TMJC 2024 H1 Prelim QP AND suggested answers

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History TAMPINES MERIDIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION CANDIDATE NAME CIVICS GROUP H1 HISTORY The Cold War and the Modern World (1945–2000) 8838/01 10 September 2024 3 hours Additional materials: 12 Page Answer Booklet READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name and Civics Group in the spaces at the top of the page. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working. Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This document consists of 5 printed pages and 1 blank page.

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History BLANK PAGE

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History SECTION A You must answer Question 1. The Collapse of Communism in East Germany 1 Read the sources and answer the questions which follow: Source A On November 4, 1989, a long, happy parade ended with a huge meeting at Alexanderplatz, East Berlin’s central square, where some twenty speakers called for a political reform of the G erman Democratic Republic (GDR) — but not its abolition. Yet, the ruling Socialist Unity Party, the SED, had clearly lost control, and its opening of the Berlin Wall five days later marked the beginning of the end. On December 8–9 the party threw out its old leaders, chose new ones, formally rejected its claim to dominan ce, condemned “Stalinist methods” of the past, and soon added the words “Party of Socialist Democracy” to its title. The election on March 18, 1990, sealed the GDR’s fate. In reunified Germany, if a factory was lucky, it was bought up by its former West German competitor, often some ruling giant, and used to make parts, taking advantage of the lower wages, longer hours, and intimidating pressures of threatening joblessness. By 1994, billions in the GDR’s economic value had mysteriously been transformed into debt. This was blamed on GDR’s inefficiency. Reflections of an American Communist who moved to live in Socialist East Germany in a 2014 interview Source B In many parts of the country, there was a huge desire for the wall to come down, but very little hope, because we were very much aware that the Soviet Union had rudely crushed an uprising in East Germany in 1953. More than 10 percent of the East German population then had turned to the streets and had demonstrated for freedom, unity, and justice. There was very little hope that the Soviet Union would ever allow Germany to reunite. The legacy of the fall of the wall is that a peaceful revolution can make a difference. Let’s not forget, it was not the governments—it was courageous people first in Leipzig, then other cities, then in Berlin, all over the GDR, who demonstrated in October 1989. Also, it led to the all-German election on December 2, 1990, when those who had argued for German unification won an overwhelming victory. It changed everything in German politics. In new opinion polls, 70 percent of all people who lived in 1990 in East Germany believe that they have benefited from German unity, whereas some 17 percent believe they have not. An interview in 2019 with a West German diplomat who lobbied for reunification as a member of the West German mission to the UN in 1989

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History Source C Trade on the black market represented a serious challenge to the party’s power because it took place beyond the purview of the plan. On the one hand, the black market circumscribed the SED’s ability to determine economic behaviour. Growing numbers of East Germans were engaged in transactions that circumvented the socialist state, while the state was forced to tolerate this behaviour because it helped overcome oth erwise insuperable gaps in the supply of goods and services. On the other hand, the shadow economy undermined the value of the East German mark, itself a key instrument of state control over the economy. But black markets also represented an ideological ch allenge to socialism because they operated on capitalist lines. Trade on the black market employed alternate media of exchange, from social connections to western money, all of which competed directly with socialist ideals and socialist money. Academic, Making and Unmaking Money: Economic Planning and the Collapse of East Germany, 2007. Source D Statistical Yearbooks of the German Democratic Republic, 1989 and Statistical Yearbook of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2017.

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History Source E A cartoon of GDR by a Dutch cartoonist originally from Berlin 10 July 1989. . Now answer the following questions: a) Compare and contrast sources A and B on evidence of views of German Reunification. [10] b) How far do Sources A -E support the assertion that economic conditions in East Germany were responsible for the collapse of communism in East Germany? [30]

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History SECTION B: ESSAY QUESTIONS You must answer two questions from this section. EITHER 2 To what extent was Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 the trigger factor that led to the improvement in Sino-US relations? [30] OR 3 How far do you agree that the US -Japan Security Treaty of 1952 was the most significant reason for the rise in tensions between Japan and the US from 1952-1991? [30] AND EITHER 4 To what extent was ASEAN effective in addressing the challenges posed by the Third Indochina War from 1978-1991? [30] OR 5 How far do you agree that relations with the US had become increasingly important in Singapore’s foreign policy from 1956-1991? [30] End of paper

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History J2 H1 Prelims 2024 Suggested Response Section A (a) Compare and contrast sources A and B on evidence of views on German reunification. Similarity (similar cause) The sources are similar in the view that German reunification was driven by popular pressure from the masses. Source A Source A states ‘Yet, the ruling party had clearly lost control and the opening of the Berlin Wall 5 days later marked the beginning of the end, when the party ‘party threw out its old leaders, chose new ones, formally rejected its claim to dominance, condemned “Stalinist” methods..’ this shows that it was due to popular pressure and the massive demonstrations at the Berlin Wall that showed the desire of East Berliners to reunite. Source B Source B states that “In many parts of the country, there was a huge desire for the wall to come down” And “let’s not forget it was not the governments – it was the courageous people first in Leipzig than other cities, then in Berlin, and all over the GDR, who demonstrated in Oct 1989 that led to the election on Dec 2 1990 where those who had argued for German reunification won an overwhelming majority. ” Demonstrating that it was the collective effort of the masses that led to German reunification. Link Thus, both sources view German reunification as a result of popular pressure to reunify Germany Why Similar The sources are similar in their view that the East German government drove German Reunification because of their similar context. The similarities can be explained by understanding the context of the rise of German popular movement in East Germany where under Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost, East Berliners, already the most economi