How should I approach an A-level History question?

The jump from GCSE to A-Level History is a big one.

A-Level answers demand much greater detail in evidence, more developed explanation and significantly more nuance in their overall argument.

How can this be achieved in planning and structuring your first essays of the new school year?

As a former examiner and History teacher of over 15 years, here is my advice on how to approach an essay question with success from the get-go.

Question: ‘The unification of Germany in 1871 was primarily achieved through the diplomatic skill of Otto von Bismarck.’ Assess the validity of this view.

We'll use a question from the AQA syllabus (1L: Germany 1871-1999) as our focus here, but the same principles could be applied to all non-source essays from any period, any syllabus and any exam paper.

Step 1: Define the key terms

Before you write anything down, read the question carefully and underline its key terms. In this case, the following should emerge.

‘The unification of Germany in 1871 was primarily achieved through the diplomatic skill of Otto von Bismarck.’ Assess the validity of this view.

In this case, the unification of Germany refers to an historical event where Germany became a nation-state in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian war.

What concerns us more here is the term that is the focus of the question, namely the diplomatic skill of Otto von Bismarck.

Even without knowing anything about 19th century Germany, you can begin to ask yourself the following questions: What does diplomatic skill mean? What does diplomacy look like? In what ways can this term be broken down to give us a more nuanced approach to the overall question?

Without any contextual knowledge, you could infer that diplomatic skill, leading towards the unification of a country, requires an understanding of:

• Relations between the main country and its close neighbours (the ones with which it might unite with)

• The country's foreign policy, particularly in its approach to other countries that are more distant from, and potentially hostile towards it.

• The character and personality of the main political actor

With this in mind, let's now look at how a student with an understanding of this period might approach 'diplomatic skill' in the context of the question:

• Otto von Bismarck's relations with the other Germanic states neighbouring Prussia (Bismarck's home country).

• Bismarck's foreign policy in relation to Prussia's enemies, particularly France in this instance, and Austria, whom Bismarck sought to marginalize.

• Bismarck's character and personality, seeking Prussian dominance over the question of German nationalism.

Already, we have a much more nuanced approach to the simple term 'diplomatic skill' outlined in the question.

This depth of understanding will also underpin our approach towards the next step, which is...

Step 2: Work out a criteria for analysis

You may have studied significance criteria at GCSE (or even at Key Stage 3). Significance criteria are used to help assess the importance of an event, person or development in the past. Here is a reminder of these, using the educationalist Geoffrey Partington's helpful criteria:

Importance - how was the event relevant to people living at the time?

Profundity - how deeply were people's lives affected by it?

Quantity - how many lives were affected by it?

Durability - for how long were those lives affected?

Relevance - how far has the event contributed to an increased understanding of present life?

While all of these are useful to the historian, the first four are most helpful to us in tackling questions at A-level.

With this in mind, let's begin to apply some of this criteria to the question on Bismarck. I will stick to three criteria here so that we can keep things focused (remember that you'll be doing this all in 45 mins come the exam!)

‘The unification of Germany in 1871 was primarily achieved through the diplomatic skill of Otto von Bismarck.’ Assess the validity of this view.

Profundity - how deeply did Bismarck's diplomatic skill affect change? Did any of his decisions result in a clear turning point for the unification of Germany?

Quantity - how many were affected by Bismarck's diplomatic actions?

Durability - how long-lasting was the impact of Bismarck's diplomatic decisions? If they did create a turning point, how long did the outcome of that consequence last?

We are not yet writing the essay, so don't panic yet as to how you'd find the evidence to support all this.

The key takeaway here is the thinking behind it.

These significance criteria will be the benchmark by which we will evaluate Bismarck's diplomatic skill in achieving the unification of Germany. We are now clearly considering how we will assess the validity of Bismarck's actions, exactly as the question demands.

That said, it isn't going to be good enough to consider Bismarck's actions alone. Even more than at GCSE, A-Level essays need a balanced understanding of the wider context. That leads us onto our next step in the planning process.

Step 3: Consider factors

Working out the factors that are needed for an essay is usually seen as the first step in the planning process.

What often emerges from this is the usual thinking: 'Ah! I must make sure I look at Social, Political and Economic factors to make sure I've got all bases covered!'

I may sound patronising here (apologies!), but this approach is problematic at A-Level as it avoids the nuances demanded by the question.

I have deliberately placed working out factors last as, by this point, we have now given some clear thought to the key terms of the question, and the criteria needed to evaluate significance.

