OCR A Level History A (H505)

Complete Specification — A* Master Notes

OCR architecture matters: learners take one British Period Study and Enquiry, one Non-British Period Study, one Thematic Study with Historical Interpretations, and Y100 Topic-Based Essay.

Assessment

Unit Group 1 — British Period Study and Enquiry

1h30
50 marks
25%
one of 13 topics
source-based enquiry plus period knowledge

Unit Group 2 — Non-British Period Study

1h
30 marks
15%
one of 24 topics
depth knowledge and analytical judgement

Unit Group 3 — Thematic Study and Historical Interpretations

2h30
80 marks
40%
one of 21 topics
long-term change/continuity + interpretations

Y100 Topic-Based Essay

3000–4000 words
20%
independently researched

Overall route must span at least 200 years.

OCR A* HISTORICAL THINKING

British Enquiry

OCR expects a source to be understood through:

message/content;
provenance;
purpose;
context;
typicality;
utility for precise enquiry.

A* source judgement:

“The source is valuable not because it is unbiased, but because its position gives direct access to X; however, its intended audience makes Y less secure.”

Period Essay

Focus on second-order concept:

cause;
consequence;
change;
continuity;
significance;
similarity/difference.

Thematic Study

Thematic answers must span the whole chronology. Do not let one depth study dominate.

Measure:

turning points;
rates of change;
periods of continuity;
factors driving change.

Historical Interpretations

Compare historians' arguments, not biographies.

Evaluate:

central thesis;
evidence;
emphasis;
assumptions;
explanatory power;
contextual fit.

UNIT GROUP 1 — BRITISH PERIOD STUDY AND ENQUIRY

1 Alfred and the Making of England, 871–1016

Themes:

Viking pressure;
Alfred's kingship;
military reorganisation;
burhs;
law/religion;
Edward the Elder;
Æthelflæd;
Æthelred;
Cnut. A* debate: how far English unification was Alfred's achievement versus later rulers and Viking pressure.

2 Anglo-Saxon England and Norman Conquest, 1035–1107

Edward the Confessor;
Godwins;
succession;
1066;
Norman conquest;
resistance;
Harrying;
Church;
landholding;
William II/Henry I. Debate: military conquest vs administrative consolidation.

3 England, 1199–1272

John;
Magna Carta;
Henry III;
baronial opposition;
Simon de Montfort;
finance;
foreign policy. Debate: bad kingship vs structural baronial expectations.

4 England, 1377–1455

Richard II;
Lancastrian usurpation;
Henry IV/V/VI;
France;
nobility;
fiscal pressures;
breakdown 1450s. Debate: personal monarchy vs structural crisis.

5 England, 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII

Henry VI;
faction;
Yorkist challenge;
Edward IV;
Richard III;
Bosworth;
Henry VII;
pretenders;
finance. Debate: Wars of Roses as dynastic crisis vs governance crisis.

6 England, 1485–1558: Early Tudors

Henry VII;
Henry VIII;
ministers;
break with Rome;
dissolution;
Edward VI;
Mary I;
rebellion;
foreign policy. A*: separate revolution in Church governance from slower popular religious change.

7 England, 1547–1603: Late Tudors

Edward VI;
Mary;
Elizabeth;
religious settlements;
rebellion;
Mary Queen of Scots;
Spain;
poverty;
Parliament. Debate: Elizabethan stability vs persistent confessional/financial pressure.

8 Early Stuarts and Origins of Civil War, 1603–1660

James I;
Charles I;
finance;
religion;
personal rule;
Scottish crisis;
Long Parliament;
Civil Wars;
regicide;
Cromwell. Debate: long-term structural conflict vs short-term breakdown.

9 Making of Georgian Britain, 1678–c1760

exclusion crisis;
Glorious Revolution;
party;
Hanoverians;
Jacobitism;
Walpole;
finance;
empire. Debate: constitutional revolution vs elite continuity.

10 From Pitt to Peel: Britain, 1783–1853

Pitt;
French Revolution;
war;
radicalism;
Liverpool;
reform;
1832 Act;
Peel;
Corn Laws. Debate: repression and reform as complementary state strategies.

11 Liberals, Conservatives and Rise of Labour, 1846–1918

Peelites;
Palmerston;
Disraeli/Gladstone;
reform acts;
Irish question;
socialism;
Labour;
suffrage. A*: political democratisation was uneven and party-led as well as popular.

12 Britain, 1900–1951

Liberal reforms;
constitutional crisis;
WWI;
Labour;
interwar economy;
General Strike;
Depression;
WWII;
Attlee. Debate: wars as accelerators of welfare/democracy.

13 Britain, 1930–1997

National Government;
WWII;
consensus;
affluence;
1960s;
1970s;
Thatcher;
Major;
society/economy. Debate: Thatcherism as rupture vs continuation of pre-existing trends.

UNIT GROUP 2 — NON-BRITISH PERIOD STUDY

The Rise of Islam c550–750

Arabia;
Muhammad;
early caliphate;
expansion;
Umayyads;
administration;
religious/political division.

Charlemagne 768–814

kingship;
conquest;
Church;
imperial coronation;
administration;
cultural reform.

Crusades and Crusader States 1095–1192

First Crusade;
settlement;
Muslim response;
Second Crusade;
Saladin;
Third Crusade.

