HKDSE History Paper 1 Mock Paper (10 questions, 100 marks, 1 hour 45 minutes)

2026-11-01

HKDSE History

HKDSE History Paper 1 mock: 10 questions, 100 marks, 105 minutes, covering the origins of the First World War, Versailles reparations, the Depression, the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Cold War, decolonisation and the end of the Cold War, with marking notes.

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Paper details　Level: HKDSE | Subject: History | Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Marks: 100 | Questions: 10

Section A (Questions 1 to 5, 48 marks)

Answer ALL questions. Support your points with the sources and with historical knowledge, showing both arguments and evidence. For data questions, show all working and give numerical answers to the accuracy required.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	Source A: In 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy signed the Triple Alliance, promising mutual support if one of them was attacked by Russia. In 1907 Britain reached ententes with France and with Russia, forming the Triple Entente. Source B: From the 1870s the European powers expanded their armies and navies continuously. Germany passed a series of navy laws from 1898 to build dreadnoughts, and Britain answered with a two-power standard. (a) Name the two armed camps in Source A and their main members. (3 marks) (b) In which years were the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente formed, and how many years before the outbreak of war in 1914 was each? (2 marks) (c) Explain how the alliance system and the arms race turned a local dispute into a general European war. (3 marks)	(a) The Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia). (3 marks: one per camp name, one for the members together) (b) The Triple Alliance in 1882, 32 years before 1914; the Triple Entente in 1907, 7 years before 1914. (2 marks: half a mark per year and half per interval) (c) Alliance clauses turned automatic belligerency into a legal duty. After Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia mobilised to protect Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia and France and invaded Belgium, and Britain entered because Belgian neutrality had been guaranteed. A quarrel between two states thus became general mobilisation across Europe. The arms race convinced planners that war was inevitable and that striking first was essential, so once mobilisation timetables started they were almost impossible to stop and diplomacy was overruled by military plans. (3 marks: automatic alliance obligations 1, arms race and pre-emption 1, mobilisation timetables and diplomatic failure 1)
2	Source: The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 required Germany to pay reparations to the Allies. In 1921 the Reparations Commission fixed the total at 132 billion gold marks. Germany then had about 62 million people, and its national income in 1913 was about 43 billion marks. Also: in 1914 one US dollar bought 4.2 marks; in November 1923 one US dollar bought 4.2 trillion marks. (a) Calculate the average reparation burden per German. (2 decimal places) (4 marks) (b) How many times the 1913 national income was the total? (2 decimal places) (3 marks) (c) By what factor did the mark fall against the dollar between 1914 and November 1923? (3 marks) (d) How did the reparations terms weaken Germany? (2 marks)	(a) 132 billion divided by 62 million is about 2,129.03 gold marks. (4 marks: correct set-up 2, answer 2) (b) 132 billion divided by 43 billion is about 3.07 times. (3 marks: set-up 1, answer 2) (c) 4.2 trillion divided by 4.2 is 1 trillion, that is 10 to the power 12. (3 marks: set-up 1, answer 2) (d) Reparations had to be paid in foreign currency or goods, straining the budget and forcing huge note issues that produced hyperinflation and wiped out middle-class savings. In 1923 France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr and the government backed a general strike, halting production. The treaty also cut the army to 100,000 men, banned an air force and submarines and took territory, inflaming nationalism and giving extremist parties fertile ground. (2 marks: any two points)
