World War II and its legacy in France

HISTORICAL TRIPOS Part I 2016
Paper 1
THEMES AND SOURCES
Option (xii)
World War II and its Legacy in France
Write an essay of 3000 to 5000 words on ONE of the following questions. Your essay must
be typewritten and should be provided with footnotes and a bibliography giving references in
a consistent format to the primary sources and secondary literature used.
For further details on presentation (including how to count footnotes, bibliography and
statistical graphs and tables), consult the Faculty Style Guide. Please also read carefully
the Themes and Sources Guidance document, on the Faculty website.
Translations of quoted material that is not in English should be provided in the footnotes. The
duplicate text may be excluded from the word count.
Indicate the question number and copy in full the wording of the question at the start of your
submission.
Unless your question requires otherwise, you may concentrate on any particular period or
region within the scope of the course.
All essays should be related to the issues discussed in the classes. You should make use of
the primary sources in your course materials and any sources your supervisor advises you to
consult.
If you choose a topic from Section B, you must formulate a specific essay title within the
general theme identified by the topic heading and then obtain approval for that title from the
course organiser before the end of Easter Full Term (Friday, 12 June 2015).
TWO hard copies of your essay and ONE electronic copy must be submitted to the
Themes and Sources Secretary in the Faculty Office on Friday, 15 January 2016.
Section A: Essay Questions
1.
‘Le désastre n’est, en réalité, que le reflet sur le plan militaire, des faiblesses et des tares
de l’ancien régime politique’ [MARSHAL PÉTAIN]. Discuss this explanation of the
fall of France.
2.
What do sources reveal about the French experience of the 1940 exode?
3.
Discuss how and why French public attitudes towards the Vichy regime changed
between 1940 and 1944.
4.
‘Si je ne pouvais plus être votre épée, j’ai voulu rester votre bouclier’ [MARSHAL
PÉTAIN]. Discuss.
5.
‘The ordeals of Occupation did not lessen inequalities of class and gender: rather, they
accentuated them.’ Discuss.
6.
‘Wartime persecution of Jews in France was originally a French policy, not a German
policy.’ Discuss.
7.
Which kinds of people were most likely to take part in Resistance, and why?
8.
‘An important part of de Gaulle’s political strategy during and after the war was to
create and maintain a myth of a “true” France that never surrendered.’ Discuss.
Section B: Topics
9.
Daily life, family and gender.
10.
The National Revolution.
11.
Racial policy and anti-Semitism.
12.
Collaboration and collaborationism.
13.
The Resistance.
14.
Liberation and épuration.
15
The French experience of World War II in film and/or literature.
16.
The ‘Vichy syndrome’.