Cold War Events

Cold War Events

An Iron Curtain Descends Across Europe

• Between 1945-1947 communists took control of many Eastern European nations. These were known as satellites of the Soviet Union

• Winston Churchill gave a speech called the "Iron Curtain" speech, describing the actions of the Soviet Union and the threat communism posed to democracy.

The Iron Curtain

Multiple Choice

In the 1950s, what was the status of most countries in Eastern Europe?

• members of the Common Market

• participants in the Marshall Plan

• allies of the United States

• satellites of the Soviet Union

Multiple Choice

After World War II, the Soviet Union established satellites in Eastern Europe primarily to

• promote constitutional democracy

• expand its own political power

• prevent the rise of new socialist regimes

• persuade Western Europe to abandon military alliances

Multiple Choice

The term "Iron Curtain" refers to

• scars left on the land by the trenches of World War I

• no-fly zone in northern Iraq after the Persian Gulf War

• border established between India and Pakistan after WWII

• western boundary of Soviet domination in Europe during the Cold War

Multiple Choice

The imaginary line that divided the Western European countries from the Eastern European countries after World War II was known as the

• prime meridian

• line of demarcation

• Iron Curtain

• Great Wall of China

Berlin Blockade

• The Berlin Blockade was an attempt by the USSR to limit the ability of the Allies to travel to their sectors of Berlin.

• Berlin was located in the USSR-controlled East Germany, but the Allies controlled western portions of Berlin.

• One June 24, 1948 Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin.

Open Ended

Why did the Russians blockade Berlin?

Berlin Airlift

• The United States and United Kingdom responded to the blockade by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin.

• Realizing they would not be able to force the Allies out without an armed conflict, the USSR forces lifted the blockade.

• Berlin remained divided for the rest of the Cold War.

Multiple Choice

The Berlin Airlift is associated with which policy?

• detente

• containment

• perestroika

• nonalignment

Multiple Choice

The Berlin Airlift ended when

• Joseph Stalin ordered the end of the blockade

• Winston Churchill delivered the “Iron Curtain” speech

• the United Nations negotiated on behalf of East Germany

• the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) threatened to use atomic weapons

• The arms race was a competition for supremacy in weapons and technology between the US and the Soviet Union.

• Each side built up their armies and weapons.

• One weapon that created fear was the nuclear bomb.

​

The Arms Race

Open Ended

What is an arms race?

• A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that releases a large amount of energy in the form of a nuclear explosion.

• The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs states that nuclear weapons are the most dangerous on earth and can destroy a whole city, killing millions.

​

Multiple Choice

According to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, why are nuclear weapons such a threat?

• they are expensive to make

• they can destroy a whole city, killing millions

• they are difficult to produce

Multiple Choice

Which event was seen as the end of World War II?

• the fall of Berlin

• the invasion of Poland

• the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• The DDay invasion

Multiple Choice

Which historical development followed the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan?

• Japan entered a period of isolation

• the war in Europe came to an end

• Japan annexed Korea

• The United States and the Soviet Union began an arms race

Multiple Choice

Based on this cartoon to the left, what is the author's point of view?

• Proliferation of military weapons could destroy the world. 

• The world's population is growing faster than its food supply. 

• The land masses of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are shifting

• Military technology is making the world a smaller place.

Limiting Nuclear Weapons

• SALT: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to limit the number of nuclear weapons held by each side of the Cold War.

Multiple Choice

Which action was a direct result of the SALT talks?

• The Soviet Union sold nuclear weapons to India and Pakistan.

• The power of the United Nations security council increased.

• Limits were placed on the number of missiles in the United States and the Soviet Union.

• China obtained additional nuclear weapons under Mao Zedong.

American and Soviet arms control agreements led to detente, or relaxation of tensions. The American strategy was to restrain the Soviet Union through diplomatic agreements.

Detente ended when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.​

Detente

Multiple Choice

What is detente?

• relaxation of tensions

• giving in to an aggressor to avoid conflict

• a strong country taking over a weaker one

• pride in your culture

• restructuring of government and economy

• farmers could sell goods on the free market

• limited private ownership

• elements of capitalism

Perestroika

• openness

• improved freedom of speech

• dissidents released from prison

• greater religious tolerance

• freedom of press

Glasnost

1985: Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power in the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev

Multiple Choice

Which policy did Mikhail Gorbachev initiate that allowed for freedom of speech and the press?

• perestroika

• glasnost

• Russification

• nuclear rearmament

Multiple Choice

The goal of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost was to

• expand collectivization and communes

• resume development of Soviet nuclear weapons

• stimulate economic growth and political discussion

• stop expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Eastern Europe

Multiple Choice

Which action occurred in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev?

• Peasants were forced onto collective farms.

• Citizens experienced more personal freedoms under glasnost.

• The United States and the Soviet Union ended diplomatic relations.

• The Soviet government increased its control over the Orthodox Church.

1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall

• The Berlin Wall was built to stop people from leaving East Berlin to West Berlin. People attempting to escape were shot on site.

• On June 12, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech asking Gorbachev to tear down the wall.

• Two years later, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.

• Germany was reunified and the Cold War was over, with the Soviet Union collapsing.

Multiple Choice

One reason for the construction of the Berlin Wall was to

• promote reunification of East and West Germany

• keep East Germans from fleeing to the Western sector of Berlin

• complete the post-WWII rebuilding of Berlin

• meet the requirements of NATO

Multiple Choice

During the Cold War, which event occurred last?

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• destruction of the Berlin Wall

• Berlin Airlift

• launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union

Multiple Choice

This 1989 photograph symbolizes the

• end of the Cold War

• importance of the Berlin Airlift

• creation of a divided Germany

• fear of Nazism among Germans

1989-1991: Ending the Soviet Union

• Due to Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika, the Communist party lost control of some levels of government.

• Gorbachev declared that all satellite countries had the right to decide what political and economic system they wanted.

• In early 1990, Gorbachev allowed these new republics to declare independence from the Soviet Union.

• By the end of 1991, all Soviet states had declared themselves independent.

• Gorbachev resigned and turned power to the first president of Russia: Boris Yeltsin

Multiple Choice

Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe by

• introducing the policies of perestroika and glasnost

• violating nuclear arms agreements

• invading Afghanistan

• signing the Camp David Accords

Multiple Choice

Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms of perestroika and glasnost resulted in

• an era of world peace and Soviet prosperity

• conditions that helped lead to the breakup of the Soviet Union

• a successful transition to a command economy in Russia

• censorship of the news media in Russia

Multiple Choice

Which set of problems most directly contributed to the situation shown in this 1991 cartoon featuring Mikhail Gorbachev?

• refusal to adopt and accept aid from the Marshall Plan

• a forced famine in Ukraine and rebellions in the gulags

• invasions by foreign troops and Soviet cities under military siege

• a deteriorating Soviet economy and secessionist republics desiring independence