TJC H1 HIST QP

Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 [Turn over   TEMASEK JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 Preliminary Examinations HIGHER 1   HISTORY 8821 The Cold War and the Modern World 28 August 2018 3 hours       READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your centre number, index number, name and CG on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. Start each answer on a fresh piece of writing paper. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working. Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together with the cover sheet on top. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This document consists of 5 printed pages and 1 blank page.

2    Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 SECTION A You must answer Question 1. THE SOVIET UNION AND THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR 1 Read the sources and then answer the questions which follow. Source A Iran was our ally in the war. Iran was Russia’s ally in the war. Iran agreed to the free passage of arms, ammunition and other supplies running into millions of tonnes across her territory from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea. Without these supplies, furnished by the United States, Russia would have been embarrassingly defeated. Yet now Russia stirs up rebellion and keeps troops on the soil of her friend and ally, Iran. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that unless Russia is faced with an iron fist and strong language, another war is in the making… I do not think we should play compromise any longer. We should let our position on Iran be known in no uncertain terms. I’m tired of babying the Soviets. Adapted from President Truman’s letter to Secretary of State James Byrnes, 5 January 1946. Source B Europe has come out of the war with a completely dislocated economy, and the economic devastation that occurred in the course of the war cannot be overcome in a short time. All of the countries of Europe and Asia are experiencing a colossal need for consumer goods, industrial and transportation equipment…Such a situation provides American monopolistic capital with prospects for enormous shipments of goods and the importation of capital into these countries – a circumstance that would permit it to infiltrate their national economies. Such a development would mean a serious strengthening of the economic position of the United States in the whole world and would be a stage on the road to world domination by the United States… The foreign policy of the United States, which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American monopolistic capital, is characterize d in the post-war period by a striving for world supremacy. This is the real meaning of the many statements by President Truman and other representatives of American ruling circles; that the United States has the right to lead the world... Extract from Soviet ambassador to the USA, Nikolai Novikov’s telegram to the Soviet leadership in Moscow, September 1946.

3 Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 [Turn Over Source C It is becoming more and more evident to everyone that the implementation of the Marshall Plan will mean placing European countries under the economic and political control of the United States and direct interference by the latter in the internal affairs of those countries. Moreover, this plan is an attempt to split Europe into two camps and, with the help of the United Kingdom and France, to complete the formation of a bloc of several European countries hostile to the interests of the democratic countries of Eastern Europe and most particularly to the interests of the Soviet Union. An important feature of this Plan is the attempt to confront the countries of Eastern Europe with a bloc of Western European States including Western Germany. The intention is to make use of Western Germany and German heavy industry (the Ruhr) as one of the most important economic bases for American expansion in Europe, in disregard of the national interests of the countries which suffered from German aggression. Extract from a speech by Soviet spokesman, Andrei Vyshinsky, at the UN General Assembly, 18 September 1947. Source D Political cartoon published in an American newspaper, March 1948.

4    Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 Source E Stalin was fully prepared to use unconventional means to promote Soviet interests beyond the territories he ruled. Take what we now know to have been Stalin’s persistent belief, after 1945, of the possibility of an eventual war with capitalism involving the Soviet Union itself. This expectation kept Stalin from seeing what was really happening during the early post-war years: Soviet behaviour in Eastern Europe and Germany was causing the West Europeans and the Americans to combine in a coalition directed against him. Stalin imagined one Europe while ensuring, through his actions, that a totally different one would actually evolve. This argument by no means absolves the United States and its allies of a considerable responsibility for how the Cold War was fought. The Marshall Plan incorporated the ideas of unrestricted trade and open markets within the framework of containment, so that it became a device for isolating the Soviet Union. The invitation to participate in the Marshall Plan was only symbolic. Other historians have added that the real crisis at the time was within an American economy that could hardly expect to dominate if Europeans lacked the dollars to purchase its products. They suggest that the American empire had its own distinctive internal roots, and was not solely and simply a response to the Soviet external challenge. Adapted from the book “We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History” by John Lewis Gaddis, an American historian, 1997. Now answer the following questions: a) Compare and contrast the evidence provided in Sources B and C on Soviet perceptions of American foreign policy in the late 1940s. [10] b) How far do Sources A-E support the assertion that it was Soviet insecurity that caused t h e C o l d W a r ? [ 3 0 ]

5 Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 [Turn Over SECTION B You must answer two questions from this section. EITHER 2 To what extent was the development of Sino- American relations influenced by the state of Superpower relations from 1950 to 1979? [30] OR 3 “Inflexibly realist.” How accurate is this assessment of Singapore’s responses to the development of the Cold War in Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1991? [30] AND EITHER 4 “The impact of the Cold War on the United Nations Security Council has been exaggerated.” Discuss, with reference to the period between 1945 and 1991. [30] OR 5 Assess the reasons that shaped the United Nations’ effectiveness in Cambodia up to 1993. [30] End of Paper

6    Temasek Junior College 2018 8821/S/2018 BLANK PAGE Acknowledgements for Question 1: Source A – https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/trumanpapers/psf/longhand/index.php?documentV