Check that this is your course

This guide is for Pearson Edexcel A-level History, Paper 3, option 37.2: Germany, 1871-1990: united, divided and reunited. Check the code with your teacher. Other German courses may cover some of the same regimes but use different dates, themes and assessment.

You study two breadth themes across 119 years and five shorter depth studies. In the breadth study, material after 1945 focuses on West Germany. The depth studies examine how different German states tried to manage political, regional, social and ideological difference.

The whole course in one argument

Germany repeatedly combined impressive economic and social transformation with arguments about who belonged, how power should be distributed and how unity should be maintained. The Empire created in 1871 was federal, industrialising and socially diverse. War and revolution produced democracy in 1918-19, but dictatorship destroyed pluralism after 1933. After another catastrophic defeat, West Germany built a durable constitutional democracy while Germany remained divided. In 1989-90, East German revolution, migration, West German policy and international agreement made reunification possible.

Long-run change was uneven. Manufacturing expanded while agriculture declined in relative importance. Workers and white-collar groups grew, welfare developed and women's roles changed, but class, gender and regional inequalities persisted. Government policies could accelerate, redirect or obstruct change, yet no single regime controlled every social and economic outcome.

Anchor dates

• 1871: German Empire founded.
• 1879: Bismarck introduced protection and changed political alliances.
• 1880s: major social-insurance measures developed.
• 1917: military dominance and wartime strain intensified.
• 1918-19: defeat, revolution and foundation of the Weimar Republic.
• 1930-32: mass unemployment deepened political crisis.
• 1933-35: Nazi coordination, dictatorship and racial legislation.
• 1949: Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic founded.
• 1959: SPD adopted the Bad Godesberg programme.
• 1989: East German peaceful revolution and mass migration.
• 1990: German reunification.

Essential vocabulary

Reich means empire or realm. Federalism divides authority between a central government and constituent states, or Lander. Reichstag was the elected national parliament. Kulturkampf was Bismarck's conflict with the Catholic Church and Centre Party. Gleichschaltung means Nazi coordination of institutions under dictatorship. Volksgemeinschaft was the Nazi ideal of a racial national community that included some Germans by excluding and persecuting others. De-Nazification sought to remove Nazi influence after 1945. Social market economy combines markets with social protection. Reunification restored one German state in 1990.

Breadth theme 1: social change

In 1871 Germany contained powerful landowners, a large peasantry, artisans, an expanding industrial working class and growing middle groups. Industrialisation and urbanisation increased the size and political importance of workers. Artisan traditions survived because small production, skill and local identity did not vanish immediately. Landowning elites and peasants declined slowly rather than disappearing.

White-collar employment expanded with business, administration and modern services. Status did not follow income alone: many white-collar workers distinguished themselves culturally and politically from manual workers. Bismarck's health insurance, accident insurance and pensions in the 1880s created important protections, but welfare also aimed to integrate workers into the state and weaken socialism.

War, inflation, depression, dictatorship and destruction disrupted living standards. After 1945, West German reconstruction and prosperity widened consumer access and social mobility. Yet the economic miracle did not benefit everyone equally, and older hierarchies and attitudes persisted.

Women's family and workplace roles changed through industrialisation, both world wars, Nazi policy and post-war opportunity. War expanded women's work while often being followed by pressure to return to domestic roles. Nazi policy idealised motherhood and racial duty but economic and wartime needs produced contradictions. In West Germany, employment and educational opportunities widened gradually, while law, childcare, pay and social expectations limited equality.

Breadth theme 2: economic change

Germany became a major manufacturing economy through coal, iron, steel, chemicals, electrical engineering, transport, education, banking and a large internal market. Agriculture remained important but declined relatively. The protection introduced in 1879 supported farming and industry while helping reshape Bismarck's political coalition. Naval construction from 1898 stimulated heavy industry and linked economics to world-power ambitions.

The First World War and its aftermath created severe disruption. Agriculture suffered during the 1920s, and mass unemployment between 1930 and 1932 exposed the vulnerability of industry and finance. Nazi policies reduced recorded unemployment through public works, rearmament and conscription, but subordinated the economy to dictatorship and war. They did not create a stable consumer prosperity.

After 1945, destruction, currency reform, skilled labour, external demand, institutional choices and Marshall Aid all contributed to West Germany's economic miracle. European integration expanded markets. Membership of the European Community and the Common Agricultural Policy after the 1950s affected industry and farming. Avoid explaining recovery through one minister, one policy or American aid alone.

Can you simplify that for me, please?

For each period, ask three questions: who produced wealth, who benefited, and what did government change? Industrial growth could occur alongside rural difficulty. Welfare could protect people while also serving political aims. Recovery could raise average prosperity without eliminating gender or class inequality. Return to the exact period after using this framework.

Depth study 1: ruling the Second Reich, 1871-79

The new constitution tried to combine national unity with federal difference. The Lander kept important powers, while Prussia dominated the federation. The Reichstag was elected by universal male suffrage but could not appoint or dismiss the chancellor. Bismarck needed parliamentary support for legislation while remaining responsible to the emperor rather than parliament.

