GCSE Paper 2 - 2007 Sources and Questions @ IvoHistory

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                The Russia Revolution, c.1910-24 - Sources or Questions
                Conflict in Vietnam, c.1963-75 - Sources or Questions

Russia - Sources
Source A:	From a textbook on Russia, published in 1983.
Nicholas II was very poorly prepared for the responsibilities of being the Tsar. He had no knowledge of ordinary men and was ignorant of politics and government. This made him unable to make the weighty decisions that in the Russian system the Tsar alone must make. He lost much popularity after Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Revolution.
Source B:	A photograph of Tsar Nicholas taken in 1913 during the celebrations of 300 years of rule by the Romanov family.
Source C:	From the diary of the Tsar's sister, the Grand Duchess Olga. This was written after 1914.
He kept saying the he was totally unfit to reign. Yet Nicky's inability was by no means his fault. He had intelligence, faith and courage although he was wholly ignorant about government matters. Nicky had been trained as a soldier. He should have been taught statesmanship and he was not. On the other hand, he was still popular as Tsar in the years before 1914.
Source D:	A photograph showing striking workers killed by the police at the Lena goldfield, in Siberia, in 1912.
Source E:	From a speech made in 1913 by Alexander Guchkov, the leader of the Octobrist Party. The Octobrist Party was set up after the 1905 Revolution and called for moderate reforms.
Where is the government policy, or should I say lack of policy, carrying us? Towards an inevitable and serious catastrophe. The Russian people have been forced into supporting revolutionary groups by the actions of the government. Day to day, faith in the government is steadily declining and with it is all hope of a peaceful solution to the problems of Russia.
Source F:	From a school history textbook, published in 2001.
There was much opposition to the Tsar from peasants, town workers and different ethnic groups in the years before the outbreak of the First World War. This was partly due to the policies of Stolypin, who ruthlessly put down all opposition, and Nicholas II's refusal to give any real power to the dumas.

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Vietnam - Sources
Source A:	From a school history textbook on the war in Vietnam, published in 1989.
A survey conducted for the US magazine Newsweek in 1967 suggested that television seemed to have encouraged a majority of viewers to support the Vietnam war. When faced with deciding whether television coverage had made them feel more like 'backing the boys in Vietnam, or opposing the war', 64 percent of viewers replied that they supported the soldiers, 26 percent opposed the war while 10 percent had no opinion.
Source B:	An opinion poll conducted in the USA in January 1969.
A question posed to the Americans surveyed was: In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the United States made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam? The results were: Yes 52% No 39% No opinion 9%
Source C:	The view of a British commentator on television coverage of the war, 1969.
The development of colour television in the late 1960s has made a difference. Now the Vietnam war is being seen in colour in US homes. This seems to have made many US citizens far more anti-war than anything else. They see the full brutality of the conflict in close up and colour, and blood looks very red on the colour screen.
Source D:	A US citizen, who worked for the Agency for International Development, describes to a US journalist a raid by South Vietnamese troops on a South Vietnamese village in 1966.
The rubble of the village was still smoking. Children were whimpering and women were poking through the smouldering rubble of the houses trying to save any small possessions they could. The soldiers had also burned all their rice and had shot the buffalo and livestock. A farmer from the village asked the US civilian what agency he worked for. 'AID', replied the US civilian. 'Look about you', the farmer cried, pointing at the charred remains, 'Here is your US AID!'
Source E:	An official North Vietnamese photograph of a hospital in North Vietnam bombed by US B52s in 1972.
Source F:	From a school history textbook on Vietnam, published in 1998.
By the middle of the 1960s the USA had become more and more frustrated with its failure to stop the peasants supporting the Vietcong. They tried the 'strategic hamlet' programme but this caused even more resentment. In the end they relied on purely military methods. The US military became even more frustrated because they could not tell Vietcong supporters from ordinary villagers. This led to massacres like My Lai which increased the hatred of the peasants and encouraged greater opposition in the USA to the war.

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All sources and questions on this page taken from Edexcel Limited. Photos from various sources as acknowledged by Edexcel. Questions copyright of Edexcel.

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