Sources Analysis Answer Guide
Don’t forget: Quote often and begin your response with name of the author, not the Source number. Put the source number in brackets at the end of the quote/paraphrasing.
For example:
This is supported by Jones who states that 'History students would be more popular at parties if they used this method.' (Source 3)
SACE Sources advice
More successful responses:
were well-structured
contained relevant evidence from sources when required.
Less successful responses
provided responses without reference to any evidence from the source
stated that sources are limited without reasoning
did not address the nature of sources clearly
did not explain how the nature and origin of the sources were a strength or limitation
did not include of the source in the response.
1. Sources - The Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 181 5, outside the village of Waterloo (in present-day Belgium), the Duke of Wellington's British troops, along with General
Blücher's Prussian forces, defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French imperial army. This climactic battle ended Napoleon's reign and brought
a century of relative peace to Europe. Napoleon was later sent into exile on the island of St Helena, where he died in 1821.
Source 1. Talks of Napoleon at St Helena with General Baron Gourgaud,
'The men of 1815 were not the same as those of 1792. My generals were faint hearted men. Perhaps I should have waited another month before opening the campaign in order to give consistency to the army. I needed a good officer to command my guard. If I had had Bessiers or Lannes at its head I should not have been defeated. I ought to have had mounted grenadiers in reserve, their charge would have altered state of affairs.'
Adapted from Gourgaud, G 1815—18, Talks of Napoleon at St Helena with General Baron Gourgaud, Wentworth Press 2016, pp 185—88
Questions
1. According to Source 1, what was one characteristic of Napoleon's officers? (1)
Source 2. The causes of Napoleon Bonaparte's loss at Waterloo 1815
The are several reasons Napoleon failed at Waterloo. A significant factor in Napoleon's defeat was Blucher's timely arrival, which was not anticipated by the French. Napoleon had not prepared for the arrival of the Prussian army. Wellington, in his despatches to London, made it clear how important Blucher's arrival was to the battle outcome.
Another factor was the terrible weather. Heavy rain had turned much of the battlefield into a mud bath, which had greatly slowed the French during their attacks. This was particularly the case given that the forces of Napoleon were attacking uphill.[15] The weather had also delayed the French attack by several hours, and this was to prove crucial.
If the French had been able to attack in the early hours, they could have swept the British from the field before their Prussian allies' arrival. Then there was Napoleon’s mistake in organizing the first attack on the British center. The formation of the First French Corps was not suitable for a swift attack, and this meant that it was relatively ineffective. According to an official French investigation into the battle, the ‘inconceivable formation of the first corps, in masses very much too deep for the first grand attack.’
Adapted from Huh, E 2013, 'The causes of Napoleon Bonaparte's loss at Waterloo 181 5,' Emory. Endeavors in History, vol 5, pp 1 64—83, Emory College of Arts and Sciences.
Questions
2. Using evidence from Source 2, identify two factors that contributed to Napoleon's defeat. (2)
Source 3. Waterloo: The True Story of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles. B Cornwell 2016
“The survivors of that confusion would surely be bemused by the argument that Waterloo really was not that important, that if Napoleon had won then he would have still faced overwhelming enemies and ultimate defeat. That is probably, though not certainly, true. If the Emperor had forced the ridge of Mont St Jean and driven Wellington back into a precipitate retreat, he would still have had to cope with the mighty armies of Austria and Russia that were marching towards France. Yet that did not happen. Napoleon was stopped at Waterloo, and that gives the battle its significance. It is a turning point of history, and to say history would have turned anyway is not to reduce the importance of the moment it happened.”
Questions
3. What are two conclusions that can be drawn about the importance of Waterloo from Source 3? (2)
Source 4. The battle of Waterloo - royalmontrealregiment.com/
Upon Napoleon’s return to power in March 1815, many states that had opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition and began to mobilise armies. Two large forces under Wellington and Blücher assembled close to the north-eastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack in the hope of destroying them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France with other members of the coalition. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon’s last. According to Wellington, the battle was “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life”. The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon’s rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile.
Source 5.
Watch an excerpt (47:00 to 50:08) of the film The Battle of Waterloo 1875, The History of Warfare (TV series)
Questions
4. To what extent does the information in Source 4 support the information in Source 5?
Justify your answer with evidence from each source. (4)
Source 6. Lacroix, J 1815, Origine de l'étouffoir impérial, Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet,
Blücher (the Prussian General, on the left, as he and the British Duke of Wellington attempt to finally subdue Napoleon): 'My dear friend, that man is breathing on your side.' Wellington (on the right): 'Trust me, my friend. His business is done.' Napoleon (softly): 'Gentlemen, don't extinguish me; spare my life.'
