Examiners’ commentaries 2011

Examiners’ commentaries 2011

34 World history since 1917 – Zone A

Important note
This commentary reflects the examination and assessment arrangements
for this course in the academic year 2010–11. The format and structure of
the examination may change in future years, and any such changes will
be publicised on the virtual learning environment (VLE).

Specific comments on questions

*New works not in the subject guide.
Candidates should answer FOUR of the following TWENTY questions. All questions
carry equal marks

Question 1
To what extent had Roosevelt succeeded in influencing international economic
and political affairs by 1936
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages 15–16
of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you with any
learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process to begin.
You should also read and analyse what is significant in the following:
Dallek (1995) Parts 1–3
Cole (1993) Parts 1–2.
Approaching the question
To answer this question well a good general knowledge of Roosevelt’s
foreign policy is necessary in terms of the political role he envisaged the
US playing in European and East Asian affairs and his approach to Latin
American policy. It needs to be buttressed by an account of his economic
diplomacy, with reference to the attempts at the conference in 1933 to
try and deal with the problems of the Depression. The best answers will
do more than describe the events and policies; they will also assess their
outcomes in terms of the aims that Roosevelt was seeking to achieve.
Thus an ability to understand and explain the latter will be beneficial for
achieving the highest marks.

Question 2
Was the Balfour Doctrine a significant cause of tensions between Jews and Arabs
in Palestine during the 1920s?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
105–09 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process to
begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the following:
Tessler (2009) Chapters 3 and 4.

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Approaching the question

The best answers to this question will display an understanding of the
causes of the growing Arab–Jewish tensions that were located in the
growing manifestations of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. An
argument will need to be developed as to whether, and if so, in what
ways, the wording of the Balfour Declaration in promising the Jews
a national home in Palestine increased the conflictual nature of the
situation. Was it primarily the inherent tension produced by immigration
and the differing approaches to the use and sale of land that produced the
difficulties evident during the disturbances in the 1920s? Alternatively,
it may have been religious differences that were most important. Thus a
knowledge of the above factors and an ability to use them and construct
an argument out of them will be important.

Question 3
Why were the Japanese prepared to confront the US by 1941?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
52–53 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Barnhart (1987)
Crowley (1966) Chapters 1–4.
Approaching the question
Good answers to this question will require knowledge and understanding
of Japanese–American relations in the late 1930s and the particular
requirements of US and Japanese foreign policies. Thus an analysis of
Japan’s different aims, and in particular the difficulties of obtaining
adequate raw materials, needs to be provided so that its expansionist
policies can be illustrated with respect to the actions that were deemed
important in realising them. It will be necessary to explain why the USA
was not inclined to accept these, and why restrictions on certain materials
desired by the Japanese were imposed. This will be necessary as part of
explaining the action the Japanese took. Mention should be made of why
confrontation produced military conflict in December 1941 and of the
form that it took.

Question 4
Was the failure to meet Soviet security needs in Eastern Europe by 1946 the
main cause of the Cold War?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
25–29 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapters 1, 2A, 2B and 2D.
Approaching the question
The best answers to this will be able to describe and analyse the causes of
the Cold War before 1947, and determine whether these were primarily
located in Eastern Europe. If so, were these causes related to Soviet fears

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of Germany, from which they felt they needed some sort of protection to
ensue that they did not suffer for the third time what had been suffered
in the past? Or were they related to the need to spread Soviet and or
communist power? The cause may have been primarily related to the
disagreements and rivalries over influence in non-European areas.
Other causes may have been primarily produced by the Anglo-American
desire to ensure that democratic capitalism dominated in Germany and
Western Europe or by the different principles and institutions that were
proposed for the new post-war order. An understanding of the different
threats presented by the nature of Soviet and US power and being able to
distinguish those from the different ideologies will be useful.

Question 5
To what extent was ‘containment’ implemented by the US between 1947 and
1950?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
25–29 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapters 2 and 4.
Approaching the question
A good answer to this question will be based on knowledge of the period
which followed that covered in the previous question. There will be
two different answers and explanations required. In this question some
general, superficial knowledge of the Cold War will not suffice for a
good answer. Knowledge of the Marshall Plan as a way of containing
communism, as opposed to the Soviet Union, will be required. Knowledge
of the US proposals to contain communism in Eastern Europe by avoiding
economic hardship in Western Europe will be needed, and explanations
should be provided of how economic hardship was to be prevented
and the danger of the spread of communism reduced. The key events
for assessing the containment of any military Soviet power will be the
formation of NATO and the rearmament produced by the Korean War,
which permitted the implementation of NSC 68. Knowledge of the latter
document and a second possible form of containment will be useful, as
the best answers should consider whether or not roll back (as opposed to
containment) was being implemented.

