Exam Preparation
After completing ALL the EXTENDED WRITING TASKS, its time to put it all together!Copy and paste all your writing into a Word Document and start editing your work in making it an essay - complete with introduction and conclusion - that centres around the significance of Ho Chi Minh in Indochina's independence. Be sure to include:
- A brief background to the First Indochinese War (colonization over time in Indochina) and the life and political persuasions of Ho Chi Minh (discussing Nationalism and Communism and their role in the movement towards independence).
- You will want to then focus your argument around the period of history from 1939 (WWII), with an acute focus on the events, motivations and arguments during and after WWII.
- You then will need to discuss the effects of the decisions made after WWII and the role of Ho Chi Minh - his ideas and methods - in the pursuit and achievement of independence and self-determination for Vietnam by 1954 (The War).
- Lastly, you will need to discuss the outcome of the War and what that meant for Ho Chi Minh and greater Vietnam.
Be sure to integrate sources covered in the sections studied so far!Post your draft on this page below for peer and teacher feedback in the process of revision and preparation for the upcoming Category 1 exam.
Criteria that you will be assessed against (from the QSA Modern History Syllabus):
Criterion 2: Forming historical knowledge through critical inquiry
Criterion 2 is about the development of historical knowledge and cognitive skills
through critical engagement with historical sources. It involves students in:
• identifying the information that is explicit in sources
• understanding the nature of historical sources of evidence, assumptions about the
problematic character of historical sources, and the tentative and interpretive
qualities of historical knowledge
• analysing what is explicit and implicit in sources, including themes, values and
interrelationships within and among sources
• evaluating the worth of sources: assessing the reliability, authenticity,
representativeness, relevance and accuracy of the sources and locating value
positions, biases, perspectives and standpoints in their historical context
• making decisions about a question or hypothesis: synthesising evidence, reaching a
conclusion about a question or hypothesis, and justifying the conclusion.
Criterion 3: Communicating historical knowledge
This criterion is about presenting the results of historical research. It involves students
in:
• communicating a knowledge and understanding of
− historical information
− concepts
x change and continuity
x cause and effect
− events
− developments
• producing written and non-written responses in appropriate genres
• producing logically developed and fluent historical arguments, with claims
substantiated by sources of evidence or references to evidence
• meeting the requirements for language conventions, referencing, length, scale and
scope of responses.
This is my final paragraph... i have parts of my essay in my book as well (which i conveniently left at school) but i will workshop it all together tomorrow with more defined arguments, links, structure and a introduction and conclusion.
ReplyDeleteCommon to the Vietnamese revolutions is one fundamental element that guaranteed the eventual defeat of all colonial rulers that at one stage controlled the Vietnamese people. It was the Vietnamese morale and purpose to fight that was carried throughout Indochinese history and equated to the self-determination made possible by the Vietnamese predecessors. In each revolution the Vietnamese had the sufficient conviction to overcome any imperialist concepts, whether it was the Chinese in 111BC with Confucianism compromising Vietnamese protection or the French and Japanese imposing colonial restrictions upon the people. It was the history of Vietnamese morale that allowed them to survive so long that established the Viet Minh's ability to gain supremacy over Vietnam during the French weakened administration in World War II. This is supported by Ho Chi Minh's account in "The path which led me to Leninism" where he suggests that "If you side with the colonial people, what kind of revolution are you waging?" This reinforces the ideals fundamental to the Viet Minh victory over the French, it communicates the necessity to have a purpose for war and to be completely devoted to the purpose. As clearly demonstrated by the Viet Minh's triumph, the Vietnamese people had a major desire for independence which without the parallel activity of nationalism and communism could not be achieved. Again Ho Chi Minh expresses this when he identifies his realisation that "I gradually came upon the fact that only Socialism and Communism can liberate the oppressed nations and the working people throughout the world from slavery". During the First Indochina war the morale of the troops, who consisted of passionately driven common people- farmers, teachers, peasants fought and considered the loss of 23,000 Viet Minh as a triumph, and all those who died at the hands of the war died in act of heroism. General Giap’s stages of the revolutionary war, defensive, equilibrium and offensive also contributed to the Viet Minh victory as it allowed for the rebuilding of morale. As a result of Giap’s stages, the French had suffered a number of small defeats by late 1953. The building of morale also allowed for the strategic placement of weaponry around the French bases located at Dien Bien Phu. General Navarre comments that the major surprise to the battle was the “human-ant-hill [that was] at the disposal of the Viet-Minh and was to make shambles of all the estimates of our own artillerymen”. This identifies the highly confrontational aspects of the Viet Minh and the determination to finally win independence. Without the preceding knowledge developed from prior battles, in addition to the strong sense of morale and conviction towards independence with the contributing political knowledge and weaponry accompanying the Viet Minh, the Vietnam would have arguably been defeated once again by their colonial oppressors.
Excellent intro to the paragraph. Try to always relate any conceptual or ideological points back to Ho Chi Minh and not only the Viet Minh, where possible, as he was the driver of this and the focal point of the total essay - its argument. You do this beautifully with the subsequent source evidence, but also do this with your own ideas. Then, start to use the language of the criteria - the language of history. A perfect opportunity here is to use MOTIVATION and PERSPECTIVE when discussing Ho's influences and revolution - Leninism, socialism and communism. Plus, the EXPLICIT and IMPLICIT meaning within the sources you use. More discussion is needed around the 3 stages - explain and relate to the overall question/argument. You close well in this paragraph. But be sure to discuss either in this paragraph or a subsequent one the desires of Ho Chi Minh after the victory at DBP and the outcome of the Geneva Conference focusing on what this meant for Ho and Vietnam as a whole. Overall, you begin really well here but rush a little towards the end. Having said that however, you have a good start for the revision session!
ReplyDeletemr slavin where is information on the Geneva conference? like the outcomes?
ReplyDeleteYou will find the outcomes in the last lot of homework you were given from the text. It was the reading 'Briefing 3' on pp99-100 of the text.
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