National Curriculum

KS3 History Topics

63 lessons across 25 units

This is the complete topic map for KS3 History— every part of the national curriculum for Key Stage 3, organised the way it's taught: 63 lessons across 25 units, from Cold War to World War Two. Each topic below opens a focused revision lesson, so “what should we look at tonight?” always has an answer.

Cold War1 lesson

What was the Cold War?

Decolonisation2 lessons

End of the British Empire

Democracy & rights2 lessons
Empire & encounter2 lessons

Building the British Empire

European conquest of Americas

Empire deepening4 lessons

Haitian Revolution

India under the British Raj

Industrial Revolution1 lesson
Interwar & dictators2 lessons

Rise of Hitler & Nazis

Medieval life3 lessons

Feudal system

Medieval world1 lesson
Norman Conquest4 lessons

Domesday Book

Peasants' Revolt1 lesson

Causes of the Peasants' Revolt

Post-war Britain1 lesson
Power & rebellion3 lessons
Setting the scene2 lessons
Slave trade3 lessons

Life on a slave plantation

The transatlantic slave trade

Stuart Britain5 lessons

Cromwell & the Interregnum

Execution of Charles I

Restoration & Glorious Revolution

The Black Death2 lessons
The Crusades2 lessons

Causes of the Crusades

Islamic world 11th century

The Holocaust3 lessons

What was the Holocaust?

The Renaissance1 lesson
The Tudors6 lessons

Dissolution of the monasteries

Elizabeth I & the Armada

Elizabethan religious settlement

Henry VIII & break with Rome

Thematic3 lessons

History of migration to Britain

Wars of the Roses2 lessons

Wars of the Roses

World War One4 lessons

The home front

Treaty of Versailles

World War Two3 lessons

The Battle of Britain & Churchill

What KS3 History covers

The course is organised into 25 units: Cold War (1 lesson), Decolonisation (2 lessons), Democracy & rights (2 lessons), Empire & encounter (2 lessons), Empire deepening (4 lessons), Industrial Revolution (1 lesson), Interwar & dictators (2 lessons), Medieval life (3 lessons), Medieval world (1 lesson), Norman Conquest (4 lessons), Peasants' Revolt (1 lesson), Post-war Britain (1 lesson), Power & rebellion (3 lessons), Setting the scene (2 lessons), Slave trade (3 lessons), Stuart Britain (5 lessons), The Black Death (2 lessons), The Crusades (2 lessons), The Holocaust (3 lessons), The Renaissance (1 lesson), The Tudors (6 lessons), Thematic (3 lessons), Wars of the Roses (2 lessons), World War One (4 lessons) and World War Two (3 lessons). Together that's 63 lessons — the whole course, with nothing skipped and nothing added.

How to revise with this page

Little and often beats cramming. One topic a night, done properly — read it, try the questions, check yourself — moves a grade more than a weekend binge the week before the exam. The list above is deliberately complete so you can tick through it a topic at a time.

Start from what's coming up, not from the beginning. If a class test or mock is near, open the unit it covers and work through those topics first. Between assessments, work through units in order — later topics usually build on earlier ones.

For parents:you don't need to know the subject to help. Ask which topic tonight's lesson was, open it here, and let them teach it back to you — explaining something out loud is one of the most effective revision techniques there is. At KS3 the habit matters more than the coverage: little routines now are what GCSE revision gets built on.

Common questions

What topics are in KS3 History?

KS3 History covers 63 topics across 25 units: Cold War, Decolonisation, Democracy & rights, Empire & encounter, Empire deepening, Industrial Revolution, Interwar & dictators, Medieval life, Medieval world, Norman Conquest, Peasants' Revolt, Post-war Britain, Power & rebellion, Setting the scene, Slave trade, Stuart Britain, The Black Death, The Crusades, The Holocaust, The Renaissance, The Tudors, Thematic, Wars of the Roses, World War One and World War Two. Each topic on this page opens a focused revision lesson.

How many topics are in KS3 History?

There are 63 topics in KS3 History, grouped into 25 units.

Is KS3 History the same for every exam board?

KS3 History follows the national curriculum, so it isn't tied to a specific exam board — boards like AQA and Edexcel set GCSE specifications (Key Stage 4), not KS3. This page lists the national-curriculum topics for KS3 History.