This is the official 2024 A Level H2 History Paper 2. Students can use it to review key topics and practice answering source-based and essay questions in preparation for future exams.
THE OUTBREAK OF THE THIRD INDOCHINA WAR
Read the sources, and answer the questions that follow.
Source A
We have been able to safeguard our threatened territory and independence with total mastery. We reject Vietnam’s claims and those of its allies of our weakness, and firmly believe we can do this because we enjoy the great support of the people of Kampuchea who have the strong leadership of the Kampuchean Communist Party. Our people are attached to the collective system from which they benefit. They will not allow Vietnam, which makes false claims about the Party, to swallow up Kampuchean territory without a fight. We have a courageous Kampuchean army which defeated imperialism and the cowardly servants of the United States. We have a strong economy which can support us, and a sound collective system.
From a speech by Pol Pot to party members, 27 September 1978.
Source B
The Kampuchean regime’s ideology and tactics were so extreme that it secured authority by targeting almost all aspects and segments of Cambodian society for destruction and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated two million of the country’s seven million people.
The food situation was very alarming. By the spring of 1978 nearly 1.70 million of Kampuchea’s population had succumbed to hunger, hunger-related diseases and extermination at the hands of Pol Pot’s clique. Vietnam absorbed hundreds of thousands of Kampuchean and ethnic Vietnamese refugees. The war and refugee influx disrupted Vietnam’s rice bowl region causing a serious food problem in Vietnam.
By the end of 1978, Vietnam was convinced that to protect the people of Cambodia and its borders, it was necessary to eliminate the Khmer Rouge. In addition, the large-scale exodus of refugees was causing heavy expenditure and the local rebel group in Cambodia desired support from Hanoi. Pol Pot aimed at acquiring the entire Mekong Delta by using strong military force. The border attacks increased in frequency and brutality.
Vietnam forces were also joined by the ‘United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea’ (UNFSK), a small contingent of mostly disaffected Khmer Rouge members.
From an Indian newspaper article by a senior Indian intelligence official, 2022.
Source C
Vietnam should not be seen as an aggressor. Its policy is to promote and develop the special relationship between the peoples of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It aims to strengthen the solidarity, mutual trust, long-term cooperation, and mutual assistance in all fields in accordance with the principle of complete equality and respect for each other’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It respects the legitimate interests of all three nations which have been associated with each other forever in their mutual opposition to common imperialist enemies and the building and defence of their respective countries. This is based on common political principles for the sake of each country’s independence and prosperity.
Statement by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, 31 December 1977.
Source D
Letters were published in the Vietnamese press from October 1977 describing horrific Khmer Rouge attacks on Vietnamese villages. Kampuchean soldiers were said to have opened fire and used axes, sabres and sharpened sticks to slay villagers. Such accounts are typical of the way in which totalitarian governments speak of their enemies, and they might easily be dismissed as propaganda. If they seem more credible, it is because they match refugee accounts of Khmer Rouge behaviour in Kampuchea itself and the way that Khmer Rouge soldiers are known to have performed in border villages where they have been fighting the Thais. The stories which have emerged from Kampuchea in the past two years have confirmed the impression of a vast and sombre work camp where toil is unending, rewards are non-existent, families are separated, and murder is a constantly used tool of social discipline.
From an article by a British journalist, April 1978.
Source E
The war could not have been possible without the inputs provided by Moscow and Beijing. Without a constant infusion of military aid and encouragement from the People’s Republic of China, Cambodia would probably have collapsed before the Vietnamese invaded. The string of border incidents between Communist China and Vietnam, and Beijing’s rhetoric against what it regarded as a Soviet–Vietnamese design for the domination of Southeast Asia encouraged a fully fledged Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea. The Pol Pot regime was China’s main resource in making a stand against a Soviet-backed ally on its southern frontier.
On the Vietnamese side, the Soviets had been coordinating massive aid and trade support for Vietnam. Since 1975, $1 billion a year has been contributed to Vietnam by the USSR to financially support the Vietnamese war effort. In November 1978, the two countries signed a treaty of friendship. This brought an immediate visit to Phnom Penh by the vice-chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.
From an article by a US academic, 1979.
Source F
The first cause of the war is the need for rice and cultivatable land by Vietnam. This has its origin in history, as the annexation of Cambodia by Vietnam in the seventeenth century came from a desire to gain more farmland.
The second cause is French colonial policy. The French took large areas of Cambodian territory between 1869 and 1942 which were of economic importance but were never given back. Independent Cambodia inherited colonial borders which were poorly defined and were difficult to defend. This led to border conflicts between Vietnam and Cambodia after 1954.
The third cause began in 1976. The Communist Party of Laos accepted Vietnamese supremacy. Only the radical leadership in Democratic Kampuchea did not yield to Vietnamese political power. Democratic Kampuchea had serious internal problems, a shattered economy and lacked modern sophisticated weapons and military-technological knowledge. However, Democratic Kampuchea became a real threat to Vietnam because of the domestic and foreign policy choices of the Khmer Rouge. Border incidents increased, and Vietnam was forced to establish an alliance with the USSR.
From an article by a German academic, 1983.
Now answer the following questions:
(a) Compare and contrast the evidence provided in Sources A and B about the regime in Cambodia. [10]
(b) How far do Sources A–F support the view that Vietnam was responsible for the outbreak of the Third Indochina War? [30]
Section B
You must answer two questions from this section.
You must support each answer with examples drawn from at least three countries.
EITHER
2 To what extent were government efforts to build national unity threatened by ethnic separatism in independent Southeast Asian states? [30]
OR
3 ‘Popular opposition to governments in independent states in Southeast Asia after 1945 was the result of economic grievances.’ How far do you agree with this view? [30]
AND EITHER
4 Assess the view that independent Southeast Asian states successfully modernised their agricultural sectors. [30]
OR
5 Assess the view that government intervention did more to promote than impede economic development in independent Southeast Asian states.[30]
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