HISTORY
PAPER 1
GRADE 12 
NSC PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017

ADDENDUM

QUESTION 1: HOW DID THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE SOVIET  UNION RESPOND TO THE ECONOMIC CRISIS IN EUROPE  AFTER 1945? 
SOURCE 1A 
The extract below focuses on the reasons for the Marshall Plan (USA) and the  COMECON (USSR).

The Marshall Plan (or the European Recovery Programme) was a direct consequence  of the Containment Policy. It was an economic and social reconstruction (rebuilding)  plan for Europe designed to speed up recovery in the countries still suffering the  effects of World War II. The plan was named after Secretary of State George Marshall,  who presented the theory behind the plan in a commencement address at Harvard in  1947. He (Secretary of State George Marshall) believed that economic stability was  key to political stability, and crushing Soviet influence in Europe. 
Once talks began to put the plan in place, all of the Allies, including the Soviet Union,  in an effort to gain Stalin's trust, were invited to a meeting in Paris to negotiate the  terms of American aid in Europe. Unsurprisingly, Stalin was extremely sceptical  (doubtful) of the plan and believed it would create an anti-Soviet bloc. Though the aid  was open to all European countries, Stalin ordered those under his Eastern Bloc to  reject American aid and created a Soviet plan as a response to the Marshall Plan. 
In 1948 President Truman asked Congress to facilitate the implementation of the  Marshall Plan in 16 Western European countries. Aid under the Marshall Plan first  went to Greece and Turkey to continue to crush communist influence there … Money  from the Marshall Plan was mostly used to buy American imports, like food and fuel, as  local sources had been wiped out by the war … 
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) was founded in 1949 by the  Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. It was the  Soviet Union's and Eastern Bloc's reaction to the Marshall Plan and the Organisation  for European Economic Cooperation in Western Europe. 

 [From http://europe.unc.edu/teaching/ces-produced/cold-war-2/. 
Accessed on 25 October 2015.]

SOURCE 1B 
This extract focuses on Everett Bellows' view of the Marshall Plan. He was  the Assistant Executive Officer who was responsible for the implementation of the  Marshall Plan.  

It was, of course, the great and original initiative. It was unheard of – as far as I know,  and I do read some history – for any victorious nation to go in and rebuild the  battlefields, to reconstitute (modify) the economy; it was done with a dual purpose.  The immediate beneficiaries (receivers), the Europeans, needed the help. Secondly,  from the United States' point of view, it was important that they not collapse and fall  within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. So there was a great deal of political  purpose behind it. 
The other thing that people should know about the Marshall Plan was that the  Europeans did the job themselves. What we did was give them the tools to do it.  One of the tools was the counterpart fund*. We should take a moment to explain what  happened. 
When we shipped coal, wheat, iron, steel, whatever, to the Europeans, it was because  they didn't have the dollars to pay for it. They could have paid for it in their own  currency. Moreover, those purchases were made in the United States. The receiving  governments put up the equivalent (same) cash in their own currencies. So it had a  double impact. The materials were there. The dollar gap was closed by being set  aside. The resulting counterpart fund gave them the funds to rebuild bridges,  highways, hospitals, airports, schools, the kinds of things that no industrialist does  either here or there. 
It was a tremendous economic, psychological and political manoeuvre (plot), and it  was tremendously successful.  

[From http://adst.org/2015/05/the-marshall-plan-the-europeans-did-the-job-themselves/. 
Accessed on 10 June 2016.]

*Counterpart fund: Refers to the currency that some of the European countries  used. It was of lower value to the US dollar, but was used  as if it was equal to the US dollar rate. 

SOURCE 1C 
The source below is an extract from the Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Vyshinsky's  speech that he presented at the United Nations Assembly on 18 September 1947. 

