AQA A-LEVEL HISTORY 7042/1G ||Component 1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964||QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MERGRD|| GRADED A+

A-level HISTORY Component 1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964 Wednesday 24 May 2023 Morning 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 7042/1G. • 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/Jun23/7042/1G Section A Answer Question 01. Extract A In the years 1866 to 1894, Gladstone performed an immense political service to the country and to the Liberal Party by integrating new working-class voters into the political system. The ‘People’s William’ was the first prime minister the masses could identify with and adore. As a result, there was no mass revolutionary socialist movement committed to the overthrow of the state, as in other European countries. Instead, British politics became more settled. The old political world was not totally overthrown, yet room was made peacefully for the new. The triumph of free trade ensured cheap food and rising living standards, which, for most ordinary Britons in the 1880s and 1890s, was of great benefit. Furthermore, Gladstone implanted in the Liberal Party, and the political left in general, a moral dimension to British politics. He showed that the language of morality was a powerful political weapon when wielded by a master. Adapted from M Pearce and G Stewart, British Political History 1867–1990, 1992 5 10 Extract B In the 1860s and 1870s, Gladstone’s reputation for radicalism was exaggerated. His radical followers expected their support for him to be translated into precise reforms, yet their expectations were to be disappointed. In 1880, the Liberals swept home in the general election on a wave of moral righteousness against Disraeli’s foreign policy, but little else. The Midlothian strategy and subsequent election victory, seemed unrelated to the issues of radical politics, and the new administration staggered on without achievement. However, by 1895, the Liberal Party had substantially resolved the problems of the previous decades, having shaken free from the upper-class control that had undermined its position as an opponent of privilege. Yet Gladstone’s role in all this is ambiguous. Many of the changes in the party had come about in spite of Gladstone not because of him. It had emerged that the Gladstonian formula based on low government spending and low taxation would not work in the long run. In fact, Chamberlain’s programme offered a more realistic way forward. Adapted from M Pugh, The Making of Modern British Politics 1867–1939, 1993 5 10 3 IB/M/Jun23/7042/1G Turn over ► Extract C Gladstone converted to supporting Irish Home Rule in 1885 through political pragmatism rather than through principle. Since 1868, Gladstone had used Ireland for his own political requirements. He was not motivated by a positive and generous view of the needs of the Irish people, but instead used Ireland as an issue which would unify the Liberal Party. In 1885, therefore, Gladstone believed that the party needed a renewed concentration on a single issue. It was to be Irish Home Rule that was the great cause that could create order out of the deepening divisions within the party. Little did Gladstone know that his policy was to deepen the very crisis within the party that he was trying to overcome. By the 1890s, Gladstone’s preoccupation with Ireland had prevented the Liberals from pursuing reform in Britain. Ireland was a distraction, crowding out the measures with which parliament should have been occupying itself during a period of social discontent. Adapted from SJ Lee, Aspects of British Political History 1815–1914, 1994 5 10 0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the arguments in these three extracts are in relation to Gladstone’s impact on British politics in the years 1866 to 1894. [30 marks] Turn over for Section