Edexcel (KS4)

KS3 & KS4 history curriculum

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History
Year 11

Period study: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91

23 lessons

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  • Warfare and conflict

Description

In this unit pupils undergo a period study which tells a story about a period that shaped the world we live in today: the Cold War. They look at the key events, developments, people and stories that defined the relationship between the USA and the USSR in this period.

This unit uses and builds on all of the historical knowledge that pupils have built across key stages 1 to 4 up to this point. It makes particular use of any units in which pupils constructed or deconstructed historical narratives. This unit prepares pupils for their final key stage 4 unit where their knowledge of broad period events is complemented by a specific depth study.

  1. Causes of tension between the USA and USSR by 1945
  2. The impact of the atomic bomb on US-Soviet relations
  3. Soviet influence over Eastern Europe by 1948
  4. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
  5. The Berlin Crisis (1948)
  6. The Cold War arms race
  7. The Hungarian Uprising (1956)
  8. The origins of the Cold War (1941-58)
  9. Berlin, 1958-61: increased tensions
  10. Berlin, 1961-63: the Berlin Wall
  11. The Cuban Revolution and the Bay of Pigs Invasion
  12. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
  13. The Prague Spring (1968)
  14. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)
  15. Cold War crises, 1958-70
  16. Détente and SALT I
  17. The Helsinki Accords and SALT II
  18. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
  19. Reagan and the 'Second Cold War'
  20. Gorbachev's 'new thinking'
  21. The fall of the Berlin Wall
  22. The collapse of the Soviet Union
  23. The end of the Cold War, 1970-91

  • A thorough grounding in substantive concepts commonly found across key stages 1, 2 and 3. For example, 'communism', 'ideology, 'international relations', 'conflict' and 'tension'.'.

45 units shown,

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