History Controlled Assessment Task. The Atomic Bomb

Transcription

1 New Specification General Certificate of Secondary Education History Controlled Assessment Task Unit 3: Investigative Study The Atomic Bomb [GHT31] VALID FROM SEPTEMBER 2015 MAY 2016 INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Candidates must use all ten sources provided. Use sources A, B, C and D in your response to Question 1. You must analyse and evaluate Sources E, F, G, H, I and J in your response to Question 2. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES Controlled Assessment is marked out of 50. Question 1 is worth 15 marks and Question 2 is worth 35 marks. Quality of written communication will be assessed in both questions. You should aim to write approximately 2000 words in total. Candidates work to be submitted May 2016 Controlled Assessment Tasks must comply with the Regulations as detailed in the Subject Specifi cation. NB: Some Controlled Assessment Tasks instructions may constitute more than 1 page. Please check you have all the information you need to complete the task if printing from a computer. 1 [Turn over

2 1. Study Sources A, B, C and D. Controlled Assessment Task: The Atomic Bomb Using Sources A, B, C and D, and your own knowledge, explain the effects of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in [15] Source A From The Boston Globe, 7 August In early August 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few days later, the Japanese surrendered, bringing the fighting, finally, to an end. Our country deliberately killed civilians on a mass scale. Yet the bombing also ended the deadliest conflict in human history. Source B A photograph showing the aftermath of the atomic bomb strike on Hiroshima, Japan, August [Turn over

3 Source C From an Internet website, commenting on the effects of the atomic bombs. Many atomic bomb survivors faced death from starvation and exposure. In Hiroshima, by December 1945, war victims associations had been set up to distribute wood, nails and glass panes, as well as coal and electrical heaters. They also dealt with care of orphans, community bathhouses and housing. In Nagasaki, it was 1946 before the first emergency housing was provided and by 1950 there were still thousands of families homeless. Source D From The Cold War 1945 to 1989 by Fiona McDonald and Richard Staton, published in Hiroshima was chosen as the target. The atomic bomb detonated 700 metres above the city in a huge devastating flash. A fireball, estimated at 300,000 degrees, melted metal and stone. People were vaporised to dust and almost every building and person within a range of 1.5 kilometres of the blast was destroyed. Survivors wandered about the streets dazed, burned and poisoned by the radiation. 90,000 were killed almost immediately. In the months and years that followed 50,000 more died of the lingering effects. 3 [Turn over

4 2. Study Sources E, F, G, H, I and J. Using Sources E, F, G, H, I and J, and your own knowledge, how far would you agree with the view in Source E that the use of the atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment? [35] Total [50] Source E From comments by Admiral William F. Halsey during a press conference, 9 September The use of the atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment. It was a mistake to ever drop it. American scientists had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it on Japan. It killed a lot of Japanese, but Japan had already suggested to Russia that it was ready to surrender. Source F From an interview with Brigadier General Paul Tibbets in The Guardian, I had no problem with dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. I knew we were doing the right thing. I thought, yes, we re going to kill a lot of people, but by God we re going to save a lot of lives. We won t have to invade Japan. Source G From a speech by Hiroshima survivor, Akihiro Takahashi, 6 August 2005 at the International Conference Centre, Hiroshima. The atomic bomb was used in 1945 to experiment with its destructive power. America might take the view that dropping the atomic bomb was the right thing because they believed it saved 1 million US soldiers and Japanese citizens. However, I d like to call upon the United States to stop and think because the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did kill over 300,000 people. Source H From a letter to the editor of The Columbus Dispatch, 4 August Winston Churchill wrote that the invasion of Japan might well cost a million American lives, and half that number of British. He also believed that, by preventing the deaths of the Japanese that would have resulted from an invasion, the bomb saved many more lives than that. So, to those of us who were living at the time, the bomb was a life-saving miracle. It even spared the Japanese people much additional destruction and loss of life. 4 [Turn over

5 Source I From The Arms Race: Opposing Viewpoints by David Bender, published in The first atom bombs cost $2 billion to develop. This put pressure on the American government to use them. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a uranium bomb. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was a plutonium bomb. The fact that a second bomb was dropped suggests that the American military wanted to compare the effects of the two bombs. The decision to use these bombs, therefore, was nothing less than a disgusting experiment. Source J A cartoon by Carey Orr published in the Chicago Tribune, 8 August It suggests that the reason for dropping the atomic bomb was America s revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbour. 5 [Turn over