Prescribed Subjects (Paper 1, choose 1; each has 2 cross-regional case studies) practice questions.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955–1956 was sparked by the arrest of:

• Rosa Parks for not giving up her bus seat
• Martin Luther King Jr. for leading a march
• Malcolm X for a speech
• Thurgood Marshall for a court case

Answer: Rosa Parks for not giving up her bus seat

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., it lasted over a year and ended with bus segregation ruled unconstitutional.

The Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 involved:

• Police firing on pass-law protesters
• A battle between rival guerrilla armies
• The release of political prisoners
• A vote to end apartheid

Answer: Police firing on pass-law protesters

On 21 March 1960, South African police opened fire on a crowd protesting the pass laws at Sharpeville, killing 69 people. The massacre led to the banning of the ANC and PAC and a shift toward armed resistance.

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 1937 marked the beginning of:

• The Second Sino-Japanese War
• The Russo-Japanese War
• The Pacific War against the USA
• The end of Japanese expansion

Answer: The Second Sino-Japanese War

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing in July 1937 escalated into the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan's full-scale invasion of China. The conflict merged into the wider Second World War.

Nonviolent protest movements typically aim to bring about change by

• armed insurrection against the state
• marches, boycotts and disobedience
• military coup
• withdrawing from public life entirely

Answer: marches, boycotts and disobedience

Nonviolent strategies seek to win moral and political support and expose injustice without armed force.

Which of the following is a method associated with nonviolent protest movements?

• boycotts and protests
• aerial bombing
• assassination of officials
• forced conscription

Answer: boycotts and protests

Boycotts, marches, sit-ins and petitions are characteristic nonviolent tactics used to apply pressure for reform.

'Appeasement' as a foreign policy involved

• concessions to an aggressor to avoid war
• forming binding alliances to deter aggression
• imposing sanctions on all neighbouring states
• declaring war pre-emptively

Answer: concessions to an aggressor to avoid war

Appeasement sought to preserve peace through concession; historians debate whether it delayed or emboldened aggression.