Armed Political Takeovers 101: A Guide to History Revolutions

[osgood]

Bonjour citoyens,

A kind revolutionary has already posted a fab guide about preparing for Revs during the summer holidays so be sure to have a look at that but I thought it'd be hand to write up a guide for coping with, what I'm not going to deny is, a copious amount of material throughout your historical year. I apologize in advance for any historical pun-a-making, you'll quickly find that Revs is the ultimate source for puns, which is one of the reasons why I, and most people who take Revs, was willing to take on what is arguably one of the most demanding subjects in VCE.
If you were a past revolutionary, do post any additional hints and comments as advice for Revs is pretty hard to come by and I would have appreciated it during the past year when I'd taken it.
I don't really know how to structure this so this might be a bit all over the place.

What is this 'History: Revolutions'?
A sweet, sweet class featuring wars and kings and peasants and evverrytthiing!
Well, that's sort of true.
The Revolutions course basically encompasses an indepth study of two revolutions (significant, often violent shifts in political power which are often intertwined with social movements. There are better descriptions but I have a headache right now and you'll figure it out when you see the pictures of urban workers waving pikes and things in your textbooks) which are chosen from the French, the Russian the Chinese and the American, which is split into two units.

 The first, titled aptly as 'Revolutionary Ideas, Movements, Leaders and Events' studies the 'leadup' to the 'revolution' if you will, the shift in power from an absolute monarchy to a representative government, for example and the reasons for which it occurred. You will be required to cite ideological reasons, such as communist doctrines in Russia and China, the role of individuals such as Lenin in Russia, how social groups or political parties drove the revolution such as the quintessential, albeit somewhat over-dramatised role of a disaffected peasantry and most importantly, the events which triggered other events..which ultimately triggered revolution! You will find however, that there may be a few 'revolutions' within one 'revolution'..power may fall from one government to another..
Within the section, pretty much all you learn will be tested under questions similar to 'How did so and so contribute to a revolutionary situation' or 'What was the role of this and that in creating revolutionary tension?'

The second half of the course 'Creating a New Society' questions the extent to which the new government/ society fulfilled its original ideals (spoiler: they are really bad at this. like, really), whether there was significant change and if there wasn't, why not (spoiler: war, lots and lots of war. Bad economy. No monies. Sometimes a bit of insanity..). Within this half too, you will be asked to refer to the significance of movements, leaders and events.

For the sake of it, the exam and possibly your SACs if your teacher so chooses will be structured as follows.
There are four sections to the exam.
•   Revolution 1, Part A tests 'Revolution Ideas, Movements, Leaders and Events' for a revolution of your choice, which your teacher might have pre-chosen so that you can streamline your preparation for the exam. There will be two 10-marker questions which should be about a page long and will be similar to aforementioned questions like 'How did the Tennis Court Oath contribute to a revolutionary situation' or 'Explain the role of the liberal nobility in the French Revolution.' (Subconsciously stolen from this year's exam. heh.) You will write only to the time frame of your AOS1. Try and aim for 3-4 main points/ pieces of evidence for each question.
•   Revolution 1, Part B tests 'The Creation of the New Society' in regards to the same revolution as Part A and will feature either a graphic which will be anything from propaganda to a depiction of a revolutionary event or a text excerpt which may be a revolutionary document like a set of laws for example or a diary of Louis XVI or anything like that. There will be two two markers which are essentially comprehension questions with no required knowledge, then a 6 marker in which you sort of just spew all pertinent information with reference to the graphic or text and a 10 marker, which will require more indepth knowledge and historians opinions to back up your arguments. Try to aim for 4-6 pieces of info for the 6 marker but don’t bother elaborating- a statement of a date and the event and possibly its significance will do. Again, 3-4 extended points for the 10 marker and relevant historiography.
•   Revolution 2, Part A tests RILME of your second revolution, which will be the other revolution you studied. There will be a document/ picture in the same style as Revolution 1, Part B.
•   Revolution 2, Part B tests ‘the New Society’ and features an essay worth 20 marks, that is ¼ of the exam. Which sounds scary but don’t worry, with proper preparation, this should be the easiest section of the exam because you can prepare for it very thoroughly. It will largely ask you do argue whether the revolution ‘succeeded’, whether the new society was ‘authoritarian’, whether people ‘benefitted’ and things like that. Examples include, ‘To what extent did the Russian Revolution transfer power to the proletariat?’ or ‘The new society was rigid and authoritarian. Discuss.’ Try and jam in as many arguments as possible, bust out those stats. Try not to dwell on AOS1 too much and focus on AOS2. Pay close attention to the question, sometimes they try to trick you. The word ‘people’ for example, in the Russian Revolution may seem to refer to the proletariat but make sure to mention whether the peasantry benefitted and even the nobility. Similarly, the word ‘inevitably’ might arise in regards to ‘the new society was inevitably authoritarian’ or something similar- it seems insignificant but try to argue that certain events made new governments act the way they did.