Question 6
Why did the Chinese communists succeed in defeating the Kuomintang after
1945?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
73–75 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Eastman (1984) Chapters 1–3 and 6–7
Eastman et al. (1991) Chapters 1–4.

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Approaching the question

Good answers will be able to understand and explain both the factors
which helped produce the success of the communists and those which
weakened the Kuomintang.
The reasons why the political and military strategies of the communists
were so successful in wining support from the peasantry will need to be
analysed. The weaknesses and corruption of the Kuomintang, which lost
the urban support of many by its failures to deal with inflation and resist
the Japanese, should also be analysed. The comparison of those factors,
which influenced the outcome of the civil war, might also focus on the
Soviet intervention in Manchuria and the failure of the USA to ensure that
its arms were retained and used effectively by the Kuomintang. Showing
the relative importance of these factors in constructing an argument will
be what counts in the best answers.

Question 7
What were the differences between the policies of Eisenhower and Truman
during the Cold War in the 1950s?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
24–29 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 4.
Approaching the question
The best answers will be able to build an argument and provide some
supporting evidence for the contrasting policies of the two administrations
in formulating and implementing policies to the Soviet Union. These could
be based on the contrast between containment and roll back (featuring
covert operations and psychological warfare) which can be located in
the years up to and after 1953. Candidates could emphasise that Truman
was more interested in re-armament by comparison with Eisenhower
who attempted disarmament more effectively. This could be reflected
in Truman’s partially successful attempts to increase US armaments –
conventional and nuclear – when Eisenhower was concerned about the
level of military expenditure. It is a question of using such interpretations
to put together a convincing argument.

Question 8
Account for the Japanese economic miracle between 1946 and 1960.
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
63–67 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Inoguchi and Okimoto (eds) (1988) Parts 2 and 3
Johnson (1982) Chapters 5–8.
Approaching the question
In order to produce a good answer to this question it is simply necessary
to understand the various factors which could be interpreted as

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contributing to the Japanese economic miracle and to explain why such

factors were important. It is thus not necessary to be able to write in a
way which incorporates a degree of comparative analysis. Straightforward
explanations of the role of MITI, of the importance of Japanese culture
in producing a work ethic and the close relations between banks and
industry in Japan must be provided. The importance of the international
economic situation should be referred to: the Americans became more
committed to rebuilding Japan and to finding export markets in East Asia.
The importance of such factors should be explained.

Question 9
‘Kennedy was determined to preserve international peace but Khrushchev after
1958 was determined to undermine it’ Discuss
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
31–34 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapters 7B and 7D
Zubok and Pleshakov (1996) Chapter 7.
Approaching the question
To answer this question well, answers must provide information and
analysis of how Kennedy’s and Khrushchev’s policies aimed to develop
relations with their Cold War adversary. As with any approach to Cold War
policies it is useful to construct in your own mind an analysis of what each
side was trying to achieve, for example, to obtain recognition of a greater
status within the international community, or to win the hearts and minds
of people in the newly independent states so that they would adopt the
ideology of socialism or capitalism. In this particular question a knowledge
of how Khrushchev applied pressure to the USA over Berlin and Cuba,
and how determined Kennedy was to resist it and preserve and increase
support in Europe and Africa for the ideology supported by the USA is
important. Candidates should also refer to the Cuban missile crisis and the
Test Ban treaty which followed it. It is important not simply to describe
such an event but to develop an argument in terms of the expectation of a
peaceful outcome by the two protagonists.

Question 10
To what extent was the Cuban revolution made more radical by US reactions to
it?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
77–81 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 6C
Pérez-Stable (1993) Chapter 3.
Approaching the question
This is a question that can be answered well with knowledge of the way
in which the Cuban revolution developed and how US reactions to the

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revolution influenced that development by, for example (in Cold War
terms), making it harder for Cuba to avoid closer relations with the Soviet
Union. Thus the difficulties that Castro encountered as a result of US
reactions to the development of the revolution in more radical directions
must be analysed. It will be necessary to determine the reasons why
Castro chose the path of Marxist-Leninism and closer links to the Soviet
Union. Whether that was primarily for internal domestic reasons arising
from the situation in Cuba or whether it was related to US actions must be
evaluated. A knowledge of the Bay of Pigs will be useful along with a good
understanding of the stages of the Cuban revolution.

