AQA A-Level History: How Your Course is Structured

For your A-Level in History, you will be examined on three components:

· Component 1: Breadth Study – Exploring major trends over a century or more.
· Component 2: Depth Study – Focusing deeply on a short, turbulent, or transformative period.
· Component 3: Historical Investigation – Your own personalised research essay (the Personal Study).

The Rules for Choosing Your Topics

When you select your specific units for Components 1 and 2, you must make sure you meet these four requirements:

· Multi-Country Focus: Your studies must cover the history of more than one country.
· British History: Either your Breadth or your Depth study must be a British history topic.
· World History: Either your Breadth or your Depth study must be a non-British history topic.
· Chronological Range: The time periods you study across the course must stretch over at least 200 years.

Example: Studying Tudor England (1485-1603) and the American Dream (1945-1980) would cover the 200-year range

Subject content

Component 1: Breadth study

1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204

1B Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598 (A-level only)

1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603

1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702

1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796 (A-level only)

1F Industrialisation and the people: Britain, c1783–1885

1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964

1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964

1J The British Empire, c1857–1967

1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975

1L The quest for political stability: Germany, 1871–1991

Component 2: Depth study

2A Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216

2B The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499

2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 (A-level only)

2D Religious conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570

2E The English Revolution, 1625–1660

2F The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715 (A-level only)

2G The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801

2H France in Revolution, 1774–1815 (A-level only)

2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877

2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941 (A-level only)

2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945

2M Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957

2N Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953

2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945

2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997

2Q The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980

2R The Cold War, c1945–1991

2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007

2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 (A-level only)

Component 3: Historical Investigation

Below are links to posts designed to give you a framework to answering some of the most challenging questions that examiners can ask. They aren’t pre written answers, instead each post is a guide to mastering the key issues, themes and debates that the question poses.

Germany 1890-1945

Part 1: Germany and the Growth of Democracy

Part 2: Germany and the Depression

Part 3: The Experiences of Germans under the Nazis

Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and Communism

Part 1: The End of Tsardom
Part 2: Lenin’s New Society
Part 3: StalinStalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician, dictator and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Read More’s USSR
- How to write an essay explaining how Stalin became leader of the USSR.
- How to write an essay on Stalin’s use of terror and the Great Purges.
- How to write an A-star essay on the economic impact of the Five-Year PlansFive-Year Plans Full Description:A series of centralized economic mandates that set ambitious, often unrealistic targets for industrial production. They marked the end of the “New Economic Policy” (market socialism) and the beginning of total state planning. The Five-Year Plans were designed to rapidly transform the Soviet Union from an agrarian society into an industrial superpower capable of competing with the West. The entire economy was organized like a military campaign, with “shock brigades” of workers and resources mobilized to build steel mills, dams, and factories at breakneck speed. Critical Perspective:While these plans achieved unprecedented industrial growth, they did so at a staggering human cost. The focus on heavy industry (steel, coal, armaments) came at the complete expense of consumer goods, condemning the population to decades of shortages and low living standards. The plans treated labor as a raw material, expendable in the pursuit of production quotas.
  Read more.
- How to write an essay evaluating the social impact of collectivisationCollectivisation Full Description: The policy of forced consolidation of individual peasant households into massive, state-controlled collective farms. It represented a declaration of war by the urban state against the rural peasantry, intended to extract grain to fund industrialization. Collectivisation was a radical restructuring of the countryside that abolished private land ownership. The state seized land, livestock, and tools, forcing independent farmers into kolkhozy. Resistance was met with brutal force, including the “liquidation” of wealthier peasants (Kulaks) as a class. Critical Perspective:This policy fundamentally altered the relationship between the people and the land. It treated the peasantry not as citizens to be supported, but as an internal colony to be exploited. By establishing a state monopoly on food production, the regime gained the ultimate lever of social control: the power to grant or withhold the means of survival, leading to man-made famines used to crush regional nationalism and resistance.
  Read more on the Kulaks and peasants.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the ‘cult of personalityCult of Personality Full Description: The Cult of Personality manifested in the omnipresence of the leader’s image and words. The “Little Red Book” became a sacred text, expected to be carried, studied, and recited by all citizens. Loyalty dances, badges, and the attribution of all national successes to the leader’s genius defined the era. Critical Perspective: This phenomenon fundamentally undermined the collective leadership structure of the party. It created a direct, unmediated emotional bond between the leader and the masses, allowing the leader to act above the law and beyond criticism. It fostered an environment of fanaticism where political disagreement was equated with blasphemy, silencing all dissent.’ and propaganda in Stalin’s Russia.

