IGCSE World History: Depth Studies A-E (Cambridge 0470) — Revision Notes

The depth studies are the part of Cambridge IGCSE History 0470 where you study one country or conflict in detail. Every candidate studies at least one of five – A: The First World War, 1914-18; B: Germany, 1918-45; C: Russia, 1905-41; D: The United States, 1919-41; E: The Second World War in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, 1939-c.1945 – and answers one three-part question on it in Section B of Paper 1, as well as using it for Component 3 coursework or Paper 4.

Related: Depth Study A study guide, depth studies practice questions and the 0470 exam preparation guide.

How the depth studies are examined (0470, 2024-2026)

Component	Depth-study task
Paper 1 Section B (2 hours for the whole paper, 60 marks)	Two questions per depth study; answer one. Each has parts (a) 4 marks, (b) 6 marks, (c) 10 marks
Component 3 Coursework (40 marks)	One extended piece of up to 2000 words on the significance of an individual, group, development or event
Paper 4 Alternative to Coursework (1 hour, 40 marks)	Two questions per depth study; answer one, in parts (a) (AO1 account) and (b) (AO2 significance)

Depth Study A: The First World War, 1914-18

Key question	Must-know facts
1 Why was there stalemate on the Western Front?	Schlieffen Plan slowed by Belgian resistance, the BEF at Mons (August 1914) and faster-than-expected Russian mobilisation; Battle of the Marne (September 1914); race to the sea; First Ypres. Trench warfare and attrition; machine guns, gas (first major German use at Ypres, April 1915), tanks (Somme, September 1916), aircraft. Verdun (February-December 1916); Somme (July-November 1916), Haig’s tactics, about 57,000 British casualties on 1 July
2 To what extent was it a world war?	Indian and Canadian troops on the Western Front; Africa: German East Africa (Lettow-Vorbeck unbeaten until November 1918) and South West Africa (taken by South African forces, 1915); Japan’s siege of Tsingtao (1914) and naval escort work; the Arab Revolt (from 1916)
3 How important were other fronts?	Jutland (1916): British losses heavier, but the German fleet stayed in port; U-boats, unrestricted submarine warfare (1917) and convoys; Gallipoli (1915-16) failure; the Eastern Front and Russia’s defeat (Brest-Litovsk, 1918); civilians – blockade, rationing, air raids
4 Why did Germany ask for an armistice?	US entry (April 1917); the failed Ludendorff Spring Offensive (March 1918); Allied advance from Amiens (August 1918); shortages and unrest at home; Kiel Mutiny and German Revolution; Kaiser abdicates (9 November); Armistice (11 November 1918)

Depth Study B: Germany, 1918-45

Key question	Must-know facts
1 Was Weimar doomed from the start?	Revolution of 1918; Weimar Constitution (proportional representation, Article 48); Versailles and the “stab in the back” myth; Spartacists (1919) and Kapp Putsch (1920); Ruhr occupation and hyperinflation (1923); Stresemann: Rentenmark, Dawes Plan (1924), Locarno (1925), League membership (1926); cultural achievements
2 Why could Hitler dominate by 1934?	25-Point Programme; Munich Putsch (1923); little success before 1930 (2.6% of the vote in 1928); Depression, unemployment and Nazi propaganda; 230 seats in July 1932; appointed Chancellor (January 1933); Reichstag Fire and March 1933 election; Enabling Act; Night of the Long Knives; Hindenburg’s death (August 1934)
3(a) How effectively did the Nazis control Germany?	SS, Gestapo, camps; Goebbels’ propaganda, radio, rallies, censorship; persecution of Jews and minorities; opposition from churches, youth groups and the 1944 bomb plot; debate on whether Nazi Germany was totalitarian
3(b) What was life like?	Hitler Youth and League of German Maidens; women and the family (marriage loans, Mother’s Cross); economic recovery, DAF and KdF; anti-Semitism (Nuremberg Laws 1935, Kristallnacht 1938); war economy, rationing, bombing and the Final Solution

Depth Study C: Russia, 1905-41

Key question	Must-know facts
1 Why did Tsarism collapse in 1917?	Autocracy, a peasant majority, small industrial working class; 1905 Revolution (Bloody Sunday), October Manifesto and Dumas; Stolypin’s reforms and repression; First World War defeats, the Tsar as commander-in-chief (1915), Rasputin’s influence; March 1917 strikes, mutiny and abdication
2 How did the Bolsheviks gain and consolidate power?	Dual power of the Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet; continuing the war; Lenin’s April Theses; July Days; Kornilov affair; Bolshevik seizure (November 1917); Constituent Assembly closed (1918); Civil War, Trotsky and the Red Army, War Communism; Kronstadt (1921) and the NEP
3 How did Stalin gain and hold power?	General Secretary; Lenin’s Testament suppressed; Trotsky’s errors; alliances against Left and Right; Purges and show trials; NKVD and gulags; cult of personality and official culture
4 What was the impact of Stalin’s economic policies?	Five-Year Plans from 1928, heavy industry, new cities; collectivisation, kulaks, famine (1932-33); differing experiences of workers, peasants, women and ethnic minorities