Questions
5. Examine Source 6. With reference to the origin and nature of the source, assess the strengths and limitations for historians investigating the Battle of Waterloo. (5)
Source 7. The Battle of Waterloo. B Cornwell
Listen to the extract (from 21:14 to 22:14)
Questions
6. Evaluate this statement with reference to all the sources.
'The French were largely responsible for their own defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.'
2. The 1968 Olympics
Introduction: 1968 Olympic Games Protest
At the Olympic Games held in October 1968 in Mexico City, black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a peaceful protest in support of the civil rights movement in the United States of America (USA). The protest provoked both criticism and support in Mexico, the USA, and around the world. The actions of the two athletes continued to have an impact many years later.
Source 1. Black Power Salute Rocks 1968 Olympics - ABC News - October 17, 1968
Watch the report from 0.00 - 1.00 minutes.
Questions
1. According to Source 1, what were two protest actions taken by Smith and Carlos? (1)
Source 2. 'The Mexico City Olympics protest and the media', The Undefeated. Maraniss, A. 201 8
An extract from a 2018 article by Andrew Maraniss, an American author on race and sport.
'At the Baltimore Afro-American, 64-year-old sports editor Sam Lacy, who had been instrumental in pushing Major League Baseball to integrate two decades earlier, said he was embarrassed by the Nazi like salute , which he found to be "childish and in extremely poor taste." (Comparisons to the Hitler salutes in Berlin 32 years earlier were frequent. The Los Angeles Times also called the raised fists a "Nazi-like salute," and in the Chicago American, young reporter Brent Musburger dubbed Smith and Carlos "black-skinned stormtroopers ") The Pittsburgh Courier, on the other hand, ran a front-page photo of the medal stand scene with the caption "BLACK AND PROUD."
Note: Stormtroopers were a Nazi paramilitary organisation
Question
2. Is source 2 a primary or a secondary source? Use evidence from the source to support your answer. (2)
Source 3. 'How the black power protest at the 1968 Olympics killed careers', History, Blakemore, E 2018
It was only months after the assassination of Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and protests against the Vietnam War were gaining steam as well. In the lead-up to the Olympics, Smith and Carlos helped organize the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a group that reflected their black pride and social consciousness. The group saw the Olympic Games as an opportunity to agitate for better treatment of black athletes and black people around the world. Its demands included hiring more black coaches and rescinding Olympic invitations to Rhodesia and South Africa, both of which practiced apartheid. Though the project initially proposed a boycott of the Olympics altogether, Smith and Carlos decided to compete in the hopes they could use their achievements as a platform for broader change.
Source 4. Black power shocks the Olympics, The Guardian. 2020
The US team manager, Ken Treadway, said he was glad Carlos and Smith had been suspended. "Don't you think they deserve it?" he asked. The Negro athletes were divided, however, in their opinions. Vincent Matthews, of New York, a member of the 4x400m relay team, said he sympathised with the demonstration. "It was just to show we have power, haven't we?" He would consider joining any boycotts of the Games. But the Negro boxer, Art Reddan, said he would not join any boycott: "l have waited four years for this opportunity and I am not going to throw it away now. I am just going for the gold."
Tom McGibbon, the reserve for the single sculls, told me: "That's a pretty hard decision to take, kicking anyone out of the team. They knew long before they came that the boys might make some form of protest so that was when they should have done something about it."
Boycott - refusal to attend
Sculls - rowing competition
Question
3. To what extent does the view in Source 3 support the article in Source 4 . (4)? Justify your answer with evidence from each source. (4)
Source 5. 1968: Black athletes make silent protest. BBC. 2020
…two days later the two athletes were suspended from their national team, expelled from the Olympic village and sent home to America. Many felt they had violated the Olympic spirit by drawing politics into the games. On their return both men were welcomed as heroes by the African-American community but others regarded them as troublemakers. Both received death threats. Thirty years after their protest, the two men, who went on to become high school athletics coaches, were honoured for their part in furthering the civil rights movement in America.
Questions
4. What are two conclusions that can be drawn from Source 5 about attitudes towards the protest? Justify your answer with evidence from the source. (4)
Source 6. 'Blacks in the pool — Tommie', Nazareth, P 201
A larger-than-life sculpture of Tommie Smith by Brazilian artist Paulo Nazareth as part of a 2019 New York outdoor art exhibition.
