Example National 5 History questions - Evaluate the usefulness
- 1. Evaluate questions Era of the Great War Source A is from a newspaper interview with Prime Minister David Lloyd George, published on 22 August 1918. 1. Evaluate the usefulness of Source B as evidence of women’s work during the Great War. Source A is from a textbook written by a modern historian in 1989. 2. Evaluate the usefulness of Source B as evidence of the effects of the Great War on Scotland’s industries. I admire the splendid manner in which female volunteers came forward to work in administrative offices of all kinds. We would have been unable to cope during the past few months without women working in hospitals. The heroines who have flocked to work behind the front lines as ambulance drivers have faced daily danger. My message is: “Well done, carry on. You are helping to create a new world for yourselves and for your children”. The Great War had a considerable impact on Scotland’s fishing industry. By 1919 the hundreds of fishing boats that had been working for the Royal Navy were free again to go fishing. It meant there were far more boats chasing the same amount of fish, and many boats could not make enough money to stay in business. On top of that it was far more difficult to sell fish. Before the war most of the herring that were caught were sold to Germany and Russia.
- 2. Source A is from “Scotland and the Impact of the Great War 1914–1918” a book written by the historian John Kerr in 2010. 3. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the extension of the right to vote by 1918. Source A is from the memoirs of David Lloyd George who was in charge of the Ministry of Munitions in 1915. 4. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the impact of the Great War on Scottish women. Source A is an extract from rules introduced by the British Museum in 1914 after a painting was slashed by a Suffragette. 5. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of attitudes towards the Suffragettes by 1914 The 1918 Representation of the People Act gave some women over 30 the vote in national elections. They had to be either householders or the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 or graduates of British universities. The electorate increased to about 21 million, of which 8∙4 million were women. By the end of the 1920s women over 21 were also given the vote. The courage of the women engaged in these factories has never been sufficiently recognised. They had to work under conditions of real danger to life. What some of them probably dreaded more was horrible disfigurement — for one of the risks of the shell filling factories was toxic jaundice resulting from TNT poisoning. The poor girls were nicknamed “canaries”. They were quite proud of this. They had earned it in the path of duty. The British Museum is open to men and also to women if accompanied by men who are willing to guarantee their good behaviour and take full responsibility. Unaccompanied women are only allowed in if they present a letter of introduction from a responsible person guaranteeing the woman’s good behaviour and accepting responsibility for her actions.
- 3. Source A is from a textbook written by a modern historian in 1984. 6. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of Government control of everyday life in Britain during the war Source A is from Christabel Pankhurst’s autobiography, Unshackled, published in 1959. 7. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the impact of the Great War on the women’s suffrage movement. Source A is from the memoirs of Lieutenant George Craik, who fought with the 12th Batallion Highland Light Infantry in 1915. 8. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of conditions in trenches for soldiers during the First World War In August 1914, Parliament passed the Defence of the Realm Act. This allowed the Government to introduce whatever restrictions were necessary to protect the country during wartime. British Summer Time was introduced to give more daylight working hours. Pub opening hours were limited to prevent drunkenness. People who believed, in 1914, that life in Britain would not be affected much, were quickly proved wrong. High casualties on the Western Front led to conscription, forcing unmarried men between 18 and 41 to join the armed forces. As Suffragettes we could not be pacifists at any price. Mother and I declared support of our country. We declared an armistice with the Government and suspended militancy for the duration of the war. We offered our service to the country and called upon all members to do likewise . . . As Mother said, ‘What would be the good of a vote without a country to vote in!’ She called for wartime military conscription for men, believing that this was democratic and equitable, and that it would enable a more ordered and effective use of the nation’s manpower. When we arrived at Loos the trenches were in not too bad a state. The problems for commanders were organising supplies and suitable living conditions. The other problem was the disposal of the many dead lying all about. This could only be done under cover of darkness. To venture into no man’s land in daylight was instant death.
- 4. Source A is from Colonel Swinton, an officer who helped develop the tank during the first World War. 9. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the use of new technology during the first World War The Atlantic Slave Trade Source A is from the diary of slave ship captain, written in 1795 10. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A in describing the experiences of slaves on-board slave ships. Source B is from a book written by a modern historian 11. Evaluate the usefulness of Source B as evidence of slave revolts in the Americas. The immediate purpose of the tank was the destruction of the machine gun which, until the tank appeared, was responsible for more deaths than any other weapon. The tank was the one completely British invention in the war and a great one. It was a great life-saver of infantry. The tank took the place of the artillery bombardment, with more certain results. It also reintroduced the element of surprise in an attack which the artillery bombardment had lost. Troublesome slaves were kept in chains and only let on the deck a few at a time for exercise. To keep the slaves as healthy as possible the crew would whip them to make them dance during exercise time. In desperation some slaves tried to jump overboard. Many slaves died during the middle passage from harsh treatment, poor food and disease. So did many of the crew. The British needed all the military help they could get in the 1790s when they faced slave unrest in Dominica, St Lucia and Grenada. Their greatest concern was for Jamaica, which was the biggest, the richest and most troublesome of their slave colonies. By the early nineteenth century, the island was undergoing what seemed like an endless series of revolts. In one of the worst rebellions, 226 properties were damaged at a cost estimated to be £1 million.
