OIB History and Geography

DNB Oral Examination

2018-2019

History Theme One: Europe at the

centre of the 20th Century’s
total wars (1914-1945)
Geography Theme Three: The United
Kingdom and the European Union
 Split your ten
minute
ORGANISATION presentation
A ten-minute presentation of one of the into three
questions studied during the course of parts
the year.

A five-minute discussion with the examiner

about your topic Create the context for
your chosen topic -
1 Introduction think about key dates,
key players and what
happened before the
event

…addresses the
A good question and
presentation.. demonstrates
consistently good
Address the question
subject knowledge 2 Main body
- think about key
words and headings
which will guide your
talk

…is well structured The aim of the

and shows a clear
and logical
progression from
start to finish
conclusion is to
summarise and
3 prioritise - do not
Conclusion simply repeat
everything you have
already said: pick out
the most significant
points and make links

…is delivered in an
interesting and
animated way
 How did the assassination
of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Sarajevo
lead to a World War?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.

✦ What were the four MAIN causes

leading up to the First World War?
✦ How did the system of alliances help
cause the outbreak of the war?
✦ Why were the Balkans an area of
tension?
✦ Why was “the Schlieffen Plan" the
solution to “the German Nightmare”?

The alliances of
Europe in 1914 and
the road to The
First World War
 Why was the
First World
War not “Over
by Christmas”?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ Following the first phase of the war and
the “Race to the Sea”, why is the First
World War considered as a “Total War”?
✦ Why did 250,000 15-year-old boys join
up in 1914?
✦ When the Allies had far more men than
the Germans and had fired millions of
shells, why was the first day of the
Battle of the Somme on the 1st July
1916 such a disaster, with 58,000
casualties?
✦ How did women contribute to the war
effort and what social changes were
seen after the war?

The First World War in

Europe and the impact
of total war (1914-1918)
 Why was Tsar
Nicholas II
Overthrown
in 1917?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ Why was Tsar Nicholas II and the
Russian Empire prior to 1914
considered weak and how was this
proven by the failure of the Duma in
1905 following the Russo-Japanese
war?
✦ How did the discontent of the workers
and peasant contribute to the
disastrous Russian defeats during the
First World War?
✦ Following Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication
after the February Revolution in
Petrograd, why did Alexander
Kerensky’s provisional government fail
to satisfy both workers and peasants?
✦ Who was Lenin and how did he and the
Bolsheviks seize control of the
revolution in October 1917?

The Effects of the First

World War on Russia
and the Causes of the
February Revolution
 What were the
key features
of Stalinist
Russia?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
“We are fifty or a hundred ✦ What is Totalitarianism and what methods
years behind the advanced does it use to control people’s lives?
countries. We must make
✦ What drastic steps did Stalin take to
promote rapid industrial growth and
good this distance in ten strengthen national defence?
years. Either we do it or we ✦ Following Stalin’s Command Economy and
shall be crushed.” first Five-year plan, why did the State seize
Joseph Stalin privately owned farms and create
On Soviet Industrialisation collective farms, and what were the effects
Speech to Industrial Managers, of this agricultural policy?
February 1931 ✦ How did the Great Purge, and the methods
used by the NKVD, try to enforce
conformity and obedience in all citizens?
✦ What is propaganda and what beliefs and
actions did it promote during this period?
What kind of person would be considered
an ideal citizen under Stalin’s totalitarian
regime?
The rise of the
Totalitarian State and
Stalin’s Totalitarian
Regime in the USSR
 Fact or opinion?
Was Stalin a
successful leader
of the Soviet Union?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to “When one man dies,
the sources studied in class to answer the above question. it is a tragedy. When a
✦ Were Stalin’s Piatiletka Five-year plans a million die, it is a
success and did they create a nation of statistic.”
Stakhanovites, as dreamed up by Joseph Stalin
GOSPLAN? Response to Winston Churchill
✦ What were the reasons for the introduction Teheran Conference
October 1943
of Stalin’s Kholhkoz and Sovhkoz
collectivisation policy and why were the
Kulaks targeted during the First Purges?
✦ Following the millions of death caused by
the Ukrainian Famine in 1932-3, was
collectivisation more about establishing
Stalin’s power than increasing production?
✦ During the Great Purges (1933-9), how did
Stalin, via the NKVD, public show trials and
the Gulag labour camps, become an
absolute autocrat?
✦ Why did Stalin’s rule by terror develop into a
centrally-enforced Cult of Stalin worship?

The rise of the

Totalitarian State and
Stalin’s Totalitarian
Regime in the USSR
 What were the similarities
and differences between
Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ How were the Enabling Act in March 1933
and the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 important
factors in the creation of the Nazis’ One-
party State?
✦ How were the Gestapo, Josef Goebbels’
Propaganda machine and Hitler’s cult of
Personality similar to what Stalin had
established in the Soviet Union?
✦ Were the “Strength through Joy”
programme and the Hitler Youth, controlling
both the workforce and the youth, more
effective than fear and concentration camps
in establishing total control?
✦ Why didn’t most people oppose Hitler in the
1930s? What is fear, propaganda or
economical factors that eventually
convinced many Germans to support the
Nazi regime?

