AQA
A-level
HISTORY
7042/2K
Component 2K International Relations and Global
Conflict, c1890–1941
Version: 1.0 Final
IB/M/Jun23/E4
... [Show More] 7042/2K
A-level
HISTORY
Component 2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941
Friday 9 June 2023 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/2K.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
2
IB/M/Jun23/7042/2K
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From a memo sent to members of the Polish Government by Polish Foreign Minister,
Jozef Beck, 23 August 1939.
Today’s announcements about the intended Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact prove
conclusively that the Soviet government has been playing a double game for a long time,
seeking to break our negotiations with Paris and London. We cannot be blamed for what
is happening. In view of the significance of today’s events, I believe that the only answer
is closer cooperation between England, France and Poland. The Germans will certainly
encounter difficulties in negotiations with the Soviets. The Nazi-Soviet Pact surely
implies there will be a collapse of Hitler’s ideology and of the Anti-Comintern Pact.
Under these conditions, much depends on the decisive attitude of governments and the
press in England, France and Poland. If necessary, I agree to publish the final phase of
our negotiations with Moscow. These clearly show the dishonesty of the Soviet Union. I
will also manage the attitude of our press and public opinion towards this aggressive
Nazi-Soviet Pact.
5
10
Source B
From a radio broadcast by William Joyce, 23 June 1941. Joyce, a former member of the
British Union of Fascists, broadcast to the UK from Hamburg throughout the war.
When, on 23 August 1939, Adolf Hitler made a pact of friendship with Joseph Stalin,
some of you may have wondered if Hitler had betrayed western civilisation by siding with
the Communists. Yesterday in his proclamation of Operation Barbarossa, the Führer
was able to speak openly for the first time about the Nazi-Soviet Pact. He said that it was
with a heavy heart that he sent his Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, to Moscow
that summer. However, he felt Britain left him no other choice but to take action as
Britain had worked extremely hard throughout the summer of 1939 to build up a coalition
of forces against the Third Reich. Hitler was compelled in self-defence to conclude a
pact of immediate friendship with the Soviet Union, in which the signatories agreed not to
attack each other and defined spheres of interest in Eastern Europe, ensuring Germany’s
borders were secure.
5
10
3
IB/M/Jun23/7042/2K Turn over ►
Source C
From the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, 1971. Khrushchev was the secretary of the
Moscow Regional Committee in 1939 and was with Stalin when the Nazi-Soviet Pact was
signed.
I believe the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 was historically inevitable, given the circumstances
of the time, and that in the final analysis it was profitable for the Soviet Union. It was a
gamble: if we hadn’t made that move, our war against Germany would have started
earlier, much to our disadvantage. It was very hard for us – as Communists, as
anti-Fascists – to accept the idea of joining forces with Germany.
For their part, the Germans too were using the treaty as a manoeuvre to win time. Their
idea was to divide and conquer the nations which had united against Germany in the
First World War and which might unite against Germany again. Hitler wanted to deal with
his adversaries one at a time. Hitler was convinced that Germany had been defeated in
the First World War because Germany tried to fight on two fronts at once. The pact Hitler
signed with us was his way of trying to limit the coming war to one front.
5
10
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context,
assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
4
IB/M/Jun23/7042/2K
Section B
Answer two questions.
0 2 To what extent was the growth of rival alliance systems, in the years 1902 to 1911,
provoked by German foreign policy?
[25 marks]
0 3 ‘In the years 1911 to 1914, it was the actions of Austria-Hungary that were responsible
for the outbreak of war in Europe.’
Assess the validity of this view.
[25 marks]
0 4 ‘In the years 1923 to 1928, attempts at disarmament and conciliation in international
relations were a failure.’
Assess the validity of this view [Show Less]