AQA GCSE History sample questions and answers (8145)
Guide overview All 16 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
48 sample questions and answers
Taken from every topic of AQA GCSE History, specification 8145. The full guide has 1,889.
Paper 1
America, 1840-1895: Expansion and Consolidation
105 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The geography of North America
Which two mountain barriers had migrants to the Pacific coast to cross?
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The Rocky Mountains and then the Sierra Nevada. -
Why the early settlers went west and the challenges they faced
What was the chief drawback of the Salt Lake valley, and how did the Mormons overcome it?
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It was too dry to farm, so they dug irrigation ditches to bring water down from the mountains onto the fields. -
Dealing with a different culture
What did the Plains tribes believe about the land?
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That it was sacred and could be used but never owned or sold, which made treaties handing over territory meaningless to them.
Paper 1
America, 1920-1973: Opportunity and Inequality
100 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The ‘Boom’
Why was advertising so important to the consumer society of the 1920s?
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Newspapers, magazines, billboards and radio persuaded Americans to want goods they had never owned, creating the demand that kept the factories profitable. -
Social and cultural developments
Where did jazz music come from?
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African-American musicians in the southern states, above all New Orleans, who carried it north to cities such as Chicago and New York. -
A divided society: prohibition, organised crime and racial tension
What happened in the St Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929?
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Seven members of a rival Chicago gang were machine-gunned by Capone's men, and the shock helped turn opinion against the ban on alcohol.
Paper 1
Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945-1972
139 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The end of the Second World War
What was the quarrel at Potsdam about reparations, and how was it patched up?
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Stalin demanded huge payments from Germany while the western powers refused to strip a country they would then have to feed, so each occupying power was left to take reparations from its own zone. -
The Iron Curtain and the evolution of East-West rivalry
Which two countries prompted that promise, and why just then?
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Greece, where communists were fighting a civil war, and Turkey, because Britain had announced it could no longer afford to prop either of them up. -
The significance of events in Asia for superpower relations
How did the Korean War begin?
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Northern forces crossed the dividing line in June 1950 and overran almost the whole of the south within weeks.
Paper 1
Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950-1975
99 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The causes of the Korean War
What did Kim Il Sung and Syngman Rhee both claim, despite being bitter enemies?
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Each claimed the right to rule the whole peninsula and wanted the country reunited on his own terms. -
The development of the Korean War
What did the Inchon landings achieve within weeks?
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They cut the Northern army's supply lines, freed Seoul and drove the invaders back over the 38th Parallel. -
The end of the Korean War
Which two changes in 1953 helped break the deadlock?
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Stalin died in March, and the new president Eisenhower let it be known that he might use atomic weapons to finish the fighting.
Paper 1
Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990-2009
88 questions in the guide, across 8 subtopics. More from this topic
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Regional instability
What did Saddam Hussein still possess in 1988 that alarmed his neighbours?
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A huge, battle-hardened army, which he kept mobilised instead of sending home after the ceasefire. -
The Gulf War, 1990
How did President George H. W. Bush respond to the seizure of Kuwait?
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He declared that it would not be allowed to stand, sent troops to defend Saudi Arabia and assembled a coalition of more than thirty countries. -
Al-Qaeda and the 11 September attacks
What did Al-Qaeda want to happen to Arab governments friendly to the West?
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They were to be overthrown and replaced by rule under strict Islamic law, restoring a single Muslim state under a caliph.
Paper 1
Conflict and Tension: the First World War, 1894-1918
93 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The Alliance System
What was the Entente Cordiale of 1904?
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A friendly understanding between Britain and France that settled their colonial quarrels, without either side promising to fight for the other. -
Anglo-German rivalry
What did Kaiser Wilhelm II mean by Weltpolitik?
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His drive to make Germany a world power, with colonies, a great fleet and influence to match its industrial strength. -
Outbreak of war
Why was the Archduke’s visit to Sarajevo taken as a provocation?
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He paraded through the Bosnian capital on Serbia’s national day, in a province Austria-Hungary had seized from Slav lands.
Paper 1
Conflict and Tension: the Inter-War Years, 1918-1939
123 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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The armistice
What were Wilson's Fourteen Points?
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His programme, set out in January 1918, for a fair and lasting peace based on ideas such as self-determination, open diplomacy, freedom of the seas and disarmament. -
The Versailles Settlement
What was the Polish Corridor?
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A strip of former German land given to Poland so that it had access to the sea, which cut East Prussia off from the rest of Germany. -
Impact of the treaty and wider settlement
Why did Germans say self-determination had been applied unfairly?
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Germans in the Sudetenland and Danzig were placed under other governments and Austria was forbidden to join Germany, while the principle was granted to everyone else.
Paper 2
Elizabethan England, c1568-1603
118 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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Elizabeth I and her court
Give two qualities of character that helped Elizabeth I govern successfully.
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She was highly intelligent and a gifted public performer, and she was cautious, often delaying a decision until it suited her. -
The difficulties of a female ruler
Why did monopolies cause anger in 1601?
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They gave courtiers the sole right to sell everyday goods, forcing prices up, and Members attacked them as an abuse of royal favour. -
A ‘Golden Age’
Who were the gentry, and why did they rise?
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Landowners below the nobility who grew rich from farming, trade, office-holding and former monastery land, and who built fine houses and filled Parliament.
Paper 1
Germany, 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship
98 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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Kaiser Wilhelm and the difficulties of ruling Germany
What is meant by militarism?
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The belief that a nation should keep powerful armed forces and be ready to use them, with soldiers and military values admired above civilian ones. -
Impact of the First World War
What began at Kiel in November 1918?
