Full transcript
0:02Hello everybody and welcome to this
0:04first lesson in revolution and
0:06dictatorship for AQA Alevel history. In
0:09this video specifically, what we're
0:11going to do is provide you with an
0:13introduction to this subject. Basically
0:15give you some contextual overview. I've
0:18always found that the sort of contextual
0:20overview is is really important because
0:21it gives you an idea of where you're at
0:23and and where you're going and the kinds
0:25of things that you're going to be
0:26learning and how much you've got left to
0:28learn uh in in in class because that's
0:31also very important. Um this lesson
0:33specifically is going to be a very brief
0:36introduction to Alevel history for AQA
0:38for those of you who are coming up from
0:39GCSE to Alevel. It will also then focus
0:43specifically on revolution and
0:45dictatorship, the module that will be
0:47the subject of this entire playlist of
0:49lessons. And then we will finish by
0:51talking about the scope of this series,
0:53talking about what this lesson series is
0:56going to involve and what kind of things
0:58you're going to talk about which is
0:59going to or be writing about which is
1:01going to basically involve looking at
1:02the specification.
1:05So as a basic introduction to Alevel
1:08history, the A-level history for AQA
1:10requires that you study both to a
1:13sufficient depth in some areas but also
1:16to a sufficient breadth in others on the
1:19subject. And this means that you will
1:21have two exams. You'll have two exams on
1:24two different papers. Um there is a
1:26paper one and there is a paper two.
1:28There is a big list of different
1:29historical topics for paper one that
1:31your teachers have likely chosen and
1:33there's a big list for paper two as
1:35well. And the only requirement is that
1:38one of these is a uh uh one of these
1:42papers is a study of of Great Britain or
1:44the British Isles and the other one is
1:46not a study of Great Britain or the
1:48British Isles. Of course, revolution and
1:50dictatorship is not a study of Great
1:51Britain. It's a study of Russia.
1:54And so therefore when we think about the
1:56specification requirements um you have
1:58to like I just said has to be one um uh
2:02the history of one um uh country or
2:04state including at least one outside the
2:07British Isles. Aspects of history have
2:09to be studied in breadth and in depth
2:11and a range of appropriate historical
2:14perspectives has to also be included. So
2:16we have to think about the study of the
2:18cultural, the economic, the ethnic, the
2:20political or religious perspectives
2:22associated with that history. So
2:26basically if you are doing the depth
2:28paper uh revolution and dictatorship, if
2:30you are watching this video, then your
2:32paper one will be about Great Britain in
2:34one way or another.
2:38Moving on then to revolution and
2:40dictatorship itself. Um revolution and
2:42dictatorship is paper two examination.
2:45it is specifically 2N um within the
2:48specification and it means that it is a
2:50depth paper. So you will be dealing with
2:52a shorter period of history than the
2:56paper one and you will be dealing with
2:57that shorter period of history in more
3:00depth. You'll be going into more detail.
3:02Paper one tends to cover at least a
3:04hundred years of history. It tends to be
3:05about a century of of history. And so
3:07the idea with paper one is to focus on
3:10more the ideas of change and continuity
3:13over quite a long period of time.
3:15Whereas paper two tends to deal more
3:17with the specific details of um very key
3:20areas of history, very short periods of
3:22history, tend to be about 50 or so
3:24years, sometimes even less.
3:27In paper two, the difference in terms of
3:30the exam structure is that you will be
3:32given a series of primary sources and
3:35you will be asked to assess their
3:37validity with reference to a particular
3:40area of subject. So this is the key
3:42distinction between paper one and paper
3:44two in terms of what the exam looks
3:46like. The first part of the exam for
3:49paper one is an extract question where
3:51you are given three extracts from
3:53historical writings. So the writings of
3:55historians and you're asked to assess
3:57the validity of the arguments that those
3:59historians are making in those extracts
4:02with reference to a particular time
4:03period or a particular topic or a
4:05particular issue. Whereas in paper two
4:08you are given three primary sources.
4:10This might be a speech from the time. It
4:12might be a newspaper article. It might
4:14be a diary entry from the contemporary
4:17period. and you're asked to assess the
4:19validity of those or you're more more
4:22asked to assess the value of those to a
4:25historian studying that topic and that
4:27period which means looking at the
4:29contents of those sources but also
4:32looking at the things associated with
4:35the context of those sources. So the
4:38providence of the source, the tone of
4:39the source, what type of source it is.
4:41If it's a newspaper article then what
4:44kind of newspaper, what kind of
4:45ideological bias did that newspaper
4:46have? If it's a diary entry, then what
4:48the diary entry of who who is this
4:50person that we're reading the the words
4:53of and the writings of and why is this
4:54important for a historian studying that
4:57topic?
4:58And then the second part of the exams,
5:02the essay questions are exactly the same
5:04as that of paper one. So the only
5:06difference is the first part of the exam
5:08which is a an extract versus a source
5:10question and then paper two you have to
5:12do essay question.