The rise of the

Totalitarian
State, Hitler and
NAZi Germany
 Could Appeasement
be Justified and why
did it lead to the
Nazi-Soviet Pact?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ How did Britain and France appease Hitler between
1933-8? Why are Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and his idea
of Lebensraum, the 1936 march back into the
Rhineland, Anschluss and the death of the League of
Nations important landmarks in this timeline?
✦ Was it Neville Chamberlain’s character, Britain’s
isolation, his anti-communism or his bid for time that
justified Britain’s reason for appeasement?
✦ Was giving in to Hitler’s demand for the Sudetenland,
despite the warnings of Mein Kampf and sacrificing the
Czechs, only encouraging Hitler to gamble further and
giving him the upper hand?
✦ Was it time, hope, unhappiness with Britain and France
or Germany’s alliance that prompted Stalin to sign the
Nazi-Soviet Pact in August 1939?
✦ Why was Hitler convinced that Britain will not stop him
if he invaded Poland on the 1st September 1939?

Appeasement, The
Nazi-Soviet Pact
and the Start of the
Second World War
 How did Britain turn a military
defeat, the myth of the few and
the Spirit of the blitz into
propaganda victories?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ What were the sequence of events that lead to the
breakthrough in the west in 1940 and the
evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force at
Dunkirk?
✦ From the stylistic devices ranging from contrasts,
exaggerations, past glories and extremes, how
did the Ministry of Information spin the military
defeat at Dunkirk into a propaganda victory?
✦ If Britain was only a few days away from defeat in
August 1940, how did she win the “David against
Goliath” Battle of Britain a month later?
✦ Following the Luftwaffe’s continuous bombing
campaign from September 1940 to May 1941,
could “Britain really take it” and was there really a
Blitz spirit?

Britain and the

Second World War:
Dunkirk, the Battle
of Britain & the Blitz
 Why is the term “war of
annihilation” commonly used
to describe both combat and
genocide during WW2?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ What steps, from the Nazis taking over Germany in
1933, to the persecution of Jews, creation of ghettos
and the start of mass killing by Einsatzgruppen and
death camps, such as Auschwitz, define the “final
solution”?
✦ Why did ordinary people, such as police battalion
101, take part in these terrible events, as in the
Polish city of Jozefow?
✦ Why did Hitler invade the Soviet Union and why were
the oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of
Stalingrad so important?
✦ From the freezing conditions of the Russian winter,
the encirclement of the German army in Stalingrad
and the cutting off from its supply chain, why did the
Battle of Stalingrad “bled the German army dry” and
become the turning point of the Second World War?

The Battle of
Stalingrad &
the Holocaust
 How IS LONDON
CHANGING IN THE
21st CENTURY?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ How is London’s population changing and what future
changes are predicted, linked to natural increase,
London becoming a megacity in 2030 and its ethnic
diversity?
✦ What factors from the five categories of industry,
culture, education, tourism or culture/entertainment
make London a global city?
✦ How is the UK’s changing post-industrial economy and
the shift from primary and secondary sectors to tertiary
and quaternary industries creating new work patterns
and making London more competitive in the global job
market?
✦ What is the Silicon Roundabout and how is its hi-tec
start-ups, such as DECODED, attracting talented young
people and stimulating London’s economic growth?
✦ Why has the UK’s media industry become one of the
most critically acclaimed in the world and why are the
UK’s media exports, from Downton Abbey to Peppa Pig,
so popular?

LONDON: A CASE STUDY

 How COULD LIVING
IN LONDON BE
MORE SUSTAINABLE?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ Why is the LINEAR SYSTEM, with resources flowing
through the city as a system, unsustainable, and how
can we change this into a circular system, with
resources recycled within the system?
✦ Why is London’s ecological footprint of 5.8 GHA (global
hectare) per person unsustainable and what method,
from reducing consumption, recycling, using renewable
sources of energy or producing less waste, the most
effective in reducing this footprint?
✦ What is the European Green city index and what
lessons can London learn from Europe’s Green capital,
Copenhagen?
✦ Because London Transport is struggling to cope with
its 75 million weekly passengers, how are CROSS-RAIL,
cycling superhighways and Information technology
helping to cut emissions and to improve the transport
system?
✦ How is London using its green spaces to improve its
food security and its FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN?
✦ How is EAST VILLAGE an example in sustainable
urban living?

LONDON:
SUSTAINABLE CITY
 EUROPE UNITED for progress
and Peace: What has joining the
European Union done for us?
Look at the documents on this worksheet and think back to
the sources studied in class to answer the above question.
✦ What events, from the Marshall Plan for European
reconstruction to the Schuman Plan and the creation of
the European Economic Community signed at the
Treaty of Rome in 1957, explain the political agenda of
drawing a divided Europe together and usher in a
period of peace and prosperity?
✦ Following the expansion of the EU, including Britain in
1973, the collapse of Communism in Europe in 1989 and
German reunification, how did the Maastritch Treaty in
1992 bring about a single market and the four freedoms
of movement?
✦ From European Funds, to living in other member states,
to Erasmus and food labelling and common
environmental standards, consumer rights and even pet
passports, how does the EU help or protect us?
✦ What are the main arguments made by Eurosceptics
against membership of the 28-country Union, from size
to identity?
✦ How do the four key institutions (Commission, Council,
Parliament and Court of Justice) work together and run
the EU and why did the UK vote in a referendum in 2016
to leave the Union?

The birth and

Aims of the
European Union