AP World Hostory free essay sample

DIRECTIONS: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-9. The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise. This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that ?has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents ? uses all of the documents ?analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many ways as possible and does not simply summarize the documents individually ? takes into account the sources of the documents and analyzes the authors’ point of view ? explains the need for at least one additional type of document You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents. 1. Using the documents, analyze how the Cold War affected the goals of leaders of decolonization movements and new nations in the 1950s and 1960s. Historical Background: The Cold War conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, and their respective allies, emerged in the late 1940s. The conflict was reflected in the decolonization movements that followed at the end of the Second World War. Some nationalist revolutions became â€Å"hot spots† in this Cold War. Document 1 Notes of a meeting between Stalin and Kim Il Sung, 1949 †¦ Kim Il Sung says that after the liberation of Korea by Soviet troops, the Soviet Government and the Soviet Army rendered aid to Korea in the matter of economic development, in the matter of the development of Korea along the democratic path, and that the Korean government understands that without further economic and cultural aid from the Soviet Union it will be difficult for the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to restore and develop its national economy and culture. The assistance of the Soviet Union is required for the further development of the Korean economy and culture. Stalin asks what kind of aid. Kim Il Sung answers—economic and cultural. Stalin asks what precisely is needed. Kim Il Sung says that they have confirmed a two year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy. They need economic assistance to fulfill this plan and to strengthen the foundation of the economy. . . †¦ Kim says that in the south of Korea there are still American troops and that intrigues against North Korea by the reactionaries are increasing, that they have infantry troops but sea defense almost does not exist. The help of the Soviet Union is needed in this. Document 2 Manifesto of the Laodong Party (Vietnam Worker’s Party), 1951* The main task of the Viet Nam Laodong Party now is: To unite and lead the working class, the working masses and the entire people of Viet Nam in their struggle to wipe out the French colonialists and defeat the American interventionists; to bring the liberation war of the Viet Nam people to complete victory, thereby making Viet Nam a genuinely independent and united country. In the field of external affairs, the Viet Nam Laodong Party recommends: The Viet Nam people must . . . actively support the national liberation movements of oppressed peoples; unite closely with the Soviet Union, China and other peoples democracies; form close alliances with the peoples of France and the French colonies so as to contribute to the anti-imperialist struggle to defend world peace and democracy! *Note: By this time China and the Soviet Union had recognized the Party’s regime in Vietnam, but it was still struggling for control. Document 3 President Sukarno’s opening at the Bandung Conference, 1955 No task is more urgent than that of preserving peace. Without peace our independence means little. The rehabilitation and upbuilding of our countries will have little meaning. Our revolutions will not be allowed to run their course. . . . What can we do? We can do much! We can inject the voice of reason into world affairs. We can mobilize all the spiritual, all the moral, all the political strength of Asia and Africa on the side of peace. Yes, we! We, the peoples of Asia and Africa, 1,400,000,000 strong, far more than half the human population of the world, we can mobilize what I have called the Moral Violence of Nations in favor of peace. We can demonstrate to the minority of the world which lives on the other continents that we, the majority are for peace, not for war, and that whatever strength we have will always be thrown on to the side of peace. Document 4 Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech in Washington, D. C. , 1956 The preservation of peace forms the central aim of Indias policy. It is in the pursuit of this policy that we have chosen the path of nonalignment in any military or like pact of alliance. Nonalignment does not mean passivity of mind or action, lack of faith or conviction. It does not mean submission to what we consider evil. It is a positive and dynamic approach to such problems that confront us. We believe that each country has not only the right to freedom but also to decide its own policy and way of life. Only thus can true freedom flourish and a people grow according to their own genius. We believe, therefore, in nonaggression and non ¬interference by one country in the affairs of another and the growth of tolerance between them and the capacity for peaceful coexistence. We think that by the free exchange of ideas and trade and other contacts between nations each will learn from the other and truth will prevail. We therefore endeavor to maintain friendly relations with all countries, even though we may disagree with them in their policies or structure of government. We think that by this approach we can serve not only our country but also the larger causes of` peace and good; fellowship in the