America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and Inequality

Part 1: The ‘Roaring Twenties’ and the Depression
- How to write an essay explaining the causes of the economic boom in 1920s America.
- How to write an essay on social changes in the 1920s, including the role of women and prohibition.
- How to write an A-star essay on the causes of the Wall Street CrashWall Street Crash Full Description:The catastrophic collapse of share prices on the New York Stock Exchange. It served as the psychological and financial detonator for the Great Depression, signaling the end of the speculative “Roaring Twenties” and wiping out billions in paper wealth overnight. The Wall Street Crash (often symbolized by “Black Tuesday”) was the bursting of a massive asset bubble fueled by easy credit and excessive speculation. Investors had been buying stocks “on margin” (using borrowed money), assuming prices would rise forever. When the market corrected, these debts were called in, forcing a panic sell-off that destroyed the solvency of banks and the savings of ordinary citizens. Critical Perspective:Critically, the Crash was not the sole cause of the Depression, but a symptom of the deep structural inequalities of the era. The prosperity of the preceding decade had been unevenly distributed, with wealth concentrating at the top while wages stagnated. The Crash exposed the fragility of an economy built on debt and speculation rather than productive value, illustrating the inherent volatility of unregulated financial capitalism.
  Read more.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the social and economic consequences of the Great Depression.
- How to write an essay evaluating the successes and failures of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Part 2: Post-War America and the Civil Rights Movement
- How to write an essay on the impact of World War II on the US economy and society.
- How to write an essay explaining the causes of the post-war economic boom and McCarthyism.
- How to write an A-star essay on the key events of the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., Montgomery Bus Boycott, Brown v. Board of Education).
- How to write an essay on the methods and impact of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the successes of President Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ program.

Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918

Part 1: The Causes of the First World War
- How to write an essay explaining the long-term causes of World War I (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism).
- How to write an A-star essay on the role of the Anglo-German naval race in increasing tensions.
- How to write an essay explaining how the Moroccan and Balkan crises led to war.
- How to write an essay on the significance of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Part 2: The First World War: Stalemate
- How to write an essay explaining why the Schlieffen Plan failed.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the nature of trench warfare and the war of attrition.
- How to write an essay on the significance of the key battles of the Western Front (Verdun, Somme, Passchendaele).
- How to write an essay explaining the importance of the war at sea, including the U-boat campaign.
Part 3: Ending the War
- How to write an essay explaining the reasons for Russia’s withdrawal from the war.
- How to write an A-star essay on the impact of the entry of the USA into the war.
- How to write an essay on the importance of the German Spring Offensive and the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918.
- How to write a top-grade essay explaining the reasons for Germany’s surrender in November 1918.

Paper 2: Shaping the Nation

Britain: Power and the People: c1170 to the Present Day

How to write an essay on the significance of Magna Carta in challenging royal authority.
How to write an essay explaining the causes and consequences of the Peasants’ Revolt (1381).
How to write an A-star essay on the causes of the English Civil War.
How to write an essay on the growth of democracy, including the Chartists and the Great Reform Act.
How to write a top-grade essay on the methods of the Suffragettes and Suffragists.
How to write an essay on the significance of the General Strike of 1926.

Norman England, c1066–c1100

How to write an essay explaining the causes of the Norman Conquest.
How to write an A-star essay on the reasons for William’s victory at the Battle of Hastings.
How to write an essay on how William I established and maintained control of England (including castles and the Harrying of the North).
How to write a top-grade essay explaining the features and purpose of the feudal system.
How to write an essay on the significance of the Domesday Book.
How to write an essay on the changes the Normans made to the Church in England.

Elizabethan England, c1568–1603

How to write an essay on the challenges Elizabeth I faced as a female ruler.
How to write an essay explaining Elizabeth’s ‘Religious Settlement’.
How to write an A-star essay on the threat posed by Mary, Queen of Scots.
How to write a top-grade essay on the causes of the conflict with Spain, leading to the Armada.
How to write an essay on the causes and consequences of poverty in Elizabethan England.
How to write an essay about Elizabethan exploration and the voyages of discovery.

