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The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality

  • 19 subtopics
  • 55 things to know
  • Paper 3
  • Paper 3 themes option, chosen from sixteen

What The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality covers

A Paper 3 option combining aspects in breadth on how war has been reported, remembered and presented to the public with aspects in depth on the changing technology of war, from railways and breechloaders through the deadlock of 1914 and armoured warfare to submarines, air power and the bomb.

Where it is assessed

Paper 3

Themes in breadth with aspects in depth, one option of sixteen.

Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗

The 19 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was the logistical problem of the horse?

Key term

What was the outcome of Verdun?

Who and when

How did the new technologies shape French planning in the 1930s?

Key term

How were railways used in the 1859 war in Italy, and with what problems?

Key term

What was General Gamelin's role in 1940?

Evaluation

Why was Midway (1942) decisive?

Who and when

How did television coverage of the Tet Offensive (1968) affect opinion?

Key term

What was distinctive about reporting the First Gulf War in 1991?

Who and when

Why did remembrance change after the First World War?

Who and when

How did war books shape perceptions in the late 1920s?

Key term

How was the German enemy portrayed in Allied propaganda in the last two years of the First World War?

Numbers

What was the role of the Ministry of Information?

Numbers

How did hostility to conscription show in the American Civil War?

Key term

How was anti-German feeling expressed in America in 1917-18?

Numbers

Why was Krupp's artillery important?

Evaluation

What advantage did breechloading rifles have over muzzle-loaders?

Key term

What was the Prussian general staff?

Key term

What was Auftragstaktik?

Key term

What were smokeless propellants?

Who and when

Why did smokeless powder change the battlefield?

Who and when

Why did Germany invest in heavy artillery before 1914?

Who and when

Why did the Schlieffen Plan fail?

Who and when

Why did the war of movement fail on the Western Front in 1914?

Numbers

What was significant about Cambrai?

Numbers

What was all-arms battle?

Key term

What was Guderian's contribution to German planning?

Key term

What was Blitzkrieg?

Key term

What was the impact of submarines in 1917–18?

Numbers

What British counter-measures defeated the U-boats in the First World War?

Numbers

What was Dönitz's strategy in the Battle of the Atlantic?

Who and when

How did Enigma and naval codes matter?

Key term

What was Yamamoto's role at Pearl Harbor in 1941?

Key term

What key developments transformed aerial warfare after 1943?

Key term

What counter-measures were developed against bombing?

Numbers

What was the impact of Harris's assault on Hamburg in 1943?

Numbers

What was LeMay's bombing campaign against Tokyo in 1945?

Key term

How was air power used in the First Gulf War of 1991?

Numbers

What were Rolling Thunder and Linebacker?

Who and when

How did the telegraph change war reporting after 1859?

Who and when

How did comics and boys' papers portray war?

Key term

What was the Five O'Clock Follies?

Numbers

What was the Committee on Public Information?

Evaluation

What were the limitations of railways in 1859?

Who and when

Why did some armies resist the breechloader?

Key term

What was the magazine rifle?

Who and when

How did Joffre and the younger Moltke each perform in 1914?

Who and when

How did motor transport affect the fighting of 1918?

Who and when

Why did the Maginot Line not extend along the Belgian border?

Key term

How important was radio to German methods?

Numbers

What was unrestricted submarine warfare?

Key term

How serious was the Atlantic threat?

Key term

What was the wider significance of air power at sea?

Key term

What was the V-1 and how was it countered?

Numbers

What was the significance of Hiroshima in 1945?

Key term

Why was air power ineffective over North Vietnam before 1972?

Take The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Plan XVII vs Schlieffen Plan

    Plan XVII: the French offensive plan for an all-out attack into Alsace-Lorraine, relying on spirit and the offensive; it failed against German firepower in 1914. Schlieffen Plan: Germany's plan to defeat France quickly with a great wheeling advance through Belgium before turning to face Russia.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the telegraph change the reporting of war?

    Model answer

    It allowed news to be transmitted rapidly from the front to newspapers, as in the American Civil War, greatly speeding up public awareness of events.

  2. 2

    How did photography affect perceptions of the American Civil War?

    Model answer

    Photographers such as Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner brought images of the war and its dead (as at Antietam) to the public, though the technology required static, posed shots.

  3. 3

    How did television coverage of the Tet Offensive (1968) affect opinion?

    Model answer

    Televised images contradicted official optimism and shook American public confidence, even though Tet was a military defeat for North Vietnam.

  4. 4

    What was distinctive about reporting the First Gulf War in 1991?

    Model answer

    Satellite television (notably CNN) gave near-instantaneous live coverage, but the military tightly controlled access through press pools.

  5. 5

    How did the telegraph change war reporting after 1859?

    Model answer

    News reached home within hours rather than weeks, so public opinion could react while a campaign was still running and governments lost control of the timing of news.

  6. 6

    Who was Mathew Brady?

    Model answer

    The American photographer whose teams produced some 10,000 images of the Civil War, including the dead at Antietam, which shocked New York when exhibited.

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AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
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The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality revision questions

What does The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality cover in Edexcel A-Level History?
19 subtopics: changes in the reporting of war, 1859-1991, the remembrance and portrayal of war, official attempts to shape public perception, the impact of propaganda and news control, railways and steam boats in moving armies, increased firepower, von moltke and the prussian general staff, smokeless propellants and machine guns before 1914, artillery and the schlieffen and xvii plans, technology and the failure of a war of movement, the internal combustion engine, 1917-18, new technology and french planning in the 1930s, new technology and german planning in the 1930s, the impact of submarines, 1917-18, the impact of submarines, 1939-45, air power at pearl harbour and midway, developments in aerial warfare, the destructive impact of terror bombing, 1943–45 and varying impacts of air power. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and Reality organised?
By the Edexcel 9HI0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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