A-level History resources designed for OCR teachers — built from a decade of expert modern history content, written by a former Pearson/Edexcel examiner, and verified for accuracy before anything goes live.

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What makes these resources different

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Available now

Two Interpretation Packs are ready. The first debate in each is free and open to all. Full packs — covering all major historiographical debates, with comparison tasks and provenance prompts — are available to subscribers.

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Historiography Reference Library

Explaining History’s 20th Century Interpretations section provides free, detailed reference pages on every major historiographical debate relevant to OCR specifications. Each page covers the central question, main schools of thought, how the debate developed, and where it stands now — with named historians, key texts, and links to relevant interpretation packs.

• The Russian Revolution
• The Stalinist Terror
• Nazi Germany
• The Holocaust
• The Fall of Weimar
• The Causes of the First World War
• The Causes of the Second World War
• The Origins of the Cold War
• Decolonisation
• British Imperial Decline
• Fascism

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Full OCR coverage

Option pages are live for every OCR H505 A-level History option. Each page includes a teaching overview, key themes, exam guidance, and historiography. Full interpretation packs will be added option by option, starting with the topics the Explaining History library covers most deeply.

Component 1 — British Period Study

Code	Title	Resources
Y101	Alfred and the Making of England, 871–1016	Option guide ✓
Y102	Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest, 1035–1107	Option guide ✓
Y103	England, 1199–1272	Option guide ✓
Y104	England, 1377–1455	Option guide ✓
Y105	England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII	Option guide ✓
Y106	England 1485–1558: the Early Tudors	Option guide ✓
Y107	England 1547–1603: the Later Tudors	Option guide ✓
Y108	The Early Stuarts and the Origins of the Civil War, 1603–1660	Option guide ✓
Y109	The Making of Georgian Britain, 1678–c.1760	Option guide ✓
Y110	From Pitt to Peel: Britain, 1783–1853	Option guide ✓
Y111	Liberals, Conservatives and the Rise of Labour, 1846–1918	Option guide ✓
Y112	Britain, 1900–1951	Option guide ✓
Y113	Britain, 1930–1997	Option guide ✓

Component 2 — Non-British Period Study

Code	Title	Resources
Y201	The Rise of Islam, c.550–c.750	Option guide ✓
Y202	Charlemagne, 768–814	Option guide ✓
Y203	The Crusades and the Crusader States, 1095–1192	Option guide ✓
Y204	Genghis Khan and the Explosion from the Steppes, c.1167–c.1405	Option guide ✓
Y205	Exploration, Encounters and Empire, 1445–1570	Option guide ✓
Y206	Spain, 1469–1556	Option guide ✓
Y207	The German Reformation and the Rule of Charles V, 1500–1559	Option guide ✓
Y208	Philip II, 1556–1598	Option guide ✓
Y209	African Kingdoms, c.1400–c.1800: four case studies	Option guide ✓
Y210	Russia, 1645–1741	Option guide ✓
Y211	The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India, 1526–1739	Option guide ✓
Y212	The American Revolution, 1740–1796	Option guide ✓
Y213	The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon, 1774–1815	Option guide ✓
Y214	France, 1814–1870	Option guide ✓
Y215	Italy and Unification, 1789–1896	Option guide ✓
Y216	The USA in the 19th Century: Westward Expansion and Civil War, 1803–c.1890	Option guide ✓
Y217	Japan, 1853–1937	Option guide ✓
Y218	International Relations, 1890–1941	Option guide ✓
Y219	Russia, 1894–1941	Option guide ✓
Y220	Italy, 1896–1943	Option guide ✓
Y221	Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany, 1919–1963	✓ Interpretation Pack available
Y222	The Cold War in Asia, 1945–1993	Option guide ✓
Y223	The Cold War in Europe, 1941–1995	Option guide ✓
Y224	Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics, 1948–1999	Option guide ✓

Component 3 — Thematic Study with Historical Interpretations

Component 3 thematic topics form Section B of the Component 1 paper — the historical interpretations element. Interpretation Packs are built for this section.

Code	Title	Resources
Y301	The Early Anglo-Saxons, c.400–c.800	Option guide ✓
Y302	The Viking Age, c.790–1066	Option guide ✓
Y303	English Government and the Church, 1066–1216	Option guide ✓
Y304	The Church and Medieval Heresy, c.1100–1437	Option guide ✓
Y305	The Renaissance, c.1400–c.1600	Option guide ✓
Y306	Rebellion and Disorder under the Tudors, 1485–1603	Option guide ✓
Y307	Tudor Foreign Policy, 1485–1603	Option guide ✓
Y308	The Catholic Reformation, 1492–1610	Option guide ✓
Y309	The Ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire, 1453–1606	Option guide ✓
Y310	The Development of the Nation State: France, 1498–1610	Option guide ✓
Y311	The Origins and Growth of the British Empire, 1558–1783	Option guide ✓
Y312	Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries	Option guide ✓
Y313	The Ascendancy of France, 1610–1715	Option guide ✓
Y314	The Challenge of German Nationalism, 1789–1919	Option guide ✓
Y315	The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1792–1945	Option guide ✓
Y316	Britain and Ireland, 1791–1921	Option guide ✓
Y317	China and its Rulers, 1839–1989	Option guide ✓
Y318	Russia and its Rulers, 1855–1964	✓ Interpretation Pack available
Y319	Civil Rights in the USA, 1865–1992	Option guide ✓
Y320	From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire, 1857–1965	Option guide ✓
Y321	The Middle East, 1908–2011: Ottomans to Arab Spring	Option guide ✓

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About these resources

These resources are written by Nick Shepley — former A-level History teacher, author of A-level History textbooks for Pearson/Hodder, and former Pearson/Edexcel examiner. Every interpretation pack is personally reviewed and signed off before publication. The guarantee is simple: you will not find a hallucinated historian or a misrepresented argument in these pages.

The interpretation material is built on the conviction that accurately assembled, topic-mapped historiography is the most useful thing a teacher can have — and the thing generic AI tools do worst. These packs exist because that gap is real and worth filling properly.

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Free and subscriber access