IB History Year One Student Number: _____________________ Block: ____

Take Home In Class-Style Essay: The Chinese Civil War and Dictators Mao and Hitler
Please indicate what question you are answering by CIRCLING it and writing an appropriate TITLE on your essay.
DOUBLE SPACE, ONE SIDE ONLY, BLACK PEN, PAGE NUMBER
Choose ONE question to answer in a proper essay format:
1. Analyze the reasons for and the results of the Chinese Civil War.

2. Account for the use of guerrilla warfare in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) and estimate its contribution to
Communist victory.

3. Analyze the economic and social results on the civilian population of the Chinese Civil War.

4. With reference to Mao and Hitler, assess how ideology and popular support contributed to their rise to power.

5. With reference to two leaders from two different regions discuss by what methods, and evaluate with what
success, single-party rulers in power established totalitarian regimes.

6. Successful economic and social policies were essential for the single-party leaders maintenance of power.
With reference to two leaders from two different regions, discuss to what extent you agree with this statement.

Instructions to be followed exactly please:
1. Reading: WITH NO PEN IN HAND read the questions, read the advice below, and plan in your head, for 5 mins
Planning can be done on the back of this sheet in the space provided.
2. Writing: write your response, using your own paper, NO COMPUTER, BY HAND ONLY including planning, for 45 mins
3. End: please organize your essay, ensure there are page numbers, student number in the top right corner of each
page, and staple neatly in the top left corner with this sheet as your cover page and your cheat sheet(s) as your last
page(s).
Advice:
A. Plan your essay in a visual way (Venn Diagram or T-Chart), but no more than 5 minutes
B. Have a clear thesis that answers the prompt or question clearly. Do more than simply reiterate the question
posed.
C. Have clear topic sentences for your body paragraphs, consider them a mini-thesis that has to be proven using:
historiography and evidence (primary documents and events: analyze the events break them down to show
their significance and any meaningful relationships with other events). Ensure you are providing critical
commentary: go beyond the obvious, show relationships that are not obvious, compare and contrast numbers
and events to clearly show their significance especially in context evaluate the events themselves: what
should have been known? What was the context? And finally, evaluate your historians: why did they write what
they wrote? What supports their claims? What disproves or discredits their claims?
D. Have conclusion sentences at the end of each paragraph that connects that paragraph back to the thesis.
E. Have a clear conclusion paragraph that connects all of your evidence and answers the question clearly.

PLANNING