3	Source A: US unemployment rose from 3.2 per cent in 1929 to 24.9 per cent in 1933. With industrial production at 100 in 1929, the index fell to 54 in 1933. Source B: The value of world trade fell from 36 billion US dollars in 1929 to 13 billion in 1933. Countries raised tariffs one after another. (a) Calculate the rise in unemployment in percentage points and how many times the 1929 rate the 1933 rate was. (4 marks) (b) Calculate the fall in industrial production and the fall in the value of world trade. (3 marks) (c) Explain how tariff barriers and rising unemployment reinforced each other in the Depression. (3 marks)	(a) The rise was 24.9 minus 3.2, that is 21.7 percentage points; the ratio was 24.9 divided by 3.2, about 7.78 times. (4 marks: rise with working 2, ratio with working 2) (b) Industrial production: 54 minus 100, divided by 100, times 100 per cent, equals minus 46.0 per cent. World trade: 130 minus 360, divided by 360, times 100 per cent, is about minus 63.9 per cent. (3 marks: workings 1 each, answers half each) (c) Countries raised tariffs and quotas to protect their own jobs, but that shrank export markets, so domestic firms lost orders and cut staff again; rising unemployment then cut purchasing power, so domestic demand and foreign trade contracted together in a vicious circle. The US Hawley-Smoot tariff of 1930 provoked retaliation, and world trade shrank by nearly two thirds in four years, deepening surplus capacity and unemployment everywhere. (3 marks: protectionism shrinks exports 1, unemployment cuts demand 1, vicious circle and retaliation 1)
4	Source: The Second World War began in Europe on 1 September 1939 and ended formally on 2 September 1945. Hong Kong surrendered on 25 December 1941, and the British navy returned to take over on 30 August 1945. (a) Calculate how many days the war in Europe lasted. (2 marks) (b) Calculate how many days and years the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong lasted. (2 decimal places) (3 marks) (c) Describe the impact of the occupation on Hong Kong society. (3 marks) (d) What changes to the international order followed the Second World War? (2 marks)	(a) From 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945 is 2,193 days. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (b) From 25 December 1941 to 30 August 1945 is 1,344 days, about 3.68 years. (3 marks: days 1, years with working 2) (c) The population fell from about 1.6 million before the war to about 600,000 as residents were deported or fled. Food was rationed, rice prices soared and people ate tapioca flour and bark. The Japanese forced the use of military yen, which became worthless after the war and wiped out savings. Schools closed, newspapers were suppressed and Japanese became a compulsory subject, narrowing cultural life. Guerrillas of the East River Column and Allied intelligence agents operated in the countryside, showing popular resistance. (3 marks: any three points) (d) The old European powers declined while the United States and the Soviet Union became superpowers; the United Nations replaced the League of Nations in 1945; colonial nationalism surged and decolonisation spread; the Bretton Woods system and GATT built a dollar-centred economic order; Europe split into eastern and western camps and the Cold War took shape. (2 marks: any two points)
5	Source A: In 1947 the US Secretary of State Marshall proposed a European recovery programme. Between 1948 and 1952 about 13 billion US dollars were granted to 16 recipient countries. US gross national product in 1948 was about 258 billion dollars. Source B: From June 1948 to September 1949 the Western powers broke the Berlin blockade by airlift, flying about 277,000 sorties and carrying about 2.3 million tonnes of supplies. (a) Calculate the average aid per recipient country. (3 marks) (b) What percentage of 1948 US gross national product was the total aid? (2 decimal places) (3 marks) (c) Calculate the average tonnage per sortie and per day during the blockade. (nearest whole number) (2 marks) (d) Explain how the Marshall Plan and the Berlin airlift shaped the Cold War. (2 marks)	(a) 13 billion divided by 16 is 812.5 million dollars. (3 marks: set-up 1, answer 2) (b) 13 billion divided by 258 billion, times 100 per cent, is about 5.04 per cent. (3 marks: set-up 1, answer 2) (c) Per sortie: 2,300,000 divided by 277,000 is about 8 tonnes. The blockade lasted 461 days, so about 4,989 tonnes a day. (2 marks: one per answer) (d) Marshall aid stabilised western European budgets and societies, denied communist parties support in poor countries and tied recipients into a US-led economic order, prompting the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation and later NATO. The airlift showed the West would not retreat under blockade; its success led the Soviet Union to lift the blockade in 1949, and Germany split into two states, turning the Cold War from political rivalry into confrontation between military blocs. (2 marks: aid and bloc division 1, airlift and division of Germany 1)

Section B (Questions 6 to 10, 52 marks)

