Edexcel GCSE History Cold War

After this episode you will be able to answer three questions. What was the thirteen billion dollar bribe that Stalin rejected? Who was the Candy Bomber of nineteen forty-eight? And what space-age bluff forced the Soviet Union to the negotiating table? Welcome to PodThis and Study Session. We are starting in nineteen forty-five at the Yalta Conference. Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met to plan for peace.

The Grand Alliance was the wartime partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, and its breakdown began at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 as their shared goal of defeating Germany was nearly reached. In February 1945, the Big Three—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—met at Yalta in the Crimea to plan the post-war world. They agreed that once Germany surrendered, the country would be divided into four zones of occupation. These zones were allocated to the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. Even though Berlin was located deep within the Soviet zone, the leaders decided to split the capital city into four sectors as well. Stalin also agreed to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe that the Soviet army had liberated. This promise became a major point of contention later on. By the time the next meeting happened at Potsdam in July 1945, the atmosphere had shifted significantly. Germany had surrendered in May, which removed the primary reason for the allies to cooperate. There were also new faces at the table. President Roosevelt had passed away in April and was replaced by Harry Truman. During the conference itself, Winston Churchill lost a general election and was replaced by Clement Attlee. Truman was much more suspicious of Stalin’s intentions than Roosevelt had been. Historical accounts suggest Truman wanted to take a harder line against Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. He was particularly concerned because Stalin had not yet held the free elections he promised at Yalta. During the Potsdam conference, Truman attempted a diplomatic move often described by historians as a power-flex. He pulled Stalin aside and mentioned that the United States now possessed a new weapon of unusual destructive force. Truman was referring to the atomic bomb, which had just been successfully tested in the American desert. According to witnesses, Stalin appeared remarkably calm and simply told Truman he hoped the Americans would make good use of it. It later became clear through intelligence records that Stalin's spies had already informed him about the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was the secret United States program to develop nuclear weapons. The Soviet leader likely knew about the bomb's successful test before Truman even mentioned it. This interaction showed that the trust between the superpowers had completely evaporated. They also struggled to agree on reparations, which are payments made by a defeated country to cover war damages. Stalin wanted to strip Germany of its resources to rebuild the Soviet Union. Truman resisted this because he wanted a stable Germany to act as a barrier against the spread of communism. They eventually settled on a compromise where each power took reparations from their own zone. The Soviet Union was also granted a small percentage of industrial equipment from the Western zones. These disagreements meant the Grand Alliance was effectively dead before the final peace treaties were even signed.

The Long Telegram and the Iron Curtain speech defined the early Cold War. These events built on the growing distrust between the former allies. In February nineteen forty-six, a high-ranking American diplomat named George Kennan sent a message from Moscow. This message is famously known as the Long Telegram because it was over eight thousand words long. Kennan lived in the Soviet Union and studied their leadership closely for many years. In his report, he argued that the Soviet Union was fundamentally aggressive. He believed that the Soviets saw the outside world as hostile and viewed capitalism as a threat. According to Kennan’s analysis, the Soviet Union would try to expand its influence at every opportunity. He warned that they would not respond to logic, but they would always respond to the force of opposition. Because of this, Kennan recommended a policy called containment. Containment is the strategy of preventing the spread of communism to new countries. He believed that if the United States stood firm, the Soviet system would eventually collapse from within. This telegram reached the desk of President Harry Truman and changed his perspective. It confirmed his suspicions that the Soviet Union could no longer be treated as a partner. Just a few weeks later, in March nineteen forty-six, Winston Churchill added his voice to this growing tension. Churchill was the former Prime Minister of Britain and a close friend of the United States. He was invited to speak at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. President Truman traveled with him and sat on the stage during the presentation. During this event, Churchill delivered his famous Iron Curtain speech. He used the term iron curtain as a metaphor for the physical and ideological boundary dividing Europe. Churchill said that an iron curtain had descended across the continent, from the Baltic in the north to the Adriatic in the south. He pointed out that the capitals of Eastern Europe were now under the shadow of Soviet influence. In Churchill's view, the Soviet Union sought to expand their power and doctrines indefinitely. He argued that the West needed to show strength to discourage Soviet aggression. This speech was more than a description of a map. It was a call for Western nations to work together against a common threat. These two moments marked the end of American isolationism. Isolationism is a political policy where a country avoids alliances and international conflicts. The Long Telegram and the Iron Curtain speech convinced the American public and the government that they had to stay involved in Europe. They shifted from being a distant observer to an active opponent of Soviet expansion. Stalin reacted to these developments with great anger. In an interview with the Soviet newspaper Pravda, Stalin described Churchill as a warmonger. He compared Churchill’s rhetoric to the aggressive language used by the Nazis before the war. Stalin argued that the Soviet Union was only trying to ensure its own security after the losses of the Second World War. This verbal conflict showed that the trust between the former allies had vanished. The world was now clearly divided into two opposing camps. Question. What was the name of the July 1945 conference where Truman tried to intimidate Stalin with the atomic bomb? Answer. The Potsdam Conference.

