SSS 4EXP Elec HY Prelim 2024

[Turn Over SERANGOON SECONDARY SCHOOL PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION SECONDARY 4 EXPRESS CANDIDATE NAME ( ) CLASS CENTRE NUMBER S INDEX NUMBER HUMANITIES (HISTORY) 2261/02 Paper 2: The Making of the 20th Century Modern World, 1910s–1991 21 Aug 2024 1 hour 50 minutes Additional materials: Writing papers. Setter(s): 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. Do not use staplers, paper clips, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer ALL parts of 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 question paper consists of 6 printed pages

2 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 Section A: Source-Based Case Study Question 1 is compulsory 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 que stions, 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 learn about USA ’s foreign policy towards Soviet Union after World War II? Explain your answer. [5] (b) Study Source B. Why did Stalin publish this interview in the Pravda? Explain your answer. [5] (c) Study Source C. As this speech was made by USA ’s President in March 1947, does it make it useless? Explain your answer. [6] (d) Study Sources D and E. Does General Clay (Source D) prove that the historian ’s claims (Source E) about the Berlin Crisis were false? Explain your answer. [6] (e) Study all the sources. ‘The Soviet Union was responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War. ’ How far do these sources support this view? Use the sources and you r knowledge to explain your answer. [8]

3 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 [Turn Over Who was Responsible for the Outbreak of the Cold War in Europe? BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. During the Second World War (WWII), USA and Soviet Union w ere allies against Nazi Germany. However, the alliance broke down soon after the war had ended. In 1947, USA implemented the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan while the Soviets retaliated with the creation of Cominform in 1947 and COMECON in 1949. Betw een 1948 and 1949, the two superpowers came close to a military confrontation with the Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift in Germany. These events ushered in the Cold War divide of Europe. Who was responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War in Europe? Source A: A cartoon published in the Evening Standard, a British newspaper in 1945. ‘The 12 Points was a speech by US President Harry Truman urging all countries to work together for international security while USA kept the “Atomic Bomb Private” to itself.

4 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 Atom Bomb Private President Harry Truman Joseph Stalin Britain Prime Minister, Clement Atlee

5 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 [Turn Over Source B: An extract of Stalin’s interview published in the Pravda, a Soviet newspaper in 1946. Source C: An extract of President Truman’s Speech before Congress*, March 1947. *Congress is a political meeting where US politicians discuss and implement important policies. A number of countries have recently had totalitarian regimes forced upon them against their will. The Government of the United States has made frequent protests against coercion and intimidation in violation of the Yalta Agreement in Poland, Romania Bulgaria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. At this present moment in world history, nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, free elections and institutions. The second way is based upon th e will of the minority and forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror, oppression and fixed elections. Germany invaded Soviet Union through Poland, Romania, Bu lgaria and Hungary during WW II because governments hostile to the Soviet Union existe d in these countries. S o what is surprising about the fact that Soviet Union, anxious for it s future safety, is trying to see that governments loyal in their attitude to the So viet Union should exist in these countries? How can anyone describe these peaceful aspirations a s expansionist tendencies? Britain and USA have presented to the non-English speaking nations an u ltimatum. ‘Accept our rule voluntarily, otherwise war is inevitable.’ But these nations have shed blood in WWII for the liberty of their nations , and not to exchange Hitler’s domination for a new form of slavery under the British and Americans. There is no doubt that Britain and USA’s position is a call for war on Soviet Union.

6 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 Source D : A message sent from General Clay in Berlin back to leaders back i n Washington D.C on April 10, 1948. Clay was the US Army Officer who orchestrated the Berlin Airlift from June 26 1948, two days after the Berlin Blockade. Source E: Adapted from a historian’s view, 1998. Source F: An extract from a book written by a historian, 1996. Source F: An excerpt of a speech by Marshal Sokolovsky, Soviet Military Governor of Berlin, 18 June 1948. Source F: An extract from a book written by a historian, 1996. We have lost Czechoslovakia. If Berlin falls, Western Germany will be next. If we mean to hold Europe against communism, we must not budge. If Ame rica does not understand this now, then it never will and communism will run rampant. The Soviet blockade of Berlin was one of the most ruthless efforts in modern times to use mass hunger for political coercion. The blockade was caused not by their d esire to take over the city but weaken our position in Europe. During the Soviet blockade which began on June 24, 1948, Stalin was trying to starve the inhabitants of West Berlin into submission with the city’s freedom in the balance. The real point of contention was that prior to the blockade , USA had directly violated agreements reached at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1 945 that all decisions on the future of Germany must be arrived with the agreement of all four powers . On June 2, 1948, USA, Britain and France introduced a new German curre ncy without the Soviets’ knowledge. Stalin protested bitterly. Soviet demands to return t o the negotiation table to discuss the future of Germany was played down and ignored. Western currency reform is against the wishes and interests of the German people and in the interests of American, British and French capitalists. It co mpletes the splitting of Germany and is a breach of the agreement made at Potsdam. The Western powers claim it is impossible to agree on a four-power currency reform for the whole of Germany. But this is just an excuse, the Soviet representatives took ever y opportunity of reaching an agreement on currency reform. The Western capitalists are supporte d in their policy of splitting Germany by the big German capitalists. The in troduction of two currencies in Germany will mean trade relations between different z ones will be destroyed. Free passenger and goods traffic between the occupation zones will be destroyed.

7 Serangoon Secondary School Sec 4E/Prelim/2024 [Turn Over Section B: Essays Answer two questions.