AQA GCSE History (8145): Paper 1 Section B, the Five Wider World Depth Studies — Study Guide

Section B of AQA GCSE History Paper 1 is the wider world depth study: one international conflict studied in detail. Schools choose one of five Conflict and tension options – the First World War (1894-1918), the inter-war years (1918-1939), East and West (1945-1972), Asia (1950-1975), or the Gulf and Afghanistan (1990-2009). You answer four questions: two on sources, a narrative account and an extended essay, for 40 marks plus 4 for spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Where this fits in 8145

Section B is half of Paper 1, Understanding the modern world (2 hours, 84 marks, 50% of the GCSE); the other half is the period study in Section A. All three parts of the option’s content are tested in each series. Related pages: Wider world depth studies revision notes, Wider world depth studies practice, Section A period studies guide and the Paper 1 options overview.

Syllabus coverage

AQA GCSE HISTORY (8145) – 3.2.2 SECTION B: WIDER WORLD DEPTH STUDIES

Option	Part one	Part two	Part three
BA The First World War, 1894-1918	The causes of the First World War	Stalemate	Ending the war
BB The inter-war years, 1918-1939	Peacemaking	The League of Nations and international peace	The origins and outbreak of the Second World War
BC East and West, 1945-1972	The origins of the Cold War	The development of the Cold War	Transformation of the Cold War
BD Asia, 1950-1975	Conflict in Korea	Escalation of conflict in Vietnam	The ending of conflict in Vietnam
BE The Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990-2009	Tensions in the Gulf	The war on Al-Qaeda	The Iraq War

How is Section B examined?

Question	Type	Marks	Skill
1	Source analysis (“How do you know?”)	4	AO3: one source – content and provenance
2	How useful are Sources B and C?	12	AO3: content, provenance and context of two sources
3	Write an account of how…	8	AO1 + AO2: a narrative with cause or consequence
4	“Statement.” How far do you agree?	16 + 4 SPaG	AO1 + AO2: sustained judgement

Sources may be written or visual, such as cartoons, posters and photographs.

BA Conflict and tension: the First World War, 1894-1918

Causes. The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, 1882) faced the Franco-Russian Alliance (1894), joined by Britain’s ententes with France (1904) and Russia (1907). Crises over Morocco (1905, 1911) and Bosnia (1908-09) hardened the blocs. Britain abandoned Splendid Isolation as the Kaiser’s Weltpolitik, colonial ambitions and the naval race (the Dreadnought, 1906) alarmed it. Slav nationalism set Serbia against Austria-Hungary; the assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (28 June 1914) led to the July Crisis, and the Schlieffen Plan’s march through Belgium brought Britain in.

Stalemate. The plan failed at the Marne; trench warfare, machine guns and artillery produced attrition at Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele (1917). Gallipoli failed; at sea, Jutland, the U-boat campaign and convoys decided control of supply routes.

Ending the war. The Bolshevik Revolution took Russia out of the war, freeing German troops; US entry (1917) added fresh resources. Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive (1918) failed, and the Allies’ Hundred Days advance, using new tactics and technology, pushed Germany back. The blockade, the Kaiser’s abdication and the Armistice followed; historians debate the contribution of Haig and Foch, supreme Allied commander from 1918.

BB Conflict and tension: the inter-war years, 1918-1939

Peacemaking. Wilson’s Fourteen Points, Clemenceau’s wish to weaken Germany and Lloyd George’s compromise shaped the Treaty of Versailles (1919): territorial losses, military limits, war guilt and reparations, all imposed as a Diktat. New states faced ethnic minorities and border disputes.

The League of Nations. Its Covenant, Assembly, Council and agencies (such as those on health and refugees) aimed at collective security, but the USA never joined. It succeeded over the Aaland Islands (1921), Upper Silesia (1921) and the Greek-Bulgarian dispute (1925), but failed over Vilna (1920) and Corfu (1923). Diplomacy outside it produced Locarno (1925) and Kellogg-Briand (1928). The Depression weakened members; Manchuria (1931) and Abyssinia (1935-36) exposed its weakness.

Origins of the Second World War. Hitler’s aims – overturning Versailles, uniting Germans, Lebensraum – led to the Saar plebiscite (1935), conscription and rearmament; Italy reacted to the Dollfuss affair (1934) and briefly joined the Stresa Front (1935), while Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. The Rhineland (1936), the Axis and Anti-Comintern Pact, the Anschluss (1938), appeasement and Munich (September 1938) escalated tension. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia (March 1939) and the Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939), Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Responsibility is debated between Hitler, Stalin and Chamberlain.