Question 11
‘The Suez crisis was the catalyst for the start of the Cold war in the Middle East’
Discuss
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
111–15 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Shlaim (2000) Chapters 4 and 5.
Approaching the question
Good answers to this question should be able to demonstrate an
understanding of what was involved in the Cold War in general and the
Cold War in the Middle East in particular. Did the Cold War represent
greater involvement of the superpowers or a greater emphasis on events
of international, as opposed to, regional significance? More particularly,
was it the involvement of the United Nations or Britain in the Suez Crisis
that produced the Cold War or was it greater Soviet involvement in the
region? This must be assessed with a knowledge of the British, Soviet
and US roles in the Middle East pre-Suez in order that the answer can
determine, in the context of the Cold War definition provided, the main
constituents of the Cold War and whether these factors became more
important in comparison to tensions developing within the Middle East,
especially the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Question 12
Was the Sino-Soviet split primarily produced by competition between China and
the Soviet Union for regional influence in East Asia?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
55–58 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
* Lufti, L.M. The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World. (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2008) [ISBN 9780691135908] Chapters 1 and 2.
Zubok and Pleshakov (1996) Chapter 7.
Approaching the question
In order to provide a good answer to this question your focus must be on
an analysis of the factors that contributed to the breakdown of Sino-Soviet
relations in the 1950s and 1960s. It can be done quite simply by providing
a list of those factors with some accompanying analysis and explanation.
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Thus the coverage can extend from the period before Khrushchev’s 1956
speech and examine the mistrust between Mao Tse-tung and Stalin that
was born in the inter-war years and was perhaps replaced by the personal
difficulties between Mao and Khrushchev. These can be related to the
ideological competition to produce the right ideological way forward for
communism which would reflect the importance of China or the Soviet
Union acting as the leaders of the communist world. Alternatively, more
emphasis can be placed on the level of regional conflict for supremacy on
the East Asian or international stages that was evident from the time of
the Offshore Island disputes in the 1950s.

Question 13
Why was the secession of Katanga unsuccessful?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
91–95 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 8B
* Kent, J. America, the UN and Decolonisation: Cold War Conflicts in the Congo.
(Abingdon: Routledge, 2010) [ISBN 9780415464147] Chapters 3–7.
Approaching the question
Good answers to this question will analyse how effective the forces, in the
form of agents, institutions and governments, were in their opposition
to Moise Tshombe, the Katangan leader. The answer should be able to
provide information on Tshombe’s attempts to maintain secession with
support from Africans and Europeans in the Congo. Was it the role of
the Belgian government, in which Spaak was deputy prime minister
from the spring of 1961 that was most significant, or the US government
in Washington and its representatives in the Congo? Or did the United
Nations and its military forces under the control of the secretary-general
prove decisive. An ability to understand and explain these issues will be
important in the production of good answers.

Question 14
Why and with what consequences did the Israelis attack Egypt in 1967?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
115–16 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 11D
Shlaim (2000) Chapters 6 and 7.
Approaching the question
This question can be dealt with simply and straightforwardly by a
good knowledge of the specific causes of the Six Day War of 1967. It
will require an ability to understand what the Arabs and Egyptians, in
particular, were doing and aiming to do in the months after the coming to
power in Syria of the Baath party in 1966. These tensions, which provided
the justification for the Israeli pre-emptive attack, must be outlined and
this requires specific knowledge of build-up to that war and not just a few
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general points about the Arab-Israeli conflict in general. The role of the
Russians should also be considered, but the key point in good answers is
to explain the aims and actions of the Israelis, Egyptians and Syrians in
the run up to war.

Question 15
To what extent was the Vietnam conflict an internal struggle made into an
international conflict by US involvement after 1954?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
97–101 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 10
Olson and Roberts (1991) Chapters 1–5.
Approaching the question
In order to provide good answers to this question it is necessary to
understand the nature and development of the conflict in Vietnam and
analyse its key features as the conflict developed in the 1950s and 1960s.
The conflict may initially be defined as a civil war, and the nature of that
war needs to be explained through a focus on the failure to implement
the post-Geneva settlement. Or you could argue that the international
dimension was always present through the involvement of the French.
Either way, the changing US role from providing advisors to significant
numbers of military operational support personnel, to the inauguration
of air strikes must be examined. Attacks from the air and on the ground
on countries outside Vietnam must be assessed as to their particular
importance. The increasing involvement of the North Vietnamese troops
and their Chinese supporters should form part of the explanation of
whether this extension of the international dimensions of the war was
significant.

Question 16
What role did the US play in the termination of Allende’s rule in Chile?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
87–88 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 13E
Petras and Morley (1974) Chapters 1–3 and 5–9.
Approaching the question
In order to answer this question effectively it will be necessary to
understand US policy towards the Allende regime and explain the dual
track policy of Henry Kissinger. It will also be important to understand the
policies of the Allende government with regard to economic development
and reform. This will require knowledge of the roles played by US
companies, the Allende government’s land reform programme, its wages
policies and the reactions these produced. The final details of the coup
and assassination will also be needed to examine the importance of US

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links with and the actions produced by the contacts between the Chilean
military and the representatives of the US government.