As such, we can begin to think about factors and justify why they are needed to address the question. So, let's write down the ones relating to Bismarck first, with a little reasoning as to why they are needed:

• Bismarck's diplomatic skill in relation to the states that would become part of a unified Germany - I need this to assess how Bismarck's actions affected change in relations with Prussia's close neighbours, and to see how many were affected by his diplomatic decisions

• Bismarck's foreign policy towards Prussia's opponents, chiefly France - This is needed to address how Bismarck's diplomatic skill resulted in change, with the key turning point of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 that led to German unification.

• Bismarck's character, personality and long-term ambition - This is necessary to evaluate how Bismarck's belief in Prussian supremacy was achieved through his diplomatic skill with the outcome of German unification.

Don't worry if the content is getting a little heavy here. It is bound to, particularly if you are studying a different period! However, the key takeaway is the reasoning given for each factor.

If you can give a clear reason for each factor in the planning process, each paragraph is guaranteed to be relevant to the question and, more importantly, essential in leading you to a nuanced approach in your answer.

But we are not finished yet! Our final task here is to consider factors outside of the question's focus, giving us greater context and balance in evaluating the role of Bismarck.

Here are some other factors that I would include in my answer, each with a short justification:

• Prussian power and dominance in Europe before 1871 - This factor would consider Prussia's military and economic power, principally how it had emerged as the most powerful German state since the Zollverein of 1834. This provides balance to Bismarck's role as Prussia had, in the longer-term, become dominant over its neighbours.

• The role of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 - This conflict was a key turning point as its outcome led directly to German unification being declared and recognised at Versailles. It provides balance to Bismarck's role as, once the war started, Bismarck as a diplomat arguably had little control over its outcome. That the war went well for the German states requires an examination of Prussia's military strength, the unifying force of victory and the role of Prussia's military leadership.

Step 4: Outline your overall argument

From the factors above, we can now see that an essay is slowly emerging from our planning so far. Before we start writing though, or even order our factors into how we want them to appear in the essay, we must work out what we will argue.

An A-Level examiner will, at the top level, be looking for an argument that is both consistent and fully-supported throughout your essay.

As such, it is crucial that you work out your argument before you start writing. In this way, you can make your case known from the very beginning and support it throughout your writing.

To do this, let's return to our question and weigh-up our thinking so far in a relatively simple 'for and against' way:

‘The unification of Germany in 1871 was primarily achieved through the diplomatic skill of Otto von Bismarck.’ Assess the validity of this view.

For Bismarck:

• Bismarck's diplomatic skill had a profound impact on Prussia's neighbours through unifying them in a war against France. This was achieved through his diplomatic humiliation of the French leadership, provoking the French into a declaration of war in 1870.

• Bismarck's diplomatic skill can be traced further back into his longer-term aims for Prussian dominance over the question of German unification. Bismarck had achieved this through victory over Austria in 1866.

Against Bismarck:

• Prussia had emerged as the most powerful German state since the Zollverein of 1834. This gave it significant military and economic advantages over its rivals.

• Bismarck did not control the military outcome of the conflicts which he engineered. Prussia's military superiority in its conflict with Austria in 1866, and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, demonstrates that military success played a key role in its rise to dominance over the issue of unification.

Again, this a little content-heavy (great if you're studying Bismarck!).

While the events and people are clearly important in helping us to build an argument to this question, the crucial part comes in seeing how they tie together. History, essentially, is a subject which leads us to see how events, people and societies have connected with each other in the past. To create an overall argument for our essay, we now need to work as an historian and examine these connections ourselves.

Let's step back a bit and consider some language we could use to help us show connections in our argument:

• This resulted in...

• This led to...

• This created the conditions for...

• This built upon...

• This facilitated...

• This emerged from...

Now, let's put some of these to work in relation to the question on Bismarck (using the 'For' and 'Against' material above):

Bismarck's diplomatic skill led to the unification of Germany in that his actions created the conditions for war with France in 1871, ultimately leading to German unification with Prussia at its centre. However, the success of Bismarck's diplomatic skill was facilitated by Prussia's increasing military supremacy in this period, along with Prussian economic vibrancy which had emerged early in the 19th century.

Your overall argument should be no longer than 2-3 sentences. The shorter the better! Once you have it, make sure to write it on the top of your essay so that it can remind you what it is you are arguing. If it changes in the course of you writing the essay, so much the better! That shows that you are thinking even harder in a detailed and nuanced way about the topic. As long your argument is consistently made and well-supported throughout the essay, you will do well.

Stay tuned for more essay advice, next time focusing on what makes a strong paragraph at A-Level!