13HIS

Level 3 History

Course Description

This course examines the role of ideas and beliefs in promoting change throughout History. The impact of European arrival, and interaction with native peoples in seventeenth-century New England and nineteenth-century New Zealand, are a core area of study in examining the role of ideas and beliefs in a historical context.  Another area of focus is the philosophy and reasoning behind the implementation of the strategic bombing campaign of WWII.  Finally, students will conduct a research assignment on a topic of their own choosing.  This is designed to get students actively exercising the skills of a historian.

History develops important skills. These include the ability to interpret and analyse information, draw conclusions and communicate findings in reports.

Course Overview

Term 1
Topic: King Phillip's War
This is the story of how the Puritan settlers of New England, America went from friends of the Native American Indians to their genocidal enemies. It examines what drove the Puritans to actively provoke a war that would become the bloodiest in per capita terms of any in US history. We will also look at how this conflict would set in place views of the Native Americans that would white Americans to dispossess and destroy American Indians across the continent.
Topic: The New Zealand wars
In this term we examine the causes and consequences of the New Zealand wars for New Zealand. The course takes a broad look at the forces driving colonialism before paying particular focus on the key moment of the wars; The Invasion of the Waikato by Imperial forces in 1863. This event and subsequent events would have profound ramifications for all of New Zealand’s subsequent history until and including the present.

Term 2
Topic: The New Zealand Wars (cont.)

Term 3
Topic: The debate over the Strategic bombing campaign of World War 2. In this topic, we look at the arguments for and against the use of massed aircraft against the cities of Germany and Japan. Were the much-lauded benefits real and was it worth the huge number of civilian casualties? Were there viable alternatives and if so why weren't they pursued? This topic has become very contemporary in view of the bombing campaign launched by Russia in the Ukrainian conflict. All this is studied and students are tasked with assessing the arguments and forming their own opinion.

Term 4
Revision

Career Pathways

Disclaimer

this information may vary