26/08/2026
Subject:History P1 Grade 12 NSC
Examinations Guidelines P1
The prescribed topics for 2023 to 2026 will be assessed as follows:
SECTION A: SOURCE-BASED QUESTIONS
PAPER 1
(ONE question per topic will be set)
1. The Cold War
Question focus: The origins of the Cold War
-End of Second World War (introduction); why
did a Cold War develop?
-The USSR and the USA and the creation of
spheres of interest (Installation of Soviet-friendly governments in satellite states; USA's policy of containment; Truman Doctrine;
Marshall Plan; the Berlin Crisis 1949β1961;
Opposing military alliances: NATO and the
Warsaw Pact
-Who was to blame for the Cold War?
2.Independent Africa
Question focus: Africa in the Cold War:
Case study: Angola
-Angola: colonialism and independence
-Outbreak of civil war in 1974 (MPLA, FNLA
and UNITA)
-Reasons for and nature of involvement in
Angola (USSR, USA, Cuba, China, South
Africa); impact on regional stability
-Significance of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale
1987 and 1988
3.Civil society protests from the 1950s to
the 1970s
Question focus: The US Civil Rights Movement
-Reasons and origins of Civil Rights Movement in the USA
-Role, impact and influence of Martin Luther
King Jr; the influence of passive resistance
(Gandhi) on Martin Luther King Jr
-Forms of protest through civil disobedience:
Montgomery Bus Boycott; Sit-ins; Freedom
Riders; campaigns and marches including
Birmingham Campaign, the march to Lincoln
Memorial, Freedom Summer and the Selma-Montgomery marches
-School desegregation: case study Little Rock
Arkansas (as part of forms of protests OR as
a case study)
-Short-term and long-term gains
SECTION B: ESSAY QUESTIONS
PAPER 1
(ONE question per topic will be set)
1.The Extension of the Cold War β Case
Study: Vietnam
Question focus: The stages in the war:
-1957β1965 Struggle in Vietnam between
the South Vietnamese army and communist-trained rebels (also known as
the Viet Cong)
-1965β1969 North VietnameseβUSA
struggle (include the nature of the
Vietnamese war against the USA)
-The war from a Vietnamese and USA
perspective
-The war as a global issue
-1969β1975 USA withdrawal from Vietnam
(impact on USA political student
movements)
2.Independent Africa
Question focus: How was independence
realised in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s?
Case study: The Congo
-What were the ideas that influenced the
Congo?
-Political (type of leader, legacies of colonialism, type of government, political
stability and instability)
-Economic (type of economy)
-Social and cultural successes/challenges
that the Congo faced (benefits of
independence, education, Africanisation)
3.Civil society protests from the 1950s to
the 1970s
Question focus: The Black Power Movement
-Reasons for the Black Power Movement
-Formation of the Black Panther Party
-Roles of Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael,
Huey Newton and other African American
activists
-Short-term and long-term gains
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