MGS 2025 H(E) QP Prelim

Class Index Number Name: __________________________________________ This question paper consists of 6 printed pages. METHODIST GIRLS’ SCHOOL Founded in 1887 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2025 Secondary 4 HUMANITIES (HISTORY) Paper 2 The Making of the 20th Century Modern World, 1910s-1991 Wednesday 2261/02 27 August 2025 1 hour 50 minutes INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Write your class, index number and name on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen. Do not use staples, 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. The total marks for both sections: 50.

2 Methodist Girls’ School Humanities (History) Paper 2 Secondary 4 Preliminary Examination 2025 Section A: Source-Based Case Study Question1 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 which 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. How useful is this source as evidence of the crisis in Czechoslovakia? Explain your answer. [5] (b) Study Source B. What is the cartoonist’s message? Explain your answer using details from the cartoon. [5] (c) Study Sources C and D. Does Source D prove Source C wrong? Explain your answer. [6] (d) Study Sources E and F. Does Source F make Source E surprising? Explain your answer. [6] (e) Study all the sources. ‘The Munich Agreement was justified.’ How far do these sources support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. [8]

3 Methodist Girls’ School Humanities (History) Paper 2 Secondary 4 Preliminary Examination 2025 The Sudetenland Crisis, Munich Agreement, and Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1938-1939 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. The Sudetenland Crisis began on 12 September 1938 when Nazi Germany’ leader, Hitler, demanded the annexation of Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia. Hitler claim ed to protect many ethnic Germans there. Czechoslovakia, led by Edvard Beneš, refused and was prepared for war as it had a modern army and the support of France and the Soviet Union through prior alliances. However, the leaders of Britain and France, Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier, sought to avoid another war through an appeasement policy by giving in to Hitler’s demands. On 29 September 1938, the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany signed the Munich Agreement, permitting Hitler to annex the Sudetenland without consulting Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. In October 1938, German forces occupied the Sudetenland. On 15 March 1939, Germany seized the rest of Czechoslovakia. Was the Munich Agreement justified? Source A: From a speech by Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, on 30 September 1938. He made this speech as soon as he arrived back in Britain after making the agreement over the Sudetenland with Hitler in Munich the day before. The settlement of the Czechoslovak problem which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the beginning of a larger settlement in which Europe may find peace. This morning, I had another talk with Herr Hitler, and here is a paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. I would like to read this to you. We regard the agreement signed last night as symbolic of the desire of our two people to never go to war again. We are resolved that consulting each other shall be the method used to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus contribute to assure the peace of Europe.

4 Methodist Girls’ School Humanities (History) Paper 2 Secondary 4 Preliminary Examination 2025 Source B: From a British cartoonist depicting Hitler as a Santa holding a bag stating ‘Deutschland über Alles’, that is, ‘Germany above all’. The bedhead reads ‘ex French-British Family’, published in a British newspaper, October 1938. Source C: From a speech by Winston Churchill, a Member of Parliament, in the House of Commons, the British Parliament, 5 October 1938. The most the Prime Minister has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching his winnings from the table, has been content to have them served to him bit by bit. What is left of Czechoslovak ia cannot be maintained as an independent country. In months to come, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. We have been reduced from a position where the word ‘war’ would only be used by someone in a lunatic asylum. Do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be given to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and military vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom.

5 Methodist Girls’ School Humanities (History) Paper 2 Secondary 4 Preliminary Examination 2025 Source D: Speech by the Prime Minister at Birmingham , his hometown, on March 17, 1939. It has been claimed that my visit to Germany in 1938 caused the occupation of Czechoslovakia two days ago. However, I reject that claim. In 1938, I went in a desperate effort to avert a European war —a move widely applauded at the time. Hitler assured me in 1938 that the Sudetenland was his final territorial demand, and that Germany had no further interest in Czechoslovakia. I believed there was reason to hope in those assurances then. At that moment, peace was preserved in Czechoslovakia and Europe, sparing countless families from the tragedy of war. Another purpose of going to Munich in 1938 was to promote European appeasement —a policy requiring that no single power dominate the continent. Instead, each nation should have fair opportunities to develop its resources, trade internationally, and improve the conditions of its people. Source E: Former President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Beneŝ’ private political letter to a Czechoslovak politician, November 1938. He resigned after the Munich Conference and was on political exile. Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, opposed war due to ignorance, misunderstanding, and egoism. Bonnet, the French Foreign Minister, pursued a policy of abandoning Central and Eastern Europe out of fear of Communist Russia. Until the last moment, I preferred resistance—even war. But when news came that the great powers would meet in Munich, it became clear that France and Britain had chosen to sacrifice us. We stood alone. The Munich Agreement solved nothing; it marked the beginning of further aggression— starting with Czechoslovakia, then Romania, Ukraine, Poland, etc.—if the Allies continued to abandon us and resisting Germany. Even now, it is seen as a disaster. Source F: Adapted from a book written by a British historian in 2019. When Hitler demanded Sudetenland to join Germany, Chamberlain refused to confront him, and Daladier of France followed. At Munich, they forced Czechoslovakia to surrender the Sudetenland region. After 1945, Chamberlain claimed that Britain was unprepared for war in 1938. While true, Germany could not have defeated the combined forces of Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia at the time. Britain’s repeated concessions were not due to military weakness or pacifist public opinion,