NATIONAL
SENIOR CERTIFICATE
GRADE 12
SEPTEMBER 2022
HISTORY P1
ADDENDUM
This addendum consists of 14 pages.
, 2 HISTORY P1 (ADDENDUM) (EC/SEPTEMBER 2022)
QUESTION 1: HOW DID THE ALLIED POWERS RESPOND TO THE SOVIET
BLOCKADE OF BERLIN IN 1948?
SOURCE 1A
The following source describes the economic conditions in Berlin after the Second World
War.
Like the rest of Germany, Berlin had suffered enormous damage. Housing space had been
seriously reduced. Some 70 percent had been damaged but could still provide shelter.
Only 43 percent of the workplaces in Berlin survived. Hospital beds had been reduced from
33 000 to 8 500. None of Berlin's eighty-seven sewer systems functioned, so diseases like
typhus and dysentery spread quickly, a situation exacerbated (worsened) by the shortage
of physicians.
The food system was also critical. Berlin could produce only 2 percent of what was
necessary. Only the importation of food from the Soviet zone of occupation prevented
starvation. The Soviet Union refused to allow Western troops into Berlin for two months
following the city's surrender on 7 May 1945. During those eight weeks, Berlin and the
Berliners were subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of the Soviet army.
In the confusion of ending the war, negotiating the shape of post-war Europe, and
establishing the occupation, Allied planners overlooked a significant detail: no formal
agreement guaranteed Western access by surface transportation. Opportunities to
negotiate access had presented themselves between 1944 and 1946, but other subjects
had taken priority. It was variously assumed that the presence of the Western garrisons
guaranteed access; that the West could always get along with the Soviets and thus there
was no reason for written guarantees. The lack of a formal agreement enabled the Soviets
to claim that the Allies were in Berlin only with the special permission of the Soviet Union,
not because of their rights as victors, and that this special permission could be withdrawn.'
[From The Making of the Modern World by Christopher Condon]
Copyright reserved Please turn over
SENIOR CERTIFICATE
GRADE 12
SEPTEMBER 2022
HISTORY P1
ADDENDUM
This addendum consists of 14 pages.
, 2 HISTORY P1 (ADDENDUM) (EC/SEPTEMBER 2022)
QUESTION 1: HOW DID THE ALLIED POWERS RESPOND TO THE SOVIET
BLOCKADE OF BERLIN IN 1948?
SOURCE 1A
The following source describes the economic conditions in Berlin after the Second World
War.
Like the rest of Germany, Berlin had suffered enormous damage. Housing space had been
seriously reduced. Some 70 percent had been damaged but could still provide shelter.
Only 43 percent of the workplaces in Berlin survived. Hospital beds had been reduced from
33 000 to 8 500. None of Berlin's eighty-seven sewer systems functioned, so diseases like
typhus and dysentery spread quickly, a situation exacerbated (worsened) by the shortage
of physicians.
The food system was also critical. Berlin could produce only 2 percent of what was
necessary. Only the importation of food from the Soviet zone of occupation prevented
starvation. The Soviet Union refused to allow Western troops into Berlin for two months
following the city's surrender on 7 May 1945. During those eight weeks, Berlin and the
Berliners were subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of the Soviet army.
In the confusion of ending the war, negotiating the shape of post-war Europe, and
establishing the occupation, Allied planners overlooked a significant detail: no formal
agreement guaranteed Western access by surface transportation. Opportunities to
negotiate access had presented themselves between 1944 and 1946, but other subjects
had taken priority. It was variously assumed that the presence of the Western garrisons
guaranteed access; that the West could always get along with the Soviets and thus there
was no reason for written guarantees. The lack of a formal agreement enabled the Soviets
to claim that the Allies were in Berlin only with the special permission of the Soviet Union,
not because of their rights as victors, and that this special permission could be withdrawn.'
[From The Making of the Modern World by Christopher Condon]
Copyright reserved Please turn over