The so-called Marshall Plan is a particularly glaring (obvious) example of the way in  which the principles of the United Nations are violated, of the way in which the  organisation is ignored.  
The United States has moved towards a direct renunciation (rejection) of the principles  of international collaboration (partnership) and concerned action by the great powers  and towards attempts to impose its will on the other independent states, while at the  same time obviously using the economic resources distributed as relief to individual  needy countries as an instrument of political pressure … The United States also  counted on making all these countries directly dependent on the interests of American  monopolies, which are striving to avert (turn away) the approaching depression by an  accelerated export of commodities and capital to Europe. 
It is becoming more and more evident to everyone that the implementation of the  Marshall Plan will mean placing European countries under the economic and political  control of the United States and direct interference by the latter in the international  affairs of these countries. 
Moreover this plan is an attempt to split Europe into two camps and, with the help of  the United Kingdom and France, to complete the formation of a bloc of several  European countries hostile to the interests of the democratic countries of Eastern  Europe and, most particularly, to the interests of the Soviet Union. 

[From http.//www.slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/nss/documents/vyshinsky-criticism-of-truman  doctrine.html.
Accessed on 8 June 2016.]

SOURCE 1D 
This cartoon by Herb Block (an American cartoonist), entitled 'IT'S THE SAME THING  WITHOUT MECHANICAL PROBLEMS', was published in the Washington Post on  26 January 1949. It depicts his perspective of the 'Marshal Stalin Plan'. 
MARSHAL STALIN PLAN
[From http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00652193/. Accessed on 5 June 2016.] 

QUESTION 2: WHAT WERE THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF CUBA'S  INVOLVEMENT IN THE BATTLE OF CUITO CUANAVALE  BETWEEN 1987 AND 1988? 
SOURCE 2A  
This extract by historian Edgar Dosmann, focuses on why the Angolan government  requested help from Cuba. 

South Africa's Operation Modular was unleashed two days later on  14 September (1987); instead of victory, the Angolan army suffered a humiliating  (embarrassing) defeat at the Lomba River at the hands of the SADF and its ally  UNITA … 
Pretoria (South African government) was now openly leading the war in Angola rather  than merely supporting UNITA. SADF units were deep inside the country and  General Malan visited his troops there to demonstrate that they intended to stay. In  fact, the SADF drew up military plans for two new operations, Hooper and Packer, to  build on Modular's success with the purpose of moving on Cuito Cuanavale and  destroying the FAPLA (Angolan army) brigades which had escaped at Lomba … 
In short, PW Botha (President of South Africa) had regained the initiative in the Border  War. On 11 November, Angola's independence day, Botha sent another message to  the Angolan leader by flying into Jamba for victory celebrations with Savimbi; it was  a display of South African power … 
Dos Santos' (President of Angola) 'fight and talk' strategy had utterly failed and his  Soviet advisors were discredited (disgraced) … There was nowhere else to turn but to  Castro … knowing that, in this extraordinary relationship, Cuba always came through in  the end.  

[From Countdown To Cuito Cuanavale: Cuba's Angolan Campaign by EJ Dosmann]

Related Items

SOURCE 2B 
This is an extract from a speech by Raúl Castro, Commander in Chief of the Cuban  army. It focuses on Cuba's involvement in Operation Carlotta during the Battle of Cuito  Cuanavale. 

Towards the end of 1987 thousands of South African soldiers were deployed against  FAPLA (Angolan army) that was carrying out an important operation in south-eastern Angola. As the unequal battles developed, part of the Angola unit came close to being  surrounded and annihilated (destroyed) at Cuito Cuanavale … 
After rigorous (thorough) consultations with the Angolan government and meticulous  (detailed) planning … we (Cuba) made the historic decision to reinforce our troops in  the People's Republic of Angola. This force, as you know, reached a total of fifty  thousand soldiers. It was entrusted with the mission of fighting alongside Angolan  troops to defeat the invading South African forces … 
By the time the South African strategists realised what we were doing, we had doubled  our overall forces and increased them many times over on the Southern Front. That  gave us control of the skies there for the first time in twelve years … 
We deployed a strike force on this front that included 998 tanks, more than  600 armoured vehicles and 1 600 artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft defence weapons.  From Cuba … Compañero (Comrade) Fidel Castro imbued (instilled) in all of us the  determination to achieve victory with a minimum of casualties, combining boldness,  and heroism with the philosophy (belief) of not risking the life of a single man without  first exhausting all alternatives … 
Cuito (Cuanavale) held out. All the South African attempts to advance were pushed  back. Their sophisticated long-range artillery (canons) kept bombing day and night.  But it didn't frighten the Angolan-Cuban forces and turned out to be ineffective … 

