INSTRUCTIONS

In this pack are your four week’s

transition work in preparation for
studying A Level History in
September. All of the tasks and
resources will be set each week
and if there are any issues, please
email me at the address below.
We look forward to welcoming as

A LEVEL HISTORY many of you as possible in

September!

Mr SD Roberts

TRANSITION PACK
Sd.roberts@jths.co.uk

John Taylor High School 2023

 Week 1: The Tudors c1485-1603

In your A level history course, you’ll be studying two examined topics of the AQA course: one being the Tudors
c1485-1900 and the other being Italy and fascism c1900-1945. During the four weeks of transition work, you’ll do the
first two weeks gaining a foundation on the Tudors and the second two weeks studying the Italy and fascism topic.
You’ll have one knowledge session and one analysis/skills session for each of the topics to get you started with post-
16 level evaluation. Your engagement quiz at the end will be around both of the topics.

When studying the Tudors there are several themes that we cover throughout the two years such as personal
monarchy and power; dynasty; economic policies; politics; society; foreign policy and religion. The key ones for the
start of Henry VII are dynasty; personal monarchy and the structure of Tudor society which are the ones you’re going
to look at today.

1. Have a look at the Tudor family tree below. First of all, highlight or write down, the Tudor monarchs.

It’s really important that you can interpret a monarchical tree as they aren’t quite as simple as you’d think.
Answer the questions below about the House of Tudor.

a. When did the House of Tudor begin and with who?

b. How many children did this monarch have and what were their names?
c. Which of these was the next monarch and for what reason?
d. Why did the House of Tudor end in 1603?
e. How are the House of Tudor and the Scottish royal family link together?
2. Henry VII (previously known as Henry Tudor) is the first monarch that you will study. It’s important that you
have an idea of how he became King and what was happening in England before he took the throne. Watch
the first 2 minutes of this documentary (you are more than welcome to watch it all if you want to as it
explains how Henry gets the throne specifically and the role of his Mother, Margaret Beaufort)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3qER3Z3QyA which explains the ‘Wars of the Roses’. Use this clip and
the Britannica encyclopaedia summary https://www.britannica.com/event/Wars-of-the-Roses to write a 5
bullet point summary of what happened in the Wars of the Roses to lead Henry to take the throne. Then,
add a few sentences explaining why Henry Tudor beating King Richard III to take the throne may cause Henry
some issues in England when he becomes King.

3. A ‘personal monarchy’ is the structure of monarchy where the King is at the top with overall power and uses
government bodies to help him make decisions. This system of monarchy was used during this period as
monarchs believed they were divinely chosen. A King’s personal monarchy sits within a ‘dynasty’. These
phrases will be used throughout your two-year study so it’s important that you know what they mean.
Define ‘dynasty’.

4. All Tudor monarchs have some problems controlling society and Henry VII is scared of rebellions more than
any other monarch. Have a look at the diagram below showing the structure of Henry’s society. Note down
which group you think would be his greatest support and which group in society would be his greatest threat
and why that would be.

5. Henry VII’s personality and qualities are ones that many historians have been interested in for decades.
You’ve already seen how he gained the throne through a battle by killing the previous King. Watch the
following clip until 2.30 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbDaXSCAYMo and note down the
ways the historian is firstly, explaining Henry VII personally and secondly, how he describes England under
Henry’s rule. This will give you a good overview of what to expect when studying him in September.
 Week 2: The Tudors c1485-1603

In the last session, you learnt about some key features of Tudor England and in today’s session, you’ll be using that
knowledge to practice some of the skills that you’ll be developing throughout your study at A level.

1. At the start of your history lessons, you’ll be asked to complete a ‘blast from the past’ activity which will
revisit key content from the previous weeks, often content which will link to the learning in that lesson too.
Complete these recap questions which use last session’s content.
a. Who was the first Tudor monarch?
b. How many Tudor monarchs were there?
c. What happened at the Battle of Bosworth?
d. Why was the Wars of the Roses significant?
e. Who is credited with helping Henry VII gain the throne? (Think who had a large influence over him)
f. Which house was Henry VII from?
g. Name two problems that Henry VII had when taking the throne of England.
h. Define ‘dynasty’.

