ACSI 2026 HIST PRELIM P1 QP

1 Name: ________________________________ ( ) Class: ________________ Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2026 YEAR FOUR (O-levels) HISTORY PAPER 1 (2174/1) Friday 14 August 2026 1 hr 50min INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES • Do not open this examination paper until instructed to do so. • Answer all questions in Section A, and 2 questions in Section B. • Type your answers in the Digital Answer Booklet on the laptop. • Be careful to indicate all questions attempted correctly. • The maximum mark for this examination paper is [50 marks]. Section A: __________/30 marks Section B: __________/20 marks Total marks obtained: __________/ 50 marks Parent/ Guardian’s Signature and Date: ____________________ This question paper consists of 7 pages, including the cover page.

2 Section A: Source-Based Case Study 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 Sources A and B. How far does Source A agree with Source B? Explain your answer. [6] (b) Study Source C. Are you surprised by this source? Explain your answer. [5] (c) Study Source D. What can you infer from this source about Hitler’s rise to power in 1933? Explain your answer. [5] (d) Study Sources E and F. Does Source E prove that Source F is right about the Night of the Long Knives? Explain your answer. [6] (e) Study all the sources. “By 1934, Hitler had become the undisputed leader of Germany because of the Reichstag Fire.” How far do the sources support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. [8]

3 Hitler’s Consolidation of Power in Germany BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. Between 1933 and 1934, Hitler rapidly consolidated his power in Germany through a series of decisive actions that eliminated opposition and strengthened Nazi control , aided by the political involvement of Hindenburg and von Papen . The Reichstag Fire helped the Nazis justify emergency measures against their opponents, while the Enabling Act gave Hitler the legal authority to pass laws without parliamentary approval. He further strengthened his position through the Night of the Long Knives which took place on 30 th June 1934, where potential rivals within the Nazi Party were removed. By 1934, these developments had allowed Hitler to establish himself as Germany’s undisputed leader —but which of these factors was most significant in enabling his rise to absolute power? Source A: A British cartoon published on 8th March 1933: Hindenburg to Hitler: "The Red Peril – This is a heaven-sent opportunity my lad. If you can't be a dictator now you never will." Emergency Powers

4 Source B: An extract from a 2001 online publication discussing the Reichstag Fire. The online website advocates a Marxist worldview and states that its aim is to promote the establishment of world socialism. For the Nazis, the Reichstag fire was the excuse for the persecution of Communist and Social Democratic1 workers, intellectuals and party leaders. Just one day after the fire, thousands of people active in, or allied with, the workers movement were arrested. The first to be arrested also included Communist writers Egon Kisch and Ludwig Renn, later murdered by the Nazis in a concentration camp. All left-wing newspapers, including the Communist Party press, were confiscated and banned. Two decrees put into effect only one day later, the “Decree on the Protection of People and State…against communist acts of violence endangering the state,” and the “Decree Against Treason of the German People and High -Treason Activities,” were used to cancel the essential basic rights incorporated in the constitution of the Weimar Republic. Source C: A recount written in 1934 by a nobleman who was a member of Germany’s old aristocratic landowning elite from Prussia2. For a year and a half, from January 31, 1933, to the first large scale violation of all law in 1934 with the Rohm purge, and to the unmasking of evil that followed it, Hitler (and with him National Socialism) for many of us was the saviour from economic and social disaster, the unifier of the German people, the man who was restoring its honour abroad and rai sing it again to the proper rank among the European family of nations … 1 The Social Democrats supported democracy, represented workers and opposed Hitler because they believed Nazi policies threatened democracy and individual freedoms. 2 Prussia, was the largest and most influential state in the German Empire (1871 –1918). The aristocratic landowning elite generally valued order, nationalism and strong leadership

5 Source D: A cartoon called ‘The Temporary Triangle’ by the British political magazine Punch, 8th February 1933. It shows Hitler on the shoulders of President Hindenburg (on the left) and von Papen (on the right). 'For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fe-el-low, (Aside: 'Confound him!'3) and so say both of us!' 3 “Confound him” is a phrase used to express anger, annoyance, or a desire for someone to be defeated or ruined.

6 Source E: An article from the British newspaper The Daily Mail, published on 2 July 1934, reporting on the Night of the Long Knives. The newspaper had a conservative, anti-communist stance and was generally supportive of Hitler in the early 1930s. Herr Adolf Hitler, the German Chancellor, has saved his country. Swiftly and with ruthless severity, he has delivered Germany from men who had become a danger to the unity of the German people and to the order of the state. With lightning rapidity, he has caused them to be removed from high office, to be arrested, and put to death. The names of the men who have been shot by his orders are already known. Hitler's love of Germany has triumphed over private friendships and fidelity to comrades who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the fight for Germany's future. Source F: An extract from a modern online history publication based on the research of various historians and primary sources. Göring, Goebbels and Himmler were concerned with the growing power of Röhm, who continued to make speeches in favour of socialism. The Sturmabteilung (SA) now a huge and generally discontent army of four million, threatened the hereditary leadership of the Reichswehr (army), the rich and conservative landowners, the bureaucracy, and the heavy industrialists with talk of a second revolution ... General Werner von Blomberg, Hitler's War Minister, and General Walther von Reichenau, the Army's liaison to the Nazi Party , became increasingly concerned about the growing power of Ernst Röhm and the SA. They feared that the SA was trying to absorb the regular army… On 29th June 1934, Hitler held a meeting with Goebbels and told him that he had decided to act against Röhm and the SA. Hitler felt he could not take the risk of breaking with the conservative middle-class elements in the Reichswehr, industry, and the civil service.

7 Section B: Essays Answer two questions. 2 ‘The introduction of the British Residential System was the main reason why the people of Malaya welcomed British colonial rule .’