Topics

TOPIC I CAUSES, PRACTICES AND EFFECTS OF WAR

Wars of various kinds have occurred in the twentieth century. In this section
candidates examine aspects of wars, including causes, the strategies and tactics
employed, and the results of these wars.

Major Themes

· Origins of 20th century war: long and short term political, ideological. economic and religious causes

· Nature of war: as an instrument of policy, strategy and tactics, military campaigns, civil warfare, resistance movements, or guerilla warfare.

· Non-combatants and war: war economy, the home front, women and war, the arts, media and propaganda

· Political, social and economic effects of war: alliances, treaties, post-war changes and problems

Materials for detailed study
Algerian War, Arab-Israeli Wars, Chinese Civil War, Korean War, Mexican

Revolution, Nigerian Civil War, Spanish Civil War, Vietnam War.

TOPIC 3 THE RISE AND RULE OF SINGLE PARTY STATES

Candidates should understand the core area of origins, ideology, organizational
nature and impact of single party states, and select examples from the material for
the detailed study of leaders of single-party states and their regimes. Selected
material should be chosen from at least two different regions. Single-party states

which are not listed can also be studied for open ended questions.

Major Themes
· Origins- conditions which produce single-party states
· Establishment of single-party states
· Ideologies of communism, fascism and Nazism
· Importance of organization and leadership in the maintenance of power
· Successes and failures in solving political, social. and economic problems
· Role of education, the arts and media
· Treatment of women, minorities and religious groups
· Impact of single-party states on world affairs

Material for detailed study
Argentina (Juan Peron), China (Mao Zedong), Cuba (Fidel Castro), Egypt (Gamal
Nasser), Germany (Adolf Hitler), Italy (Benito Mussolini), Spain (Franciso
Franco), Tanzania (Julius Nyerere), USSR (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin),
Yugoslavia (Josip Tito)

TOPIC 5 THE COLD WAR

This topic addresses East-West relations from 1945-1990. It focuses on the superpower rivalry which dominated post-war international politics until very recently. This focus, however, neither excludes events in other regions nor ignores problems such as the effects of this conflict on the developing countries and their relations with the industrialized world. It seeks to promote an international perspective, and historical understanding of a situation that had affected world affairs for a generation and more.

Major Themes
· Origins and nature
· Ideological differences
· Emergence of superpowers and their spheres of influence
· Political and economic responses to the Cold War
· Cold War developments worldwide
· Social and cultural consequences

Materials for detailed study Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, COMECON, NATO, ANZUS, SEATO, Warsaw Pact, Bagdad Pact, non-alignment, developing world, arms race, arms control, disarmament, events in Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Korea, Middle East, Poland, Romania, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia, containment, detente, and China.