CAPE WINELANDS
EDUCATION DISTRICT
HISTORY
SURVIVAL GUIDE
, Survival Pack
Promise to self: “By faith and work”
PAPER 1
SECTION A: SOURCE-BASED QUESTIONS
• Read the key question
• Remember it while reading the sources and answering other questions.
• This will help you answer the paragraph question.
• The key question is the paragraph question.
QUESTION 1: HOW DID THE BERLIN BLOCKADE CONTRIBUTE TO COLD WAR
TENSIONS BETWEEN THE WESTERN POWERS AND THE SOVIET UNION?
Study Sources 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE 1A
This source highlights how the division of Germany and Berlin contributed to Cold War
tensions in Europe.
At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Big Three decided that the country (Germany) would
be divided into four zones for the purposes of occupation, a zone for the French as well as
one for each of the Big Three, and that the city of Berlin would be jointly occupied.
... by early 1947, well before the Marshall Plan was launched, the partition of Germany had
begun to take a permanent look. It was clear that the Americans and the British were moving
towards the creation of a separate Western Germany, as part of the plan for the economic
recovery of non-communist Western Europe. On 18 June 1948 a new currency (money), the
Deutschmark, was put in circulation in the Western zones to replace the old Reichsmark.
The Russians responded by introducing a new currency in their zone, the Ostmark (East
German mark), which included Berlin. Russian retaliation (revenge) this time came fast and
hard. They declared that since the Americans, British and French were creating a new
Germany in the West, they had no business interfering in the Germany of the East. To make
their position absolutely clear, the Russians closed the roads, railroads and waterways that
linked West Berlin to the Western zones on 24 June.
The Western powers could have abandoned Berlin. That would have meant handing over
two million West Berliners to communist rule. Although West Berlin was a useful 'listening
post' behind the 'iron curtain', was it really worth a confrontation with the Russians that might
lead to a hot war?
... The commander of the American forces in Germany, General Lucius Clay, declared,
'We have lost Czechoslovakia. Norway is threatened. We retreat from Berlin. When
Berlin falls, Western Germany will be next.' And then, presumably, the rest of Western
Europe? Remember the dominoes? Harry Truman, the man whose doctrine demanded that
no ground should be given to the communists, summed up the American position without
wasting words: 'We are going to stay, period.'
1
, [From: Twentieth Century History – The World Since 1900 by T Howarth]
1.1 Use Source 1A.
1.1.1 Identify the FOUR countries that occupied Germany and Berlin after the Second World
War. (4 x 1) (4)
• Explain questions require to you interpret information (in detail)
• How: the way/ method
•
1.1.2 Explain how the Soviet Union responded to the economic policies of the Western powers
in post-war Germany. (2 x 2) (4)
1.1.3 What do you understand by the concept Iron Curtain? (1 x 2) (2)
1.1.4 Why were the Western powers not prepared to withdraw from West Berlin? (1 x 2) (2)
SOURCE 1B
The extract below focuses on the assistance (supplies) that the Western powers provided to
West Berliners in 1948.
Between 24 June 1948 and 30 September 1949 British and American soldiers made about
400 000 flights into West Berlin, hauling (carrying) almost two million tons of food, coal,
clothes and other necessities. During the busiest days, a plane landed every 45 seconds at
one of the three airports in West Berlin. Pilots even used the rivers as runways to bring in
their essential cargo. Berlin's Havel River was the landing site for amphibious aircraft
(airplanes which can land on water) participating in the airlift.
However, even with the supplies donated by Western nations, blockaded Berliners did not
have an easy year. Fuel was in such short supply that power plants could supply electricity
for only a few hours each day. Food rations consisted mainly of dehydrated (dried) potatoes
and fresh foods were not available at all. In the winter the sun set before four o'clock. The
people of West Berlin huddled (gathered together) in their cold, dark homes without heat,
light or a warm meal to cheer them.
Nevertheless, West Berliners were determined not to give in to Soviet pressure. They
refused to accept food from the communist government of East Berlin.
[From: A History of the United States, Volume II: 1865 to the Present – American Voices
by S Foresman]
1.2 Refer to Source 1B.
• According to the source: you MUST use the information from the source to answer
the question. Extract directly from the source.
• This specific question asks WHY- so you must provide a REASON from the source.
2
, 1.2.1 Why, according to the source, did it become necessary for Britain and America to make
about 400 000 flights into West Berlin? (1 x 2) (2)
1.2.2 Describe the impact that the Berlin Blockade had on ordinary Berliners. (2 x 1) (2)
1.2.3 Comment on why West Berliners did not accept the food that was made available to
them from East Berlin. (2 x 2) (4)
SOURCE 1C
This photograph, taken in 1948, shows an American transport aircraft carrying supplies and
about to land at Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin. The photographer is unknown.
SOURCE 1C
This photograph, taken in 1948, shows an American transport aircraft carrying supplies and
about to land at Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin. The photographer is unknown.
[From: The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern Europe, edited by
TCW Blanning]
1.3 Consult Source 1C.
1.3.1 What message, do you think, is conveyed by this photograph? (1 x 2) (2)
1.3.2 Explain, in the context of the events that occurred in 1948, why this photograph was
widely published by the Western media (newspapers). (2 x 2) (4)
3
EDUCATION DISTRICT
HISTORY
SURVIVAL GUIDE
, Survival Pack
Promise to self: “By faith and work”
PAPER 1
SECTION A: SOURCE-BASED QUESTIONS
• Read the key question
• Remember it while reading the sources and answering other questions.
