AQA GCSE History · BC

Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945–1972

50 exam-style questions with answers for BC Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945–1972 in AQA GCSE History (spec 8145). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
State two decisions made at the Yalta Conference (February 1945). [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Germany would be divided into four zones (1); Berlin would also be divided (1); free elections in Eastern Europe (1); the USSR would join the war against Japan (1); the United Nations would be set up (1).
Question 2 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Explain why the Potsdam Conference (July 1945) was more tense than Yalta. [2 marks]
Answer:
Truman, who distrusted Stalin, had replaced Roosevelt, and Attlee replaced Churchill (1); the USA had the atomic bomb, and Soviet troops controlled Eastern Europe (1).
Question 3 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Describe how Germany was divided after the war. [2 marks]
Answer:
Into four zones controlled by the USA, USSR, Britain and France (1); Berlin, inside the Soviet zone, was also divided into four sectors (1).
Question 4 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Define the term ‘communism’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A system in which the state owns property and the economy, run by a single party, aiming for equality.
Question 5 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Explain how the atomic bomb affected relations between the USA and USSR. [2 marks]
Answer:
Stalin felt threatened because the USA had not shared the secret (1); it began an arms race, and the USSR tested its own bomb in 1949 (1).
Question 6 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
What were Stalin’s aims in Eastern Europe after 1945? [2 marks]
Answer:
To create a buffer zone of friendly states to protect the USSR from invasion (1); to spread communism (1).
Question 7 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
What was the ‘Iron Curtain’? [1 mark]
Answer:
Churchill’s phrase in 1946 for the division between communist Eastern Europe and the democratic West.
Question 8 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
What was the Truman Doctrine (1947)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A US promise to support free peoples resisting communism (1); it began with aid to Greece and Turkey and set out the policy of containment (1).
Question 9 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Define the term ‘containment’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The US policy of stopping communism from spreading further.
Question 10 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
What was the Marshall Plan? [2 marks]
Answer:
US economic aid of about $13 billion to rebuild Europe (1); to stop poverty that could encourage communism (1).
Question 11 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
How did Stalin react to the Marshall Plan? [2 marks]
Answer:
He refused it for the USSR and its satellites, calling it ‘dollar imperialism’ (1); he set up Cominform (1947) and Comecon (1949) (1).
Question 12 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
What was Comecon? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (1949), the Soviet alternative to the Marshall Plan.
Question 13 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Explain why Yugoslavia was significant in the early Cold War. [2 marks]
Answer:
Tito was a communist but refused to follow Stalin’s orders (1); Yugoslavia was expelled from Cominform in 1948, showing that the communist bloc was not united (1).
Question 14 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Why did Stalin begin the Berlin Blockade in June 1948? [2 marks]
Answer:
The West introduced a new currency (the Deutschmark) in its zones (1); Stalin wanted to force the West out of Berlin (1).
Question 15 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
Describe the Berlin Airlift. [2 marks]
Answer:
The USA and Britain flew supplies into West Berlin for about 11 months (1); Stalin lifted the blockade in May 1949 (1).
Question 16 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part one
State two consequences of the Berlin Blockade. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Germany was divided into West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) in 1949 (1); NATO was formed (1); tension increased (1).
Question 17 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Explain why Mao’s victory in China (1949) worried the USA. [2 marks]
Answer:
The world’s most populous country became communist (1); it seemed communism was spreading in Asia, supported by the USSR (1).
Question 18 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Why did North Korea invade South Korea in June 1950? [2 marks]
Answer:
Kim Il Sung wanted to unite Korea under communism (1); Stalin and Mao gave their approval and support (1).
Question 19 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Explain why the UN was able to send troops to Korea. [1 mark]
Answer:
The USSR was boycotting the Security Council, so it could not veto the decision.
Question 20 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What was the outcome of the Korean War? [2 marks]
Answer:
An armistice in 1953 left Korea divided near the 38th Parallel (1); it showed containment could work but at a high cost (1).
Question 21 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Who were the Vietminh? [1 mark]
Answer:
Ho Chi Minh’s communist nationalists who fought French rule in Vietnam.
Question 22 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What happened at Dien Bien Phu (1954)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Vietminh defeated the French, ending French rule in Indochina.
Question 23 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Explain why the Vietcong were effective against the USA. [2 marks]
Answer:
They used guerrilla tactics and tunnels and blended in with villagers (1); they were supplied via the Ho Chi Minh Trail (1).
Question 24 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Define the term ‘arms race’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Competition between the superpowers to build more and better weapons, especially nuclear weapons.
Question 25 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
