National Year 10 History

Chapters: 9

1. AA America, 1840-1895: Expansion and consolidation (Paper 1 Section A period study - choose one)

Expansion: opportunities and challenges · Conflict across America · Consolidation: forging the nation

Westward Expansion of the United States (1840–1895) – Between 1840 and 1895 millions of settlers moved west across North America, drawn by land, gold, religious freedom and the belief called Manifest Destiny. Trails, the railroad and the Homestead Act sped this up. For the Plains nations it meant the loss of the bison, their land and much of their way of life. Arguments over slavery in the new lands also helped cause the Civil War. By 1890 the frontier was declared closed.

Germany and the growth of democracy · Germany and the Depression · The experiences of Germans under the Nazis

Coming soon

The end of Tsardom · Lenin's new society · Stalin's USSR

Coming soon

American people and the 'Boom' · Bust - Americans' experiences of the Depression and New Deal · Post-war America

Modern US History: From 1865 to Today – After the Civil War the USA became the world's biggest industrial economy and then a superpower. The Gilded Age (1865–1900) brought railways, factories and millions of migrants, but also deep inequality. Populists and Progressives (1890–1920) pushed for reforms, and the USA expanded overseas and joined the First World War. The 1920s boom ended in the 1929 crash and the Great Depression; Roosevelt's New Deal and the Second World War rebuilt the economy. After 1945 most Americans enjoyed new wealth while the civil rights movement fought segregation, the country led one side of the Cold War, and the Vietnam War and Watergate shook public trust. From 1980, Reagan's conservatism, the end of the Cold War, the internet economy, new migration, 9/11 and the 2008 crisis shaped the present. A useful lens for the whole period: who got opportunity, and who faced inequality?

The causes of the First World War · The First World War: stalemate · Ending the war

World War I (1914–1918): Causes, Course and Consequences – World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies (France, Britain, Russia, later Italy, the USA and others) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). Four long-term causes built tension: militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism (MAIN). The spark was the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. On the Western Front the war became a stalemate of trenches; new weapons made it very deadly. It was a total war: whole economies, women workers and colonies were mobilised, including about 1.3 million Indians. Russia left after its 1917 revolution, the USA joined in 1917, and fighting stopped with the armistice of 11 November 1918. The peace treaties of 1919–1920, including Versailles, redrew Europe, ended four empires, created the League of Nations and left anger that helped cause World War II.

Peacemaking · The League of Nations and international peace · The origins and outbreak of the Second World War

The Interwar Period (1918–1939) – Between the end of the First World War (1918) and the start of the Second (1939), four empires collapsed and many new states appeared in Central and Eastern Europe. The Versailles–Washington peace system and the League of Nations tried to keep order. After unrest in the early 1920s came a short period of stability, but the 1929 crash started the Great Depression. Mass unemployment weakened democracies; most new states turned authoritarian, while fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Stalinist USSR became totalitarian. Governments began to manage the economy, the League failed to stop aggression, and the Spanish Civil War and appeasement led towards war in 1939.

The origins of the Cold War · The development of the Cold War · Transformation of the Cold War

The Cold War (1945–1991) – The Cold War was a long contest (1945–1991) between two superpowers: the USA with its Western allies (capitalism, multi-party elections) and the USSR with its Eastern allies (communism, one-party rule). They never fought each other directly. Instead they formed rival alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact), raced to build nuclear weapons and reach space, backed opposite sides in proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan) and came close to nuclear war in Cuba in 1962. Many new nations, led by India and others, stayed non-aligned. Détente eased tension in the 1970s. Reforms in the USSR, the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the break-up of the USSR (1991) ended it.

Conflict in Korea · Escalation of conflict in Vietnam · The ending of conflict in Vietnam

Coming soon

Tensions in the Gulf · The war on Al-Qaeda · The Iraq War

Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009 – Between 1990 and 2009 the Gulf region and Afghanistan saw three linked conflicts. The Gulf is rich in oil, so stability there matters to the world. After the Iranian Revolution (1979) and the long Iran–Iraq War (1980–88), Saddam Hussein's Iraq was in heavy debt. In August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. The UN demanded withdrawal and a US-led coalition of about 35 nations freed Kuwait in the Gulf War (January–February 1991), but Saddam stayed in power and Iraq faced sanctions and no-fly zones. Al-Qaeda, formed around 1988 by Osama bin Laden, opposed US troops in Saudi Arabia and US Middle East policy; it carried out attacks that led to 9/11 in 2001. President Bush declared a 'war on terror'. In October 2001 the USA and allies invaded Afghanistan, removing the Taliban, who had sheltered Al-Qaeda; but bin Laden escaped and a Taliban insurgency grew. In March 2003 the USA and UK invaded Iraq, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction; Saddam's regime fell, he was captured and later executed, but no WMD were found. The war and its aftermath caused heavy civilian losses, millions of displaced people, broken services and sectarian violence, as well as new elections.