• This will help you answer the paragraph question.
• The key question is the paragraph question.
QUESTION 1: HOW DID THE BERLIN BLOCKADE CONTRIBUTE TO COLD WAR
TENSIONS BETWEEN THE WESTERN POWERS AND THE SOVIET UNION?
Study Sources 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE 1A
This source highlights how the division of Germany and Berlin contributed to Cold War
tensions in Europe.
At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Big Three decided that the country (Germany) would
be divided into four zones for the purposes of occupation, a zone for the French as well as
one for each of the Big Three, and that the city of Berlin would be jointly occupied.
... by early 1947, well before the Marshall Plan was launched, the partition of Germany had
begun to take a permanent look. It was clear that the Americans and the British were moving
towards the creation of a separate Western Germany, as part of the plan for the economic
recovery of non-communist Western Europe. On 18 June 1948 a new currency (money), the
Deutschmark, was put in circulation in the Western zones to replace the old Reichsmark.
The Russians responded by introducing a new currency in their zone, the Ostmark (East
German mark), which included Berlin. Russian retaliation (revenge) this time came fast and
hard. They declared that since the Americans, British and French were creating a new
Germany in the West, they had no business interfering in the Germany of the East. To make
their position absolutely clear, the Russians closed the roads, railroads and waterways that
linked West Berlin to the Western zones on 24 June.
The Western powers could have abandoned Berlin. That would have meant handing over
two million West Berliners to communist rule. Although West Berlin was a useful 'listening
post' behind the 'iron curtain', was it really worth a confrontation with the Russians that might
lead to a hot war?
... The commander of the American forces in Germany, General Lucius Clay, declared,
'We have lost Czechoslovakia. Norway is threatened. We retreat from Berlin. When
Berlin falls, Western Germany will be next.' And then, presumably, the rest of Western
Europe? Remember the dominoes? Harry Truman, the man whose doctrine demanded that
no ground should be given to the communists, summed up the American position without
wasting words: 'We are going to stay, period.'
1
, [From: Twentieth Century History – The World Since 1900 by T Howarth]
1.1 Use Source 1A.
1.1.1 Identify the FOUR countries that occupied Germany and Berlin after the Second World
War. (4 x 1) (4)
• Explain questions require to you interpret information (in detail)
• How: the way/ method
•
1.1.2 Explain how the Soviet Union responded to the economic policies of the Western powers
in post-war Germany. (2 x 2) (4)
1.1.3 What do you understand by the concept Iron Curtain? (1 x 2) (2)
1.1.4 Why were the Western powers not prepared to withdraw from West Berlin? (1 x 2) (2)
SOURCE 1B
The extract below focuses on the assistance (supplies) that the Western powers provided to
West Berliners in 1948.
Between 24 June 1948 and 30 September 1949 British and American soldiers made about
400 000 flights into West Berlin, hauling (carrying) almost two million tons of food, coal,
clothes and other necessities. During the busiest days, a plane landed every 45 seconds at
one of the three airports in West Berlin. Pilots even used the rivers as runways to bring in
their essential cargo. Berlin's Havel River was the landing site for amphibious aircraft
(airplanes which can land on water) participating in the airlift.
However, even with the supplies donated by Western nations, blockaded Berliners did not
have an easy year. Fuel was in such short supply that power plants could supply electricity
for only a few hours each day. Food rations consisted mainly of dehydrated (dried) potatoes
and fresh foods were not available at all. In the winter the sun set before four o'clock. The
people of West Berlin huddled (gathered together) in their cold, dark homes without heat,
light or a warm meal to cheer them.
Nevertheless, West Berliners were determined not to give in to Soviet pressure. They
refused to accept food from the communist government of East Berlin.
[From: A History of the United States, Volume II: 1865 to the Present – American Voices
by S Foresman]
1.2 Refer to Source 1B.
• According to the source: you MUST use the information from the source to answer
the question. Extract directly from the source.
• This specific question asks WHY- so you must provide a REASON from the source.
2
, 1.2.1 Why, according to the source, did it become necessary for Britain and America to make
about 400 000 flights into West Berlin? (1 x 2) (2)
1.2.2 Describe the impact that the Berlin Blockade had on ordinary Berliners. (2 x 1) (2)
1.2.3 Comment on why West Berliners did not accept the food that was made available to
them from East Berlin. (2 x 2) (4)
SOURCE 1C
This photograph, taken in 1948, shows an American transport aircraft carrying supplies and
about to land at Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin. The photographer is unknown.
SOURCE 1C
This photograph, taken in 1948, shows an American transport aircraft carrying supplies and
about to land at Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin. The photographer is unknown.
[From: The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern Europe, edited by
TCW Blanning]
1.3 Consult Source 1C.
1.3.1 What message, do you think, is conveyed by this photograph? (1 x 2) (2)
1.3.2 Explain, in the context of the events that occurred in 1948, why this photograph was
widely published by the Western media (newspapers). (2 x 2) (4)
3
