2024 ACSI Prelim

Name: ________________________________ ( ) Class: ________________ Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS 2024 YEAR 4 EXPRESS HUMANITIES HISTORY Tuesday 6 August 2024 1 hr 50 min INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES • Do not open this test paper until instructed to do so. • Answer all parts of Question 1 from Section A. • Answer Questions 2 and 3 from Section B. • If you use more than one sheet of writing paper, fasten them together. Detach the cover page of this question paper and attach it to the TOP of your answers. • Be careful to number all questions attempted correctly. • The maximum mark for this examination paper is [50 marks]. Section A: __________/30 marks Section B: __________/20 marks Total marks obtained: __________/ 50 marks Parent/ Guardian’s Signature and Date: ____________________ This question paper consists of 6 pages, including the cover page.

2 Section A: Source-Based Case Study Question 1 is for all candidates. Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions. You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources you are told to use. In answering the questions you should use your knowledge of the topic to help you interpret and evaluate the sources. 1 (a) Study Source A. What can you infer from the source about the role of the Soviet Union in the Korean War? Explain your answer. [4] (b) Study Source B. Does this source prove that the North Koreans were respon sible for starting the Korean War? Explain your answer. [6] (c) Study Source C. How useful is this source as evidence of the Soviet Union’s ambitions? [6] (d) Study Sources D and E. Does Source D make you surprised about Source E regarding the origins of the Korean War? Explain your answer. [6] (e) Study all the sources. ‘The North Koreans should be blamed for the outbreak of the Korean War.’ How far do these sources support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. [8]

3 Should the North Koreans be blamed for the outbreak of the Korean War? BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you answer some of the questions. From 1945 to 1948, relations between North and South Korea were hostile but relatively quiet. Kim Il Sung and Syngman Rhee disliked each other intensely. Each felt that he should be the ruler of a reunified Korean Peninsula. However, soon after, fierce fighting broke out frequently around the 38 th parallel. Kim tried several times to persuade Stalin to support an attempt to reunify Korea, and Stalin eventually agreed after allying with China. The US State Department also took a proactive stance to deal with the communist threat. On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Should the North Koreans be blamed for the outbreak of the Korean War? Source A: An anti -communist poster published by the Psychological Warfare Section of the 8th United States Army in the 1950s, with the caption “Free yourself from Communist aggression”. Octopus North Korean civilians North Korean soldier

4 Source B: President Truman’s message to the Congress reporting on the situation in Korea published on 19 July 1950. Just one day before the attack of June 25 th… The report of these international observers stated that the Army of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was organized entirely for defense … The observers concluded that the absence of armor, air support, heavy artillery, and military supplies precluded any offensive action by the forces of the Republic of Korea. On June 25th, within a few hours after the invasion was launched from the north, the Commission reported to the United Nations that the attack had come without warning and without provocation. The attack launched on June 25th moved ahead rapidly. The tactical surprise gained by the aggressors, and their superiority in planes, tanks and artillery, forced the lightly-armed defenders to retreat. The speed, the scale, and the coordination of the attack left no doubt that it had been plotted long in advance. Source C: A report by the Central Intelligence Agency published on 18 November 1947. North Korean military forces have been carefully and soundly developed under Soviet guidance to the point where they are capable of taking over all of Korea without serious delay… Although not as successful as the consolidation of control in North Korea, the strengthening of the Communist underground in the South proceeded sufficiently well as to encourage Soviet optimism. According to the original "Master Plan" , consolidation of Communist strength in both zones was to be followed by efforts directed toward… the e stablishment of a coalition government. The USSR would then have made a proposal for mutual withdrawal of occupying forces, following which a "state of emergency" was to hav e been produced by Communist agents provocateurs in South Korea. The North Korean armed forces, under the guise of quelling these disturbances, would seize effective control of the government, thus completing the task of uniting all Korea under Soviet domination. Source D: An extract from a book written by a history professor regarding the history of Korea, published in 2010. Kim Il Sung and Pak Hon-yong (Foreign Minister of North Korea) made visits to Moscow in 1949 and 1950 to persuade Stalin to support an invasion. At first Stalin was reluctant to get involved, but Kim and Pak managed to convince him that this was a low -risk, sure victory. The Soviets may have also liked the idea of unifying Korea as a strategic buffer state on its border, and of drawing American attention away from Europe. In March, Stalin agreed to support the invasion plan if Mao would commit himself to assist if necessary. After some reservations, Mao agreed in April… Moscow sent a team of military experts to assist in drawing up the plans. Finally Stalin gave the final go-ahead for approval; Kim was to set the date.

5 Source E: A statement by Andrei Gromyko, First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, that was published in a Soviet newspaper on 4 July 1950. Only one week before the provocative attack of the South Korean troops on the frontier areas of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, Syngman Rhee said, in a speech on June 19 in the so-called “National Assembly” where Mr. Dulles, adviser to the U.S. State Department, was present: “If we cannot protect democracy in the cold war, we shall win in a hot war.” It is not difficult to understand that representatives of the South Korean authorities could only make such statements because they felt that they had American support behind them. One month before… on May 19, 1950, Mr. Johnson, chief American administrator of aid to Korea, told the American Congress House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee that 100,000 officers and men of the South Korean Army, equipped with American weapons and trained by the American Military Mission, had completed their preparations and could begin war at any time. Source F: A report by Soviet Ambassador to North Korea Shtykov on 2 May 1949. In connection with plans for a military intrusion into the North, South Korean authorities are increasing the size of the “Army of National Defense” … The South Korean Army has increased from 53,600 soldiers as of 1 January 1949, to 70,000 as of the end of the first quarter [of the year]. Special attention is paid to the technical, mechanical and special troops, which have grown by 2 -4 times. Measures have been taken to purge the army of ‘un