Unit 10: Paper 3 — History of Africa and the Middle East (HL)
Topic 10.7: Colonialism and crisis in Rwanda and the Congo (c.1875-2003) Questions
Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History (2028) Topic 10.7. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.
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Choose the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), whose forces captured Kigali in July 1994 and ended the genocide.
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Choose the Hutu militia that carried out most of the killing at roadblocks and in churches during the 1994 genocide, often using machetes.
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Choose the correct answer. What was the main significance of the identity cards introduced in Rwanda in 1933–35?
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Which event forced an estimated 150,000–300,000 Tutsi into exile in neighbouring countries between 1959 and the early 1960s?
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To what extent did the transfer of the Congo from Leopold II's personal rule to the Belgian state in 1908 represent a genuine improvement for the Congolese people?
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Evaluate the claim that Mobutu's use of patronage was more important than repression in keeping him in power in Zaire for over three decades.
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Discuss the view that it is impossible to determine responsibility for shooting down Habyarimana's plane on 6 April 1994, and that this uncertainty does not matter for explaining the outbreak of genocide.
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To what extent do you agree with the claim that colonial-era ethnic divisions were the primary cause of Rwanda's civil war of 1990–1994?
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Evaluate the claim that the assassination of President Habyarimana on 6 April 1994 was the single decisive cause of the collapse of the Arusha peace process.
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Evaluate the claim that the Congo Free State under King Leopold II (1885–1908) should be considered an exceptional case of colonial brutality rather than simply a typical example of the Scramble for Africa.
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To what extent do you agree that the Congo Crisis of 1960–1965 made Mobutu's subsequent dictatorship inevitable?
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Choose the correct answer. Which economic activity was the primary driver of Leopold II's exploitation of the Congo Free State in the 1890s and 1900s?
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What name did Joseph-Désiré Mobutu give to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1971 as part of his personality cult and 'Authenticité' campaign?
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Who was overthrown as Prime Minister and then murdered in January 1961 during the Congo Crisis, with Belgian and US complicity?
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Choose the event that triggered the start of mass killing in Rwanda in April 1994.
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Choose the reason Laurent Kabila's government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) came into conflict with Rwanda in 1998, triggering the Second Congo War.
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Choose who succeeded Laurent Kabila as leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo after his assassination in January 2001.
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Choose the correct answer. What was the Force Publique?
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To what extent do you agree that economic exploitation, rather than racial ideology, was the primary driver of colonial policy in both the Congo and Rwanda before 1960?
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Discuss the view that Belgian colonial administrators, rather than pre-existing Rwandan social distinctions, were primarily responsible for turning Hutu and Tutsi identity into a rigid racial hierarchy.
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