Paper 3 Option 37.2 Germany 1871 to 1990 united, divided and reunited: the breadth themes of political change, opposition and economic development across the Kaiserreich, Weimar, Nazi and divided periods, with the four depth aspects that the source and depth-essay questions are built on.

What this dot point is asking

Edexcel Paper 3 pairs themes in breadth across a long period with aspects in depth on named episodes within it. Option 37.2, Germany 1871 to 1990: united, divided and reunited, runs from Bismarck's unified Empire through the Weimar Republic, the Nazi dictatorship and the post-1945 division into West and East, to reunification in 1990. You must track the breadth themes across the whole period for the Section C essay, and master four depth aspects for the Section A source question and the Section B depth essay. This is a representative non-British Paper 3 route; the technique transfers to any Paper 3 option.

The answer

The breadth themes across 1871 to 1990

The central breadth argument is that Germany oscillated between authoritarian and democratic forms while retaining a powerful central state and a federal structure. Tracking that tension is the key to a Level 5 Section C essay.

Depth aspect 1: Bismarck and Wilhelm II's Germany, 1871 to 1914

The Kaiserreich combined a modern industrial economy with a constitution that concentrated power in the Kaiser and chancellor. Bismarck's system, the Kulturkampf, the anti-socialist laws and the rise of the Social Democratic Party set the pattern of authority versus dissent. Under Wilhelm II, Weltpolitik and naval expansion sharpened the pre-1914 tensions.

Depth aspect 2: The Weimar Republic, 1918 to 1933

Depth aspect 3: The Nazi dictatorship, 1933 to 1945

The Third Reich established a one-party dictatorship through the Enabling Act of 1933, the elimination of opposition, terror via the SS and Gestapo, propaganda and the Hitler myth, economic recovery and rearmament, and ultimately war and the Holocaust. The depth questions here often weigh terror against consent as the basis of control.

Depth aspect 4: Divided and reunited Germany, 1945 to 1990

After 1945 Germany split into the democratic, market-economy Federal Republic (FRG) and the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). The contrast of political systems, the West German economic miracle against the GDR's command economy and Stasi surveillance, and the pressures that brought down the GDR, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and reunification in 1990, close the period.

How the three sections differ

Section A is an AO2 source question on a depth aspect; Section B is an AO1 depth essay on a depth aspect; Section C is an AO1 breadth essay across the whole period. The depth answers reward precise, period-specific knowledge; the breadth answer rewards synthesis and a judgement on change over time. Knowing which skill each section demands is half the battle.

Examples in context

For a Section A source question on, say, opposition under the Nazi regime, evaluate each source's content on opposition and its provenance, test it with own knowledge, and judge how far the sources together support the stated enquiry, the same AO2 method as Paper 2.

Try this

Q1. To what extent was economic crisis the most important cause of political instability in Germany across the years 1871 to 1990? [20 marks, Section C breadth]

• What the marker wants. A thematic AO1 essay ranking economic crisis (hyperinflation, the Depression, the GDR's stagnation) against political and constitutional factors, tracked across the whole period with precise evidence, and a sustained judgement.

Q2. Name the four depth aspects of Option 37.2. [2 marks]

• Cue. Bismarck and Wilhelm II's Germany (1871 to 1914), the Weimar Republic (1918 to 1933), the Nazi dictatorship (1933 to 1945), and divided and reunited Germany (1945 to 1990).