Description: In this article, History tutor Toby, shares how to master A Level History essays and how this skill can be useful later in life!
Answering essay questions can be a little scary.
Here’s the truth, it continues to be a little scary after you leave school.
If you go to university, the essays get longer, and you must do more work.
If you go to work, you probably won’t be answering essays about Stalin or the Tudors, but you may have to write reports or articles.
They all involve understanding something and working out how to explain it to other people.
That’s why you write essays at school. They train your brain!
So, let’s dive into an essay question.
We’ll break it down and look at some strategies to answer it.
Here’s a question from a 2023 exam paper:
Assess the reasons for Stalin’s rise to power between 1924 and 1929
I can see that you’re already thinking of a list!
But wait, the question is asking you to do a bit more than just make a list.
The key is the word ‘assess.’ It requires you to:
- Identify and explain different factors.
- Evaluate the relative importance of these factors.
- Use evidence to support your arguments.
Let’s take these one by one.
- Identify and explain different factors.
We can divide the factors into historical context, the situation that Stalin found himself in, and the actions he took to try to gain power.
The historical context includes factors like the death of Lenin and economic and social instability in Russia.
Stalin’s actions include how he outmanoeuvred his opponents and used his position to consolidate his power.
Let’s focus on three of these areas: economic instability, the death of Lenin, and how Stalin outmanoeuvred his opponents.
Do you see what we’ve done here?
We have outlined how we are going to answer the question.
We’ve told the reader that we understand several reasons why Stalin came to power and that we are going to choose some of these to discuss because we think these are the most important.
You know what, we’ve pretty much written our essay introduction.
- Evaluate the relative importance of social and economic instability.
You want to start with this because it provided the broad context in which Stalin was able to come to power.
You’re looking at long-term structural causes for his rise.
These are some of the points you want to include in this part of the essay:
- The devastation of the Russian Civil War left industry and infrastructure in ruins.
- The New Economic Policy (NEP) revived the economy but reintroduced capitalist elements, resulting in uneven recovery and persistent resource shortages.
- Stalin positioned himself as a decisive leader capable of restoring order amidst economic and social chaos.
The evidence you could use to support your arguments might be:
- Give some examples of the problems created by the New Economic Policy, such as the emergence of “NEPmen” who profited from trade and commerce.
- Evaluate the importance of the death of Lenin.
The death of Lenin was a really important factor in Stalin’s rise to power.
After all, Lenin had been the leader of the revolution in Russia for many years.
This is a specific event that you can point to and it means you can isolate cause and effect more easily.
These are some of the points you want to include in this part of the essay:
- The death of Lenin created a power vacuum. His ideological leadership and personal authority helped maintain a unified direction. Once he died, the party lost its guiding light.
- In the absence of Lenin’s leadership, several prominent factions within the party began to emerge. Each group promoted different interpretations of Leninist doctrine and had competing ideas about the future course of Soviet policy.
The evidence you could use to support your arguments might be:
- Lenin’s “Testament,” a document in which he criticized several leading figures, including Stalin. Talk about how this created confusion after his death.
- Evaluate Stalin’s political manoeuvring
Stalin skilfully exploited ideological divisions within the party to isolate his rivals and present himself as the voice of reason and unity.
Discussing this links directly to Lenin’s death and demonstrates how you understand that Stalin came to power in part because of actions that he took, as well as the opportunities that the historical circumstances presented him with.
These are some of the points you might want to include in this part of the essay.
- At first, Stalin allied with Kamenev and Zinoviev against Trotsky by championing the doctrine of “Socialism in One Country.”
- After Trotsky was marginalized by 1925, Stalin shifted allegiances, joining with Bukharin and the Right to oppose the Left
represented by Zinoviev and Kamenev.
- By 1928, having defeated the Left Opposition, Stalin turned against the Right, advocating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization.
The evidence you could use to support your arguments might be:
- Quotes from Stalin in which he attacked his opponents.
Final Thoughts
It’s important to have a strong conclusion. Remember there is not ONE right answer to an essay question like this.
You might think Lenin’s death more important because without it Stalin would not have had the chance to try to become leader of the Bolsheviks.
Your friend might think the most important thing was how Stalin brilliantly attacked his opponents.
If you both describe several reasons that Stalin came to power, explain why each was important, and use evidence to make your argument for which one was most important, then you can both get a high mark, even though you have a slightly different answer.
By tutor Toby