World War: past paper questions
Real questions on world war
The newest 13 of 13 written questions. Open one to see it on the real paper.
- 9489/11 · October/November 2025 · Q3a[15]
Read Source A and Source B. Compare and contrast these two sources as evidence about events in Guernica.
See it on the paper → - 9489/11 · October/November 2025 · Q3b[25]
Read all of the sources. How far do the sources support the view that Germany intervened in Spain in order to defeat Communism?
See it on the paper → - 9489/33 · October/November 2025 · Q1[40]
Read the extract and then answer the question. The great powers did not somehow ‘slip over the brink without any worries as if in a fit of absent mindedness’, as Lloyd George put it in his war memoirs. War had come as a result of individual decisions, and a rapid series of moves and counter-moves by the governments of...
See it on the paper → - 9489/13 · May/June 2025 · Q2b[25]
Read all of the sources. How far do the sources agree that the main reason for opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act was hostility to slavery? Section C: International option The League of Nations and international relations in the 1930s
See it on the paper → - 9489/31 · May/June 2025 · Q1[40]
Read the extract and then answer the question. No one can say exactly when the war started. Content removed due to copyright restrictions. be stopped. Once started, the momentum for war could not What can you learn from this extract about the interpretation and approach of the historian who wrote it? Use the extract an...
See it on the paper → - 9489/33 · May/June 2025 · Q3[40]
Read the extract and then answer the question. Truman’s decision to take command and alter the course of American foreign policy, like the origins of the Cold War itself, is more easily described than explained. Within the space of four months, a determination to minimise Soviet-American differences and hide them from...
See it on the paper → - 9489/42 · May/June 2025 · Q8[30]
Section C: International history, 1945–92
See it on the paper → - 9489/42 · May/June 2025 · Q9[30]
‘The fall of the Berlin Wall resulted in the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe and the USSR.’ Analyse this view.
See it on the paper → - 9489/32 · February/March 2024 · Q3[40]
Read the extract and then answer the question. The eighteen months following the Potsdam Conference are crucial to an understanding of the later development of the Cold War. During 1945–46 the American national mood was almost isolationist. US armed forces were swiftly demobilised, and American foreign policy officiall...
See it on the paper → - 9489/21 · May/June 2023 · Q8a[10]
Explain why Hitler supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War.
See it on the paper → - 9489/21 · May/June 2022 · Q9b[20]
How successful was the Non-Intervention Agreement of August 1936 in preventing foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War?
See it on the paper → - 9489/41 · May/June 2022 · Q1[30]
Evaluate the significance of terror in the establishment of a dictatorship under Mussolini.
See it on the paper → - 9489/42 · February/March 2022 · Q8[30]
Assess the reasons for the changing relations between the United States and the USSR in the period 1980–91. Section C: International history, 1945–92
See it on the paper →
What examiners said
Explain why Hitler supported the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. There were good responses to this question which explained several factors behind Hitler’s support of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, showing candidates’ clear knowledge and understanding of this topic. Less successful responses provided an identification of factors or a factor. Weaker responses provided a descript...
— Examiner report, May/June 2023, 9489/21 Q8(a) (Cambridge)
How successful was the Non-Intervention Agreement of August 1936 in preventing foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War? Some good responses were seen showing clear knowledge and understanding which led to a balanced assessment of the question. The actions of Germany, Italy, and the USSR with regard to the Nationalists and Republicans were noted alongside that of the volunteer International B...
— Examiner report, May/June 2022, 9489/21 Q9(b) (Cambridge)
Past papers, syllabus and examiner reports © UCLES (Cambridge University Press & Assessment). Questions are matched to topics from the official syllabus. AssessPro is independent and not endorsed by Cambridge.