Medieval England: the Reign of Edward I, 1272–1307

How to write an essay on Edward I’s relationship with the barons and the development of Parliament.
How to write an A-star essay on Edward I’s legal reforms (e.g., Statutes of Westminster).
How to write an essay on the economic life of Medieval England, including the wool trade and the expulsion of the Jews.
How to write a top-grade essay on the causes and consequences of Edward I’s conquest of Wales.
How to write an essay on Edward I’s relations with Scotland, including the ‘Great Cause’ and the role of William Wallace.

Britain: Health and the People: c1000 to the Present Day

This thematic study requires an understanding of change and continuity over a long period. The titles are designed to target key individuals, events, and concepts.

Part 1: Medieval Medicine (c1000–c1500)
- How to write an essay on the medieval theory of the Four Humours.
- How to write an essay explaining the medieval understanding of the causes of disease (including the supernatural and miasma).
- How to write a top-grade essay on the role of the Christian Church in medieval medicine.
- How to write an essay about the causes, treatments, and prevention of the Black Death.

Part 2: The Medical Renaissance (c1500–c1700)
- How to write an essay explaining the impact of Andreas Vesalius on the understanding of human anatomy.
- How to write an A-star essay on the work and significance of William Harvey.
- How to write an essay evaluating the extent of change in medicine during the Renaissance.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the treatments and government action during the Great Plague of 1665.

Part 3: Industrial Britain (c1700–c1900)
- How to write an essay on the significance of Edward Jenner’s discovery of vaccination.
- How to write an A-star essay on the importance of Pasteur’s Germ Theory.
- How to write an essay explaining Robert Koch’s contribution to medicine.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the development of anaesthetics and antiseptics (Simpson and Lister).
- How to write an essay explaining the poor public health conditions in industrial towns.
- How to write an essay on the significance of John Snow’s work on cholera.
- How to write an A-star essay on the importance of the 1848 and 1875 Public Health Acts.

Part 4: Modern Britain (c1900–Present)
- How to write an essay on the discovery and development of penicillin (Fleming, Florey, and Chain).
- How to write an essay explaining the impact of Crick and Watson’s discovery of DNA.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the reasons for the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948.
- How to write an A-star essay on the impact of the NHS on public health in Britain.
- How to write an essay on the modern challenges to public health, such as smoking, obesity, and AIDS.

Paper 2: Wider World Depth Studies (Conflict and Tension)

The Inter-War Years: Conflict and Tension, 1918–1939

Part 1: The Treaty of Versailles and the League of NationsLeague of Nations Full Description:The first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Its spectacular failure to prevent the aggression of the Axis powers provided the negative blueprint for the United Nations, influencing the decision to prioritize enforcement power over pure idealism. The League of Nations was the precursor to the UN, established after the First World War. Founded on the principle of collective security, it relied on moral persuasion and unanimous voting. It ultimately collapsed because it lacked an armed force and, crucially, the United States never joined, rendering it toothless in the face of expansionist empires. Critical Perspective:The shadow of the League looms over the UN. The founders of the UN viewed the League as “too democratic” and ineffective because it treated all nations as relatively equal. Consequently, the UN was designed specifically to correct this “error” by empowering the Great Powers (via the Security Council) to police the world, effectively sacrificing sovereign equality for the sake of stability.
Read more
- How to write an essay on the aims of the ‘Big Three’ (Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Wilson) at the Paris Peace Conference.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the fairness of the Treaty of Versailles.
- How to write an essay explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the League of Nations.
- How to write an A-star essay evaluating the successes of the League of Nations in the 1920s.

Part 2: The Collapse of the League
- How to write an essay on the impact of the Great Depression on international relations.
- How to write an A-star essay on the failures of the League of Nations in the 1930s.
- How to write an essay explaining why the League of Nations failed over the Manchurian Crisis.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the significance of the Abyssinian Crisis for the League of Nations.

