HKDSE History Practice Paper: International Relations And Twentieth-Century China And Hong Kong (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes, With Answers)

HKDSE History Practice Paper: International Relations and Twentieth-Century China and Hong Kong (12 Questions, 100 Marks, 75 Minutes, with Answers)

2026-11-04

HKDSE History: International Relations and Twentieth-Century China and Hong Kong

HKDSE History practice paper: 12 original questions on the League of Nations, Marshall Plan, NATO, Versailles, appeasement and modern China and Hong Kong, with answers.

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Paper details　Level: S6 | Subject: History | Time: 75 minutes | Marks: 100 | Questions: 12

Section A (Q1-Q4): Data Questions on International Organisations, the Marshall Plan and NATO (32 marks)

International organisations and Cold War institutions: membership data, aid shares, alliance expansion and blockade arithmetic.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	(League membership) The membership of the League of Nations was 42 in 1920, 58 in 1934 and 44 in 1939. (a) Calculate the percentage increase in membership from 1920 to 1934, correct to one decimal place. (b) Calculate the percentage change from 1934 to 1939, correct to one decimal place. (c) Explain three reasons for the fall in membership after 1934.	Answer: (a) (58 – 42) / 42 x 100% = 38.1%. [2 marks] (b) (44 – 58) / 58 x 100% = -24.1%, a fall of 24.1%. [2 marks] (c) Germany, Japan and Italy withdrew; the League could not punish aggression so members lost confidence; under appeasement smaller states followed the great powers and left. [4 marks]
2	(United Nations membership) The United Nations had 51 members in 1945, 99 in 1960, 159 in 1990 and 193 in 2011. (a) Calculate the net increase in membership from 1945 to 2011. (b) Calculate the percentage increase over the same period, correct to one decimal place. (c) Explain why membership rose sharply around 1960.	Answer: (a) 193 – 51 = 142 members. [2 marks] (b) 142 / 51 x 100% = 278.4%. [2 marks] (c) Decolonisation brought independence to many Asian and African colonies; 1960 was the Year of Africa, when 17 African states joined; new states saw UN membership as international recognition. [4 marks]
3	(Marshall Plan) The Marshall Plan provided 13.3 billion dollars between 1948 and 1952, of which Britain received 3.297 billion, France 2.706 billion and West Germany 1.448 billion. Use billions of dollars in your working. (a) Calculate the combined share of the three countries as a percentage of total aid, correct to one decimal place. (b) Calculate the British share, correct to one decimal place. (c) Explain two political aims of the Marshall Plan.	Answer: (a) (3.297 + 2.706 + 1.448) / 13.3 x 100% = 56.0%. [2 marks] (b) 3.297 / 13.3 x 100% = 24.8%. [2 marks] (c) Economic aid was meant to stabilise West European capitalism and reduce communist gains in poor countries; it tied recipients to a US-led economic order and confirmed American leadership in Western Europe. [4 marks]
4	(NATO membership) NATO had 12 members in 1949, 19 in 1999, 26 in 2004 and 32 in 2024. (a) Calculate the percentage increase in membership from 1949 to 2024, correct to one decimal place. (b) Calculate the percentage increase from 1999 to 2004, correct to one decimal place. (c) Explain two reasons for NATO enlargement after the 1990s.	Answer: (a) (32 – 12) / 12 x 100% = 166.7%. [2 marks] (b) (26 – 19) / 19 x 100% = 36.8%. [2 marks] (c) Central and East European states sought security guarantees against Russian influence; NATO absorbed former Warsaw Pact states through partnership and membership action plans; the United States used enlargement to keep influence in Europe. [4 marks]

Section B (Q5-Q8): Essay Questions on the Origins of War and Cold War Confrontation (36 marks)

