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March 28, 2024, 08:58:31 pm

Author Topic: HSC Modern History Question Thread  (Read 347833 times)  Share 

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Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #300 on: May 20, 2017, 11:56:07 am »
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Yep! No worries! :)

Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #301 on: May 20, 2017, 06:51:48 pm »
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Assess/Evaluate ONE major contribution/significance of the personality you have studied to their period of national OR international history (make a clear choice and choose relevant historical content to demonstrate/support choice)
2 minutes.
In addressing this, you should consider Trotsky’s significance in contributing to continuity and/or change during the twentieth century (Russia/Soviet Union’s national history or international history)

You may refer to 2 of the following:

   Significance in contributing to a specific change and continuity
   Victory and consolidation of Bolshevik power
   Defeat of Civil War and foreign intervention
   World/Permanent Revolution
   Life and activities in exile

Can someone help me understand what they are asking? Because I have no idea what to research or write for this last part of my assignment.

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #302 on: May 20, 2017, 07:08:09 pm »
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Assess/Evaluate ONE major contribution/significance of the personality you have studied to their period of national OR international history (make a clear choice and choose relevant historical content to demonstrate/support choice)
2 minutes.
In addressing this, you should consider Trotsky’s significance in contributing to continuity and/or change during the twentieth century (Russia/Soviet Union’s national history or international history)

You may refer to 2 of the following:

   Significance in contributing to a specific change and continuity
   Victory and consolidation of Bolshevik power
   Defeat of Civil War and foreign intervention
   World/Permanent Revolution
   Life and activities in exile

Can someone help me understand what they are asking? Because I have no idea what to research or write for this last part of my assignment.


Heya! So is this the final part of the assessment task? I think what they are asking you to do is to choose a major contribution of Trotsky to either national or international history (national is probably the easiest to argue). When it says you should consider Trotsky's significance to continuity and change, I think what they are asking you to consider is to what extent his actions resulted in either drastic change for Russian society, or continuity/consolidation of changes that had already been made.

In terms of the things that you can refer to I think that;

- 'Significance in contributing to a specific change and continuity' - is probably asking you to look at the dot points under the 4th syllabus heading (4. Evalution), pick on and assess how Trotsky contributed to change and continuity within that. So for example, how did his role as Commissar of Foreign Affairs contribute? How did his actions during the Power Struggle contribute? etc. etc.

- 'Victory and Consolidation of Bolshevik Power' - how did Trotsky actively aid in the Victory and Consolidation of the Bolsheviks? You'd probs want to look at 1917 Revolution and the Civil War in particular :)

- Defeat of the Civil War and Foreign Intervention - This is weirdly worded, cos it sounds like they are saying that the Red Army were defeated - which they defs weren't... because of Trotsky :) The Foreign Intervention stuff would be important if you are thinking of taking the "international history" approach.

- World/Permanent Revolution: This would be an really interesting one - if you are confident in your theoretical knowledge on Permanent Revolution I defs recommend you pick this one, because it can look super sophisticated in a response! Basically how did Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution have international or national implications? You'd want to look at his early writings in exile and probs his role as Commissar of Foreign Affairs and the power struggle for this. As Permanent Revolution was the official Bolshevik Party policy t'is very important :)

- 'Life and Activities in Exile' - Probs more important for "international history."

Soooooo if I were to argue this, I would probably argue that one major contribution of Trotsky to national history was his theory of Permanent Revolution, then link this to "Victory and consolidation of Bolshevik Power" and "World/Permanent Revolution," arguing that though ideology was highly significant, it was Trotsky's ability to keenly maneuver through ideology and pragmatism that he was able to ensure success and significance (hope that makes sense! If you're confused let me know, cos I'm not sure how well I explained this haha).

‘Every Day I Spend 14 Hours Arguing With Liam About Whether Trotsky Had It Coming’: 5 Questions With Harry Styles

For you and anyone else anyone currently fretting over how they're going to answer the Personality Study Part B for Trotsky, might be comforting to know that at least you and Harry Styles have something in common ;)
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Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #303 on: May 20, 2017, 11:09:48 pm »
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Yeah I am kinda confused with forming argument overall. So should I say something like ‘Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution was a significant contribution he had made to the Soviet Union’s national history during the twentieth century’ I want to choose ‘Victory and Consolidation of Bolshevik Power’ and ‘World/Permanent Revolution’ BUT im not sure how to form the arguments properly because its not totally clear in my mind as in what to write exactly.