Genghis Khan and Explosion from Steppes c1167–1405

Temujin;
military organisation;
conquest;
successor khanates;
Timur;
administration and terror.

Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570

Portugal;
Spain;
Atlantic;
Columbus;
conquest;
indigenous societies;
trade and religion.

Spain 1469–1556

Ferdinand/Isabella;
Granada;
Church;
empire;
Charles V;
revolt;
finance.

German Reformation and Charles V 1500–1559

Church criticisms;
Luther;
princes;
Peasants' War;
Schmalkaldic conflict;
settlement.

Philip II 1556–1598

Spain;
administration;
religion;
Netherlands;
Mediterranean;
England;
finance.

African Kingdoms c1400–c1800

Study four case studies with:

state formation;
trade;
political authority;
external contacts;
change/continuity.

Russia 1645–1741

Alexei;
succession;
Peter;
westernisation;
army;
Church;
nobility;
economy.

Mughal Empire 1526–1739

Babur;
Akbar;
administration;
religion;
economy;
Aurangzeb;
decline.

American Revolution 1740–1796

imperial relations;
taxation;
independence;
war;
Articles;
Constitution;
early republic.

French Revolution and Napoleon 1774–1815

ancien régime;
1789;
constitutional monarchy;
republic;
Terror;
Directory;
Napoleon.

France 1814–1870

Restoration;
1830;
July Monarchy;
1848;
Second Republic;
Napoleon III;
empire.

Italy and Unification 1789–1896

French/Napoleonic impact;
restoration;
nationalism;
Mazzini;
Cavour;
Garibaldi;
consolidation.

USA in 19th Century 1803–c1890

westward expansion;
slavery;
sectionalism;
Civil War;
Reconstruction;
Native Americans.

Japan 1853–1937

Tokugawa crisis;
Meiji Restoration;
modernisation;
military;
constitution;
empire.

International Relations 1890–1941

alliances;
imperial rivalry;
WWI;
Versailles;
League;
appeasement;
WWII origins.

Russia 1894–1941

Nicholas II;
1905;
WWI;
revolutions;
Lenin;
Stalin;
terror/economy.

Italy 1896–1943

liberal state;
WWI;
post-war crisis;
Mussolini;
dictatorship;
foreign policy;
war.

Germany 1919–1963

Weimar;
Nazi rise;
dictatorship;
WWII;
occupation;
FRG/GDR foundations.

Cold War in Asia 1945–1993

China;
Korea;
Vietnam;
Sino-Soviet split;
US policy;
regional conflicts.

Cold War in Europe 1941–1995

wartime alliance;
division;
Berlin;
NATO/Warsaw Pact;
détente;
1989;
post-Cold War settlement.

Apartheid and Reconciliation: South Africa 1948–1999

apartheid;
ANC;
repression;
international pressure;
reform;
Mandela/de Klerk;
transition/TRC.

UNIT GROUP 3 — THEMATIC STUDY AND INTERPRETATIONS

Early Anglo-Saxons c400–800

Long-term:

settlement;
kingdoms;
conversion;
kingship;
warfare;
society.

Viking Age c790–1066

raids;
settlement;
Danelaw;
state formation;
trade;
conquest.

English Government and Church 1066–1216

monarchy;
administration;
law;
Church-state;
finance;
barons.

Church and Medieval Heresy c1100–1437

papacy;
reform;
heresy;
Cathars/Waldensians;
Wyclif/Hus;
repression.

Renaissance c1400–c1600

humanism;
art;
patronage;
printing;
political thought;
spread beyond Italy.

Rebellion and Disorder under Tudors 1485–1603

Compare rebellions by:

causes;
leadership;
geography;
support;
government response;
threat.

Tudor Foreign Policy 1485–1603

France;
Scotland;
Spain;
empire/exploration;
dynastic/religious goals.

Catholic Reformation 1492–1610

pre-Tridentine reform;
Jesuits;
Council of Trent;
papacy;
orders;
enforcement.

Ottoman Empire 1453–1606

conquest;
administration;
military;
religion;
economy;
Mediterranean/Europe.

French Nation State 1498–1610

monarchy;
administration;
taxation;
religion;
nobility;
civil wars.

Origins and Growth of British Empire 1558–1783

trade;
colonies;
war;
Atlantic;
slavery;
state/private enterprise.

Popular Culture and Witchcraze 16th–17th Centuries

popular belief;
elite belief;
prosecution;
gender;
religion;
decline.

Ascendancy of France 1610–1715

monarchy;
Richelieu/Mazarin;
Louis XIV;
war;
economy;
diplomacy.

German Nationalism 1789–1919

Napoleonic impact;
1848;
Prussia;
Bismarck;
empire;
nationalism to WWI.

Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945

Compare:

technology;
armies;
command;
logistics;
total war;
civilians;
industrialisation.

Britain and Ireland 1791–1921

union;
nationalism;
famine;
land;
Home Rule;
Easter Rising;
independence.

China and its Rulers 1839–1989

Qing crisis;
foreign intervention;
revolution;
Nationalists;
Mao;
Deng.

Russia and its Rulers 1855–1964

Compare rulers on:

ideology;
repression;
economy;
peasants/workers;
nationalities;
war.

Civil Rights in USA 1865–1992