HSC Modern History (NSW) case studies
HSC Modern History (NSW) · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) is the NSW Education Standards Authority syllabus governing the HSC Modern History course - a Board Developed Course of 2 units in Year 12 (course number 15270), with no prerequisites, corequisites or eligibility requirements. It suits students who want to investigate people, ideas, movements, events and developments that have shaped the modern world through a range of sources. The HSC Modern History (NSW) case studies are 5 cases and about 2,932 words.
1The Limits of a Coalition Cabinet, 1930–32
A Weimar-era coalition government holds 214 of 491 Reichstag seats. Its majority depends on a centre-right party whose 41 deputies have publicly demanded that the Chancellor cap unemployment insurance contributions at 3.5 per cent of wages.
684 words, about 3 min2Reading a Terror Apparatus Through Its Records
A student is studying a one-party state's security police using three sources. Source A is an internal 1937 directive ordering regional offices to prioritise 'reactionary elements in the armaments industry'.
588 words, about 3 min3Interpreting a Ceasefire That Kept Failing
Two neighbouring states signed a ceasefire in 1994 with a 60-day timetable for withdrawal from a disputed valley. The agreement created a 12-member monitoring commission with equal representation and a chair rotating every 30 days.
535 words, about 3 min4Measuring Change Without Overclaiming
A student writes about a twentieth-century society's shift from rural to urban life between 1950 and 1975. She cites: urban population rising from 18 per cent to 47 per cent; female participation in waged work rising from 21 per cent to 38 per cent; a literacy campaign raising reported literacy from 40 per cent to 82 per cent; and a decline in average household size from 5.4 to 4.1.
543 words, about 3 min5A Source Bundle on a Turning Point
A student is asked whether a 1933 enabling law was a 'turning point' in the collapse of a democratic system. She has four sources: the law's text, which transfers legislative power to the cabinet for four years and requires renewal; a cabinet minute from the same week noting that two coalition partners would have resigned if the law had not passed; a foreign newspaper editorial calling the vote 'the end of parliamentary government'; and a later memoir by a backbench deputy saying 'we did not know what we had done'.
582 words, about 3 min