DHS H1 Y6 Prelim 2024

Name: Centre Number/Index Number: Class: DUNMAN HIGH SCHOOL Preliminary Examinations Year 6 H1 HISTORY 8838 The Cold War and the Modern World (1945 – 1991) 13 September 2024 3 hours Additional Materials: Answer Paper READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your Centre number, index number and name on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. This document consists of 5 printed pages. [Turn over]

2 ©DHS 2024 Section A You must answer all questions from this section. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS 1. Read the sources and then answer the question which follows. Source A Mr President, I appeal to you to weigh well what the aggressive actions, which you have declared the USA intends to carry out in international waters, would lead to. If you did this as the first step towards the unleashing of war, it is evident that nothing else is left to us but to accept this challenge of yours. If however, you have not lost your self-control and sensibly conceive what this might lead to, then, Mr President, we and you ought not now to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war. Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten that knot and thereby doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, let us take measures to untie the knot. We are ready for this. From Khrushchev’s message to President Kennedy, 26 October 1962. Source B *Caption reads “Backdown at Castro Gulch”. Castro Gulch refers to Cuba. A political cartoon published in a US newspaper, 29 October 1962. Khrushchev

3 ©DHS 2024 Source C The view of Secretary Khrushchev acting justifiably, reasonably, and in a calculated manner starts to change with the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s when historians began to have access to previously declassified archival materials from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe. One historian argues that Khrushchev did not make a cautious move at all. He argues that the potential benefits of having missiles deployed in Cuba were very high, and the risks were also qualified as being very high. Moreover, the chances of war with the US or having to remove the missiles under American pressure were deemed higher than the potential benefits. The Soviet Union knew the risks were high for missile deployment and believed that there was a tremendous danger that the Americans would discover the missiles as well as react aggressively to such a discovery. Ultimately, Secretary Khrushchev took the more diplomatic approach towards the end of the crisis by agreeing to withdraw missiles from Cuba, much to the displeasure of many fellow communist nations, including Cuba and China. Moreover, despite Castro urging Secretary Khrushchev to start a nuclear war in the event of an American attack on Cuba, the Soviet leader ultimately chose a less aggressive path. From an academic article titled, “Khrushchev’s Decision Making in the Cuban Missile Crisis”, published in 2017. Source D Which side triumphed? Who won? The two sides displayed a sober approach and took into account the fact that unless steps were taken that could help to overcome the dangerous development of events, a third world war might break out. As a result of mutual concessions, an understanding was reached which made it possible to remove the dangerous tension, to normalise the situation. Both sides made concessions. We withdrew the ballistic rockets and agreed to withdraw the IL-28 aircraft. This gives satisfaction to the Americans. But both Cuba and the Soviet Union received satisfaction too: the American invasion of Cuba has been averted; the naval blockade has been lifted; the situation in the Caribbean area is returning to normal; people’s Cuba exists, is gaining strength and is developing under the leadership of its Revolutionary Government, its dauntless leader, Fidel Castro. Speech by Soviet leader Khrushchev to his party members, December 1962. Source E The Soviet Union is raising its voice on behalf of, and is offering help to, the people of Cuba who are fighting for their independence. It is clear to everyone that economic blockade by the American monopolists can be a prelude to intervention against Cuba. Therefore, we must speak up in defence of Cuba and give warning that the imperialists can no longer rob and divide the world as they please, each choosing any piece for himself, as they used to do in the past. It should be borne in mind that the United States is now not at such an inaccessible distance from the Soviet Union as formerly. Figuratively speaking, if need be, Soviet artilleryman can support the Cuban people with their rocket fire, should the aggressive forces in the Pentagon dare to start intervention against Cuba. And the Pentagon would be well-advised not to forget that, as had been shown by the latest tests, we have rockets which land accurately in a predetermined square target 13, 000 kilometres away. Khrushchev’s speech in a public conference in Moscow, July 1960. [Turn over]

4 ©DHS 2024 Now answer the following questions. a) Compare and contrast the evidence provided in Sources A and B on the attitudes of the United States regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. [10] b) How far do Sources A – E support the view that the Soviet Union was in an advantageous position in the Cuban Missile Crisis? [30]

5 ©DHS 2024 Section B You must answer two questions from this section. EITHER 2. “The Vietnam War drove the development of Sino- American relations”. Discuss this in relation to the period from 1950s to 1970s. [30] OR 3. To what extent was Japan’s economic status the main factor shaping Japan-US relations from 1952 to 1991? [30] AND EITHER 4. “The effectiveness of ASEAN’s responses to the Cold War is best explained by the Third Indochina War”. How far do you agree? [30] OR 5. To what extent was Singapore’s foreign policy from 1965 to 1991 shaped by Cold War developments? [30] END OF PAPER