ANDERSON JUNIOR COLLEGE

JC1 MID YEAR COMMON TEST 2018

Higher 2

HISTORY

Paper 1 Shaping the International Order (1945-2000) 9752/01

Paper 2 The Making of Independent Southeast Asia (Independence-2000)
9752/02
No Additional Materials are required.
Thurs 28 June 2018
2 hrs 10 mins

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your name and PDG on all the work you hand in, including this cover sheet.
Write in dark blue or black pen.
Start each answer on a fresh piece of writing paper.

Section A
Answer Question 1(a) and 1(b).

Section B
Answer one question.

At the end of the examination, fasten the answer to each question separately, with this cover sheet
attached on top of your answer to Question 1(a).

You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.

Question No. Marks

Section A
1 (a) /10
1 (b) /30
Section B
/30

Total Marks: /70

Name : __________________________________
Rebased Marks: /100
PDG : __________________________________

This document consists of 6 printed pages, including this page.

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BLANK PAGE

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Section A

You must answer Question 1.

THE ORIGINS OF THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

1. Read the sources and answer the questions which follow.

Source A

Cuba

Map showing the range of Soviet missiles in Cuba presented by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
to the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (Excomm), 16 October 1962.

Source B

Good evening my fellow citizens:

This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military
buildup on Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a
series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of
these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western
Hemisphere.

For many years, both the USSR and the US have deployed strategic nuclear weapons with great
care, never upsetting the precarious status quo which insured that these weapons would not be
used in the absence of some vital challenge. Our own strategic missiles have never been
transferred to the territory of any other nation under a cloak of secrecy and deception.

Our policy has been one of patience and restraint, as befits a peaceful and powerful nation. But
now further action is required – and it is under way; and these actions may only be the beginning.

From Kennedy’s radio and television report to the American people on the Soviet arms buildup, 22
October 1962.

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Source C

I recall that after his trip to Bulgaria in May 1962, Khrushchev told us that, while staying in that
country, he was thinking all the time of Cuba. He was worried that the Americans would organise
an intervention in Cuba with the aid of counter-revolutionary governments in Latin America or
would carry out a direct aggression. It was at this time that there appeared a plan that carried great
risk. This plan contained within it the risk of a war which the imperialists could unleash against the
USSR. But we decided that it was necessary to save Cuba.

The objective of bringing Soviet troops and strategic weapons to Cuba consisted only in
strengthening your defence potential. It was a deterrence plan, a plan designed to stop the
imperialist play with fire regarding Cuba. If the strategic armaments were deployed under
conditions of secrecy and if the Americans were not aware of their presence in Cuba, then it would
have been a powerful means of deterrence. We proceeded from that assumption.

From a memorandum of Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Anastas Mikoyan’s conversation with Fidel
Castro, 4 November 1962

Source D

You have been alarmed by the fact that we have aided Cuba with weapons, in order to strengthen
its defence capability against the US. Our aim has been and is to help Cuba, and no one can dispute
the humanity of our motives, which are oriented towards enabling Cuba to live peacefully.

You wish to ensure the security of your country, and this is understandable. But how are we, the
Soviet Union, to assess your actions, which are expressed in the fact that you have surrounded the
USSR with military bases; surrounded our allies with military bases; and stationed your missile
armaments there? Do you consider, then, that you have the right to demand security for your own
country and the removal of the weapons you call offensive, but do not accord the same right to us?

I therefore make this proposal: We are willing to remove from Cuba the missiles that you regard as
offensive. You will remove your missiles from Turkey.

From Khrushchev’s letter to Kennedy, 27 October 1962.

Source E

President Kennedy’s fears about Cuba came true on 16 October 1962, when National Security
Advisor McGeorge Bundy informed him that the Soviets were developing sites in Cuba for medium-
range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles equipped to carry nuclear weapons. U2 spy planes
photographed the Soviet activity. The revelation marked the onset of the most dangerous crisis of
the Cold War. One historian has labelled the Cuban Missile Crisis as ‘the two most important weeks
in human history,’ pointing to the potential for a nuclear holocaust and the destruction of
civilisation. Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro thus bear significant responsibility for the Cuban
Missile Crisis.

But the Kennedy administration also caused the confrontation. The administration had committed
acts of war against Castro’s Cuba. The president did not think about the consequences of his anti-
Cuban policies. In fact, at the beginning of the crisis, Kennedy conceded he did not understand the

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motives behind the missiles in Cuba. From the Soviet and Cuban perspective, all evidence pointed
to the conclusion that the United States wanted to invade Cuba and murder its leader. Desperate
leaders and nations conceive of desperate policies.

From a book written by two US scholars, 2003.

Source F

We believe that military intervention by the US will be required to overthrow the present
communist regime in Cuba. The US cannot tolerate the permanent existence of a communist
government in the Western Hemisphere. The present Cuban regime provides communism with a
base of operations for espionage, sabotage, and subversion against Latin America. The stability of
some governments in Latin America is already threatened by the overt and covert actions of the
Cuban government. While considered unlikely, it is possible for the Sino-Soviet bloc to establish
military bases in Cuba similar to US installations around the periphery of the Sino-Soviet bloc.
Establishment of such bases would increase US defence costs as forces are developed or shifted to
meet the threat.

From a memorandum sent by US military officials to the US Secretary of Defence, April 1962.

Now answer the following questions:

(a) Compare and contrast the evidence provided in Sources C and D on the USSR’s motivations
behind its placement of missiles in Cuba. [10]

(b) How far do Sources A-F support the view that the US was the main cause of the outbreak of
the Cuban Missile Crisis? [30]

© Anderson Junior College 9752/01 & 9752/02