2. When studying history, you will be analysing things called ‘historiographical opinions’. Essentially all this
means is the opinions of historians which forms something called ‘historiography’. During your A levels,
you’ll have short historiographical opinions in your exam which you’re asked to analyse and the first stage of
this is interpreting what the historian’s opinion actually is.
Below, there is a table with a range of sentences from different historians. Either write down or fill in the
table with a simplified version of what they actually think about Henry VII without using the same phrases
that are used in the quote. If there are any words/phrases that you don’t know (I’m sure there will be) use a
dictionary and write a definition to keep for when you start in September.

Historiographical opinion What is their opinion?

‘Henry VII’s immediate concerns when he came to
the throne were the security and stability of Tudor
rule’. J. Guy

‘Henry was almost thirty when he came to the

throne, perhaps too late to listen and adapt’. C.
Carpenter

‘It was unsurprising if local instability and Henry’s

deep mistrust of nobles bred in turn a mistrust of
them in the King’s ability to rule’. C. Carpenter

‘As head of a new dynasty it was important that

Henry VII obtained the acceptance of other powers
such as Spain and Scotland’. D. Murphy

‘The traditional view of Henry VII’s government is

that he was very competent but miserly’. A.
Pickering

‘Henry Tudor’s triumph in 1485 was due to many

factors such as foreign support, the weakening of
Richard III’s position after 1483… and a measure of
good fortune’. A. Pickering
3. You’ve just looked at a short sentence or two from some historians. In your exam, you’ll get a paragraph
from each historian to analyse. Below, there are three historian’s opinions and you need to:
a. Summarise the historian’s opinions
b. What themes does this historian focus on? (Economy; politics/government; society; religion; foreign
policy; rebellions or authority)
c. Highlight the factual information in the paragraphs and the opinion in the paragraphs (this is something
every year 12 struggles with at the start so don’t worry too much if you find this difficult, just try your
best!)
4. Part of history is also doing wider reading that will benefit your understanding and prepare you with skills for
life after sixth form, whatever path you want to go down. In any job/course/apprenticeship you will need to
be able to read and deduce information. Read the article called ‘The Stability of Henry VII’ by B. Davis
Barnhill and form the points into note form. You can choose any way of note taking from the attached
document ‘how to revise in history’ which explains the most effective ways of doing this.
 Week 3: Italy and Fascism c1900-1945

In addition to the Tudors, you will also be studying the AQA Italy and fascism c1900-1945 module with your other
history teacher. In the same way as you have completed the two sessions on the Tudors, today you’ll be gaining
knowledge on this topic as it’s something the vast majority of you will never have studied before and next week’s
final session will be using this knowledge to begin to practice the skills that will make you successful historians.

1. We start our look in 1870 when Italy became a country and unified, right through to 1945 when Italy’s fascist
dictator Benito Mussolini, fell from power and was hung in front of his people in a Milan square. Today, we’ll
have a look at the start and the end of our chronology to see where you will start and end your study in one
of the most interesting periods of history.
Note down first, what else in the wider world was happening between 1870-1945. There were a fair few
significant events that will link in with your A level course.

2. We’ll start by having a look at Mussolini who takes up most of your A level course and with this, you’ll need
to know some main political definitions. Use a dictionary in whatever form to define these terms:
a. Fascism –
b. Democracy –
c. Nationalism –
d. Left-wing –
e. Right-wing –

3. In your Italy and fascism course, you’ll need to analyse primary sources in a range of new ways. Analyse the
photographs (examples of primary sources) using the guidance alongside.

What impression do you get of Mussolini from these sources?

What are in the background of the sources and what does this suggest about support for him?

What is his body language displaying? (Who is this reminiscent of?)

Mussolini is dressed in a certain uniform, what do you think this is and why would this be the image he is portraying
of himself during these years?