War and crisis: the terms and impact of Versailles, League failure in Manchuria and Abyssinia, and causal judgement on appeasement.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	(Treaty of Versailles) In 1921 the Allies fixed German reparations at 132 billion gold marks. Referring to the territorial, military and reparations terms of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, assess the validity of the view that the treaty was so harsh that it must bear responsibility for the outbreak of the Second World War.	Answer: For the view – Germany lost about thirteen per cent of its territory and all colonies, its army was limited to 100,000 men with no air force or submarines, and reparations of 132 billion gold marks far exceeded its capacity; the terms bred deep resentment that extreme parties exploited, and the hyperinflation of 1923 deepened instability. [4 marks] Against the view – enforcement was limited: the Dawes Plan of 1924 and the Young Plan of 1929 rescheduled reparations, and the Lausanne Conference of 1932 virtually cancelled them; Germany rearmed in the 1930s, so the treaty did not destroy its power; the war also owed much to appeasement, League failure and the Great Depression. [4 marks] Conclusion – the treaty was an important long-term cause but not the sole or decisive one. [1 mark]
6	(Failure of the League) Compare the performance of the League of Nations in the Manchurian crisis of 1931 to 1933 and the Abyssinian crisis of 1935 to 1936, and explain how both crises weakened the credibility of the League.	Answer: Manchurian crisis – the League sent the Lytton Commission, which found Japan the aggressor, but the Assembly only adopted a policy of non-recognition of Manchukuo; Japan left the League in 1933 and faced no effective sanctions. [3 marks] Abyssinian crisis – the League declared Italy the aggressor and imposed limited economic sanctions, but oil and steel were not included and the Suez Canal stayed open; Italy annexed Abyssinia in 1936. [3 marks] Comparison and effects – in both cases a great power attacked a weaker state and the League failed to stop it, so members concluded that collective security was hollow, turned to separate alliances or followed the strongest power, and the credibility of the League never recovered. [3 marks]
7	(Appeasement) With reference to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936, the annexation of Austria in 1938 and the Munich Agreement of 1938, assess whether appeasement was the main cause of the Second World War.	Answer: Appeasement in practice – German troops remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936 without sanction; Germany annexed Austria in 1938; the Munich Agreement of 1938 gave Germany the Sudetenland, and in 1939 Germany occupied Prague, ending appeasement. [3 marks] Appeasement as the main cause – it allowed Germany to expand step by step without risking war and strengthened its army and confidence; Britain and France avoided war, so collective security collapsed and the USSR turned to a pact with Germany. [3 marks] Against a single-cause view – the Great Depression, resentment left by Versailles, weaknesses of the League and ideological confrontation were structural causes; Hitler expansionist aims predated appeasement. [3 marks]
8	(Berlin Blockade) From June 1948 to May 1949 the Western powers supplied West Berlin by air, flying 277,000 sorties and carrying about 2.3 million tons of supplies over 322 days. (a) Calculate the average daily tonnage delivered, to the nearest ton. (b) Explain why the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin. (c) Explain two effects of the Berlin crisis on the Cold War order.	Answer: (a) 2,300,000 / 322 is about 7,143 tons. [3 marks] (b) The Western powers introduced currency reform in their occupation zones and Stalin feared West Berlin would become a base for penetration of East Germany; he wanted to force the West out of West Berlin by cutting its supplies. [3 marks] (c) The airlift became a symbol of Western resolve and led to NATO in 1949 with West Germany inside the Western camp; Germany was formally divided into two states and the confrontation line in Europe was fixed. [3 marks]

Section C (Q9-Q12): Twentieth-Century China and Hong Kong (32 marks)

China and Hong Kong: from 1911 to the May Fourth movement, the two united fronts, early PRC transformation and the Great Leap Forward, and post-war Hong Kong governance.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	(From revolution to May Fourth) Describe the main political and intellectual changes in China between the Revolution of 1911 and the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and explain the significance of the May Fourth Movement for later developments.	Answer: Political change – the Revolution of 1911 ended the monarchy and created a republic, but Yuan Shikai made himself emperor, warlords divided the country, parliament was repeatedly undermined and a restoration attempt occurred in 1917, so politics remained unstable. [3 marks] Intellectual change – the New Culture Movement promoted democracy and science, criticised Confucian tradition, and the vernacular movement widened literature and education, as intellectuals rethought the relation between the state and the individual. [3 marks] Significance of May Fourth – in 1919 the Paris Peace Conference transferred German rights in Shandong to Japan, prompting student protests and nationwide support; the movement joined patriotism to intellectual awakening, encouraged party mobilisation and the spread of Marxism, and prepared the ground for later revolution. [2 marks]
10	(The two united fronts) Compare the background, form and outcome of the two Kuomintang-Communist united fronts of 1924 to 1927 and 1937 to 1945.	Answer: First front, background and form – Sun Yat-sen reorganised the Kuomintang around the policies of alliance with Russia, admission of communists and support for peasants and workers, and from 1924 communists joined as individuals; this was cooperation within one party, aimed at the Northern Expedition. [3 marks] First front, outcome – the purge of 1927 and the split between Wuhan and Nanjing ended cooperation and began a decade of civil war. [3 marks] Second front, background, form and outcome – Japanese invasion and the Xi Incident brought cooperation; it took the form of cooperation between parties, with the Red Army reorganised as the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army and the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region recognised; friction continued, the New Fourth Army Incident of 1941 left cooperation in name only, and the two sides broke again after victory in 1945. [3 marks]
11	(Early years of the PRC) Describe the measures taken by the People Republic of China between 1949 and 1958 in land reform, socialist transformation and the Great Leap Forward, and assess their achievements and costs.	Answer: Land reform – the Land Reform Law of 1950 confiscated landlord land and redistributed it to peasants, giving land to about 300 million peasants and destroying the rural landlord class, at the cost of many landlord deaths in struggle sessions. [3 marks] Socialist transformation – from 1953 to 1956 agricultural cooperatives and joint state-private ownership of handicrafts and industry were introduced; the transformation was declared complete in 1956, private enterprise almost disappeared and the state gained control of resources. [3 marks] Great Leap Forward – in 1958 people communes and backyard steel furnaces pursued unrealistic targets to overtake Britain and America; harvests collapsed and severe famine followed in 1959 to 1961, so early reconstruction succeeded in restoring order but radical mobilisation brought deep and lasting damage. [2 marks]
12	(Post-war Hong Kong) Describe the social challenges faced by Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s, and the colonial government response in anti-corruption, housing and education, then assess its effectiveness.	Answer: Social challenges – population grew rapidly, industrialisation produced labour disputes and housing shortages; a fare increase on the Star Ferry sparked disturbances in 1966 and large-scale riots broke out in 1967, challenging the legitimacy of colonial rule. [3 marks] Government response – the Independent Commission Against Corruption was set up in 1974 to curb corruption in the police and civil service; a ten-year housing programme from 1972 built public estates and new towns; six years of free primary education began in 1971 and nine years of free education in 1978. [3 marks] Effectiveness – corruption was brought under control, public housing and universal education improved living standards and nurtured a local generation, but political participation stayed limited and social tensions were only addressed through representative government in the 1980s. [2 marks]

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