Source 7. 'Olympic athletes who took a stand', Smithsonian Magazine
Both men insist they have no regrets about 1968. "l went up there as a dignified black man and said: 'What's going on is wrong." Carlos says. Their protest, Smith says, "was a cry for freedom and for human rights. We had to be seen because we couldn't be heard."
Questions
5. Examine Sources 6 and 7. With reference to their origin, nature, and content, assess the strengths and limitations of each source for historians researching the 1968 protest. (5)
6. With reference to all of the sources, evaluate the view that Smith and Carlos stepped onto the podium as heroes and stepped off as villains. (6)
3. The Shoah
The Shoah was the state-sponsored persecution and mass murder of millions of European Jews, Romani people, the intellectually disabled, political dissidents and homosexuals by the German Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.
Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution’ came to fruition during World War II, with mass killing centres in concentration camps. About six million Jews and some five million others, targeted for racial, political, ideological and behavioural reasons, died in the Holocaust—more than one million of those who perished were children.
Source 1. Hitler letter to Adolf Gemlich. (1919)
'The deduction from all this is the following: an antisemitism based on purely emotional grounds will find its ultimate expression in the form of the pogrom. An antisemitism based on reason, however, must lead to systematic legal combating and elimination of the privileges of the Jews, that which distinguishes the Jews from the other aliens who live among us (an Aliens Law). The ultimate objective [of such legislation] must, however, be the irrevocable removal of the Jews in general. For both these ends a government of national strength, not of national weakness, is necessary.'
Questions
1. Using evidence from Source 1, what are two conclusions that can be drawn about Hitlers recommendations for the Jewish community. (2)
Source 2. Source 2. Sheehan, S. (2005) The Holocaust.
Once in power, Hitler moved swiftly to remove the democratic system of government. Laws were passed reducing the freedom of the press and banning public meetings. Anti-Jewish laws were introduced, designed to remove Jewish people from social and cultural life. Jews were banned from government service and the law. Jewish doctors and university teachers were restricted from working, and the number of Jewish students that could enroll at German schools and universities was also reduced. Books by Jewish writers were burned publicly, and all Jews who had been naturalized as German after 1918, about 100 000 people, lost their citizenship.
Questions
2. According to Source 2, what were Hitlers first actions once in power? (2)
Source 3. Source 3. The Wannsee Conference. ushmm.org
The "Final Solution" was the code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews. In 1941, Adolf Hitler authorized this European-wide scheme for mass murder. The Wannsee Conference was convened to inform and secure support from government ministries and other interested agencies relevant to the implementation of the “Final Solution. The participants were informed that Hitler himself had tasked Heydrich and the RSHA with coordinating the operation. The men at the table did not deliberate whether such a plan should be undertaken, but instead discussed the implementation of a policy decision that had already been made at the highest level of the Nazi regime.
Question
3. What conclusions can be drawn about the importance of the Wannsee Conference in 1941? (2)
Source 4. Letter authorising the death sentence for homosexuals. 1941
Source 5. Prisoner classification system. Dachau Camp
A chart of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps. Dachau, Germany, ca. 1938–1942. Homosexuals were typically required to wear a pink triangle on their camp uniforms.
Question
4. Examine Sources 4 and 5. With reference to the origin and nature of these sources, assess the strengths and limitations of each source for historians investigating the Final solution (4)
Source 7. Diary of Adolf Guttentag Holocaust Diaries. ushmm.org
Sunday, September 27, 1942
'Our worries mount. The transports are operating steadily, taking the older people to Theresienstadt but the younger ones capable of work, to Poland. There, living conditions are said to be much more unpleasant. I nonetheless go back and forth, wondering whether I should decide to go along to Theresienstad after all. Even transportation to the local collection point, where one is detained and checked for a few days, is unpleasant. You are driven there, with your hand luggage, in a moving van. There you get food, and there your luggage is examined. Very specific necessities are permitted.'
Note:
Theresienstadt was cynically described as a "spa town" where elderly German Jews could "retire" in safety. This was a deception. The ghetto was in reality a collection centre for deportations to ghettos and killing centres in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe.
Questions
5. To what extent does the information in Source 6. support the information in Source 7? Justify your answer with evidence from each source. (4)
6. From the origins of the party, Nazi policies were specifically aimed at the genocide of the Jewish people in Germany
Evaluate this statement with reference to all the sources. (6)
Source 6. Documenting the Atrocities. yadvashem.org
Watch from 0.50 to 1.40