4. Watch this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJA2fk8KoQg which shows Mussolini speaking to Italy

(don’t worry, you don’t need to understand it all). Write a summary, no longer than a paragraph, on what
 Italy seemed like during Mussolini’s dictatorship. Think about their freedoms; whether they are uniform; the
level of support he has; how Mussolini comes across as a leader etc.

5. We end with Mussolini’s dictatorship but we

start in a very different way. 1870’s Italy was
a newly formed country often termed
‘Liberal Italy’ because of its liberal Prime
Ministers, with a King who had limited power
and a very weak government. For the last
couple of tasks, you need to see the
difference between where Italy started and
where it ends in 1945. Look at the map,
simply write down what problems there may
be after Italy formed an official country and
became ‘unified’ in 1870.

6. Read the attached document on the four main problems with what’s known as ‘liberal Italy’ which is just the
newly formed Italy in 1870-1922. Read this and note down which of the four main problems, would be the
hardest for a new country to get over and why?
 Week 4: Italy and Fascism c1900-1945

1. As you did with your second session of the Tudors and will you when studying A level, your sessions start
with some form of recap activity. Answer the following questions ideally without using your notes:
a. Define ‘fascism’.
b. What year did Mussolini become Prime Minister of Italy?
c. What was the phrase used to describe Italy before Mussolini?
d. What year did Italy unify to become ‘Italy’?
e. Was fascism right-wing or left-wing?
f. Name two problems that the new Italy had to face after unification.

2. In the Tudors skills session, you practiced reading and interpreting historiography. In your fascism lessons
and in the exam, instead of having historiographical opinion to analyse you will have primary sources. The
first thing that you need to do when analysing a source is pick up on its message along with its tone. Tone is
a difficult one so don’t worry too much if this is hard, just try your best. Tone is essentially what impression
do you get of the source e.g. is it aggressive/joyous/sarcastic/deceptive etc. I always say to students to
choose an adjective that best suits the source. Once you’ve chosen the message, decided on the tone and
then find a quote that shows you this tone. E.g. If a source says ‘Italy is the best country in the world and
have had many successes’, you might choose your tone as patriotic or positive and you would choose ‘Italy is
the best country in the world’.
 3. As well as written sources, you’ll also be asked to analyse cartoon sources of the Italian fascist regime. For
these below, simply note down what image/opinion it is trying to portray of Mussolini and the fascists.

4. On both sides of the course, you’ll have essay questions which are phrased like the ones below. In each
question before you start to write your answer, you’ll need to pick out the date range in the question; the
opinion in the question; the theme (economic; social; foreign policy; religion; political/government;
authority/power) and if it has a factor suggested – see the example below.

‘The key to Mussolini’s successful consolidation of power in the years 1922 to 1926 was his personal popularity with
the Italian people.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.

Theme Date Opinion Factor

Try picking out these features of essay questions for the ones below, not all of them have factors so don’t worry if
you can’t find one of those:

a. To what extent was the successful consolidation of the Fascist regime in the years 1922 to 1929 due to
Mussolini’s mastery of propaganda?
b. ‘Instability in Italy in 1919 was due to Italy’s involvement in the First World War.’ Explain why you agree or
disagree with this view.
c. ‘Italian democracy collapsed in 1922 because the conservative elites feared Socialism more than they feared
Fascism.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.
d. ‘Fear of Communism was the main factor in the collapse of Italian democracy in the years 1919 to 1922.’
Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.
e. ‘Mussolini’s removal from power in 1943 was entirely due to his disastrous foreign policy decisions in the
years 1935 to 1940.’ Assess the validity of this view.
f. ‘Italy was not a united country in 1900.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.

5. When studying next year, it’s really important to summarise and take the key learning from each lesson that
you have each day. It’ll be easier to do this in small chunks at the end of each week/day so it doesn’t get too
overwhelming and you can see early if you haven’t understood something. Write down the most important
three things that you’ve learnt about the Tudors and the most important three things you’ve learnt about
fascism.
 Scan the below codes to access A Level revision resources,

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Tudors

Italian Fascism

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