Depth Study D: The United States, 1919-41

Key question	Must-know facts
1 How far did the economy boom?	Republican policies (low taxes, tariffs such as Fordney-McCumber, 1922); mass production – Ford’s assembly line; hire purchase and credit; decline of coal and textiles; farm overproduction and falling prices; unequal distribution of wealth
2 How far did society change?	Jazz, cinema, flappers; Prohibition (1920-33), gangsters such as Al Capone; immigration quotas (1921, 1924); Red Scare and Sacco and Vanzetti; Scopes trial (1925); Ku Klux Klan; discrimination against Black Americans; women’s vote (1920) and limits of change
3 Causes and consequences of the Crash	Speculation and buying on the margin; overproduction and weak banks; October 1929 crash; bank failures, unemployment (about a quarter of the workforce by 1933), Hoovervilles; Hoover’s limited response; Roosevelt’s 1932 victory
4 How successful was the New Deal?	Hundred Days: Emergency Banking Act, CCC, AAA, TVA, NIRA; Second New Deal: WPA, Social Security Act, Wagner Act (1935); opposition from Republicans, the rich, business, the Supreme Court and radicals such as Huey Long; unemployment persisted until rearmament

Depth Study E: The Second World War in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, 1939-c.1945

Key question	Must-know facts
1 How did the war in Europe develop?	Fall of France and Vichy (1940); Dunkirk; Operation Sea Lion and the Battle of Britain; Operation Barbarossa (June 1941); Stalingrad (1942-43) as turning point
2 How did the Asia-Pacific war develop?	US embargoes; Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941); Malaya and the fall of Singapore (February 1942); Midway (June 1942) as turning point
3 Impact on civilians	Blitz (1940-41); Allied bombing of German cities (1943-45); Japanese control of Malaya and Singapore; Nazi control of Poland, ghettos and the circumstances leading to the Holocaust; resistance in Malaya and France
4 How did the Allies win?	Sicily and Italy (1943-45); D-Day (June 1944) and the Soviet advance; German surrender (May 1945); Guadalcanal, island-hopping, Okinawa; bombing of Japan and the atomic bombs (August 1945); occupations; Nuremberg and Tokyo trials

Worked example: a Section B (c) answer plan

Question: “The failure of the Schlieffen Plan was the main reason for stalemate on the Western Front by the end of 1914.” How far do you agree? [10]

• Agree (explain): the plan’s failure at the Marne meant neither side could win quickly; both sides dug in to hold ground.
• Disagree (explain): defensive technology – machine guns, barbed wire, artillery – made attacks costly; the race to the sea ended with no open flank to turn.
• Judgement: the plan’s failure began the stalemate, but the power of defence made it last.

The Cambridge mark scheme puts this at Level 5 (10 marks) only if both sides are explained and a supported judgement on “how far” is reached.

Common mistakes / exam traps

• (a) questions answered as essays. Part (a) rewards four relevant points; save explanation for (b) and (c).
• Identifying without explaining. In (b) and (c), a reason with no “because” stays at Level 2.
• One-sided (c) answers. Explaining only one side caps the mark at 6.
• Wrong date ranges. Depth Study C stops in 1941; the Great Patriotic War is not included.
• Mixing Weimar and Nazi periods. Read whether the question is about 1919-29 or 1933-45.

Frequently asked questions

How many depth studies must I study? At least one. Section B of Paper 1 has two questions on each of the five, and you answer one question.

How long should I spend on the depth-study question? Paper 1 is 2 hours for three 20-mark questions, so about 40 minutes, weighted towards the 10-mark part (c).

Can my coursework be on a depth study? Yes. Component 3 can be based on a syllabus depth study or on a centre-devised one.

Self-test

1. Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail? Belgian resistance, the BEF, rapid Russian mobilisation and the Battle of the Marne.
2. What was Article 48? The emergency power of the Weimar president to rule by decree.
3. What was the NEP? Lenin’s 1921 New Economic Policy allowing small private trade.
4. What was buying “on the margin”? Buying shares with borrowed money, paying only part of the price.
5. Why was Midway a turning point? Japan lost four aircraft carriers and the initiative in the Pacific.