OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project) Component 36 June 2023 question paper

Name one place where Akbar based his court.

Give one example of a decree (official order) issued by Jahangir.

Identify one feature of the Taj Mahal.

Write a clear and organised summary that analyses the power and strength of the Mughal Empire between 1658 and 1707 (during the reign of Aurangzeb).

Support your summary with examples.

Why was Shah Jahan involved in so many wars between 1627 and 1658?

Explain your answer.

4* ‘Babur’s conquests in northern India were successful because he was a skilled military commander.’

How far do you agree with this view of Babur’s reign between 1526 and 1530?

Give reasons for your answer.

5* ‘Akbar’s military conquests were his greatest achievement between 1556 and 1605.’

How far do you agree?

Give reasons for your answer.

What can Source A tell us about the Nazi government in March 1933?

Use the source and your own knowledge to support your answer.

Source A

An extract from a speech made by Hitler to the Reichstag on 23 March 1933 about the ‘Law to Remedy the Distress of People and German Reich’ (Enabling Act). The Act would give Hitler the power to pass laws without the approval of the Reichstag.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Reichstag! Today, the Reich Government and National Socialist German Workers’ Party [Nazi Party] have presented you with an extraordinary measure for your consideration. It is a ‘Law to Remedy the Distress of People and German Reich’.

We are presenting this because strong leadership is necessary to create stability, to deal with the economic catastrophe and to ward off the evils of communism. The weak politicians in Germany have been the cause of our decay.

Some of our planned and necessary measures currently require the approval of the Reichstag. But it would be inconsistent with our national uprising if the Government was required to request the approval of the Reichstag in every case. It is for this reason we are introducing an Enabling Act.

The Government is not motivated by a desire to get rid of the Reichstag. The Government will only make use of this law for the implementation of vital measures. The existence of the Reichstag is not endangered.

How useful are Sources B and C and Interpretation D for a historian studying Nazi occupation in western Europe between 1940 and 1945?

In your answer, refer to the two sources and the interpretation as well as your own knowledge.

Source B

A poster published in the Netherlands during occupation. The words say, ‘Men of the Netherlands, for your honour and conscience! Take a stand against communism. The Waffen-SS calls you!’

The Waffen-SS was the military wing of the SS. It fought alongside the regular German army.

Source C

An extract from an article in an illegal Dutch newspaper. The newspaper was called ‘Our People’ and the article was published in October 1943.

At the end of April this year, the German military commander announced that Dutch ex-soldiers were to be transported to Germany to work as forced labourers. Those who resisted risked the isolation, boredom and hardship of a German prison camp. Hundreds of thousands of our families saw their breadwinners in danger.

We must not underestimate our enemy. Certainly, the Germans have suffered defeat after defeat during the last year, but the Beast is not yet defeated. We cannot relax our struggles. We must persevere with fierce anger and push ourselves to the limit.

A breadwinner is a person in a family who works to provide the money that the family needs to live on.

Interpretation D

An extract from a book by historian Tony Judt. The book was published in 2011.

Typically, the Nazi occupiers joined forces with a local group within the occupied nation. In this way, a political group or minority that had been at a disadvantage in peacetime was now able to exploit the occupation to settle local scores. This also meant the Germans didn’t always have to administer and police the local territory all by themselves: they could rely on others to do it for them.

For example, in occupied Belgium, some Flemish-speaking nationalists were tempted by the idea of German rule as a way of breaking away from their French-speaking rulers. The Nazis willingly played along as it suited their purposes. They released Flemish-speaking Belgian prisoners of war in 1940 when hostilities ceased, whereas French-speaking Belgians remained in prisoner of war camps throughout the war.

8* ‘Between 1939 and 1945, wartime opposition to Hitler and the Nazis in Germany was small scale and insignificant.’

How far do you agree?

9* ‘Between 1933 and 1939, the main way the Nazis controlled the German people was by winning them over with popular policies.’

How far do you agree?