When did the USSR test its first atomic bomb? [1 mark]
Answer:
1949.
Question 26 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What was Polaris? [1 mark]
Answer:
A US nuclear missile launched from submarines, first deployed in 1960.
Question 27 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Define the term ‘MAD’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Mutually Assured Destruction: neither side would attack because both would be destroyed.
Question 28 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What was NATO and when was it formed? [2 marks]
Answer:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, formed in 1949 (1); a military alliance in which an attack on one member was an attack on all (1).
Question 29 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What was the Warsaw Pact (1955)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A military alliance of the USSR and its satellites (1); set up in response to West Germany joining NATO (1).
Question 30 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Why was the launch of Sputnik (1957) significant? [2 marks]
Answer:
It was the first artificial satellite (1); it showed the USSR had rockets that could reach the USA (1).
Question 31 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Who was Yuri Gagarin? [1 mark]
Answer:
A Soviet cosmonaut who became the first person in space in 1961.
Question 32 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What did Apollo 11 achieve in 1969? [1 mark]
Answer:
It landed the first men on the Moon, a US victory in the space race.
Question 33 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
Define the term ‘the Thaw’. [1 mark]
Answer:
A period of improved relations after Stalin’s death in 1953, linked to Khrushchev’s talk of peaceful coexistence.
Question 34 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What reforms did Nagy promise in Hungary in 1956? [2 marks]
Answer:
Free elections and other political parties (1); Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact (1).
Question 35 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
How did the USSR respond to the Hungarian Uprising? [2 marks]
Answer:
Soviet tanks invaded Budapest in November 1956 (1); about 3,000 Hungarians were killed, and Nagy was later executed (1).
Question 36 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part two
What happened in the U2 Crisis (1960)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A US spy plane piloted by Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR (1); Eisenhower refused to apologise, so Khrushchev walked out of the Paris Summit (1).
Question 37 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961? [2 marks]
Answer:
About 3 million East Germans had fled to the West through Berlin (1); the loss of skilled workers embarrassed and weakened East Germany (1).
Question 38 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
How did Kennedy respond to the Berlin Wall? [2 marks]
Answer:
He did not use force to remove it (1); he visited in 1963 and gave the ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech (1).
Question 39 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
What happened at the Bay of Pigs (1961)? [2 marks]
Answer:
CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba to overthrow Castro (1); they were quickly defeated, embarrassing Kennedy (1).
Question 40 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
Why did Khrushchev place missiles on Cuba in 1962? [2 marks]
Answer:
To protect Castro from another US invasion (1); to balance US missiles in Turkey and strengthen his position (1).
Question 41 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
Explain why the USA saw missiles on Cuba as a threat. [2 marks]
Answer:
Cuba is only about 90 miles from Florida (1); the missiles could reach most major US cities within minutes (1).
Question 42 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
What was Kennedy’s ‘quarantine’ during the Cuban Missile Crisis? [1 mark]
Answer:
A naval blockade around Cuba to stop more Soviet missiles and equipment arriving.
Question 43 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
How was the Cuban Missile Crisis resolved? [2 marks]
Answer:
Khrushchev removed the missiles from Cuba (1); the USA promised not to invade Cuba and secretly agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey (1).
Question 44 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
State two results of the Cuban Missile Crisis. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: a hotline between Washington and Moscow (1); the Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963) (1); Kennedy’s reputation improved (1); Khrushchev was weakened (1).
Question 45 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
What was the Prague Spring (1968)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Dubček’s reforms in Czechoslovakia (1); including freedom of speech, less censorship and limited trade with the West (1).
Question 46 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
How did the USSR respond to the Prague Spring? [2 marks]
Answer:
Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 (1); Dubček was removed and the reforms reversed (1).
Question 47 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
What was the Brezhnev Doctrine? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Soviet claim to the right to intervene in any communist country where communism was threatened.
Question 48 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
Define the term ‘Détente’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The easing of tension between the USA and the USSR in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Question 49 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
State two reasons for Détente. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the cost of the arms race (1); fear of nuclear war after Cuba (1); the US wanted to leave Vietnam (1); the USSR’s split with China (1).
Question 50 · Spec 3.2.2 BC, Part three
What did SALT 1 (1972) agree? [2 marks]
Answer:
Limits on the number of ICBMs and submarine-launched missiles (1); the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty limited defensive systems (1).

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Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945–1972

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