BC Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945-1972

Origins. Yalta and Potsdam (1945) divided Germany; ideological differences and the atomic bomb strained relations among Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt, Attlee and Truman. Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe met the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan (1947); Stalin replied with Cominform and Comecon; Yugoslavia broke away; the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-49) followed.

Development. Soviet support for Mao’s revolution in China (1949), the war in Korea and the Vietminh and Vietcong campaigns spread the Cold War to Asia. NATO (1949) faced the Warsaw Pact (1955); the arms race and space race – Sputnik (1957), ICBMs, Polaris, Gagarin (1961), Apollo – raised the stakes. The “Thaw” after Stalin ended with Hungary (1956) and the U2 incident (1960), which wrecked the Paris summit.

Transformation. The Berlin Wall (1961) and Kennedy’s response; Cuba – Castro, the Bay of Pigs (1961) and the Missile Crisis (October 1962); the Prague Spring and Brezhnev Doctrine (1968); and détente, with SALT 1 (1972) signed by Nixon and Brezhnev.

BD Conflict and tension in Asia, 1950-1975

Korea. Korea, divided at the 38th parallel after 1945, had rival leaders Kim Il Sung and Syngman Rhee. North Korea invaded in June 1950; with the USSR boycotting the Security Council, the UN sent forces under MacArthur. The Inchon landings recaptured the South; the UN advance north brought Chinese intervention (October 1950); Truman sacked MacArthur (1951); stalemate led to the armistice (1953).

Vietnam escalates. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu (1954) led to the Geneva Agreement; opposition to Diem and the Vietcong’s guerrilla war, backed by Ho Chi Minh, followed. The Domino Theory justified intervention under Eisenhower and Kennedy, including the Strategic Hamlets programme. Under Johnson, the Gulf of Tonkin (1964), mass bombing, Search and Destroy, My Lai and the Tet Offensive (1968) turned opinion against the war.

Ending the conflict. Nixon’s Vietnamisation, chemical warfare, bombing (1970-72), opening to China and widening of the war into Laos and Cambodia; protest at Kent State (1970); the media’s influence; the context of Watergate; the Paris Peace talks and Kissinger; US withdrawal (1973) and the fall of Saigon (1975).

BE Conflict and tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990-2009

Tensions in the Gulf. The Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) left Iraq indebted; Western and Russian interests centred on oil; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict fuelled tension and terrorist motives. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait (August 1990) led Bush and Thatcher to back a UN coalition that expelled Iraq in early 1991, increasing US influence in the region.

The war on Al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda carried out the 11 September 2001 attacks. Afghanistan under the Taliban was seen as a rogue state sheltering it. Bush’s war on terror, supported by Blair, overthrew the Taliban in 2001; a UN conference set up a new government under Karzai, which faced ethnic divisions and a Taliban resurgence.

The Iraq War. Saddam Hussein’s regime persecuted Kurds and Shia Muslims; debate raged about links to Al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction, which IAEA and UN inspectors were sent to find. The US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam amid international opposition and debate over Western interests, including oil.

Worked example: a question 2 (usefulness) plan

How useful are Sources B and C to an historian studying the Cuban Missile Crisis? [12]

For each source: content (what it shows – for example, an invented practice source: a US cartoon showing Kennedy and Khrushchev arm-wrestling over nuclear buttons), provenance (who made it, when, why – a Western cartoonist in October 1962, writing for a public afraid of war), and context (your own knowledge – the blockade, the secret deal over Turkey). Useful answers show what each source reveals because of who made it, not just despite it.

Common mistakes

• Question 1: describing the source without explaining how you know.
• Question 2: generic comments (“it is biased”) with no reference to the specific provenance.
• Question 3: a story without explaining how one event led to another.
• Question 4: no judgement, or forgetting SPaG.

Frequently asked questions

How long should Section B take? About an hour; give question 4 around 20-25 minutes.

Can I use knowledge from the period study? Only where it is relevant to the depth study question; answers must focus on international conflict.

Is Section B the same in every year? The question types are fixed; the focus of each question can come from any of the three parts.

Official specification

AQA GCSE History (8145) specification, version 1.3, section 3.2.2 (Wider world depth studies) and 4.4.1 (assessment structure) – aqa.org.uk.