Part 3: The Origins of the Second World War
- How to write an essay explaining Hitler’s foreign policy aims.
- How to write an essay on the significance of the remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
- How to write an A-star essay on the arguments for and against the policy of Appeasement.
- How to write an essay explaining the importance of the Anschluss with Austria and the Sudetenland Crisis.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the significance of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
- How to write an essay explaining why Britain and France declared war on Germany in 1939.

Conflict and Tension between East and West, 1945–1972

Part 1: The Origins of the Cold War
- How to write an essay explaining the disagreements between the ‘Big Three’ at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences.
- How to write an A-star essay on how the Soviet Union expanded its influence in Eastern Europe by 1948.
- How to write an essay on the significance of Truman’s and Stalin’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speeches.
- How to write a top-grade essay explaining the importance of the Truman DoctrineTruman Doctrine Full Description:The Truman Doctrine established the ideological framework for the Cold War. It articulated a binary worldview, dividing the globe into two alternative ways of life: one based on the will of the majority (the West) and one based on the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority (Communism). This doctrine justified US intervention in conflicts far from its own borders, arguing that a threat to peace anywhere was a threat to the security of the United States. Critical Perspective:Critically, this doctrine provided the moral cover for aggressive expansionism. By framing complex local struggles—often involving anti-colonial or nationalist movements—strictly as battles between freedom and totalitarianism, it allowed the US to support authoritarian regimes and crush popular uprisings simply by labeling the opposition as “communist.” and the Marshall Plan.
Part 2: The Development of the Cold War
- How to write an essay on the causes and consequences of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift.
- How to write an essay explaining the significance of the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
- How to write an A-star essay on the causes and consequences of the Hungarian Uprising (1956).
- How to write an essay explaining the importance of the nuclear arms race between the USA and USSR.
Part 3: Transformation of the Cold War
- How to write a top-grade essay on the causes and consequences of the building of the Berlin Wall.
- How to write an essay explaining the causes of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- How to write an A-star essay on how the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved.
- How to write an essay on the causes and consequences of the Prague Spring (1968).
- How to write an essay explaining the reasons for détente in the 1970s.

Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975

Part 1: The Korean War
- How to write an essay explaining the causes of the Korean War.
- How to write an A-star essay on the key events of the Korean War, including the Inchon landings.
- How to write an essay on the significance of UN and Chinese involvement in the Korean War.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the consequences of the Korean War.
Part 2: The Vietnam War
- How to write an essay explaining why the USA became involved in Vietnam.
- How to write an A-star essay on the military tactics of the US army and the Vietcong.
- How to write an essay on the significance of the My Lai massacre and the Tet Offensive.
- How to write a top-grade essay explaining why there was opposition to the Vietnam War in the USA.
- How to write an essay explaining the reasons for the US withdrawal from Vietnam.

Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009

Part 1: The First Gulf War
- How to write an essay explaining the causes of the First Gulf War (1990-1991).
- How to write an A-star essay on the key events and military operations of the First Gulf War.
- How to write a top-grade essay on the consequences of the First Gulf War.
Part 2: Terrorism and the War in Afghanistan
- How to write an essay explaining the origins and aims of Al-Qaeda.
- How to write an essay on the significance of the 9/11 attacks.
- How to write an A-star essay explaining the causes of the War in Afghanistan.
- How to write an essay on the key events and consequences of the invasion of Afghanistan.
Part 3: The Iraq War
- How to write a top-grade essay on the long-term and short-term causes of the 2003 Iraq War.
- How to write an essay explaining the key events of the invasion of Iraq.
- How to write an A-star essay on the consequences of the Iraq War, including the insurgency.

Explaining History Podcast

AQA Syllabus

Explaining History Podcast

AQA Syllabus

Subject content

Germany 1890-1945

Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and Communism

America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and Inequality

Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918

Paper 2: Shaping the Nation

Britain: Power and the People: c1170 to the Present Day

Norman England, c1066–c1100

Elizabethan England, c1568–1603

Medieval England: the Reign of Edward I, 1272–1307

Britain: Health and the People: c1000 to the Present Day

Paper 2: Wider World Depth Studies (Conflict and Tension)

The Inter-War Years: Conflict and Tension, 1918–1939

Conflict and Tension between East and West, 1945–1972

Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975

Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009

Explaining History Podcast