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Historical skills — source analysis and explanation essays (Units 3 and 4)
Every Modern History paper tests the same two skills twice, once on the Unit 3 elective and once on the Unit 4 elective. The source-analysis sections work through a set of three constructed sources — typically a visual or official document, a contemporary written source and a later historian's interpretation — asking students to identify origin and message, weigh reliability or usefulness (including whose perspective a source represents), and finally argue across all three sources and the wider period. The explanation sections are single sustained essays built on a proposition, marked against Introduction, Narrative, Argument, Supporting evidence and Conclusion.
Unit 3, Elective 1 — Australia 1918–1949
Traces Australia from the aftermath of World War I through the Depression, the rise and fracture of the political parties, World War II and Chifley's reconstruction. Key content: Soldier Settlement Schemes and the tensions of 1920s development; the Country Party and 'Men, money, markets'; the 1931 Labor Split; the Paris Peace Conference, the League of Nations and the 1926 Imperial Conference; wartime leadership under Menzies and Curtin; and post-war immigration, industrialisation and welfare under Chifley, closing on the 1949 election of the Menzies-Country Coalition.
Unit 3, Elective 2 — Russia and the Soviet Union 1914–1945
Runs from the strains of 1914 through the 1917 revolutions, the Civil War and Stalin's rise, to the economic and social transformation of the USSR and victory in the Great Patriotic War. Key content: the February and October Revolutions and Lenin's leadership; the Civil War, Brest-Litovsk and the Red Terror; Stalin's path to power by 1929; War Communism, the NEP and the Great Turn; the social impact of communist policy; the Purges and Great Terror; and the factors behind Soviet victory in 1941–45.
Unit 3, Elective 3 — China 1945–1989
Covers the civil war that brought the CCP to power, the building of the communist state, the Cultural Revolution, and the shift to Deng Xiaoping's reforms. Key content: the GMD–CCP conflict and 1949 change of regime; the Hundred Flowers and Anti-Rightist Movement; the Great Leap Forward and its human cost; the causes and impact of the Cultural Revolution 1966–76; China's international relations 1949–78; and Deng's Open Door reforms through to Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Unit 4, Elective 1 — The changing European world since 1945
Follows the Cold War in Europe from its origins to the collapse of the Communist Bloc and beyond. Key content: the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and Berlin Blockade; the arms race, Hungary 1956, the Berlin Wall, the Prague Spring and détente; the new Cold War of the 1980s and the reforms of glasnost and perestroika; the collapse of the Communist Bloc 1989–91 and German reunification; and post-Cold War developments including the break-up of Yugoslavia and the growth of the EU and Eurozone.
Unit 4, Elective 2 — Australia's engagement with Asia since 1945
Covers Australia's shift from forward defence to regional engagement. Key content: the war with Japan and early decolonisation; forward defence under Menzies through Korea, the Malayan Emergency and Vietnam; the Colombo Plan, ANZUS, SEATO, ASEAN and APEC; peacekeeping in post-war Japan, Cambodia and East Timor/Timor-Leste; the shift from the White Australia Policy to multiculturalism; and the growth of trade with Asia and its domestic political impact.
Unit 4, Elective 3 — The struggle for peace in the Middle East since 1945
Traces the establishment of Israel and the successive Arab–Israeli wars through to the peace process. Key content: the 1945–48 origins of the conflict and the 1948–49, 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars; Lebanon and the Intifadas; the Iranian Revolution, the Iran–Iraq War and the First Gulf War; and the peace process from the 1949 Armistice and Resolution 242 through Camp David, the 1979 treaty, Oslo and the 2000 Camp David Summit.
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These links come from this subject’s existing official-paper archive. A listed year is the document’s year, not a claim that it matches the 2026 course. Written papers may cover only part of your assessment; use the official requirements for practical, performance and folio components.
Modern History ATAR Course Year 12 Syllabus (for teaching from 2025)
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Check current requirements and course options: https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/humanities-and-social-sciences/modern-history-ATAR