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