Level 2 History

Year 12 History builds on ideas and skills introduced in Year 11 (conducting research, interpreting sources, communicating key historical ideas, understanding historical perspectives, essay writing). In Year 12 we focus more on the historical forces and movements that shaped the 19th and 20th centuries including: Revolution, War, Imperialism/Colonialism, Nationalism, Communism, Fascism. These will be explored through four topics.

Students choose a revolution, revolt, rebellion, civil war, uprising, mutiny - for research. For example: the French Revolution, American Civil War, Indian Mutiny, Haitian Slave Revolt, Easter Rebellion, Russian Revolution, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Cuban Revolution, Hungarian Uprising etc. This topic is used for an internal assessment worth 4 credits.

Aotearoa Archive: New Zealand ‘rebellions’ can also be researched - the Northern Rebellion or Flagstaff War; the Invasion of the Waikato; The East Coast War - Te Kooti.

A study of one or both Vietnam Wars. The first includes: French imperialism, Vietnamese nationalism, Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Minh, the First Indochina War, Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Conference, Vietnam divided. The second: Communist North Vietnam, the South Vietnamese ‘domino’, Ngo Dinh Diem's dictatorship, the Viet Cong, the Buddhist Crisis, the Gulf of Tonkin ‘incident’, U.S. involvement in the Second Vietnam War (including the My Lai Massacre, Tet Offensive, protest movement). This is preparation for an internal or external achievement standard worth 5 credits.

Aotearoa Archive: This topic includes New Zealand’s involvement in the Vietnam War and its significance to Zealanders. 

Did you know that New Zealand was responsible for allowing influenza into Samoa in 1918 and that this killed 20% of the population? Or that on ‘Black Saturday’ 1929, New Zealand police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration killing eleven Samoans? This is a study of the New Zealand colonial (mis)administration of Samoa and the impacts it had, including the formation of the Mau and Samoan calls for independence. Preparation for an internal or external achievement standard worth 5 credits.

In the New Zealand Wars Taranaki experienced more conflict than any other area. This is a study of New Zealand colonialism and Taranaki Iwi responses. It will include some or all of: the Waitara Purchase and First Taranaki War 1860-1, Te Ua Haumene and Pai Marire, the New Zealand Settlements Act 1865 (raupatu - land confiscation), the invasion of South Taranaki 1865-6, Titokowaru’s War 1868-9, and Te Whiti o Rongomai and Parihaka 1881. Preparation for an internal assessment worth 5 credits.

This topic includes a 3-4 day field trip to Taranaki to explore battle fields, museums, memorials and other historic sites.