Question 17
‘Détente did not produce a thaw in the Cold War but froze Soviet-America
relations before increasing the Cold War conflict’
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
37–40 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapters 12A, 12B, 12C, 13D, 14A, 14D and 14E
* Cold War History Special Issue ‘Détente and its Legacy’, 8(5), 2008.
Approaching the question
The best answers to this question will initially focus on the general
nature and significance of Soviet–American relations in the key period
of détente in the late 1960s and the first half of the 1970s. The issue of
whether détente was another way of fighting the Cold War for both sides
will be relevant for the type of argument and analysis produced. The
consequences of the policies in this earlier period will need to be assessed
within a framework that accounts for the aims of the Soviet Union and
the US in détente and the extent to which they were realised in producing
a thaw, or not, in the Cold War or in Soviet–American relations. The
second part of your answer will need to be linked to whatever argument is
produced in the first part about a thaw or a new way of fighting the Cold
War, and provide an assessment of whether the later period of détente
provided an increased element of conflict. It will be useful to distinguish
between the long-term and short-term consequences that détente had for
the Cold War.

Question 18
Did Sadat get rid of Soviet advisers in order to attack Israel in 1973?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
117–18 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 13A
Shlaim (2000) Chapter 7.
Approaching the question
This is another question focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict which
requires, in addition to comments on the general features of the struggle,
knowledge of the particular events of 1973 in order to provide a good
answer. What Sadat was aiming to do in terms of regaining Egyptian
prestige in the long-running conflict with Israel will need to be explained
and analysed. The consequences of his policy aims as they affected the
expulsion of Soviet advisers will need to be covered so that an explanation
as to why he did that is made clear. The long-term hope of better relations
with the Americans, and the economic aid that would accompany that
relationship, needs to be explained in the context of Sadat’s aims for the

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modification of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in ways that would benefit

the Egyptian state.

Question 19
To what extent did economic hardship produce the Iranian Revolution and the
rise of political Islam?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
123–27 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapter 15B
Keddie (1994) Chapters 1, 7 and 8
Esposito (1994) Chapters 1 and 4.
Approaching the question
Good answers to this question will be based on an analytical
understanding of the political nature of the Shah’s regime and how the
limited political freedom influenced the social and economic discontents
that developed in the 1970s after the White Revolution. The problems
with supply and inequality should be linked to the development of
opposition to the regime. The role of Iran, which assisted the development
of the political role of the clergy and the mosques, needs to be linked
to the circumstances that might have been responsible for the broader
development of political movements in the Islamic world.

Question 20
To what extent did Gorbachev contribute to the end of the Cold War and the
collapse of the Soviet Union?
Reading for this question
Some initial guidance can be found in the relevant material on pages
41–45 of the subject guide. This should not be regarded as providing you
with any learning outcomes but as enabling an effective learning process
to begin. You should also read and analyse what is significant in the
following chapters and articles in the noted Journal of Cold War Studies:
Young and Kent (2004) Chapters 19A and 19B
Journal of Cold War Studies 5(1) 2003:
Kramer, M. ‘The Collapse of the Soviet Union’ (Part I)
Knight, A.W. ‘The KGB, Perestroika, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union’
Dunlop, J.B. ‘The August 1991 Coup and Its Impact on Soviet Politics’
Zlotnik, M.D. ‘Yeltsin and Gorbachev: The Politics of Confrontation’
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/toc/cws5.1.html
Journal of Cold War Studies 5(4) 2003:
Kramer, M. ‘The Collapse of the Soviet Union’ (Part 2)
Connor, W.D. ‘Soviet Society, Public Attitudes, and the Perils of Gorbachev’s
Reforms: The Social Context of the End of the USSR’
Tuminez, A.S. ‘Nationalism, Ethnic Pressures, and the Breakup of the Soviet
Union’
Wallander, C.A. ‘Western Policy and the Demise of the Soviet Union’
Kramer, M. ‘The Collapse of East European Communism and the Repercussions
within the Soviet Union’ (Part I)
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/toc/cws5.4.html
Journal of Cold War Studies 6(4) 2004:
Kramer, M. ‘The Collapse of East European Communism and the Repercussions
within the Soviet Union’ (Part 2)
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/v006/6.4kramer02.pdf
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Journal of Cold War Studies 7(2) 2005:

Kramer, M. ‘The Collapse of East European Communism and the Repercussions
within the Soviet Union’ (Part 3)
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_cold_war_studies/toc/cws7.2.html
Approaching the question
Good answers will be aware of the events that produced the end of the
Cold War and those which also contributed to the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Developments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as a result
of the end of the Cold War went on to produce the collapse of the Soviet
Union in 1991 should also be explained. The role of Gorbachev should be
analysed. Knowledge of the short-term causal events which contributed to
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 will also be required. Candidates
should show an ability to connect the policies which facilitated the
collapse of communism in Eastern Europe with the way in which events in
Eastern Europe also facilitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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