Yuhua Sec E-Hist 2025 Prelim QP

1 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) YUHUA SECONDARY SCHOOL PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2025GCE ORDINARY LEVEL4ECANDIDATE NAMECLASSINDEX NUMBERHUMANITIES (HISTORY) 2261/02Paper 2 The Making of the 20th Century Modern World, 1910-1991 28 Aug 20251 hour 50 minutesNo Additional Materials are required.READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRSTAn answer booklet will be provided with this question paper. You should follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional paper, ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet.Section AAnswer all parts of Question 1.Section BAnswer two questions. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. The total of the marks for this paper is 50 marks.For Examiner’s UseTOTAL MARKS50This document consists of 8 printed pages, inclusive of this page.[Turn over

2 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) Section A: Source-Based Case StudyQuestion 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 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.Why do you think President Truman made this speech? Explain your answer.[5](b)Study Sources B.How reliable is this source as evidence about the Korean War? Explain your answer. [5](c)Study Sources D and E.How far does Source D prove Source E wrong about who was responsible for the Korean War? Explain your answer. [6](d)Study Source F.How surprised are you by this source? Explain your answer. [6](e)Study all the sources.‘North Korea was responsible for the Korean War.’ How far do these sources support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer.[8]

3 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) The Korean WarBACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you answer some of the questions.The origins of the Korean War are complex and often debated with various nations involved in significant roles. On 25 June 1950, North Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, launched a surprise invasion of South Korea. He aimed to reunify the peninsula under communist rule. This act of aggression prompted immediate international response by the United Nations and the United States. As US President Harry Truman viewed the invasion as a threat to stability in the region and a move to spread communism by China, he led a US military intervention led by the United Nations Forces of 16 countries such as Australia, France, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines.China’s involvement came later, as Chinese forces crossed the Yalu River to support North Korea against advancing UN troops led by General MacArthur. The complex interplay of regional and Cold War tensions suggests multiple perspectives on responsibility for the outbreak of the Korean War.Who was responsible for the Korean War in 1950? Source A:A statement by US President Truman to American journalists about the Korean war, 27 June 1950. South Korea was attacked by invading forces from North Korea. The Security Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations hence I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and support. The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism will now use armed invasion and war to spread their ideology. It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security.

4 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) Source B:A letter from the President of the Republic of Korea (Syngman Rhee) to President Truman, 19 July 1950. As you know, the Korean people were divided against their will because of military decisions in 1945 regarding the 38th Parallel. This division permitted in the north the development of a communist regime that has no connections to Korean traditions and feelings. The communist has absolute control of the military, police and fiscal powers in that region of Korea, and they were able to create the formidable force which has caused such cruel damage not only to Korea but also to the United States and most members of the United Nations. When the North Korean regime simultaneously attacked the defense forces of the Republic of Korea in the early morning of June 25, they ended any possible claim to the maintenance of the 38th Parallel as a political or military dividing line between free and slave Korea.Source C:A comment by Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett in 1950. Burchett was known to report extensively about the Korean war. According to my own, still incomplete, investigation, the war started in fact in August-September 1949 and not in June 1950. Repeated attacks were made along key sections of the 38th parallel throughout the summer of 1949, by Rhee’s forces, aiming at securing jump-off positions for a full-scale invasion of the north. What happened later was that in June 1950 North Korean forces simply decided that things had gone far enough and that the next assault by Rhee’s forces would be repulsed; that- having exhausted all possibilities of peaceful unification, those forces would be chased back and the south liberated from them.Source D:Adapted from Harry Truman's speech to the American people, April 11 1951.I want to talk to you tonight about our actions in Korea to prevent a third world war. In 1950, the North Koreans aided by the Communists have started to stamp out freedom and peace in Korea and the world. The United States cannot and will not allow such actions. The dangers are great: behind the North Koreans are Chinese Communists with millions of Chinese soldiers, tanks, planes, and submarines. We face the question of whether the Communist plan of conquest can be stopped without a general war. Our government and allied nations in the United Nations believe the best chance to stop it without a general war is to meet the attack in Korea and defeat it there.

5 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) Source E:Chairman Mao Zedong’s speech at the Twenty-fourth Session of the Central People's Government Council in September 1953.After three years of US aggression on us and our comrade the North Koreans, we have aided North Korea and won a great victory in the war to resist US military conquest in Korea. It has now come to a halt. If US had not accepted the truce, their whole battle line would fallen, and Seoul would have rightfully fallen into our hands and those of our Korean allies. We do not invade others. No, we will invade no one anywhere. The US forces invaded North Korea and despite warnings, they marched towards China, so, we will fight back and fight to a finish.We defended our territories against US impending imperialism and their false principles of humanity, an enemy wielding weapons many times superior to ours, and yet we were able to win.

6 YHSS/PRELIM/2025 Secondary Four Express (E) Humanities (History) (Paper 2) Source F:A North Korean poster published in 1953. It shows American soldiers dangling a baby over a well, with the mother in the background. The Korean words are translated as ‘Do not forget the US imperialist wolves!’

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