[From Operation Carlotta is Over! A Victory for Cuban Internationalism by R Castro]

SOURCE 2C 
This photograph shows the statue that was erected to commemorate the fallen heroes  at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. It shows two soldiers, one Angolan and one Cuban,  holding up a map of Angola with a star marking the village of Cuito Cuanavale where  the battle was fought between 1987 and 1988.  
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SOURCE 2D [From http://www.bradtguides.com/media/wysiwyg/destinations/africa/angola/cuito_cuanvale_ angola.jpg.
Accessed on 10 June 2016.]

The extract below is part of a speech that was delivered by former South African  President, Nelson Mandela, in Cuba on 26 July 1991. 

We in Africa are used to being victims of countries wanting to carve up (divide) our  territory or subvert (overthrow) our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in African history to  have another people rise up in our defence … 
The crushing defeat of the racist army (SADF) at Cuito Cuanavale was victory for the  whole of Africa! 
The overwhelming defeat of the racist army allowed the struggling people of Namibia  to finally win their independence! 
The decisive defeat of the apartheid aggressors broke the myth (fable) of the  invincibility (strength) of the white oppressors! 
The defeat of the apartheid army was an inspiration to the struggling people inside  South Africa! 
Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organisations would not have been  unbanned! … 
Cuito Cuanavale was a milestone in the history of the struggle for southern African  liberation! 
Cuito Cuanavale has been a turning point in the struggle to free the continent and our  country from the scourge (torment) of apartheid! 

[From How Far We Slaves Have Come! South Africa and Cuba in Today's World by N Mandela  and F Castro]

QUESTION 3: WHAT IMPACT DID THE CLOSURE OF HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE  ON THE COMMUNITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, IN 1958?  
SOURCE 3A 
This is an extract from a speech that Governor Orval Faubus delivered in Arkansas on  18 September 1958. It focuses on his decision to close high schools in Little Rock. 

I am fully aware of the deep concern of the parents for the continued proper education  of their children, and I am fully aware of the inconvenience to the learners in the  interruption of the proper educational processes … 
It was with a heavy heart that I found it necessary to sign the bills of the Extraordinary  Session of the General Assembly and to close the high schools in the city of Little  Rock. I took this action only after the last hope of relief from an intolerable situation had  been exhausted and to prevent the integration of schools. 
The Supreme Court shut its eyes to all the facts, and in essence said integration at any  price, even if it means the destruction of our school system, our educational processes,  and the risk of disorder and violence that could result in the loss of life, perhaps yours. 
This price, you as a people are unwilling to pay. This price I could not see you pay  without first offering to you a legal plan whereby a catastrophe (disaster) can be  avoided and still provide the opportunity of an education of our children. This plan  I now explain to you in detail. This plan is within the law … 
First. The federal government has no authority to require any state to operate public  schools. 
Second. The federal government has no authority to tell a state government for what  purposes it may levy taxes, or how the tax money may be expended (used). 
Third. In all the cases involving the public schools and integration, the federal courts  have said only that an agency of the state cannot maintain segregated schools. This  ruling does not apply in any way to private schools. Private schools are not affected by  these decisions, even though the schools receive aid from state and federal sources. 

[From http://www.blackpast.org/1958-governor-orval-e-faubus-speech-school-integration. 
Accessed on 8 May 2016.]

SOURCE 3B 
The source below explains how both black (African American) and white American  learners were affected by Governor Faubus' decision to close high schools in Little  Rock, Arkansas, in 1958. 

