Germany and West Germany, 1918-89 | Edexcel A-Level History (9HI0)

Germany and West Germany, 1918-89

159 questions
16 subtopics
Paper 1: the breadth study, one route of eight
Paper 1

A Paper 1 breadth study of Germany from the November Revolution to the eve of reunification, covering the Weimar Republic, the Nazi dictatorship and the Federal Republic, and comparing how each governed, controlled its people, managed its economy and treated women, education and minorities.

The historical interpretations section asks who was responsible for the Second World War.

Sample questions from Germany and West Germany, 1918-89

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Creation and collapse of the Weimar Republic, 1918–33

What was the German Revolution of 1918-19?

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The naval mutiny at Kiel spread into workers' and soldiers' councils across Germany, forcing the Kaiser's abdication and the proclamation of a republic in November 1918.
Return to democratic government, 1945–89

What was the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof group)?

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A far-left terrorist group that carried out kidnappings and killings in West Germany in the 1970s.
Controlling the people, 1918–89

What was the role of the Gestapo?

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The secret state police investigated political opposition and could impose protective custody without trial, relying heavily on denunciations from ordinary citizens.
Reacting to economic challenges, 1918–32

Who suffered and who gained from hyperinflation?

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Savers, pensioners and creditors were ruined; debtors, including the state, and owners of property and foreign currency gained.
Creating a social market economy, 1945–89

What is a social market economy?

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Erhard's model of free markets and competition combined with a strong welfare state and codetermination, avoiding both central planning and unregulated capitalism.
Education and cultural developments, 1918–89

What characterised Weimar cultural experimentation?

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The Bauhaus in design, expressionist and then New Objectivity painting, Brecht's theatre, Lang's cinema and Berlin cabaret, which made Germany a centre of European modernism.
German history on Nazi foreign policy

What continuities are drawn between Wilhelmine and Nazi foreign policy?

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Ambitions for continental domination, colonial expansion, the primacy of the army in policy, and the September Programme's war aims of 1914.
The German invasion of Poland in 1939

Why did Hitler make a pact with his ideological enemy?

Show the answer
To avoid a war on two fronts, to guarantee raw materials, and to deter Britain and France from intervening once Poland was isolated.

The 16 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Creation and collapse of the Weimar Republic, 1918–33	Recall questions on the revolution of 1918, the Ebert-Groener pact, Article 48, the crises to 1923, the golden years, and rule by decree after 1930.	10
Nazi dictatorship, 1933–45	Recall questions on Gleichschaltung, the polycratic state, working towards the Fuhrer, wartime government, and the rise of the SS.	10
Return to democratic government, 1945–89	Recall questions on the occupation zones, the Berlin blockade, the Basic Law and its safeguards, Adenauer's republic, and the Grand Coalition.	10
Opposition to government, 1918–89	Recall questions on Versailles and the Kapp Putsch, resistance under the Nazis including the White Rose and the July Plot, and the student movement and the RAF.	10
Controlling the people, 1918–89	Recall questions on Weimar's failure to contain extremism, Goebbels and the press, the Gestapo and denunciation, the People's Court, and de-Nazification.	10
Popular support, 1919–89	Recall questions on the republic without republicans, who voted Nazi, the Hitler Myth, wartime morale, and what underpinned loyalty to the Federal Republic.	10
Reacting to economic challenges, 1918–32	Recall questions on hyperinflation and who lost by it, the Rentenmark, the Dawes and Young Plans, the Ruhr occupation, and Bruning's deflation.	10
Controlling the economy, 1933–45	Recall questions on how unemployment fell, Schacht and the Four Year Plan, the Labour Front and Strength Through Joy, guns or butter, and forced labour.	10
Creating a social market economy, 1945–89	Recall questions on the currency reform of 1948, codetermination, the causes of the economic miracle, the 1966 recession, and the oil shocks.	9
Attitudes towards women, 1918–89	Recall questions on Weimar rights and the New Woman, Kinder Kuche Kirche, wartime mobilisation, the Trummerfrauen, and equality law in the Federal Republic.	10
Education and cultural developments, 1918–89	Recall questions on Weimar modernism and conservative hostility, the Nazi curriculum and the Hitler Youth, degenerate art, and the Historikerstreit.	11
The position of ethnic minorities, 1918–89	Recall questions on the assimilated Jewish community before 1933, the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, Wannsee and Aktion T4, the Gastarbeiter, and restitution.	10
German history on Nazi foreign policy	Recall questions on the Sonderweg thesis and its critics, Fischer's argument, Wilhelmine continuities, volkisch nationalism, and the case against continuity.	10
Hitler's ideas and Nazi foreign policy	Recall questions on Lebensraum and racial ideology, the Hossbach Memorandum, and the intentionalist and structuralist readings of how policy was made.	10
The German invasion of Poland in 1939	Recall questions on the Nazi-Soviet Pact and its secret protocol, the Danzig crisis, why Hitler discounted the guarantee, and the outbreak of war.	10
The contribution of other nations to the outbreak of war	Recall questions on appeasement and why Britain pursued it, Munich, Soviet policy, American neutrality, Italy and Japan, and the failure of the League.	9

Germany and West Germany, 1918-89 is 159 of the 6,832 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £9

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.