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #304 on: May 20, 2017, 11:57:55 pm »
+1
Yeah I am kinda confused with forming argument overall. So should I say something like ‘Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution was a significant contribution he had made to the Soviet Union’s national history during the twentieth century’ I want to choose ‘Victory and Consolidation of Bolshevik Power’ and ‘World/Permanent Revolution’ BUT im not sure how to form the arguments properly because its not totally clear in my mind as in what to write exactly.

Coming up with the argument is always the hardest part dw :) You definitely could say that Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution was a significant contribution - because it was! It was literally the official party policy until Stalin came along and f'd shit up haha. However, furthermore Trotsky's pragmatic application of this theory is important - he knew when to let go of ideology in order to deal with the issues directly in front of them (like you suggested during the Civil War - however the power struggle can be used to argue against this point if you so choose).

So my judgement (this doesn't have to be yours!) would be:

Trotsky's pragmatic understanding and application of communist theory and practice was highly significant to Russian national history.

I'd then want to talk about the way in which during the 1917 Revolution Trotsky pragmatically utilise ideology in order to garner more support (eg changing the date to coincide with the Soviet's Congress, and utilising communist rhetoric) and how as Commissar of War he went against his ideology because it wasn't practical to force theory under those conditions. You can even talk about his role as Commissar of Foreign Affairs (tricker but can be done!), suggesting that even though it appeared as though his ideology failed in this regard (as his position of "neither peace nor war" was inextricably tied to his ideology and germany didn't have a revolution), this actually wasn't a fault of his ideology - more so that Germany not having an invasion was so improbable (remember that even though Lenin had a different view to Trotsky of whether they should sign the Treaty he too believed that a German revolution was immanent) that it was in fact a logical assumption that it would occur soon, and when it was revealed they he was wrong, Trotsky immediately switched his position to Lenin's in order to solve the immediate problems - German invasion, even if it went against his ideology. (that was a super long sentence soz).

Does that make sense? I've attached my Trotsky argument table, just in case that can help any further :) Let me know if you are still confused!

Susie
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Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #305 on: May 21, 2017, 11:16:49 am »
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One of the major contributions that Trotsky had to national history was his theory of Permanent Revolution which he had upheld throughout the overall Bolshevik consolidation of power. However, it can be argued that though this communist ideology was highly significant, it was also Trotsky’s ability to keenly maneuver through ideology and pragmatism that he was able to ensure success and significance.


Well this is my starter. What should i say next?

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #306 on: May 21, 2017, 12:31:13 pm »
+1
One of the major contributions that Trotsky had to national history was his theory of Permanent Revolution which he had upheld throughout the overall Bolshevik consolidation of power. However, it can be argued that though this communist ideology was highly significant, it was also Trotsky’s ability to keenly maneuver through ideology and pragmatism that he was able to ensure success and significance.


Well this is my starter. What should i say next?

I've made a couple of suggests as to how you can improve your opening in the spoiler :)

Spoiler
One of the major contributions that Trotsky had to national history was his theory of Permanent Revolution which he had upheld throughout the overall Bolshevik consolidation of power. Good, but I think this could be stronger. Rather than saying "One of the major contributions that Trotsky had..." I'd instead start with "Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution was one of his most significant contributions...." However, it can be argued Don't say "it can be argued" - Argue it yourself! Prove it can be argued rather than telling me that it can.that though this communist ideology was highly significant, it was also Trotsky’s ability to keenly maneuver through ideology and pragmatism I know I was the one that originally said this - but I've changed my mind. I think its better to say "Trotsky's pragmatic ability to keenly maneuver through theoretical adherence and the practical application of ideology that he was able to ensure success and significance.

In terms of what to say next, I think you need to provide context and a brief explanation of your judgement - what was the socio-philosophical landscape of Russia at the time? What was Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution (in what book was it expounded)? Why was it so important to the Bolsheviks? Within what situations did he demonstrate this pragmatic application of ideology (this will include the outline of your argument :) )

Susie
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Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #307 on: May 21, 2017, 12:37:43 pm »
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My teacher just informed me that i dont have to refer to 2. That was her mistake. So i should stick with ONE overall idea of how his contribution impacted the national/international history

So I was just thinking of talking about how Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution had significantly impacted the national history... like soemthing along those lines.