Perhaps the greatest consequences (results) were the effects on displaced learners and their families … The number of displaced white learners was 2 915. Of those,  thirty-five per cent found public schools to attend in the state. Private schools in Little  Rock took forty-four per cent of the displaced white learners. A total of ninety-three per cent of white learners found some form of alternative schooling. This was not the case  for displaced black learners. Among the 750 black learners who were displaced,  thirty-seven per cent found public schools in Arkansas to attend. However, fifty per cent of displaced black learners found no schooling at all. The NAACP (National  Association for Advancement of the Coloured People), through Roy Wilkins, stated that  opening private high schools for displaced black learners would defeat their intent to  gain equal access for all learners to public education. Interviews with many former learners indicate lifelong consequences because of this denial of a free public  education. 
Throughout the Lost Year several groups organised either to support closed schools or  to open them. The Lost Year ended with a recall (withdrawal) of three segregationist  members of the Little Rock School Board on 25 May 1959. Voters in Little Rock, after  a year of closed public high schools and after the firing of teachers, were finally willing  to accept limited desegregation. The federal courts followed on 18 June 1959, when a  three-judge federal district court declared unconstitutional Arkansas's closure of  schools and withholding of funds.  

[From http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry -detail.aspx?entryID=737. 
Accessed on 9 May 2016.]

SOURCE 3C 
The photograph below shows learners from Little Rock watching a televised lesson.  This was after Governor Faubus decided to close schools in 1958. 
THE LOST YEAR

 [From http://www.arkansawtraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/little-rock-integration. 
Accessed on 8 May 2016.] 
SOURCE 3D 
The source below outlines the role that concerned citizens of Little Rock played in  opposing Governor Faubus' decision to close high schools in 1958. 

In September 1958 a group of women met to form the Women's Emergency  Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) … they formed the first organisation to  publicly condemn the school-closing action and to support reopening the schools under  the Little Rock School District's desegregation plan. 
… WEC members continued to advocate (support) reopening the schools and its  members became the targets of outspoken segregationists, who labelled them  'integrationists'. This climate of intimidation made it difficult for white and black leaders  to meet openly to try and resolve the crisis. While their efforts made them targets for  harassment (provocation), the WEC persevered (continued). As the year progressed,  attitudes among Little Rock parents, particularly those with teenage children, began to shift towards accepting the desegregation of schools if it meant the reopening of  schools. 
Along with the citizen's group, Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP), and other  community organisations, the WEC called for a special election to recall (withdraw) the  segregationist board members. By contacting registered voters and visiting door to  door, the WEC was able to create enough support to recall the three segregationist  board members and to retain the three moderate ones. 
After the successful election, the Little Rock public high schools reopened on  12 August 1959 with limited desegregation … the reopening of the schools in the fall  of 1959 brought to a close an important chapter in the history of public education in  Little Rock. 

[From https://www.nps.gov/chsc/planyourvisit/upload/SitebulletinWEC.pdf/. 
Accessed on 11 May 2016.]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
Visual sources and other historical evidence were taken from the following: 
Castro, R. 1991. Operation Carlotta is Over! A Victory for Cuban Internationalism  (Editora Politica, Havana)  
Dosmann, EJ. Countdown to Cuito Cuanavale – Cuba's Angolan Campaign (Oxford,  London) 
http.//www.slantchev.ucsd.edu/courses/nss/documents/vyshinsky-criticism-of-truman doctrine.html 
http://adst.org/2015/05/the-marshall-plan-the-europeans-did-the-job-themselves/
http://europe.unc.edu/teaching/ces-produced/cold-war-2/ 
http://www.arkansawtraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/little-rock-integration
http://www.blackpast.org/1958-governor-orval-e-faubus-speech-school-integration  
http://www.bradtguides.com/media/wysiwyg/destinations/africa/angola/cuito_cuanvalea ngola.jpg 
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=737
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00652193/ 
https://www.nps.gov/chsc/planyourvisit/upload/SitebulletinWEC.pdf/ 
Mandela, N and Castro, F. 1991. How Far We Slaves Have Come! South Africa and  Cuba in Today's World (Pathfinder, Montreal)

Last modified on Monday, 16 August 2021 08:47