History in the third year

History in the Third Year The Third Year History course is designed to round off a three-year Lower School journey through nearly 1,000 years of British history. During this year you will study a series of exciting and relevant topics that will leave you ready to take the subject on to IGCSE if you decide to. The hope is that you will enjoy the topics you study and that they will broaden and deepen your understanding of the world around you.

Slavery and the Slave Trade  How and why did European slavers take Africans from their homes to the slave markets on the other side of the Atlantic?  What were the conditions like on the slave ships?  What were the conditions like on the plantations where most of the slaves worked?  How was slavery justified at the time and how was it attacked?  Who went about trying to secure the abolition of the slave trade and why did they succeed?

A famous image from the anti-slavery movement

A very good film indeed!

The American War of Independence 1775-1783  Why did the 13 American Colonies come to the worldchanging decision to fight for their independence from the British Empire? Who was to blame?  What was the nature of the fighting and why did the American colonists, incredibly, manage to defeat the most powerful country on earth?  In what ways did the War of Independence see political ideas such a republicanism and democracy become more important and why do these ideas still matter today?

A British "Redcoat" of the 18th century. Arguably the finest soldiers in the world, how could they have been beat by the American colonials?

Britain and France at War 1792-1815  For nearly 25 years Britain and France faced one another in a titanic struggle that was in many ways the first proper global war.

Why had this happened?  Britain’s strength lay in its navy.

What was life like on early 19th century warships like HMS Victory? What was the reality of being in combat on these ships?

Think about surgery without anaesthetic!  Why was Horatio Nelson the greatest sailor Britain has ever produced and why was the British victory at Trafalgar the most famous naval battle ever fought?  Why did the British finally win?

Another very good film!

Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, the victor of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The saviour of Britain?

HMS Temeraire. A typical British warship of the early 19th century. At the time ships like this were the most complicated and destructive instruments ever devised by man.

The Causes of World War One 1871-1914  World War One was the most important event of the Twentieth Century. Without it there would have been no Russian Revolution, Hitler would not have come to power in Germany, World War Two would not have happened and the Cold War would not have taken place.  65 million men were mobilised in World War One. 8 million were killed and 21 million wounded. Britain lost 750,000 men.  How could this have happened?  Should the Germans be blamed?  How important was the personality of the German Emperor, Wilhelm II  How important was the battleship arms race between Britain and Germany?  How important were colonial tensions?  Could the war have been prevented?

Kaiser Wilhelm II: The Cause of World War One?

A British "Super-Dreadnought". These were the most powerful warships in the world. Their guns could fire at ranges of nearly 15 miles.

Look at how small the individual members of the crew appear when next to the guns.

The Nature of the Fighting in World War One  World War One saw fighting on a scale never before seen  Terrifying new weapons such as poison gas, tanks and planes saw action in warfare for the first time  The scale of the dead and wounded was unimaginable. On 1st July 1916 alone, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army lost 19,000 killed and over 40,000 wounded. This remains the worst single day in the history of the British Army  What was it like to serve in the infamous trenches of World War One? How had trench warfare developed?  Should the generals be criticised for the enormous casualties?  Why was the stalemate finally broken?

A British Trench on the Somme, 1916

A British War Cemetery from World War One

The Role of Women during World War One  World War One was one of the most significant forces for change in the place of women in British society  What was life like for women before World War One?  How did the campaign to secure women the vote develop? What were the suffragettes? What tactics did they use and how did the government respond? Why did the government resort to force feeding in prison women who campaigned for the vote?  What sort of role did women have during the War? What was life like for women in munitions factories? Did the war transform the role of women?  How and why did women secure the vote in 1918?

Women Working in a British Munitions Factory 1917

Suffragettes often went on hunger strike. The government decided that they should be force fed