world. Document 5 Anwar al-Sadat’s speech at the First Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Conference, 1957 We cannot live peacefully in a world threatened by the shadow of war. We can no longer enjoy the products of our hands and the fruits of our labor in a world where plunder prevails and flourishes. We can no longer build and reconstruct in a world which manufactures weapons for destruction and devastation. We can no longer raise the standard of living of our peoples and stamp out diseases and epidemics in a world where nations vie with each other for the production of lethal weapons of massacre and annihilation. Gone for ever is the era where the future of war and peace was decided upon in a few European capitals, because today we happen to be strong enough to make the decision ourselves in that respect. Our weight in the international balance has now become preponderant. Only think of the colossal number of our people, our natural resources, the vastness of the area covered by our respective countries, and our strategic positions. You will surely come to the conclusion that the outbreak of war is impossible so long as we insist on peace, especially if we do not content ourselves with a mere negative attitude, but assume one of positiveness in favor of Peace. This transition from the negative to the positive is a fundamental basis worthy of our adoption. Document 6 Excerpts from Patrice Lumumba’s last letter, to his wife Pauline, before his assassination, 1960 Throughout my fight for the independence of our country, I never doubted the final triumph of the sacred cause to which my companions and I have dedicated our lives. But our country’s right to an honorable life [and] unrestricted independence goes against the wishes of Belgian colonialism and its Western allies, who have gained direct and indirect support . . . from certain high officials of the United Nations, an organization in which we placed all our confidence when we called for its assistance. . . . They have corrupted some of our countrymen, bought off others, and contributed to distorting the truth and sullying our independence. . . . What matters is the Congo and our poor people, whose independence has been turned into a cage. . . . We are not alone. Africa, Asia, free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the millions of Congolese who will not abandon the struggle until . . . our country is free of colonizers and their mercenaries. . . . . . . One day history will have its say, but it will not be the history taught by the United Nations, Washington, Paris or Brussels, but the history that will be taught in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history . . . a history of glory and dignity. . . . Long live the Congo! Long live Africa! Document 7 Tom Mboya, Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta’s government, Address at Conference on Tensions and Development, 1961 We need a continuing flow of technical, specialist, financial, and other types of aid. We will take it from you, and from any other nations ready to offer aid with no strings attached. Do not grumble when we take it. We take it because we need it, and we take it because it is given free. Remember, we are also capable of gauging the ulterior motives of all those who offer to help us. . . Our relations with the two leading powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, must be brought under the same reckoning. They have vast wealth; they are squandering millions on nuclear armament to ‘protect’ us, while they fail to protect us from poverty, ill-health, illiteracy, and our other basic enemies. We have made it clear to them that we shall never accept the role they are trying to devise for us, namely, that of pawns in their power struggle. No. This we shall never accept. Our internal and external policies will consistently be governed by what is best for our people, for our development and our future. Document 8 Fidel Castro’s Second Declaration of Havana, 1962 Since the end of the Second World War, the Latin American nations are becoming pauperized constantly. The value of their capita income falls. The dreadful percentages of child death rate do not decrease, the number of illiterates grows higher, the peoples lack employment, land, adequate housing, schools, hospitals, communication systems and the means of subsistence. On the other hand, North America investments exceed l0 billion dollars. Latin America, moreover, supplies cheap raw materials and pays high prices for manufactured articles. Like the first Spanish conquerors, who exchanged mirrors and trinkets with the Indians for silver and gold, so the United States trades with Latin America. . . . The duty of every revolutionary is to make revolution. We know that in America and throughout the world the revolution will be victorious. But revolutionaries cannot sit in the doorways of their homes to watch the corpse of imperialism pass by. The role of Job does not behoove a revolutionary. Each year by which Americas liberation may be hastened will mean millions of children rescued from death, millions of minds, freed for learning, infinitudes of sorrow spared the peoples. Document 9 New York Times article, 1963 Julius Nyerere, President of Tanganyika, warned his neutralist colleagues of an impending â€Å"second scramble† for [Africa between the communist and capitalist nations]. Mr. Nyerere said this new colonialism would be different from the nineteenth century â€Å"scramble† for Africa and Asia by the European countries. â€Å"But its purpose would be the same – to get control of our countries,† he said.