and may different ones came up. Also do you have any advice on learning about the historiography of the Holocaust?

Reply 3

jamestg

Original post by hilrho

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLawl-IbD1qo-c3EpY2cmMD3zWayAldZIk

it's also on netflix!

Regarding the historiography, try and find two key historians. One with the internationalist view (i.e. it was always going to happen - e.g. Hitler's deep hatred), another with a structuralist view (i.e. there were factors leading to it - e.g. expansion in the East meant there had to be a systematic approach to Jews, the original idea of slave labour was not feasible). You can then try and branch out from there.

Reply 4

sophiamarni

im stressing too ;( how do i structure my essays

Reply 5

hilrho

Original post by jamestg

Thank you! Are there any books you'd recommend or historians you'd recommend looking into as well for the historiography part?

Original post by sophiamarni

im stressing too ;( how do i structure my essays

Are you doing CIE A-levels History?

Reply 6

jamestg

Original post by hilrho

Thank you! Are there any books you'd recommend or historians you'd recommend looking into as well for the historiography part?

No problem! I honestly don't know tbh. I'm studying the historiography on whether Hitler's foreign policy caused WW2 so I only know the likes of AJP Taylor...

Have a look at this though.

Reply 7

hilrho

Original post by jamestg

No problem! I honestly don't know tbh. I'm studying the historiography on whether Hitler's foreign policy caused WW2 so I only know the likes of AJP Taylor...

Have a look at this though.

Yeah had a look through that book before, going to go through it now ^^.

Which board are you doing the A2 exams from? I was thinking about using some of the Heinemann danced level books as CIE literally endorses no resources for the A2 syllabus.

Reply 8

sophiamarni

Original post by hilrho

Thank you! Are there any books you'd recommend or historians you'd recommend looking into as well for the historiography part?

Are you doing CIE A-levels History?

yes my love

Reply 9

jamestg

Original post by hilrho

My Hitler and Mussolini exams are for the new spec AS on Edexcel.

In my opinion, exam board/exam board endorsed textbooks are a waste of time. Just get generic textbooks and use the spec to filter out the unneeded topics. I recommend the Hite and Hinton textbooks - one called Weimar and Nazi Germany, the other being 'Fascist Italy'. Then get the 'access to history' books which are shorter, more concise and more synoptic in their approach. Being able to link parts is crucial, and something most textbooks overlook.

Reply 10

Audrey18

Original post by sophiamarni

im stressing too ;( how do i structure my essays

for paper 3's Holocaust, it's not so much about the material that one needs to know so much about. You need to know about the 3 types of historian's interpretation such as fundementalist point of view , intentionalist and structuralist. that's the key for doing well in CIE Paper 3's exam on Holocaust.