HSC Modern History (NSW) cheat sheet

Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) imposed Article 231 war-guilt clause, 132 billion gold mark reparations, 100,000-man army, loss of Alsace-Lorraine and all colonies.

Weimar Constitution (11 August 1919) created proportional representation without a threshold, Article 48 emergency powers, and a directly elected president with seven-year terms.

Hyperinflation peaked in November 1923 at roughly 4.2 trillion marks to the US dollar; the Rentenmark (November 1923) and Dawes Plan (1924) stabilised the currency.

Munich Putsch (8–9 November 1923) failed; Hitler received a five-year sentence, served about nine months, and used the trial for publicity.

The Enabling Act (24 March 1933) transferred legislative power to the Reich Cabinet for four years; it required a two-thirds majority and passed after the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties.

Night of the Long Knives (30 June – 2 July 1934) removed SA leader Ernst Röhm and rivals; Hindenburg's death (2 August 1934) allowed Hitler to merge chancellor and president as Führer.

Nuremberg Laws (15 September 1935) stripped Reich citizenship from Jews and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and German-blooded citizens.

Axis Powers formed through the Anti-Comintern Pact (1936), Pact of Steel (May 1939) and Tripartite Pact (27 September 1940) linking Germany, Italy and Japan.

Propaganda under Goebbels used the Reich Chamber of Culture (1933) to purge Jewish and politically unreliable artists, and mass rallies such as Nuremberg to ritualise authority.

For Germany 1918–1939, track four phases: revolution and constitution 1918–19, crisis and stabilisation 1919–24, Golden Years 1924–29, and collapse 1929–34.

Key Nazi vote shares: 2.6% (May 1928), 18.3% (September 1930), 37.3% (July 1932), 33.1% (November 1932), 43.9% (March 1933).

For Russia/Soviet Union 1917–1941, sequence: February Revolution, October Revolution, Civil War 1918–21, NEP 1921, Five-Year Plans from 1928, Great Purges 1936–38.

For China 1919–1949, anchor points: May Fourth Movement (1919), Northern Expedition (1926–28), Long March (1934–35), Second United Front (1937), Communist victory (1949).

For Japan 1904–1937, note the Meiji legacy, Taisho democracy, Manchurian Incident (18 September 1931), and the February 26 Incident (1936) that strengthened militarist control.

For the USA 1919–1941, key markers are Red Scare (1919–20), Immigration Act quotas (1924), Wall Street Crash (October 1929), New Deal legislation from 1933, and Neutrality Acts 1935–39.

Leadership comparison: personalist dictatorship (Hitler, Stalin, Mao) versus constitutional or party-oligarchy systems; assess how each mobilised support, controlled opposition and managed economy.

Conflict study requires analysis of causes (long-term, short-term, trigger), nature (type, tactics, technology, scale), and consequences (human, political, economic, international).

For the Arab–Israeli conflict, anchor dates: Balfour Declaration 1917, UN Partition Plan 29 November 1947, Israeli independence 14 May 1948, Six-Day War June 1967, Yom Kippur War October 1973, Camp David Accords 1978.

For the Cold War, anchor dates: Berlin Blockade 1948–49, NATO 1949, Warsaw Pact 1955, Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962, détente in the 1970s, Soviet collapse December 1991.

For Indochina, anchor dates: Dien Bien Phu May 1954, Geneva Accords July 1954, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 1964, Tet Offensive January 1968, Paris Peace Accords January 1973, fall of Saigon April 1975.

For the Pacific War, anchor dates: Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941, Midway June 1942, Guadalcanal 1942–43, island-hopping campaigns, Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945.

Peacekeeping analysis distinguishes Chapter VI (consent-based) from Chapter VII (enforcement) UN mandates; assess mandate, rules of engagement, and local consent.

Consequence evaluation must separate immediate, short-term and long-term effects, and distinguish winners, losers and non-combatants including refugees.

Change study requires measuring extent of change: political, economic, social, cultural and technological, plus continuity that persists despite change.

For the Industrial Age, anchor points: enclosure and agricultural revolution, Watt's improved steam engine 1769, railway expansion from 1830, factory legislation from 1833, Chartism 1838–48.

For the Nuclear Age, anchor points: Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945, atomic tests at Bikini 1946, Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, Partial Test Ban Treaty 1963, NPT 1968.

For civil rights in the USA, anchor points: Brown v Board 1954, Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955–56, Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965, Black Power from 1966.

For feminism, anchor points: suffrage campaigns, contraceptive pill availability in the 1960s, second-wave organisations, Roe v Wade 1973.

Assess change by identifying agents (state, movement, technology, war), pace (gradual or revolutionary), and depth (elite versus mass experience).

Continuity tests: compare legal change with lived experience; formal equality often coexists with persistent economic or social inequality.

Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) imposed Article 231 war-guilt clause, 132 billion gold mark reparations, 100,000-man army, loss of Alsace-Lorraine and all colonies.

Weimar Constitution (11 August 1919) created proportional representation without a threshold, Article 48 emergency powers, and a directly elected president with seven-year terms.

Hyperinflation peaked in November 1923 at roughly 4.2 trillion marks to the US dollar; the Rentenmark (November 1923) and Dawes Plan (1924) stabilised the currency.

Munich Putsch (8–9 November 1923) failed; Hitler received a five-year sentence, served about nine months, and used the trial for publicity.

The Enabling Act (24 March 1933) transferred legislative power to the Reich Cabinet for four years; it required a two-thirds majority and passed after the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties.

Night of the Long Knives (30 June – 2 July 1934) removed SA leader Ernst Röhm and rivals; Hindenburg's death (2 August 1934) allowed Hitler to merge chancellor and president as Führer.

Nuremberg Laws (15 September 1935) stripped Reich citizenship from Jews and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and German-blooded citizens.

Axis Powers formed through the Anti-Comintern Pact (1936), Pact of Steel (May 1939) and Tripartite Pact (27 September 1940) linking Germany, Italy and Japan.

Propaganda under Goebbels used the Reich Chamber of Culture (1933) to purge Jewish and politically unreliable artists, and mass rallies such as Nuremberg to ritualise authority.

For Germany 1918–1939, track four phases: revolution and constitution 1918–19, crisis and stabilisation 1919–24, Golden Years 1924–29, and collapse 1929–34.

Key Nazi vote shares: 2.6% (May 1928), 18.3% (September 1930), 37.3% (July 1932), 33.1% (November 1932), 43.9% (March 1933).

For Russia/Soviet Union 1917–1941, sequence: February Revolution, October Revolution, Civil War 1918–21, NEP 1921, Five-Year Plans from 1928, Great Purges 1936–38.

For China 1919–1949, anchor points: May Fourth Movement (1919), Northern Expedition (1926–28), Long March (1934–35), Second United Front (1937), Communist victory (1949).

For Japan 1904–1937, note the Meiji legacy, Taisho democracy, Manchurian Incident (18 September 1931), and the February 26 Incident (1936) that strengthened militarist control.

For the USA 1919–1941, key markers are Red Scare (1919–20), Immigration Act quotas (1924), Wall Street Crash (October 1929), New Deal legislation from 1933, and Neutrality Acts 1935–39.

Leadership comparison: personalist dictatorship (Hitler, Stalin, Mao) versus constitutional or party-oligarchy systems; assess how each mobilised support, controlled opposition and managed economy.

Conflict study requires analysis of causes (long-term, short-term, trigger), nature (type, tactics, technology, scale), and consequences (human, political, economic, international).

For the Arab–Israeli conflict, anchor dates: Balfour Declaration 1917, UN Partition Plan 29 November 1947, Israeli independence 14 May 1948, Six-Day War June 1967, Yom Kippur War October 1973, Camp David Accords 1978.

For the Cold War, anchor dates: Berlin Blockade 1948–49, NATO 1949, Warsaw Pact 1955, Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962, détente in the 1970s, Soviet collapse December 1991.

For Indochina, anchor dates: Dien Bien Phu May 1954, Geneva Accords July 1954, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 1964, Tet Offensive January 1968, Paris Peace Accords January 1973, fall of Saigon April 1975.

For the Pacific War, anchor dates: Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941, Midway June 1942, Guadalcanal 1942–43, island-hopping campaigns, Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945.

Peacekeeping analysis distinguishes Chapter VI (consent-based) from Chapter VII (enforcement) UN mandates; assess mandate, rules of engagement, and local consent.

Consequence evaluation must separate immediate, short-term and long-term effects, and distinguish winners, losers and non-combatants including refugees.

Change study requires measuring extent of change: political, economic, social, cultural and technological, plus continuity that persists despite change.

For the Industrial Age, anchor points: enclosure and agricultural revolution, Watt's improved steam engine 1769, railway expansion from 1830, factory legislation from 1833, Chartism 1838–48.

For the Nuclear Age, anchor points: Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945, atomic tests at Bikini 1946, Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, Partial Test Ban Treaty 1963, NPT 1968.

For civil rights in the USA, anchor points: Brown v Board 1954, Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955–56, Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965, Black Power from 1966.

For feminism, anchor points: suffrage campaigns, contraceptive pill availability in the 1960s, second-wave organisations, Roe v Wade 1973.

Assess change by identifying agents (state, movement, technology, war), pace (gradual or revolutionary), and depth (elite versus mass experience).

Continuity tests: compare legal change with lived experience; formal equality often coexists with persistent economic or social inequality.