Good luck with your notes! World War One definitely is one of my favourite topics in the history syllabus.
Note-taking is a personal endeavour and it really depends on how you learn. Personally, I use point form and the research-card method.
I recommend the book by Hew Strachan:
H. Strachan,
The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
This is a university-level textbook but it illustrates the war perfectly, from beggining to finish and I found it very approachable - and entertaining.
Also, keep in mind on what you will be assessed on: (this comes from my interpretation of the current stage 6 syllabus on Modern History, p. 27)
1) WAR ON THE WESTERN FRONT
- explain the stalemate on the Western Front
- What is trench warfare? How did soldiers cope and what were their experiences? (With particular focus on Allied and German Soldiers)
- What were the strategies used to break the stalemates? Did they succeed? Look at the Key Battles: Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele
- Did soldiers change their attitudes towards the war over time? If they did - how did they and what led to these changes?
2) THE HOME FRONTS IN BRITAIN AND GERMANY
- How did civilians at home react to the total war? What were the social effects and problems, and how did this impact upon them financially?
- How did recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda change or develop over time in Britain and Germany? [For this I recommend the use of primary sources. The State Library of NSW has a vast array of newspapers which you can access from 1914-1919 and you can also access 'THE LONDON TIMES' digitally, which means from the internet on the State Library NSW website. You'll need a library card to do so, and this is free]
- How did attitudes change over time in during the war at home? (look at the socialist internationale for an idea of how this changed)
- What was the impact of women during the war throughout Britain?
3) TURNING POINTS
- What was the impact of the entry of the United States and Russian Withdrawal in 1917 (eg: Russian Revolution).
- What caused Ludendorff's Spring Offensive and analyse the Allied Response.
4) ALLIED VICTORY
- What events led to the armistice, 1918?
- What were the main reasons for the Allied Victory and German collapse?
- What were the roles and differing goals/points of view of Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson in the formation of the Treaty of Versailles?
Also - the HSC excaminers will base your responses on:
- H1.1 and H1.2 - your ability to DESCRIBE and ANALYSE the role of key features, issues, individuals, groups and events of selected twentieth-century studies (in this case WW1)
- H3.2 - your ability to locate (research), select and organise relevant information from different types of sources
- H3.3 - your ability to ANALYSE and EVALUATE sources for their usefullness and reliability
- H3.4 - your ability to EXPLAIN and EVALUATE differing perspectives and interpretations of the past
- H3.5 - your ability to plan and present the findings of historical investigations (research), analysing and synthesising information from different types of sources (this is particularly done in an essay format. You need to look at your sources and use a keen and objective eye. What does this source tell us of the period? What does it NOT tell us of the period? Why could this be so? etc.)
- H4.1 - your knowledge of historical terms and using them appropriately
- H4.2 - your knowledge of literacy, and your understanding of historical features and issues, using appropriate and well-written oral and written forms (eg: essay).
Wow - I'm sorry if I bored you, just realised I almost wrote an essay myself!
Basically, keep these ideas in mind when your researching and studying the topic. Also - understand the KEY VERBS such as ANALYSE/DESCRIBE/EVAUATE and etc as these are doing words and are commanding you to answer the question in a
specific way.
Good luck!
I'll have to shorten them down, but they're laid with diagrams, flow charts and a few mind maps.
