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One thing that will set apart a Band 5 from a Band 6 in the Personality Study of Modern History is use of historiography. While Part A of this response is typically a lower-order βdescribeβ style question, Part B will always be evaluative and require you to make your own judgement surrounding your chosen historical personality.
Through using reputable historians, your own understanding of your chosen personality will be enhanced, as it will encourage you to think EVALUATIVELY and come to your own conclusions surrounding the influence of your personality upon history.
As I studied Leon Trotsky, I have compiled a collection of 6 great historians and a few quotes that are worth your time to learn so you can be on the way to a Band 6 response. When looking at these quotes, try and identify what parts of the Modern History syllabus they fall under and how they could help you answer an essay question.
1. ISAAC DEUTSCHER
- βFell in love with the written wordβ
- βThe mask of Bonaparte seemed to fit Trotsky only too wellβ
- βBest Bolshevikβ
2. IRVING HOWE
- βOf all the Marxists it was Trotsky who best foresaw the course of events in Russiaβ
- βThis way of life among the Bronsteinβs enabled their son all the more quickly to abandon the whole tradition of βJewishnessββ
3. GEOFFREY SWAIN
- βThe Bolsheviks would have not come to power without Trotskyβ
- βIt was not until his exile that internationalism became central to Trotskyβs purposeβ
- βIf Trotsky had won the power struggle with Stalin the USSR would have been a more organised societyβ
4. E.H. CARR
5. DMIRTRI VOLKOGONOV
6. AND OF COURSE, LEON TROTSKYΒ
- βThe strongest cement in the new army was the ideas of the October Revolution, and the train supplied the front with this cementβ
- βI think that the work I am to be engaged in now is the most important in my life β more important than 1917, more important than the period of civil war or any otherβ
