This type of question requires you to consider one of the following concepts 鈥 significance, causation or consequence. You will also have to reach a well substantiated judgement.
Example:
鈥楾he Night of the Long Knives was the most important event for Hitler in consolidating power in the period 1933-1934.鈥 How far do you agree with this statement?
This is an essay question, so requires a longer answer. It is worth underlining the key instructions and terms in the question.
You will have to write about the Night of the Long Knives, as this is in the question. Then think, what else happened within those dates, such as:
the Reichstag Fire
the Enabling Act
the banning of political parties and trade unions
You don't need to explain all of these events (you might end up using the entire time of the exam to answer this one question if you did!). What you need to do is decide which events you could best explain. So you may follow a structure like this:
Paragraph one: I think the Reichstag Fire was most important. So I will start with this and explain what happened, and why I think it was most important.
Paragraph two: But I also need to explain the importance of the Night of the Long Knives. I will explain why this was carried out and how it removed opposition.
Paragraph three: I can also explain why the Night of the Long Knives wasn鈥檛 that important, remembering the evidence from Himmler and Goering against Rohm and the SA was made up!
Conclusion: Then I need a conclusion, where I will evaluate why I think the Reichstag Fire was more important than the Night of the Long Knives.