OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project) Component 43 November 2021 question paper

In Interpretation A, the film-makers try to show how upper-class women were expected to behave in the period 1900–1914.

Identify and explain one way in which they do this.

Interpretation A A scene from the 1997 film ‘Titanic’. In this scene, the young woman, Rose, is being confronted over breakfast by her fiancé, Cal, about attending a working‑class party the previous evening.

Rose: I see you had your servant follow me last night.

Cal: You will never behave like that again, Rose. Do you understand? You are my wife in practice, if not yet by law, so you will obey me. You will obey me the way a wife is required to obey a husband.

If you were asked to do further research on one aspect of Interpretation A, what would you choose to investigate? Explain how this would help us to analyse and understand women’s lives during the period

1900–1914.

Interpretations B and C both focus on how men reacted to the First World War.

How far do they differ and what might explain any differences?

() Spelling, punctuation and grammar and the use of specialist terminology

Interpretation B Comments made by a member of the public in 2014 on an online discussion board. The discussion was about whether or not Britain should get involved in modern conflicts abroad.

Much of the news recently has focused on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. Rightly so, too. But we shouldn’t talk about soldiers ‘giving’ their lives in the First World War. ‘Giving’ is a selfless action, and it is one that is done voluntarily. One shouldn’t have to ‘give’ out of obligation, nor as a result of being misled by propaganda about the realities of war. Did those millions of people really feel a sense of patriotic pride in having done something wonderful for their country?

Remembering is vital. We must never forget. But it is even more important to learn from the mistakes of the past to ensure that we never again rush into wars that cost huge numbers of lives.

Interpretation C Comments made by historian Dr Heather Jones in the 2014 TV documentary ‘Consenting to the Great War’.

During the war, British society really mobilised around the idea of this being a ‘just’ war, a war for freedom and democracy. People knew as early as September 1914 the scale of the casualties that the British forces were experiencing in Belgium. And the reality is that the highest volunteering rates were in that same month. It is not the case that people volunteered not knowing about the casualties or the risks to their lives. British men volunteered because they felt that this war was worth fighting.

3* According to the website www.victorian-era.org, the Edwardian upper classes ‘paid little or no attention to the needs of the working class’.

How far do you agree with this view of Edwardian society between 1900 and 1914?

() Spelling, punctuation and grammar and the use of specialist terminology

4* According to the 2019 TV documentary ‘Edwardian Britain in Colour’, ‘a wave of strikes threatened to pull the nation apart’.

How far do you agree with this view of Britain between 1910 and 1914?

() Spelling, punctuation and grammar and the use of specialist terminology