- 5. Source C is a poster from 1855 advertising the sale of slaves 12. Evaluate the usefulness of Source C as evidence of how slaves were sold. Source D is from a book by Harriet Jacobs about her experience as a slave, written years later in 1861 13. Evaluate the usefulness of Source D as evidence of what happened when slaves were sold. On one of these sale days, I saw a mother lead seven children to the auction- block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all. The children were sold to a slave-trader, and their mother was bought by a man in her own town. Before night her children were all far away. She begged the trader to tell her where he intended to take them; this he refused to do.
- 6. Source E is from a book written by a modern historian published in 1987 14. Evaluate the usefulness of Source E as evidence of the impact of the slave trade on the Caribbean islands. Source F is from ‘Black Peoples of the Americas’, a book written by a historian in 1995. 15. Evaluate the usefulness of Source F as evidence of the treatment of slaves on the plantations. Source F is from ‘Black Peoples of the Americas’, a book written by a historian in 1995. 16. Evaluate the usefulness of Source F as evidence of the treatment of slaves on the plantations. The island of Barbados was transformed by the slave trade. By the eighteenth century, small farms had been replaced by large plantations which grew sugar more profitably. The island had once been a beautiful wilderness. However, accounts tell of how the island was slowly but surely cleared of its native people and its vegetation. These were replaced by plantations. These became the work place, and final resting place, of armies of African slaves. The planters in the Caribbean were afraid of a rebellion and they followed a policy of control through fear. Slaves had no rights. They were seen as possessions rather than human beings. Owners could deal with slaves exactly as they pleased and there was no punishment for owners who worked their slaves to death. Until the nineteenth century, no-one questioned owners burning or torturing their slaves. The planters in the Caribbean were afraid of a rebellion and they followed a policy of control through fear. Slaves had no rights. They were seen as possessions rather than human beings. Owners could deal with slaves exactly as they pleased and there was no punishment for owners who worked their slaves to death. Until the nineteenth century, no-one questioned owners burning or torturing their slaves.
- 7. Hitler and Nazi Germany Source A is from a textbook written by modern historians, published in 2000 17. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1939. Source A is from the diary of Ernst Thalmann, a Communist leader writing about his arrest in 1933 by the Gestapo. 18. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the use of intimidation by the Nazis. Source A is from a textbook written by a modern historian, published in 2013. 19. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. The murder of a Nazi diplomat in Paris on 7th November 1938 by a Jew sparked an episode of violent persecution in Germany. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels encouraged an attack on Jewish shops, homes and synagogues. This became known as Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) because of all the glass strewn across the pavements and streets of German towns and cities. Around 100 Jews were murdered during the violence. A further 20,000 were sent to concentration camps. After Kristallnacht the Nazis introduced new measures to persecute the Jews. Every cruel method of blackmail was used against me to obtain details about my comrades. But the approach proved unsuccessful. I was then assaulted and in the process had four teeth knocked out. They tried hypnosis which was also ineffective. Finally, a Gestapo officer with a whip in his hand beat me with measured strokes. Driven wild with pain, I screamed at the top of my voice. On buses and park benches, Jews had to sit on seats marked for them. Children at German schools were taught anti-Semitic ideas. Jewish children were ridiculed by teachers. Bullying of Jews in the playground by other pupils went unpunished. If Jewish children then chose not to go to school, the Nazis claimed this proved that Jewish children were lazy and could not be bothered to go to school.
- 8. Source A is from one of the school textbooks introduced by the Nazis in 1934 20. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of Nazi views on race. Source A is from the memories of Sebastian Haffner who lived in Germany in 1918. They were published in 2002. 21. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence about Germany at the end of the first World War For many centuries the Germans have protected Europe from the dangers of the east. It was German blood that defended Europe from Slav invaders and proved the superiority of our race. It is important that the Aryan race remains pure to fulfil its historic sacred mission to dominate inferior peoples and spread German culture and civilisation wherever possible. Although November 1918 meant the end of the war, I 'recall no sense of joy. There was only confusion as men returned from the Front. On Saturday the papers announced the Kaiser's abdication. On Sunday, I heard shots fired in the streets of Berlin. During the whole war I hadn't heard a single shot, yet now the war was over they began shooting. I felt uneasy. On November 11th, I saw the newspaper headline "Armistice Signed". I turned to stone. I felt my whole world had collapsed.