TMJC 2020 J2H2 P1 Qn Prelims

TAMPINES MERIDIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION CANDIDATE NAME CIVICS GROUP H2 HISTORY Paper 1 Shaping the International Order (1945-2000) 9752/01 18 September 2020 3 hours Additional materials: 12 Page Answer Booklet READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST An 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 answer paper, ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. ___________________________________________________________________ This document consists of 5 printed pages.

2 Tampines Meridian Junior College 2020 JC2 Preliminary Examination H2 History SECTION A You must answer Question 1. COLLAPSE OF THE USSR 1 Read the sources and answer the questions which follow: Source A As chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet, I consider it my duty to warn of the growing danger of an exacerbation of interethnic relations and the associated consequences for society. Everyone must obey the laws of the country in which he lives. And the state will uphold these laws with all the means at its disposal. What is seen as key to resolving the problems that have accumulated? All the necessary preconditions must be ensured for economic and social progress, the free development of language and cultur e. The social interests of all republics are firmly interwoven within the framework of the union, and a unified national economic complex based on a countrywide division of labor and production sharing has been established. The richer and brighter the blossoming of each nation is, the stronger our Soviet unity is. A television address by Gorbachev, 3 July 1989. Source B The Sinatra Doctrine signaled the death knoll of the Soviet Union at the relatively tender age of 74. But even before the Soviet Union expired, Moscow’s decision to stop propping up flailing Communist governments from Warsaw to Sofia altered the national security playing field in Eastern Europe. Whether or not the Sinatra Doctrine’s ripple effect alone caused the downfall of the Soviet Union less than two years later is questionable but the rhetoric certainly took on a catalytic role. As the haze surrounding the Sinatra Doctrine cleared, it became obvious that the Soviet leaders did not expect their East European dominoes to forgo Communism immediately or in such dramatic fashion as they did over the next few months. But that’s what happened. Most just crumbled – like the Berlin Wall. An analysis given in 2009 by a former Foreign Service Officer who served from 1970-1998.

3 Tampines Meridian Junior College 2020 JC2 Preliminary Examination H2 History Source C A US Air Force artistic concept of the Strategic Defense Initiative, published in 1984. Source D He won the Cold War - without firing a shot. When Reagan took office in 1980, the world had existed for decades under the threat of nuclear holocaust between communism and democracy. The two superpowers had steadily growing atomic arsenals of incredible destructive power. Early on in his presidency, Reagan moved to hone the nation's defenses to razor edge. That military buildup, togeth er with spending billions on the so -called "Star Wars" defense program, forced the Soviets into a more heated effort to stay ahead of the United States in the arms race. Reagan's continuing military buildup sowed the seeds of the ultimate end of communism in the Soviet Union and also the Cold War. As it turned out, Russia lost, bankrupting itself in the process. The spending exposed the many cracks in the Soviet Union's monolithic tyranny and led ultimately to its total collapse. Was it worth it? Of course. It must be. Extract from a conservative newspaper in the USA, August 1992

4 Tampines Meridian Junior College 2020 JC2 Preliminary Examination H2 History Source E The changes in Eastern Europe did not begin with Gorbachev, let alone with the fall of the Wall. In August 1980, millio ns of Poles demanded the legaliz ation of Solidarity, an independent mass-membership organization whose very existence challenged the one-party state. Previous protests had ended in bloodshed. In June 1989, a re-legalized Solidarity won partly free elections by an overwhelming margin. In the Senate, they gained a faintly absurd 99 out of 100 freely elected seats. When I interviewed Jaruzelski a few days later, he admitted the Communists might now lose power. The fall of the Wall took the world’s politicians by surprise. (“Are you sure?” Chancellor Helmut Kohl asked his adviser when he heard the news.) But that was because the politicians believed that only their fellow-politicians mattered. They underestimated what Vaclav Havel, a decade earlier, had described as “the power of the powerless”. The fall of the Berlin Wall and other miracles of 1989 were an unintended consequence of the more limited revolution Gorbachev wanted to unleash. With his much heralded perestroika and glasnost – economic restructuring and fewer lies, the twins of refo rm – he sought improved efficiency. But things went much further than he had ever dreamed. Gorbachev did not control the direction of events. Recollections by a journalist who covered the fall of the Berlin Wall. Source F The Soviet economy became increasingly complex just as it began running out of development models to imitate. With average GNP growth slowing to an annual 3.7% rate between 1970 and 1975, and further to 2.6% between 1975 and 1980, the command economy’s stagnation became obvious to Soviet leaders. The Soviets had been aware since the 1950s of such long-term problems as command economy inefficiencies and how adopting the knowledge and technology of developed economies could come at the expense of fostering an innovative domestic economy. These early reforms failed to revive the increasingly -stagnant Soviet economy, with productivity growth falling below zero by the early 1980s. This ongoing poor economic performance led to a more radical set of reforms under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev. While attempting to maintain socialist ideals and central control over primary societal goals, Gorbachev aimed to decentralize economic activity and open the economy up to foreign trade. Rather than saving the economy, various piecemeal reforms instead only undermined the economy's core institutions. Gorbachev’s radical economic liberalization was the final nail in the coffin, with localiz ed interests soon unraveling the fabric of a system founded on centralized control. *Piecemeal - Unsystematic partial measures taken over a period of time. Extract of an article written by an Economic historian, published in 2019. Now answer the following questions: (a) Compare and contrast the evidence in A and B on Gorbachev’s policy towards the Soviet Republics. [10] (b) How far do Sources A to F support the assertion that Gorbachev was to be blamed for the collapse of USSR? [30]

5 Tampines Meridian Junior College 2020 JC2 Preliminary Examination H2 History SECTION B: ESSAY QUESTIONS You must answer two questions from this section. EITHER 2 “It was politics, more than economics, which determined the fortunes of the global economy from 1945 to 2000.” Discuss. [30] OR 3 “External socio-economic factors best explain the economic transformation of the Asian Tigers.” How valid is this statement? [30] AND EITHER 4 To what extent was the end of superpower rivalry a turning point for United Nations peacekeeping effo