I'm not even going to try and lie.
The revs course is jam-packed so don't expect a lazy year- I will admit that at times, I felt quite overwhelmed.
The rest of this guide will largely discuss methods of coping with the material and super sweet life advice and whatnot.

What should I do during the summer holidays?
Again, somebody has already made a thread on this so do go have a look at that but I will give my two cents, or my two livres circa French Revolution, a ho ho ho.
I probably wouldn't do too much on Revs during the holidays to be honest because I wouldn't really no how to go about it really. At best, sift through the textbook a little and get an overview of what the revolutions were about but nothing very indepth. Your teacher will give your questions and things to answer over the holidays anyway.
In all honesty, I advise you to take the time to fall in love with the idea of History: Revolutions over the summer. Which sounds naff but it's what I did and Revolutions is 50 times better if you enjoy the subject and are willing to work for it. I watched over-dramatized documentaries (there are heaps on youtube), which, you will find, are largely historically dubious but give you a good enough idea of what the course was about, will introduce some important names, ideas and concepts to you and are the easiest form of study you can get.
Other past revolutionaries might post what they did but in all honesty, what you achieve over the summer will have little effect on the entire year's course.

How should I 'study' for Revs?
This might sound naff again but history ain't no math and it ain't no science and honestly, for the first few weeks of Revs, a lot of my classmates and I were confused as to how to approach it- should we just read to succeed or should we do pratise questions or what?
If you take any piece of advice from this guide, this is it, this is your ticket to success, man:
MAKE NOTES REGULARLY AND MAKE THEM GOOD NOTES, KEEP UP WITH THEM, ADD TO THEM, MAKE MULTIPLE SETS
MAKE NOTES IN REVS, GUYS. JUST DO IT.
Whenever you have a Revs class, come home and make notes on what you learnt that day. During the year, try and make your notes as detailed as you can- in my opinion, summary comes later. I pretty much just retyped my textbook into a more accessible format lololol but you can organise it any way you like- sectioned into Events, Leaders, Movements, Ideas for example, or just chronologically. As long as you make a good, solid set of notes.
This is important for a number of reasons- firstly, you will soak up the information a lot more effectively than just reading and highlighting and furthermore, if you get into the habit of typing up dates after events and things, you'll never have to rote learn dates, you'll just pick them up. A lot of people of scared of history because they fear having to learn date after date after date, which you do but I never had to sit down and write them out by hand or anything- I learnt them as I typed out my notes. Thirdly, during SWOTVAC, in order to prepare for exams, instead of having to relearn the course, which is sort of what some of my friends did, simply summarize your indepth notes, you'll resoak up your information and it'll take less time. I want to stress making a good set of notes in the first place as once you've finished the whole course, events which seemed really trivial may suddenly have a whole new significance so you'll ve glad to have not overlooked them.
If anyone was interested, I organised my notes by event, with a table with headers of 'event, date, who (movement of leader) what happened, result, significance of event, historical opinions)' and I'd put in relevant ideas and leaders in between as they came up and resummmarised them into 'movements' upon completion.
By the end of the year, I had notes as followed:
- A detailed, indepth set made throughout the year on each area of study (for France, a made two for each AOS)
- A shorter, summarized form for each AOS, made during Swotvac
- A timeline for each AOS
- A timeline+ description of events for each AOS
- Sets of historian's opinions for relevant AOS
- Notes on just sections of study I found interesting like the Terror and stuff

By no means do you have to approach things as I did but above are some ideas you might like to pick and choose from.

