Compare and contrast the impact of Japanese occupation during the Second World War on two countries in South-East Asia.

Candidates will give an account of the similarities and differences in the impact of Japanese occupation during the Second World War on two countries in South-East Asia by referring to both throughout the response. Popular choices are likely to be Burma, Indo-China/Vietnam, Dutch East Indies/Indonesia, Malaya, Singapore or the Philippines. Candidates may address the similarities and differences chronologically and note the stages of Japanese occupation at different times in each country. Or they may identify the similarities and the differences separately. Alternatively, candidates may adopt a thematic approach and consider both in areas such as the restructure of government and administration, the development nationalist movements and leaders, the level of atrocities and violence, the social and economic changes, and the legacy after the war when the colonial powers returned.