HOW TO ANSWER THE SOURCE QUESTIONS ON PAPER TWO
Your first challenge in paper two will be to answer questions on four questions. This section is always more difficult than it seems! NEVER, EVER PANIC. IF YOU REVISED, YOU CAN ANSWER THIS SECTION.
Source A
An historian writing in 1998.
The historian is explaining the USA’s new policy to stop the spread of communism.
The Truman Doctrine was a very simple warning made to the USSR by the USA that they would intervene to support any nation that was being threatened by a takeover by an armed minority. The Truman Doctrine was the USA’s reaction to events in Greece and Turkey and was the USA’s response to the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. The Truman Doctrine started a change in American foreign policy throughout the world after March 1947. Truman told Americans that it was America’s duty to get involved. His policy towards the Soviet Union became known as containment – he did not try to destroy the USSR, but he wanted to stop it growing.
You might be asked:
Give two reasons from Source A to explain why the USA introduced the Truman Doctrine.
This is the nicest type of source question. Just do what the question asks. Read the source, find two explanations for the Truman Doctrine. You don’t even need to know what the Truman Doctrine is! If you had a computer, you could copy, click and paste! So here’s a sample answer.
“The Truman Doctrine was made against the USSR by the USA because the USA was worried about the spread of communism and events in Greece; and the USA wanted to stop communism from getting stronger but they did not want to destroy the USSR.”
Source B
General George Marshall announcing the Marshall Plan at Harvard University, June 1947.
“The United States should do whatever it can do to help bring back a strong economy into all parts of the world. Without a strong economy there will be all kinds of problems. Our policy of giving help is not about fighting against any country but is a fight against hunger, poverty, and trouble. Its aim should be to bring money to all parts of the world and to help bring freedom to everyone.”
You might be asked: Give three reasons from Source B to explain why the USA introduced the Marshall Plan in 1947.
Again, this is a nice easy question which doesn’t need any revision! You don’t even need to talk about reliability or usefulness!
Here’s a sample answer:
“They introduced the Marshall Plan to try to help all parts of the world to have a strong economy as they thought without this help problems would happen; they introduced it not to fight against a country but to fight against hunger and other problems; and they wanted to bring freedom to everyone and bring money to everyone also.”
Go back and look at source B: the answer is basically copied from the source. It’s that simple.
Things get a bit trickier with the next type of source question. From this point on, you need to use your own knowledge and revision to score points.
Source CA cartoon from Punch, a British magazine showing Stalin ‘guarding’ Berlin during the Airlift, 1948.
So, first ask yourself: what’s happening in Source C? Well, Stalin is looking on helplessly with an outdated gun as storks fly coal and food into Berlin. (Storks usually bring new life). There are too many birds for him to shoot and he’s left looking fairly stupid.
You might be asked something about a source’s usefulness at this point. For the purposes of your exam, this basically just means – how helpful is this source to you? Here’s a typical exam question:
“How useful is this source in showing the determination of the USA to contain communism?” (10 mark answer) Now, there’s not a lot of information in the source. And cartoons aren’t very reliable sources of information. And 10 mark answers need a lot of writing- BUT DON’T PANIC.
The examiner is really asking you:
“think of your own knowledge of the Berlin Airlift. What pieces of information does the cartoonist include? What pieces of information does he leave out? Considering what the cartoon includes, and considering what he leaves out, is this source a useful way to find out a lot about the Berlin Airlift?”
So here’s a sample answer:
“This source is quite useful in telling me about the determination of the USA to contain communism. It tells me that the USA flew coal and food into Berlin. It also shows Stalin the leader of the USSR looking threatening with a gun, though he did not shoot down the US planes. The author also makes this source useful as it gives the British view at the time and they were allies of the USA. However, the source does not mention that the airlift lasted almost a year and the Americans brought in 13 000 tonnes of supplies each day and that it was Stalin who backed down when he lifted the blockade on 12 May 1949.”
The final question is always the most difficult. You must draw on all the sources, and your knowledge and revision, to answer this question. But it is very like the questions you answered in your controlled assessment. First, we’ll give you one more source, D.
Source D
From a radio and television address to the American people by President Kennedy, July 1961.
Our presence in West Berlin, and our access to it, cannot be ended by any act of the Soviet government. West Berlin is a member of NATO and we have given our word that an attack upon that city will be regarded as an attack upon us all. We cannot and will not permit the Communists to drive us out of Berlin, either gradually or by force. We will at all times be ready to talk, if talk will help. But we must also be ready to resist with force, if force is used upon us.
The Question is
“Using Sources A, B, C and D and your own knowledge explain why there are different views of the actions of the USA in containing communism in the period 1945- 1961.”
In other words, why do people disagree about America’s actions in this period. Obviously, some people will think America was great and some will disagree. But, more importantly, people will view events differently depending on who they are, when they are speaking, where they are speaking from, and how they are speaking. A cartoonist will exaggerate; an historian writing decades later will not be as passionate as a politician speaking at the time; someone writing in a private diary will tend to be honest (unless they are politicians, who tend to want their diaries to be read!!)
So what seemed like a difficult question is fairly easy. Just state your opinion, then back it up. Look at each source one at a time and add your own knowledge.
Here’s a sample answer:
“In any event in the past there will always be different views depending on who is speaking and when they were speaking about the event.
In Source A the historian is explaining the Truman Doctrine. He is speaking a long time after the events and is unlikely to be biased and is trying to be factual. The source says that the USA will help ‘any nation that was being threatened’. The source does not say how the USA would stop communism. The Truman Doctrine was a response to events in Greece and Turkey and it showed that the USA would give political, military and economic help to stop communism from spreading.
Source B is giving the American view which will show them in a good light. He says that the USA wanted to ‘bring back a strong economy into all parts of the world’. He states that ‘Our policy of giving help is a fight against hunger, poverty, and trouble’, this shows that the USA would fight communism with economic support. I know that the USSR stopped countries in Eastern Europe from getting aid.
Source C is the British view and it will be likely to favour the USA as they were allies. Source C shows planes flying in food and coal which shows that the USA would act against the USSR if need be. Each day they flew in supplies to stop Stalin taking control of West Berlin. Over 2 million tonnes were airlifted until Stalin lifted the blockade. This showed that containment had worked. Not long after NATO was set up to stop further Soviet aggression.
Source D is the view of the American President JFK who was anti-communist. This source shows that the USA was prepared to use force to stop communism saying ‘we must also be ready to resist with force’. The President says that they will talk and also use NATO to stop communism. Kennedy was reacting to the building of the Berlin Wall by the USSR.
So in any event there will be different views and we have to use our knowledge of the events to understand how and why events happened. ”
NEVER, EVER PANIC! NO MATTER HOW DIFFICULT THE QUESTION SOUNDS IT ALWAYS JUST WANTS YOU TO
I) SAY HOW USEFUL EACH SOURCE IS
II) GIVE SOME EXTRA INFORMATION NOT INCLUDED IN THE SOURCE TO SHOW THAT YOU’VE REVISED
III) SHOW YOU UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS DEPENDING ON WHO THEY ARE AND WHEN THEY ARE WRITING
And
IV) SHOW YOU KNOW THAT SOME SOURCES ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN OTHERS