There is so much to learn. Halps!
There is indeed a lot to learn but it's much easier if you organise your study into 'sections of history' and work from there. Exam questions will largely focus on sections anyway, such as the bourgeois revolution in France or the period of Dual Authority in Russia.
For France and Russia, I organised my information into time periods as follows:
FRANCE AOS1:
- The Revolt of the Nobility (Compte Rendu until Parlements)
- The Bourgeois Revolt (Estates General)
- The Urban Workers (Day of Tiles- Storming of the Bastille)
- The Peasants (Rural Revolts- Night of Patriotic Delirium)

FRANCE AOS2
- Liberal Period (August Decrees- CCOC)
- Political Unrest (CCOC--> Deposition of King)
- TERROR ! ! ! !
-Thermidor

RUSSIA AOS1
Russia AOS1 is the greatest, everything falls under either the 1905 Revolution, unrest until the war, the February Revolution of 1917 or the October Revolution of 1917.

RUSSIA AOS2:
I sort of forget how I went about this because chose this AOS for my essay. Shoot.

All those terms will make sense as you learn the course. Insert ideas, leaders and movements ects and relevant.
Of course, this was just how I approached things, you may find better coping mechanisms.

Learning Dates and Historiography
This section of the course may seem intimidating as you will have to know at least 100 or so dates and scores of just quotes from historians off by heart.
Some people like to rote learn these and regularly write them out by hand or recite them but I found this a short term fix and bad use of time.
I recommend forming timelines as you learn the course and collating a super set of historiography as soon as you can- there are plenty to be found on atarnotes.
While you're writing practise responses, refer to your timelines and historiography set as much as you like- I found that I picked up the most important dates and historian's opinions as I went, with little to no mind-numbing rote learning.
But again, approach this as you will.

oops, of course
What is historiography?
I was sort of confused about how to go about this because I repeatedly questioned the need for historiography in the Revs course but one must learn it.
For AOS2 of your first revolution and AOS1 of your second revolution, you will be required to learn opinions of historians who have studied your revolution in order to back up your info in your ten-markers.
Basically, your ten markers should read as sort of mini-debates in response to the set question as it's important to contrast historian's opinions by quoting them within your responses to create a 'balanced' view on history I guess.
People generally favour either raising a point in response to the question and backing it up with a historian or finding an opinion that's pertinent to the question and then expanding on it with stats and info.
For example, (I'm going to make up opinions because I have forgotten them by now) a question in AOS2 France may ask, 'How did the war contribute to the new society?' and a condensed response may read as follows:
(some sort of opening statement) George Rude emphasises the war, entered into on _________, in deteriorating France's economy which catalysed the dissatisfaction of the urban workers, as stated in 'QUOTE!'. This led to ect. ect. insert info. However, Peter McPhee emphases the war's requirement of government by Terror to cope with the military threat--> quote ---> info

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to refer to schools of thought.
It will make sense as you go.
Approach this as you will, once more.

Lastly,
How do I study for exams/ sacs?
SACS:
If you have compiled a good set of notes, chances are, you'll have soaked up the information quite deeply and will not require too much revision. Have a look at parts of the course you have forgotten.
Try and get in some practise questions done, checkpoints should provide more than enough.
I was allowed to bring in notes to my sacs so I never bothered to historiography and dates by heart but if you aren't given that luxury, get on it ASAP.
You'll probably find studying for sacs quite intuitive to be honest.

