Rationale

The study of VCE History assists students to understand themselves, others, and the contemporary world, and broadens their perspective by examining events, ideas, individuals, groups and movements. Students of VCE History develop social, political, economic and cultural understandings of the conditions and features which have helped shape the present. They also explore continuity and change: the world is not as it has always been, and it will be subject to change in the future. In this sense, history is relevant to contemporary issues. It fosters an understanding of human agency and informs decision making in the present.

The study of VCE History fosters the ability to ask searching questions, to engage in independent research and to construct arguments about the past based on evidence from historical sources. Historical comprehension enables a source to be understood in relation to its context; that is, students make links between the historical source and the world context in which it was produced.

We can never know the whole past. Historical knowledge rests on the interpretation of historical sources that are used as evidence. Furthermore, judgments about historical significance made by historians are central to the discipline. Historians do not always agree about the meaning of the past; historical interpretations are often subject to academic and popular debate. Therefore, history is contested, and students develop an ability to work within this contested space to form their own opinions and to defend them using evidence. The study of VCE History equips students to enhance their critical thinking, take an informed position on how the past informs the present and future, and contributes to them becoming informed and engaged citizens.

Aims

This study enables students to:

• develop an understanding of the nature of history as a discipline and to engage in historical thinking and inquiry

• ask and use questions about the past, evaluate historical sources and construct historical arguments based on their use of sources as historical evidence

• develop an understanding of and apply historical thinking concepts, including evidence, cause and consequence, continuity and change, and significance,

• explore a range of eras and periods, events, people, places, ideas and historical perspectives to develop a broad understanding of the past

• engage with historical interpretations and the contested debates between historians in an informed and critical manner

• recognise how our understanding of the past informs decision-making in the present

• appreciate that the world in which we live has not always been as it is now, and that it will continue to change in the future.

Structure

Modern History

Unit 1: Change & Conflict

Unit 2: The Changing World Order

Revolutions

Unit 3: Revolution (#1)

Unit 4: Revolution (#2)

Unit 1: Change and conflict

In Unit 1 Modern History, students explore the major social, ideological, political, economic and cultural changes that shaped the modern world from the late 1800s to the beginning of World War Two. The course examines how empires, wars, revolutions and new ideologies transformed societies and changed everyday life.

A major focus is the decline of old empires and the impact of World War One. During the late nineteenth century, powerful empires competed for territory, resources and influence, increasing international tensions and militarism. Industrialisation and nationalism challenged traditional rulers and political systems, contributing to instability across Europe and beyond.

World War One became a turning point in modern history. The war destroyed empires, redrew borders and created political and economic instability. The harsh post-war treaties and the failures of international peacekeeping helped create the conditions for future conflict and the rise of extremist movements, including the Bolshevik Revolution and Stalin's Soviet Union.

Students investigate Tsarist Russia and the Russian Revolution, examining the weaknesses of the Tsarist system, the impact of World War One, and the revolutionary movements that led to the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. They also study the rise of the Soviet Union under communist rule and the restrictions placed on freedom and society.

The unit also focuses on Weimar Germany and Nazi Germany. Students explore the challenges faced by Germany after World War One, including economic crisis, political instability and the effects of the Treaty of Versailles. These conditions contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, which used propaganda, violence and dictatorship to control society, persecute minorities and prepare Germany for war.

In the United States, students examine the contrast between the prosperity and consumer culture of the Roaring Twenties and the economic collapse of the Great Depression during the 1930s. The Depression caused widespread unemployment and hardship and influenced political and social change around the world.

Across the unit, students consider how governments, ideologies, technology, propaganda and cultural movements shaped people’s lives and contributed to the outbreak of World War Two in 1939.

What is History: Revolutions?

In Units 3 and 4 Revolutions students investigate the significant historical causes and consequences of political revolution. Revolutions represent great ruptures in time and are a major turning point in the collapse and destruction of an existing political order which results in extensive change to society. Revolutions are caused by the interplay of events, ideas, individuals and popular movements, and the interplay between the political, social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions. Their consequences have a profound effect on the political and social structures of the post-revolutionary society. Revolution is a dramatically accelerated process whereby the new regime attempts to create political, social, cultural and economic change and transformation based on the regime’s ideology.

Change in a post-revolutionary society is not guaranteed or inevitable and continuities can remain from the pre-revolutionary society. The implementation of revolutionary ideology was often challenged internally by civil war and externally by foreign threats. These challenges can result in a compromise of revolutionary ideals and extreme measures of violence, oppression and terror.

In these units students construct an argument about the past using historical sources (primary sources and historical interpretations) as evidence to analyse the complexity and multiplicity of the causes and consequences of revolution, and to evaluate the extent to which the revolution brought change to the lives of people. Students analyse the different perspectives and experiences of people who lived through dramatic revolutionary moments, and how society changed and/or remained the same. Students use historical interpretations to evaluate the causes and consequences of revolution and the extent of change instigated by the new regime.

In developing a course, teachers select two revolutions to be studied, one for Unit 3 and one for Unit 4 from the list below. The revolution selected in Unit 3, Area of Study 1, must be selected for Unit 3, Area of Study 2. The revolution selected in Unit 4, Area of Study 1, must be selected for Unit 4, Area of Study 2.

· The American Revolution

· The French Revolution

· The Russian Revolution

· The Chinese Revolution.

Students will undertake the study of two major revolutions over the course of Units 3 and 4 

(either, Russia, China, America or France).