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
6	Source: Population of Hong Kong (millions): 0.60 in 1945, 2.20 in 1950, 3.13 in 1961, 3.94 in 1971 and 5.1834 in 1981. (a) How many times the 1945 figure was the 1981 population? (2 decimal places) (2 marks) (b) Calculate the average annual compound growth rate of population from 1945 to 1981. (2 decimal places) (3 marks) (c) Calculate the average annual compound growth rate from 1950 to 1981. (2 decimal places) (2 marks) (d) Explain the causes of rapid post-war population growth and its effects on society. (3 marks)	(a) 5.1834 divided by 0.60 is about 8.64 times. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (b) 5.1834 divided by 0.60, raised to the power one over 36, minus one, is about 6.17 per cent. (3 marks: years 1, set-up 1, answer 1) (c) 5.1834 divided by 2.20, raised to the power one over 31, minus one, is about 2.80 per cent. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (d) Causes: large inflows of mainland residents during the war and the civil war lifted the population from 600,000 in 1945 to 2.2 million in 1950, migration continued after 1949, and a high birth rate with a falling death rate from better medicine and public health produced strong natural increase. Effects: severe housing shortage produced squatter huts and, from 1954, large resettlement estates; a young and plentiful labour force supported labour-intensive manufacturing; demand for schools, clinics and water soared, bringing universal primary education and new reservoirs; population pressure also drove new town planning and later family planning. (3 marks: causes 1, housing 1, economy or social services 1)
7	Source: Total exports of Hong Kong (million HK dollars): in 1960 domestic exports were 2,900 and re-exports 1,200; in 1980 domestic exports were 68,200 and re-exports 30,100. (a) Calculate domestic exports as a percentage of total exports in 1960 and in 1980. (1 decimal place) (3 marks) (b) Calculate how many times domestic exports and re-exports grew between 1960 and 1980. (1 decimal place) (3 marks) (c) Explain why Hong Kong developed export-oriented industry in the 1950s to 1970s. (2 marks) (d) What effects did industrialisation have on Hong Kong society? (2 marks)	(a) 1960: 2,900 divided by 4,100, times 100 per cent, is about 70.7 per cent. 1980: 68,200 divided by 98,300, times 100 per cent, is about 69.4 per cent. (3 marks: workings 1 each, answers together 1) (b) Domestic exports: 68,200 divided by 2,900 is about 23.5 times. Re-exports: 30,100 divided by 1,200 is about 25.1 times. (3 marks: workings 1 each, answers together 1) (c) After the Korean War began in 1950 the United Nations embargo on China hit Hong Kong re-exports, so capital and entrepreneurs turned to manufacturing; refugees provided cheap and hard-working labour; Shanghai textile capital and skills moved to Hong Kong and laid the base for textiles and clothing; the government kept taxes low and trade free, built resettlement factory estates in the 1950s and set up the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and the Trade Development Council to open overseas markets. (2 marks: any two points) (d) Manufacturing employment expanded sharply and many women entered factory work, raising household incomes and living standards; factories clustered in urban districts such as San Po Kong and Kwun Tong and spurred satellite towns and new towns; labour-intensive production meant long hours, cramped housing and safety problems, prompting labour law reforms from the 1960s; export earnings financed public housing, education and health care. (2 marks: any two points)
8	Source: In 1947 India left British rule and was divided into the dominions of India and Pakistan. India then had about 400 million people, of whom about 100 million were Muslims; about 14 million people were displaced during partition. In 1960 seventeen African countries became independent. (a) What percentage of India’s population was Muslim? (2 marks) (b) What percentage of the population was displaced? (1 decimal place) (2 marks) (c) Explain why British India was partitioned. (3 marks) (d) Explain why decolonisation in Africa advanced rapidly around 1960. (3 marks)	(a) 100 million divided by 400 million, times 100 per cent, is 25.0 per cent. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (b) 14 million divided by 400 million, times 100 per cent, is 3.5 per cent. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (c) Britain long practised divide and rule, drawing electoral constituencies along religious lines, which bred distrust between the Congress and the Muslim League. The League passed the Lahore Resolution in 1940 demanding a separate Muslim state. After 1945 Britain was financially exhausted and the Labour government wanted a quick exit. The 1946 cabinet mission and constituent assembly failed, and serious communal violence broke out in Calcutta and elsewhere, so partition was seen as the only way to avoid civil war. (3 marks: any three points) (d) The Second World War weakened the British and French economies and armies so they could no longer suppress nationalist movements; the United States and the Soviet Union both opposed old-style colonialism and the United Nations endorsed self-determination; educated local elites organised parties and unions, and leaders such as Gandhi and Nkrumah mobilised the masses; the Suez crisis of 1956 exposed British and French decline and Ghana’s independence in 1957 encouraged others; in the Cold War both blocs courted new states and pressed the colonial powers to hand over sovereignty. (3 marks: any three points)
9	Source: On 29 November 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181, recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. On 14 May 1948 Israel declared independence. From 5 to 10 June 1967 Israel fought a six-day war against its neighbours; before the war Israel covered about 20,770 square kilometres, and afterwards it controlled about 88,000 square kilometres. (a) How many days passed between Resolution 181 and the declaration of the State of Israel? (2 marks) (b) How many times the pre-war area was the area Israel controlled after 1967, and how many square kilometres were added? (4 marks) (c) Explain why the Arab-Israeli conflict has lasted so long. (4 marks)	(a) From 29 November 1947 to 14 May 1948 is 167 days. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (b) 88,000 divided by 20,770 is about 4.24 times; the addition was 88,000 minus 20,770, that is 67,230 square kilometres. (4 marks: ratio with working 2, added area with working 2) (c) Both peoples hold exclusive historical and religious claims to the same land, and the status of Jerusalem is especially sensitive. The 1948 war created a large Palestinian refugee population whose right of return and Israel’s security demands are hard to reconcile. After 1967 Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights and built Jewish settlements, making land for peace difficult. Outside powers have backed different sides for oil and strategic reasons, and wars and peace efforts such as the Camp David accord of 1978 and the Oslo accord of 1993 never settled the three core issues of final status, borders and refugees. (4 marks: any four points)
10	Source A: The Berlin Wall was begun on 13 August 1961 and opened on 9 November 1989. Germany was reunified on 3 October 1990. Source B: Between 1989 and 1991 communist regimes in Eastern Europe fell one after another; the Warsaw Pact dissolved in 1991 and the Soviet Union broke up in December of that year. (a) Calculate how many days and years the Berlin Wall existed. (2 decimal places) (4 marks) (b) Calculate the number of days from the building of the wall to German reunification. (2 marks) (c) Explain the causes of the revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989. (4 marks) (d) What effects did the collapse of the Soviet Union have on international order? (2 marks)	(a) From 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989 is 10,315 days, about 28.24 years. (4 marks: days with working 2, years with working 2) (b) From 13 August 1961 to 3 October 1990 is 10,643 days. (2 marks: set-up 1, answer 1) (c) The Soviet economy stagnated for years, heavy industry and military spending were crushing, and living standards were poor. Gorbachev’s glasnost and new thinking loosened ideological and political control without reviving the economy, so pent-up discontent erupted. Eastern European regimes had depended on Soviet military backing, and in 1989 Moscow made clear it would not intervene by force, leaving the local communist parties without a protector. Poland’s Solidarity, Hungary’s opening of its border and the opening of the Berlin Wall created a chain reaction. Western broadcasting, consumer culture and human rights ideas spread, churches and intellectuals pressed for change, and crowds took to the streets demanding free elections. (4 marks: any four points) (d) The bipolar order ended and the United States became the sole superpower as the Cold War closed; Russia inherited the Soviet seat but with much reduced power, NATO expanded eastwards and eastern European states turned to market economies and western institutions; new independent states appeared in Central Asia and the Caucasus, bringing regional and ethnic conflicts; the socialist camp dissolved and the world moved towards a mixture of multipolarity and globalisation. (2 marks: any two points)

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