ACSI 2025 H(E) MS

1 ACS INDEPENDENT 2025 Y4 HUMANITIES HISTORY P2 PRELIM Suggested Answers (a) Study Source A. What can you infer from Source A regarding British reason for adopting an appeasement policy? Explain your answer. 5m L1 Misunderstands/paraphrase with no inference/describes source 1 L2 Inference unsupported The British soldiers were mentally stressed. Many people died in the war. 2 L3 Inference supported and explained. - 3m: evidence only; weak explanation - 4m: 1 inference supported - 5m: 1 inference with contextual explanation From Source A, we can infer that Britain adopted an appeasement policy because of the widespread trauma and fear caused by the horrors of the First World War. The soldier describes the Battle of the Somme as "the dance of hell," with non-stop shelling: "Bo om! Boom! Boom!" This vivid imagery suggests extreme psychological distress that left lasting emotional scars: "My God, I shall never get it out of my memory." Such memories reflect how deeply WWI affected British soldiers and the public, leading many to dread the idea of another war. As a result, politicians like Chamberlain promoted appeasement to avoid repeating such devastation. This is supported by contextual knowledge that in the 1930s, Britain was still recovering from WWI and the Great Depression, a nd the public strongly supported any measure to prevent another conflict, even if it meant making concessions to Hitler when he took over Rhineland, Austria or Sudetenland. 3-5 (b) Study Source B. How reliable is the source to a historian studying British foreign policy in Europe? Explain your answer. 5m L1 Fails to analyse the source. 1 L2 Content only explained/no evidence/context/ provenance only 2 L3 Content only explained with evidence The content of Source B is reliable regarding foreign policy in Europe as it states that Chamberlain is afraid of aggression ‘armed conflict is a nightmare to me’. 3

2 L4 Content analysis supported with evidence and cross reference OR Purpose analysis only The content of Source B is reliable to explain that Britain is pursuing an appeasement policy in Europe as it states that Chamberlain is afraid of aggression ‘armed conflict is a nightmare to me’. This means that Britain is giving in to aggressive power in order to avoid war. This is supported by Source E which shows the British man caring more about its basket of eggs and saying why ‘should they take a stand’. This supports the reliability of Source B as it shows British reluctance to stand up against aggression. Contextual knowledge supports this as the British had horrified memories of WWI and wanted to avoid conflict at all cost; thus Chamberlain, being the Prime Minster of England is pursuing appeasement as a reflection of British domestic concerns. When we examine the origins and purpose of the source, the reliability is questionable. Source B is a radio broadcast by Chamberlain a day before he went to meet Hitler in Munich to discuss abt Sudetenland, he needed to convince the British that he was a strong leader who is able to stand up for global crisis in Europe; ‘must be resisted’ showing a strong and firm Chamberlain was against aggression. However Chamberlain did not resist Hitler and signed the Munich agreement with him. Because of this bias speech to get the British people to support his leadership, Source B’s reliability is questionable and thus does not give a reliable view of British foreign policy. 4 L5 Content analysis supported with evidence and cross reference + Purpose analysis (4m only if evidence/impact is lacking) The content of Source B is reliable to explain that Britain is pursuing an appeasement policy in Europe as it states that Chamberlain is afraid of aggression ‘armed conflict is a nightmare to me’. This means that Britain is giving in to aggressive power in order to avoid war. This is supported by Source E which shows the British man caring more about its basket of eggs and saying why ‘should they take a stand’. This supports the reliability of Source B as it shows British reluctance to stand up against aggression. Contextual knowledge supports this as the British had horrified memories of WWI and wanted to avoid conflict at all cost; thus Chamberlain, being the Prime Minster of England is pursuing appeasement as a reflection of British domestic concerns. When we examine the origins and purpose of the source, the reliability is questionable. Source B is a radio broadcast by Chamberlain a day before he went to meet Hitler in Munich to discuss about Sudetenland, he needed to convince the British that he was a strong leader who is able to stand up for global crisis in Europe; ‘must be resisted’ showing a strong and firm Chamberlain was against aggression. However, Chamberlain did not resist Hitler and signed the Munich agreement with him. Because of this 4-5

3 bias speech to get the British people to support his leadership, Source B’s reliability is questionable and thus does not give a reliable view of British foreign policy. (c) Study Source C. How useful is the source as evidence of British responses towards the government’s policy of appeasement? Explain your answer. 6m L1 Does not answer the question. NO evidence. 1 L2 Utility explained using context/ provenance 2 L3 Useful and / or Not useful using content analysis, supported. 3-4 L4 Content analysis supported with evidence and cross reference. OR Purpose only 5 L5 L4+Use of purpose to analyse the answer (award 5m only if evidence /impact is lacking.) The content of Source C is useful to a historian as evidence of some positive British responses to appeasement, particularly within Parliament. It describes a scene of “wild rejoicing in Commons” when Chamberlain announced his meeting with Hitler at Munich, showing MPs and spectators “cheering, waving, clapping, shouting” in support. This suggests that many in Parliament saw appeasement as a successful peacekeeping measure, reflecting relief after years of fear about another war. Cross refer to contextual knowledge, it supports source C as the British were suffering from the Great Depression and many people were still horrified by the consequences of WWI and were determined to keep Britain out of another global conflict thus supporting the widespread jubilant for Chamberlain’s achievement. However, Source C is not useful as contextual knowledge refutes it that while many Britons supported appeasement in 1938, others—including Churchill and the Labour opposition—criticised Chamberlain for trusting Hitler. Cross referring to Source D, Chamberlain criticised the policy to betray Czechoslovakia as ‘abandoned’. These dissenting views are absent, so the source is limited as it only shows one enthusiastic reaction, not a balanced picture of British responses. The purpose of the source is key limitation to its utility. It was published in the Singapore Straits Times on 6 October 1938, shortly after the signing of the Munich Agreement. Its description of 5-6

4 “wild rejoicing in Commons” and “every member… cheering, waving, clapping, shouting” suggests overwhelming approval of Chamberlain’s actions. As it is published in Singapore, which is a British colony then, this conveys the message that the British public and Parliament were united in celebrating Chamberlain’s diplomacy, portraying appeasement as a triumph for peace. As it was a propaganda to reassure British subjects in the colonies that the British is managing crisis well, so that the people in Singapore feels the British govt is a great colonial master, it is not useful as it is one sided with a bias purpose. As the newspaper published a celebratory article on the response of the British parliament, its purpose makes its utility limited. Analysing the tone, words like ‘cheering, c