PAU History (Catalonia) study guide
PAU History (Catalonia) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The PAU History examination in Catalonia is the history paper sat within the Proves d'Accés a la Universitat, the university entrance exams taken by students finishing batxillerat and by older candidates entering degree studies. It is a closed-book written exam marked against criteria set for the Catalan university district, and the grade feeds into the weighted entrance score used for degree admission, so it matters most to candidates targeting history-heavy or high-demand degrees. The PAU History (Catalonia) study guide has 7 sections and about 3,060 words.
01Roots of the Contemporary World: Ancien Régime Crisis, French Revolution, Napoleon and Industrialisation
This block runs from the fiscal breakdown of the Ancien Régime to the consolidation of industrial capitalism. The paper can ask you to link a primary source - a decree, a declaration, a parliamentary speech - with the structural changes behind it.
501 words, about 3 min02Building Liberal States: Restoration, Liberal Revolutions and Nationalisms, and the Spanish Sexenio Democrático
From the Vienna order to the Spanish Restoration, this block examines how liberal states were built - by revolution, dynastic compromise or national unification - and where Spain and Catalonia sat in that process. Sources are often constitutional articles, pronunciamiento manifestos or Carlist proclamations.
405 words, about 2 min03The Age of Imperialism and the First World War (1870–1918)
This block runs from the second industrial revolution to the armistice of 1918 and supplies many source questions: statistics, treaties, diplomatic telegrams, cartoons described in text. The exam tests causal explanation - why the powers expanded overseas, and why a Balkan assassination escalated into a world war.
422 words, about 2 min04The Interwar Period: Russian Revolution and the USSR, Crisis of Democracies, Fascism and the Second World War
Interwar Europe - the revolutionary rupture in Russia, the fragility of liberal democracies, the rise of fascism - plus the Second World War. Questions typically ask for comparison (Stalinism against Nazism, Lenin's NEP against the five-year plans) or for the causal chain leading to 1939.
428 words, about 2 min05The Cold War, Decolonisation and the Bipolar World (1945–1991)
The bipolar order from Yalta to the dissolution of the USSR, together with decolonisation and the emergence of the Third World. Expect questions on the phases of the Cold War, on the reasons for European decolonisation, and on how a specific crisis (Berlin, Cuba, Afghanistan) fits into a phase.
436 words, about 2 min06Contemporary Spain: Restoration System, Primo de Rivera, Second Republic, Civil War, Francoism and the Transition
Spanish history from the Restoration of 1874 to the socialist victory of 1982 - the longest block and the one where Catalonia and Spain overlap most. Sources are usually constitutional articles, party manifestos, decrees or speeches.
408 words, about 2 min07Contemporary Catalonia: Industrialisation, Catalanism, Republic, Repression and Self-Government
Catalan history where it intersects with the Spanish and European ones: industrialisation, the political articulation of Catalanism, the Republic and the war, Francoist repression and the recovery of self-government. Questions often ask you to relate an institution to its legal basis - a distinction the exam loves.
460 words, about 2 min