HISTORY EXAM FOR YEAR 9

CORE CONTENT – ANSWER SCRIPT

1 What was the ‘ iron curtain’ ? (4)

2. Explain why the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin in 1948. (6)
3. How great a threat was the Korean War to world peace? Explain your answer.
(10)

1. The ‘ iron curtain’ was the name for the division of Europe into two separate areas
from the end of the Second World War. The name was used by Winston Churchill and
made sense as a term because not only was there division between East and West
Europe. But the ‘ iron curtain’ restricted access to the West by countries in the
Soviet Bloc.

2. There were several reason why the Soviet Union decided to blockade Berlin in
1948. Firstly, Stalin became increasingly concerned that France, Britain and the
United States of America were planning to unify their three zones into a new West
Berlin which would be in direct opposition to the Soviet Union’s zone of influence.
Blockading Berlin would be a way of forcing the West to reconsider their actions.
Another reason was Stalin was concerned with the Marshall Aid, the US was
providing to the many war-torn countries of Europe . He was very worried how the
western influence was spreading into the Russian controlled sector of Berlin. Berlin
was deep within the communist zone of Germany and by blockading the city, Stalin
was able to restrict travel to the Western zones. He believed this would limit
western influences.
Another reason was that Marshall Aid also clashed with Stalin’s plans for
Germany. The Allies wanted to rebuild the country in order to trade with it in the
future. Stalin saw Germany as a source of raw materials to help rebuild his heavily
damaged country.

3. It can be strongly argued that the Korean War did threaten world peace as it
meant that the Cold War had now spread to Asia. This could potentially bring China,
Russia and other countries into a full-scale conflict with the United States of
America (U.S. A.)
At times war seemed very likely to spread beyond Korea as was the case in
November 1950, when American troops reached the border between Korea and China.
The Chinese launched a large -scale counter offensive. If the war did move to
mainland China, the threat of nuclear attack would definitely threaten world peace.
The Korean War can also be seen to have threatened world peace as it increased
the mistrust between the Soviet Union and the USA. The Soviets saw the US as an
expansionist country and this further deepened growing Cold War tensions. On the
US’ part, they knew that the Soviet Union gave arms to North Korea. This hardened
the view that the Soviet Union was undermining the democracy in other countries and
that was a threat to the world interests of the US.
However, it can also be considered that the Korean War was not a threat to world
peace. The UN stood up to an act of aggression by North Korea that had been
supported by two major powers. The UN moved quickly to respond to the invasion of
Korea. Many member countries offered troops and medical equipment as assistance.
Ultimately the invasion was unsuccessful and in 1951 the US, the Soviet Union and
China started negotiations to end the war. Neither side wanted to make the crisis any
larger especially when it looked like the war would spread to China. The US President
Harry S. Truman immediately scaled back American involvement and replaced General
MacArthur as the US commander.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE – ANSWER SCRIPT

1. Look at Source A.According to the writer, how did Egyptians respond to the
British and French interfering in their country? (2)
2. Look at Source B. Give two reasons why the British Empire came about. (3)
3. Look at Source C. With which source, A or B, does it most agree about how
British people viewed their Empire? Explain your answer. (7)
4. Look at ALL the sources. Which source do you think would be the least useful
evidence as to the importance of the British Empire to people at the time? (8)

1. The Egyptians formed a National Party of Egypt with a slogan ‘ Egypt for the
Egyptians.’ , to oppose the British and French interference.

2. The British Empire came about partly to expand trade, thus increasing the nation’s
wealth. The British government also annexed areas of strategic importance in order
to expand its power.

3. The message in Source C is that the British viewed their empire with confidence
and pride. Imperial power was theirs by right. This agreed with the second part of
Source B, which stated that by 1870, British enthusiasm for the Empire had become
widespread. Source A opposed Source C, arguing that Britain had no automatic right
to dominate other nations. As it valued its own nationalism, Britain ought not to
condemn the feelings of nationalism in others which British aggression might
stimulate.

4. Source A reflected the importance of the Empire with the move to protect
British rights in Egypt. The imperial position was questioned by the Worksmen’s Peace
Association. Source A was biased towards them as the evidence was presented in one
of their meetings. Nonetheless is useful in providing an anti-imperial view. By showing
the disagreements over the Empire, Source A suggested that it was an important
issue for the British people at the time.
Source B offered much on imperialism. We learnt that during the nineteenth
century views changed. Prior to 1870, the imperial idea was largely ignored by
ordinary people. However, after 1870, the imperial idea had become a very important
issue for ordinary people. The government , the Empire represented a way to increase
trade and strategic power. For the Church, it was a method of ‘civilising’ the native or
‘backward ‘ people. As it’s presented in a history textbook, this material should be
considered useful and accurate.
Source C as a Punch cartoon was a reliable snapshot of imperial perception in
1882. Obviously the Empire was important. However, Source C offered a narrow
picture. It didn’t show the Empire’s purpose, its benefits or its reason for being
there at all ! There was nothing about its opponents.
Source C gave only a limited range of information compared to Sources A or B.
Thus Source C may be regarded as the least useful evidence of the importance of the
British Empire.