EXAM: (This is all over the place, apologies)
You will be tempted to just spam exams but I advise against this.
I got started exams quite early because I was a keen bean and this is fine but make sure you balance exams with quality revision and note making so that you are relearning info constantly on a more deep level. Summarize your detailed notes during Swotvac if you made them, or if you like, even remake them. The investment will pay off.
Begin exams untimed and with notes so you can soak up dates and historiography, take as long as you like until you are comfortable without them. Don't be alarmed if the questions are intimidating- some company exams are just awful and have really weird questions.
Try and save VCAA exams for last, they are super. I found the HTAV ones quite good as well, the QAT ones were okay but the Insight ones were not all that great.
Try and progress through a wide variety of questions and don't neglect difficult sections of study.
Timed exams are really dull to do but try and get at least three done so that you get a feel of exam conditions- time really does fly.
If, like me, you found whole exams too dreary, time ten markers and document questions and try and get them done under half and hour for each area of study.
You may find that you may have to resort to rote learning historiography but that is ok.
You may never feel entirely fine with the Revs course but that is ok too- it is that large.

Points to take away:
1. Making notes is super.
2. Keep up with your classes and even try and get a few events ahead. Keep up, once you fall behind, you may and probably will get overwhelmed.
3. Practise responses are a great way to learn dates and historiography. Try your hand at them regularly.
4. Don't get intimidated by the large course- split it into approachable sections.
5. HAVE FUN BECAUSE REVS IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST, MOST RANDOM AND THRILLING SUBJECTS IN VCE SO ENJOY IT AND POKE FUN AT REVOLUTIONARY LEADERS AND THINGS!!

BEST OF LUCK REVOLUTIONARIES, YOU WILL BE SUPER!
Post additionally advice and questions if you like.

[rachaelcool]

Wonderful advice!

Also: develop a TIME STRATEGY for the exam.
It is all too easy to skip a difficult 10 marker during the exam, and do the 20 marker first, then realise you've left yourself about 5 minutes for that page of writing! Allocate strict time limits to each 2, 4, 6, 10, 20 mark question and stick to it. A good formula for me was 5-7 min per 6 mark, 15 min per 10 mark, 30 min per 20 mark (the shorter questions are one-sentence stuff).

This also allows you to do useful exam practice in far less than 2 hour 15 min blocks, good for time management.

Secondly: develop a STRUCTURE STRATEGY for each question. Know exactly what is required to attain full marks in each question. For example, perhaps 4 points with brief explanation + brief historiography / 3 points with more in-depth explanation + brief historiography for each 10 marker.

And finally, a good idea if you have the time is to include historiography in every 10 mark or greater question. (You'll NEED it for your 20 marker, but often people forget to include it when asked in 10 mark questions, so it is best to add it in for familiarity and, additionally, its easy marks for those moments when you're struggling with content or depth.)

Hope this helps!

[Patches]

This is all really good advice for people doing Revs in 2013. I'd just like to add my opinion about notes, though.
A lot of people in my class made lots and lots of notes, then revision cards, charts etc. This is all really important, but there's a real risk of overloading with facts (ie dates, statistics, chronologies) and missing any real analysis of the revolution as a whole. This is tied in with historiography - it's fine to spend hours and hours memorising quotes, but its much more useful to read and think about a historians opinion than just repeat it. In my exam almost all my quotes were paraphrased, but because I'd read the historians' work rather than memorised quotes I was able to adapt to a wider variety of questions.

In short, I guess, notes and revision are good, but if you really want to do well you need to go deeper and understand the sources, rather than relying on the same dates, statistics etc as every other student doing the exam. In my class' experience, we found it much more valuable to talk about the course and do practice questions than to spend hours making notes. My teacher told us the problem with revising your own notes or the textbook over and over again is that its essentially reductive - you're unlikely to learn anything more by doing this. Instead, make your notes and use them as a guide for further reading.
Spending hours memorising quotes is for suckers - all this shows the examiner is that you're more comfortable regurgitating someone else's analysis than providing your own.