Mod Edit: Merged :)
« Last Edit: May 21, 2017, 12:49:31 pm by sudodds »

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #308 on: May 21, 2017, 12:51:53 pm »
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My teacher just informed me that i dont have to refer to 2. That was her mistake. So i should stick with ONE overall idea of how his contribution impacted the national/international history

So I was just thinking of talking about how Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution had significantly impacted the national history... like soemthing along those lines.

Mod Edit: Merged :)

Okay sounds good :) I think either way though you will end up talking about victory and consolidation - even if it isn't explicitly your chosen factor, that and ideology go hand in hand - very difficult to assess the significance of one without a mention of the other :)
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Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #309 on: May 21, 2017, 12:56:10 pm »
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Do you have any notes or information i can use in relation to Permanent Revolution? Because the stuff im finding seems to be very general

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #310 on: May 21, 2017, 01:10:58 pm »
+1
Do you have any notes or information i can use in relation to Permanent Revolution? Because the stuff im finding seems to be very general

Kind of... but I'm not sure it will make much sense to you as they were the notes I wrote in class + so idk if it's really a kinda "you had to be there to make sense of it" kinda thing.

The important stuff though is the focus on a european/world revolution, the belief that you could "fast forward" through various historical stages (primitive communism --> slave owning societies --> feudalism --> capitalism --> socialism --> communism) through human agency, and the belief in "combined and uneven development", which essentially meant that the proletariat and the peasants could progress at different speeds.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2017, 01:15:13 pm by sudodds »
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tahliamag

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #311 on: May 21, 2017, 05:12:34 pm »
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Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether study notes are a good idea for modern history? I've heard that it can be kind of pointless but I feel like it would be really hard to study without them? Thankyouu

Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #312 on: May 21, 2017, 06:37:03 pm »
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Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution was one of his most significant contributions because it resulted in the Bolshevik consolidation of power, which therefore greatly impacted the Soviet Union’s national history. However, despite this communist ideology being highly crucial, it was also Trotsky’s pragmatic ability to keenly manoeuvre through theoretical adherence and the practical application of this communist ideology that he was able to ensure success and significance. In the Early 1905, there was spark of desire for a revolution due to the mass political and social unrest that spread throughout the Russian empire. This was because of Tsar Nicholas’ regime whose focus on rapidly moving through various historical stages in order to push for modernisation, which would get rid of their industrially backward state, had resulted into discontent amongst both the proletariat and the peasants.

You know how you said to talk about Trotsky's Permanent Revolution next. Like after that ^^, idk how to bring it back to his permanent revolution

Mod Edit: Merged - For future reference, if you forget to add something to a post you can always click modify  :)
« Last Edit: May 21, 2017, 08:13:57 pm by sudodds »

Rasika

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #313 on: May 21, 2017, 06:41:21 pm »
+1
Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether study notes are a good idea for modern history? I've heard that it can be kind of pointless but I feel like it would be really hard to study without them? Thankyouu

Dude, i defs recommend study notes especially when it comes to the core:ww1. They are really good to help remember your stats and those key facts!! It helped me a lot for my half yearlies

Mod Edit: Just cleaned up you quoting :)
« Last Edit: May 21, 2017, 08:14:44 pm by sudodds »

sudodds

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Re: Modern History Question Thread
« Reply #314 on: May 21, 2017, 06:53:18 pm »
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Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether study notes are a good idea for modern history? I've heard that it can be kind of pointless but I feel like it would be really hard to study without them? Thankyouu
Hey Tahlia :) Bit of a different interpretation than Rasika here - personally I never wrote notes for Modern History (I started to at the beginning - but after I while I realised that for me it really wasn't helpful, and I was wasting so much time on a study technique that for me was just ineffective.). Instead, I focused all of my attention towards writing practice essays. I'm a practical learner - I have to be doing things for information to sink in. But that was my experience. Do you find that writing notes helps you understand the topic? If so then write them! Tables (I've mentioned them 1000000 times on here) are my preferred note taking method if you do want to write them - detail tables/argument tables/linking tables - as they force you to engage with the content more by assessing significance etc etc. :)
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