Parties expressed religious, regional and class differences. Bismarck initially worked with National Liberals, but alliances shifted as his priorities changed. Kulturkampf attempted to strengthen state authority against Catholic institutions, yet Catholic resistance and the Centre Party limited success. Nationalist appeals and the War in Sight crisis also showed how foreign policy could be used to reinforce unity while creating international danger.

Depth study 2: the birth of democratic Germany, 1917-19

By 1917, Hindenburg and Ludendorff exercised enormous influence within a strained wartime system. Erzberger's Peace Resolution and the Independent Socialists revealed divisions over war and reform. In 1918, Prince Max of Baden introduced constitutional reforms from above, but military defeat, naval mutiny and mass protest drove revolution.

Ebert and Scheidemann sought parliamentary order; Luxemburg and revolutionary socialists wanted deeper transformation. The Weimar Constitution created extensive political freedoms, proportional representation, an elected president and a responsible government. These features offered democratic opportunity but also left tensions over presidential power, fragmented parties and the relationship between old institutions and the new republic.

Depth study 3: a new Reich, 1933-35

The Nazis destroyed political difference rather than negotiating it. Gleichschaltung abolished rival parties and trade unions, created the German Labour Front and coordinated regional and local government. The Night of the Long Knives in 1934 removed opponents and reassured army leaders. After Hindenburg's death, Hitler combined offices and claimed authority as Fuhrer.

Power remained divided among state and party institutions competing for influence, even as cabinet government declined. Volksgemeinschaft promised unity but depended on political conformity and racial exclusion. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 made antisemitic discrimination central to citizenship. Do not mistake the regime's claim to total unity for complete administrative coherence or universal support.

Depth study 4: the Federal Republic, 1949-60

The Basic Law built safeguards against dictatorship: federalism, protected rights, a strong constitutional court and a constructive vote of no confidence. Adenauer and the CDU shaped a Western-oriented state that pursued stability, recovery and integration with Europe and the Atlantic alliance.

The SPD gradually changed from a Marxist workers' party towards a broader democratic people's party, symbolised by Bad Godesberg in 1959. De-Nazification removed some compromised figures, but Cold War priorities and the need for experienced personnel limited its reach. West Germans began confronting the Nazi past, yet silence, selective memory and continuity remained alongside genuine democratic learning.

Depth study 5: reunification, 1989-90

Large numbers left the GDR in 1989 through newly opened routes, while peaceful protest weakened the SED state. East German revolution transformed the problem facing West Germany. Kohl's Ten Point Plan gave political direction, but events moved rapidly as migration, economic disparity and the collapse of GDR authority increased pressure for unity.

Reunification required more than German enthusiasm. The two German states had to negotiate practical terms, while the four former occupying powers had security and international concerns. Gorbachev's acceptance was crucial. Unity brought freedom and political settlement but also economic disruption, institutional transfer and enduring regional differences.

Paper 3 lasts 2 hours 15 minutes, carries 60 marks and is worth 30% of the A level.

Section A: evaluating a contemporary source

Section A is compulsory and uses one source of about 350 words for two related enquiries from the depth studies. Analyse its exact claims and language. Use the author's position, purpose, audience and timing to explain value and limits for each enquiry, then test the source with precise contextual knowledge. Avoid generic comments about bias.

Section B: the depth essay

Choose one of two questions. A question may cross depth topics and test cause, consequence, change, continuity, similarity, difference or significance. Establish a direct judgement, organise paragraphs around analytical factors and compare different ways German states dealt with difference. Use constitutions, parties, institutions and named decisions as evidence rather than description.

Section C: the breadth essay

Choose one of two essays covering at least 100 years. Questions focus on the process, extent, impact or pattern of change. Track the full period and remember that the post-1945 breadth focus is West Germany. Compare turning points and periods, distinguish policy from lived results, and judge both change and continuity across different regimes.

Retrieval practice

• How did German class structure change after 1871?
• Why did welfare expand, and what were its limits?
• How did government policy affect economic change in three regimes?
• How did the Second Reich constitution combine unity and difference?
• Why did democracy emerge in 1918-19?
• How did Nazis destroy pluralism between 1933 and 1935?
• Why did West German democracy survive?
• Why did reunification happen in 1990 rather than earlier?

Take this further

Build a regime comparison using four rows: constitution, political inclusion, social bargain, and treatment of difference. Use columns for the Empire, Weimar, Nazi Germany and the Federal Republic. Then add a timeline underneath for class, women and prosperity. This keeps institutional change connected to social experience.

Your next action

Check that your code is 37.2. Learn the anchor dates, then write five sentences explaining why German unity did not mean the end of difference. Finish by choosing one breadth theme and identifying its strongest turning point, one important continuity and the evidence for both.

Official course source used

This guide follows the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in History specification, Issue 4, June 2026, option 37.2 and the Paper 3 assessment requirements.