IB History of the Americas
Prescribed subject, Exam paper 1:
1 hour.
Source-based questions. (a primary source booklet is provided.)
Question 1 will have two parts, each analyzing the message of one source. (3 marks for part A, 2 marks for part B)
Question 2 will ask “with reference to its origin, purpose, and content, assess the value and limitations for historians” for one of the sources. (4 marks)
Question 3 will ask students to compare and contrast what two of the sources reveal to a historian studying the particular aspect of the prescribed subject. (6 marks)
Question 4 will generally ask “using these sources and your own knowledge, explain...” (9 marks)
You should probably choose “Prescribed subject 3: The move to global war.” (It would not hurt to check the questions for subjects 2 and 4 also. Subject 2 includes the conquest of Mexico and Peru, and subject 4 includes the civil rights movement in the United States.) Answer all four questions for the subject.
Prescribed subject 3 focuses on military expansion from 1931 to 1941. Two case studies are prescribed, from different regions of the world, and both of these case studies must be studied. The first case study explores Japanese expansionism from 1931 to 1941, and the second case study explores German and Italian expansionism from 1933 to 1940. The focus of this prescribed subject is on the causes of expansion, key events, and international responses to that expansion. Discussion of domestic and ideological issues should therefore be considered in terms of the extent to which they contributed to this expansion, for example, economic issues, such as the long-term impact of the Great Depression, should be assessed in terms of their role in shaping more aggressive foreign policy.
Case study 1: Japanese expansion in East Asia (1931–1941)
Causes of expansion
The impact of Japanese nationalism and militarism on foreign policy
Japanese domestic issues: political and economic issues, and their impact on foreign relations
Political instability in China
Events
Japanese invasion of Manchuria and northern China (1931)
Sino-Japanese War (1937–1941)
The Three Power/Tripartite Pact; the outbreak of war; Pearl Harbor (1941)
Responses
League of Nations and the Lytton report
Political developments within China—the Second United Front
International response, including US initiatives and increasing tensions between the US and Japan
Case study 2: German and Italian expansion (1933–1940)
Causes of expansion
• Impact of fascism and Nazism on the foreign policies of Italy and Germany
• Impact of domestic economic issues on the foreign policies of Italy and Germany
• Changing diplomatic alignments in Europe; the end of collective security; appeasement
Events
• German challenges to the post-war settlements (1933–1938)
• Italian expansion: Abyssinia (1935–1936); Albania; entry into the Second World War
• German expansion (1938–1939); Pact of Steel, Nazi–Soviet Pact and the outbreak of war
Responses
• International response to German aggression (1933–1938)
• International response to Italian aggression (1935–1936)
• International response to German and Italian aggression (1940)