War and British Society C.790 to C.2010 | OCR GCSE History A (J410)
War and British Society C.790 to C.2010
- 119 questions
- 10 subtopics
- Paper 2
- Paper 2
War and British Society c.790 to c.2010 is examined in Paper 2, British thematic study.
It covers viking raids and the Norman Conquest, the feudal system and feudal military service, war in medieval society, c.1290–c.1450, elizabeth I’s wars with Spain, and English privateers, border warfare, the Civil Wars and the Jacobite risings, imperial wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Crimean War and the Boer Wars, the two world wars and the Cold War, the IRA campaigns and conflict since 1945 and what war did to British people and their rulers.
Sample questions from War and British Society C.790 to C.2010
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Viking raids and the Norman Conquest
What were burhs, and how did they protect Wessex?
Show the answer
Fortified towns garrisoned by Alfred’s men and spaced roughly a day’s march apart, so people and stock could shelter and raiders could be met before they got far inland. -
The feudal system and feudal military service
What was the Domesday Book of 1086 for?
Show the answer
It recorded who held every estate, what it was worth and what it had been worth in 1066, so the king knew his kingdom’s wealth and could settle disputes over who owned what. -
War in medieval society, c.1290–c.1450
How were English armies for the French wars actually recruited by Edward III’s reign?
Show the answer
By indenture: a written contract in which a captain agreed to bring an agreed number of men, of agreed types, for an agreed term at agreed wages. -
Elizabeth I’s wars with Spain, and English privateers
Why did the war with Spain force Elizabeth to summon Parliament more often?
Show the answer
Only Parliament could grant the subsidies the fighting needed, so members had repeated chances to raise grievances before voting the money. -
Border warfare, the Civil Wars and the Jacobite risings
What kind of fighting made up most of the war in England?
Show the answer
Not great pitched battles but sieges of towns and country houses, skirmishes and the holding of garrisons, so whole districts lived for years under an occupying force. -
Imperial wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
How did winning that war create the crisis that lost Britain her American colonies?
Show the answer
The national debt had roughly doubled, so Parliament tried to make the colonists pay towards their own defence through measures such as the Stamp Act of 1765, and they refused to be taxed without representation. -
The Crimean War and the Boer Wars
How did the public at home learn what was going wrong, and what did that cause?
Show the answer
War correspondents telegraphed reports and photographers brought back images, and the outcry over the mismanagement brought down Lord Aberdeen’s government in 1855 and pushed reform of army supply and medical services. -
The two world wars and the Cold War
How did women’s war work change their political position?
Show the answer
Women filled munitions factories, transport and offices in huge numbers, and in 1918 Parliament gave the vote to women over thirty who met a property qualification.
The 10 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Viking raids and the Norman Conquest | Lindisfarne, why raiders chose monasteries, the Great Heathen Army, Alfred's burhs and the divided fyrd, Danegeld, the northern rising of 1069, Hereward, the Harrying of the North and how William held England down. | 10 |
| The feudal system and feudal military service | William's claim to all the land, tenants-in-chief and knights' fees, a villein's obligations, Domesday Book, the new landowning class, peasant life after the Conquest, the Forest Laws, servitium debitum, homage, scutage, and the breakdowns under Stephen and John. | 13 |
| War in medieval society, c.1290–c.1450 | Crécy and Agincourt, the chevauchée, early gunpowder, recruitment by indenture, why forty days' service failed, taxation and the wool subsidy, the Italian bankers, purveyance, French villagers' suffering and raids on the English coast. | 10 |
| Elizabeth I’s wars with Spain, and English privateers | The Treaty of Nonsuch, the Armada and Elizabeth's image, the years after 1588, Parliament and the cost of war, monopolies, privateers and pirates, Drake, Hawkins, Cadiz and what raiding gave and cost England. | 12 |
| Border warfare, the Civil Wars and the Jacobite risings | The border reivers, Flodden, the marches and their wardens, bastle houses and pele towers, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, sieges and skirmishes, the New Model Army, Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland, free quarter and wartime taxes, the Jacobite risings and the Highlands after Culloden. | 15 |
| Imperial wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries | The gains of 1763, the year of victories, Plassey, how victory led to the loss of America, the new patriotism, the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, invasion fears, the repression of radicals, income tax and the unrest after 1815. | 10 |
| The Crimean War and the Boer Wars | The Charge of the Light Brigade, disease in the Crimea, Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, war reporting and its effects, Majuba Hill, the causes of the second Boer War, Black Week and Mafeking, farm burning and the camps, and the unfit recruits of 1899. | 9 |
| The two world wars and the Cold War | Total war, the Defence of the Realm Act, conscription and conscientious objectors, women's war work and the vote, the Second World War at home, wartime planning and welfare, National Service, Britain's nuclear weapons, CND and the Cold War in everyday life. | 10 |
| The IRA campaigns and conflict since 1945 | Troops in Northern Ireland, internment and Bloody Sunday, bombings in Britain, the 1981 hunger strikes, the case for war in Iraq, the February 2003 protest, lost trust, the 2005 London bombings and later powers. | 10 |
| What war did to British people and their rulers | Shifting opinion on the First World War, the Boer War and Iraq, the Blitz, objectors, nuclear weapons, who fought and who suffered, memorials, Ireland and the Highlands, and how war shaped Parliament, repression and welfare. | 20 |
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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.
Nearby topics
OCR GCSE History A Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,449 questions with their answers.