Source Skills What does the source tell us…
These questions will usually… be the first question on paper 1 be a written source carry three marks be on international relations and Option Z
What will it ask me to do? Simply say what the source tells you about something; extract information from the source. “What does source A tell us about the Alliance System that existed in Europe before the outbreak of war in 1914?” “What does Source A tell us about the reasons why Britain went to war in 1914?”
Lets tackle one together “What does source A tell us about the Alliance System that existed in Europe before the outbreak of war in 1914?”3 marks
How to tackle this question FFFFirstly look at the source highlight what it tells you
Names of the agreements The countries involved The geographical position of the countries involved
All three marks Source A tells us that the major European powers of 1914 and alliances with one another. Firstly you can see that in the Franco Russian alliance, France and Russia were allied to one another. Further to this there was the Triple Entente which involved Britain, France and Russia. In addition to this the source shows that These were not the only alliances that existed in 1914 but also that Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany were allied together in the Triple alliance. Finally, the source shows us the positions of each country, where they were in relation to one another.
Why top marks It gave three clear points made from the source The names of the counties involved The names of the agreements Mentions the geographical positioning of the countries.
Now your turn What does source A tell us about the Schlieffen Plan used in 1914? 3 marks
The alliance system caught Germany between two enemies: France and Russia. It was always thought that the Russian army would take a long time to get ready for war. The Schlieffen Plan proposed a surprise attack on France using almost all of the German army. Paris would be quickly captured. This plan meant going through Belgium but this was not thought to be a problem. Once the French had been defeated, the German army would move to the East to fight the Russians.