5:15So let's get specifically to revolution
5:17and dictatorship then. What does this
5:19option do for you as a student and what
5:22do you actually go about studying? Well,
5:24this is from the specification itself on
5:26the AQA website and it says that this
5:28option provides for the study in depth
5:31of the coming and practice of communism
5:35in Russia. It explores concepts such as
5:38Marxism, communism, Leninism and
5:40Stalinism, ideological control and
5:43dictatorship. It also enables students
5:45to consider issues of political
5:47authority, the power of individuals and
5:50the interreationship of governmental and
5:52economic and social change.
5:55So essentially you're studying the
5:57Russian Revolution. That is what
5:58revolution and dictatorship is all
6:00about. Uh revolution being the Russian
6:02revolution and dictatorship being of
6:03course the dictatorships of Lenin and
6:05Stalin. The title of the specification,
6:09by the way, is I believe the title of a
6:10book on the history of this time period
6:13titled Revolution and Dictatorship.
6:16And so, in this series, then there are
6:18six parts to the specification. And
6:21within those six parts, we're going to
6:23be doing about 10 or so lessons, maybe
6:25even more. There's going to be about 100
6:26lessons in total on this topic. So,
6:28there's a lot of information that you're
6:30going to be able to study through these
6:32lessons. The specification is divided
6:35like I said into six major topics. The
6:37first three are part one. The second
6:39three are part two. If you are somebody
6:41who still does the AS exams, the year 12
6:44exams, you will only be studying part
6:45one. And then when you go to year 13 and
6:47you study part two, that uh you'll be
6:49studying part two and you'll be examined
6:51on the whole thing. Hence why we have
6:53these new linear A levels.
6:55So part one concerns the Russian
6:57Revolution and the rise of Stalin. The
7:00Russian Revolution of course taking
7:02place in 1917. That's where we begin our
7:05area of study. We will talk about the
7:07state of Russia in 1917. We'll talk
7:10about the context of the first world
7:11war. We'll talk about the context of the
7:14Tsarist regime, the sort of Russian
7:16monarchy prior to the revolution. And
7:18then we will start thinking about the
7:19revolution itself. And we'll spend an
7:22entire topic on just the year 1917, just
7:26the year where we get the revolution
7:28itself before thinking about the
7:31immediate aftermath of the both February
7:33and October revolutions which leads to
7:35the consolidation of the Bolevik regime
7:38in 1918 to 1924. This also involves
7:41looking at the Russian civil war that
7:43takes place in the 1920s as well before
7:47then thinking about the death of
7:49Vladimir Lenin, the first leader of the
7:51Soviet Union, and bringing into the fold
7:53the ways in which Stalin would
7:55eventually rise to power. That is topic
7:57number three.
8:00Part two of this specification will be
8:02Stalin's rule. This is going to be
8:04looking at basically the entire history
8:06of the Soviet Union from the beginning
8:07of Stalin's rule all the way to his
8:09death in 1953.
8:11This involves talking about the economy
8:13and society, talking about the uh great
8:16purges, the great terrors, talking about
8:18his cult of personality, talking about
8:20his economic policies like the 5-year
8:22plans and collectivization, as well as
8:25talking about Stalinism, politics, and
8:27control. So notice here that we are
8:29doing two major topics looking at the
8:32exact same time period. We're just going
8:33to look at every single aspect of Soviet
8:36policy and Soviet Union from 1929 to
8:391941.
8:41And then in the final topic, we're going
8:43to talk about the period of 1941 to
8:461953. 1941, of course, is the year that
8:50the Soviet Union is at war with the
8:52Third Reich, Nazi Germany, in World War
8:54II. Uh in June 1941, the uh the Third
8:57Reich invades the Soviet Union. This is
9:00sometimes dubbed to be the Great
9:01Patriotic War. The phrase Great
9:03Patriotic War refers to World War II in
9:05the Soviet Union. That's what they call
9:07um or that's what they used to call um
9:09the Second World War. And then we will
9:11talk about the end of the Second World
9:12War in 1945 and Stalin's dictatorship
9:14all the way to 1953.
9:18In terms of citations and sources, um of
9:20course there are a number of textbooks
9:22on this topic. Um there are also a
9:25number of other sort of broader works in
9:28terms of writings and and and in terms
9:30of ideas. Um so uh I've put a list here
9:33of some of the books that have been uh
9:36read and cited and are that are included
9:38in these lessons as well. There are many
9:40many others. Um uh I I remember at
9:44university I did a a module on the
9:46Soviet Union and and and Tsarist and
9:49Communist Russia. Um, so there's plenty
9:51of reading on my bookshelf about the
9:53Russian Revolution and about Russian
9:54history that uh I I will no doubt add
9:56into this citations and sources list as
9:59we go on. Um, but from there, I hope
10:01you've enjoyed this lesson. I hope this
10:02has provided you with a detailed amount
10:04of overview. And I hope to see everybody
10:06in the first proper substantive lesson
10:08where we start thinking about the
10:10position of the Russian Empire in 1917
10:13uh towards the end of the first world
10:15war.