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Sailors ordered out on a last suicidal sortie refused to obey and mutinied, and their revolt spread within days to workers and soldiers in cities across Germany. -
Weimar democracy
What did Hitler attempt in Munich in November 1923?
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He and his followers burst into a beer hall to force the Bavarian leaders to back a march on Berlin, then paraded through the city with the war hero Ludendorff at his side.
Paper 2
Health and the People in Britain, c1000 to the Present Day
165 questions in the guide, across 13 subtopics. More from this topic
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The factors that shape this study
What part has luck played in medical discovery?
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Several of the greatest breakthroughs began with an accident rather than a planned experiment, such as a culture left standing over a holiday or a dish left uncovered. -
Medieval medicine
Who treated ordinary people who could not afford a physician?
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Barber-surgeons, who cut hair, pulled teeth and performed small operations, apothecaries who mixed and sold remedies, and local wise women with herbal knowledge. -
Public health in the Middle Ages
When did the Black Death reach Britain, and how many died?
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It arrived in 1348 and swept the country through 1349, killing somewhere between a third and a half of the population.
Paper 2
Medieval England: the Reign of Edward I, 1272-1307
103 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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Henry III’s legacy
Where was Edward when his father died, and when was he crowned?
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He was returning from crusade in the eastern Mediterranean; he took his time coming home and was crowned at Westminster in August 1274. -
Development of government, rights and justice
What did the second Statute of Westminster of 1285 do for landowning families?
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Its clause on conditional gifts let an estate be tied to a family's heirs so that it could not be sold away, and it also tightened the law on debt. -
Trade, towns and villages
What customs duty on wool was granted to the king in 1275?
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Half a mark — six shillings and eightpence — on every sack exported, a grant that gave the crown a dependable income for the rest of the reign.
Paper 2
Migration, Empires and the People in Britain, c790 to the Present Day
158 questions in the guide, across 13 subtopics. More from this topic
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The factors that shape this study
How did Parliament decide who could come and settle in Britain?
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Its laws opened the door, confirming after 1945 that Commonwealth citizens were British subjects free to come, and later closed it by restricting who could enter. -
Invasion: the Vikings, the Danelaw and the North Sea Empire
How did Alfred defend his kingdom against further attack?
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He built a ring of fortified towns called burhs, split the militia so half was always under arms, and had larger ships built to meet raiders at sea. -
The birth of English identity
Who was Joan of Arc and what difference did she make?
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A peasant girl who believed God had sent her; she inspired the relief of Orléans in 1429 and the crowning of Charles VII, and the war turned France’s way from then on.
Paper 2
Norman England, c1066-c1100
114 questions in the guide, across 8 subtopics. More from this topic
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Causes of Norman Conquest
On what grounds did Duke William of Normandy claim the throne?
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He said Edward had promised him the succession in 1051, that Harold Godwinson had later sworn a sacred oath to support him, and that he was Edward's kinsman through Emma of Normandy. -
Military aspects: Stamford Bridge, Hastings and Norman tactics
When was the Battle of Hastings fought, and what ground did each side hold?
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On 14 October 1066, with the English drawn up along a ridge and the Normans attacking uphill from the valley below. -
Establishing and maintaining control
What foreign help did the northern rebels receive in 1069?
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A large Danish fleet sailed up the Humber and joined them, and William eventually paid the Danes to go home.
Paper 2
Power and the People in Britain, c1170 to the Present Day
154 questions in the guide, across 13 subtopics. More from this topic
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The factors that shape this study
What is meant by chance as a factor in the changing relationship between people and the state?
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Accidents of timing, health or personality that nobody planned but which altered the outcome of a protest or a reform. -
Constraints on kingship
Besides justice and consent to taxation, what else did Magna Carta promise?
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That the Church could choose its own officials freely, that London and other towns kept their ancient liberties, that merchants could travel and trade without unjust tolls, and that John's foreign mercenaries would leave the kingdom. -
Medieval revolt and royal authority
Which tax provoked the rising of 1381?
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The poll tax, charged at a shilling a head in its third demand and taken at the same rate from a labourer as from a wealthy man, followed by commissioners sent to hunt down evaders.
Paper 2
Restoration England, 1660-1685
117 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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Crown and Parliament
Why did the succession worry so many people during the reign?
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Charles II's marriage to Catherine of Braganza produced no surviving children, so the crown would pass to his brother James, who was a Catholic. -
The Catholic question
What did the panic mean for English Catholics?
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Innocent men, among them Jesuit priests and Viscount Stafford, were convicted on false evidence and executed, and Catholics were shut out of Parliament. -
Charles II’s court
Which sports and pastimes did Charles II make fashionable?
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Horse racing at Newmarket, real tennis, sailing and yacht racing, and walking in St James's Park with his spaniels.
Paper 1
Russia, 1894-1945: Tsardom and Communism
115 questions in the guide, across 9 subtopics. More from this topic
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Russia’s economy and society
Which industries grew fastest during the great spurt of the 1890s?
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Coal, iron, steel and oil; output of coal and pig iron roughly doubled and the Baku oilfields made Russia one of the largest oil producers in the world. -
Nicholas II’s autocracy and the court
What happened on Bloody Sunday in January 1905?
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Troops opened fire on Father Gapon's peaceful march to the Winter Palace, killing hundreds of unarmed petitioners and destroying the Tsar's image as the father of his people. -
The First World War and the collapse of Tsarist government
Why was Alexandra so distrusted while she governed in the capital?
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She had been born a German princess while Russia was at war with Germany, and she sacked capable ministers so often that government almost stopped working.
AQA GCSE History Active Recall Guide
The other 1,841 questions, with the answers printed after each section.