§-Modern History syllabus

QLD · QCAA← Modern History

Modern History syllabus, dot point by dot point

Every dot point in the QLD Modern History syllabus, in syllabus order, with a focused answer for each. Open any dot point for the answer, exam-style questions and links to related points.

Unit 1: Ideas in the modern world

Unit overview →

How did Cold War ideologies divide the modern world?

Cold War ideologies (1945-1991), including the ideological foundations of capitalism and liberal democracy in the West and communism under the Soviet model in the East, and the global proxy contests through which they competed

How has globalisation shaped the modern world?

Globalisation as a defining feature of late modernity, including the economic integration of the late 20th century, the digital revolution, debates about its benefits and costs, and historiographical readings (Hobsbawm, Friedman, Stiglitz)

How do historians inquire into ideas in the modern world?

Methods of historical inquiry, including source analysis (origin, purpose, perspective, usefulness, reliability), the use of primary and secondary sources, historiographical awareness, and the writing of evidence-based historical argument

How did the Industrial Revolution reshape ideas of society, work and progress?

The Industrial Revolution as a transformation of economic, social and political life from the late 18th century, including key technological changes, urbanisation, class conflict, and the rise of new social ideas (utilitarianism, early socialism)

How did Enlightenment ideas shape the modern world?

The Enlightenment as the intellectual origin of modernity, including key thinkers (Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant) and the influence of reason, individualism and liberty on 18th and 19th century political revolutions

How did anti-colonial movements reshape the modern world?

The development of anti-colonial and independence movements in the 20th century, including the Indian independence movement (Gandhi, 1947), the decolonisation of Africa, and the ideas of pan-Africanism, non-alignment and post-colonial nationalism

How did fascism and totalitarianism develop in the early 20th century?

The development of fascism as a 20th century political idea, including its origins in post-First World War crisis, Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, the concept of totalitarianism, and the contrast with liberal democracy and communism

How have feminism and environmentalism reshaped modern politics?

The development of feminism and environmentalism as 19th and 20th century political ideas, including suffrage movements, second-wave and third-wave feminism, and the emergence of environmentalism from conservation to climate politics

How has liberalism shaped the modern world?

The development of liberalism as a political and economic idea from the 17th century, including its key thinkers (Locke, Smith, Mill), its variants (classical and social liberalism), and its impact on 19th and 20th century governance

How have socialism and Marxism shaped the modern world?

The development of socialism and Marxism as critiques of industrial capitalism, including utopian socialism (Owen, Saint-Simon, Fourier), Marx and Engels, the Second and Third Internationals, and the divergence of social democracy and communism in the 20th century

How did imperialism shape the modern world?

The development of European imperialism and colonialism from the 15th to the 20th century, including the ideological justifications (civilising mission, social Darwinism), the Scramble for Africa (1881-1914), and the consequences for colonised peoples

How have ideas like nationalism and liberalism shaped the modern world?

The development and impact of nationalism and liberalism as ideas in the modern world, including their origins, key thinkers, and their role in 19th and 20th century history

How have revolutionary ideas produced political change in the modern world?

The role of revolutionary ideas in producing political change in the modern world, including case studies of major revolutions (American 1776, French 1789, Russian 1917)

Unit 2: Movements in the modern world

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How have social movements pursued rights and recognition in the modern world?

Movements for civil and political rights in the 20th century, including the US Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968), second-wave feminism, anti-apartheid movement, and Indigenous rights movements

How did peace and anti-nuclear movements shape the Cold War world?

Peace and anti-nuclear movements from the 1950s, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Aldermaston marches, the international peace movement of the 1980s, and Australian protests against US bases and French Pacific nuclear testing

How did the anti-apartheid movement end racial rule in South Africa?

The anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, 1948-1994, including the formal apartheid system, the African National Congress, the Sharpeville Massacre (1960), Nelson Mandela, the armed struggle, international sanctions, and the negotiated transition to democracy

How did anti-war and counterculture movements reshape 1960s Western societies?

The anti-war and counterculture movements of the 1960s and early 1970s, including the US anti-Vietnam War movement, the May 1968 events in Paris, the Australian Moratorium marches (1970-1971), and the cultural shifts of the period

How did the postwar world order shape the second half of the 20th century?

The postwar world order from 1945, including the United Nations, the Cold War, decolonisation, and the major shifts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries

How have Australian Indigenous rights movements pursued justice?

The Australian Indigenous rights movement from the 1930s, including the Day of Mourning (1938), the 1967 referendum, the Wave Hill walk-off (1966), the Aboriginal Tent Embassy (1972), the Mabo decision (1992), and the development of the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017)

How did nationalist and independence movements transform the 20th century world?

Nationalist and independence movements of the 20th century, including the Irish independence movement (1916-1921), Indian independence under Gandhi and Nehru (1947), and African nationalist movements such as those in Ghana, Kenya, Algeria and South Africa

How did the US Civil Rights Movement transform American society?

The United States Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968, including Brown v Board of Education (1954), the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956), the Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr, and the contesting visions of Black Power

How have environmental movements changed politics?

The development of environmental movements from the 1960s, including Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), the first Earth Day (1970), the Australian campaigns over Lake Pedder (1972) and the Franklin Dam (1983), the formation of green parties, and contemporary climate activism

How have labour and trade union movements shaped the modern world?

The development of labour and trade union movements from the 19th century, including the Chartist movement, the rise of mass unions and the Labour Party in Britain, the Australian Labor Party (1891) and Harvester Judgment (1907), the New Deal in the United States, and the late-20th century decline of organised labour

How did the LGBTQ rights movement develop in the late 20th century?

The development of LGBTQ rights movements from the late 1960s, including the Stonewall riots (1969), the decriminalisation of homosexuality across Western democracies, the AIDS crisis (from 1981), and the global progress toward marriage equality

How do historians analyse causation and change in the modern world?

Methods of analysing causation, continuity and change in historical inquiry, including the distinction between short-term and long-term causes, contingent vs structural factors, and the writing of evidence-based historical argument

How did the global human rights movement develop after 1945?

The development of the global human rights movement, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Helsinki Accords (1975), Amnesty International (founded 1961), Human Rights Watch (1978), and contemporary international criminal justice institutions

Unit 3: National experiences in the Modern World

Unit overview →

Inquiry topic 1: Australia and World War I (1914 to 1918)

Describe and explain the Australian experience of World War I on the battlefield and the home front, including Gallipoli, the Western Front, the role of women, and the development of the Anzac legend

11 min read →

Explain the political, social and economic conditions of Australia in 1914 and the reasons for Australia's involvement in World War I, including the imperial relationship with Britain and the role of public opinion

10 min read →

Analyse the conscription debates of 1916 and 1917, including the role of Billy Hughes, the split in the Labor Party, the influence of Archbishop Daniel Mannix and the social and political consequences of the two referenda

10 min read →

Inquiry topic 2: The interwar years (1918 to 1939)

Describe and explain the political, social and economic developments in interwar Australia, including post-war reconstruction, the 1920s political settlement, the Great Depression, the Premiers' Plan, the dismissal of Jack Lang and the rise of new political movements

11 min read →

Inquiry topic 3: Australia and World War II (1939 to 1945)

Analyse Australia's involvement in World War II, including the European and Mediterranean campaigns, the fall of Singapore in 1942, the Pacific war, Curtin's appeal to the United States, the home front mobilisation, and the experience of women and Indigenous Australians

12 min read →

Australia since 1901: economic reform, reconciliation and constitutional debate

Analyse the Hawke and Keating governments' economic reforms, the shift towards Asia and the Pacific, reconciliation after Mabo, and the 1999 republic referendum, and assess the legacy of the period for contemporary Australia

Australia since 1901: immigration, race and national identity

Analyse the White Australia policy from 1901 and the changes that dismantled it between the 1940s and 1970s, including post-war mass migration, the Holt reforms, the Whitlam government and the move to multiculturalism

Australia since 1901: reform, crisis and the Dismissal

Analyse the Whitlam government's reform program from 1972 to 1975 and the constitutional crisis that ended it, including the blocking of supply and the dismissal of the government on 11 November 1975

Australia since 1901: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the nation

Analyse government policy towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since 1901 and the campaigns for rights and recognition, including protection, assimilation, the 1967 referendum, land rights, Mabo and the Apology

Australia since 1901: Federation and nation-building

Analyse the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 and the policies of the early Commonwealth that shaped the new nation, including the Immigration Restriction Act, industrial arbitration, protection and social welfare

Australia since 1901: the Cold War, alliances and Vietnam

Analyse Australian society, politics and foreign policy from 1949 to 1972, including the Menzies governments, anti-communism, the alliance with the United States, the Vietnam War and conscription, and the growth of dissent

Inquiry topic 4: Post-war Australia (1945 to 1949)

Evaluate the social, political and economic developments in post-war Australia between 1945 and 1949, including the Chifley government's reconstruction program, the mass migration scheme, the 1948 Citizenship Act, Indigenous policy, the early Cold War and the lead-up to the 1949 election

11 min read →

Unit 4: International experiences in the Modern World (The Cold War 1945 to 1991)

Unit overview →

Inquiry topic 1: The origins of the Cold War (1945 to 1949)

Explain the origins of the Cold War, including the wartime alliances and tensions between the USA and USSR, the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the division of Germany and Berlin

Inquiry topic 3: Cold War conflicts in Asia

Explain the causes, course and consequences of the Korean War (1950 to 1953) as the first major military conflict of the Cold War, including United Nations involvement, Chinese intervention, and the entrenchment of the division at the 38th parallel

Explain the causes, course and consequences of the Vietnam War (1955 to 1975), including the failures of French colonialism, the partition at the 17th parallel, US escalation in the 1960s, the Tet Offensive, anti-war movements, and the final fall of Saigon

Inquiry topic 5: The end of the Cold War

Examine the end of the Cold War, including the Reagan-Gorbachev relationship, Gorbachev's reforms (glasnost and perestroika), the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe (1989), the reunification of Germany (1990), and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (December 1991)

Inquiry topic 4: Cold War crises and the threat of nuclear war

Examine the period of detente (1969 to 1979), including the SALT I and SALT II treaties, the Helsinki Accords (1975), Nixon's opening to China (1972), and the eventual breakdown of detente by the end of the 1970s

Examine the causes, course and outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962), including the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, the thirteen-day standoff, and the resolution of the crisis

Inquiry topic 2: The Cold War in Europe (1948 to 1962)

Examine the major crises of the Cold War in Europe between 1948 and 1962, including the formation of the Warsaw Pact, the Hungarian uprising of 1956, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and Soviet responses to Western policy

Inquiry topic 6: Interpreting the Cold War

Evaluate the nature and historiography of the Cold War, including the orthodox, revisionist and post-revisionist interpretations of its causes and conduct, and apply these to historical evidence in IA3 and EA contexts