The Truman Doctrine took the warnings from the Long Telegram and turned them into official United States policy. It moved the country from private observations to a public commitment to stop communism. In March nineteen forty-seven, President Truman gave a speech to Congress that changed the course of the Cold War. He promised that the United States would help any nation resisting a takeover by armed minorities or outside pressures. This promise became known as the Truman Doctrine. The main goal was containment. Containment is the strategy of preventing the spread of communism to new countries without necessarily attacking it where it already exists. Truman was specifically worried about Greece and Turkey. Britain had been supporting the Greek government in a civil war against communists, but they ran out of money. Truman stepped in and asked Congress for four hundred million dollars in aid for both countries. This speech signaled that the United States was no longer isolationist. It was now the global policeman against communism. To make containment work, the United States had to address the desperate poverty in post-war Europe. General George Marshall was the United States Secretary of State. He believed that communism only looked attractive to people who were hungry and hopeless. In nineteen forty-eight, he launched the Marshall Plan. This was a massive economic aid program that eventually provided thirteen point three billion dollars to European nations. The money helped rebuild shattered factories, clear away rubble, and restart international trade. The United States offered the money to everyone, including the Soviet Union, but there were specific conditions. Countries had to agree to share economic information and buy American goods. By nineteen fifty-two, industrial production in Western Europe had risen by thirty-five percent compared to pre-war levels. This success made communism much less appealing to Western voters. Stalin viewed this financial help as a direct attack on his influence. He described the Marshall Plan as Dollar Imperialism. This was his way of saying the United States was using its wealth to buy an empire and make Europe dependent on the dollar. He strictly forbade any Eastern European country from accepting the money. He feared that American economic influence would weaken his control over his satellite states. A satellite state is a country that is officially independent but is actually under the heavy influence and control of another nation. Stalin responded by creating his own organizations to keep the Eastern Bloc in line. In nineteen forty-seven, he set up Cominform, which stands for the Communist Information Bureau. This was a political organization that allowed Stalin to control the communist parties in other countries. He used it to make sure every satellite state followed the exact same laws and policies as Moscow. Cominform was also used to remove any leaders who weren't loyal enough to Stalin. For example, Yugoslavia was expelled from the group in nineteen forty-eight because its leader, Tito, refused to follow Soviet orders. Then, in nineteen forty-nine, Stalin created COMECON, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. This was the Soviet alternative to the Marshall Plan. It was an economic union designed to link the trade of Eastern European countries directly to the Soviet Union. Instead of trading with the West, these countries traded with each other for resources like oil and coal. By the end of nineteen forty-nine, Europe was divided by ideology and by two completely different economic systems. Question. Which 1946 message from George Kennan advised the US that the Soviet Union must be contained? Answer. The Long Telegram.

The Berlin Blockade was the first major physical standoff of the Cold War. It grew directly out of the economic and political divides created by the Marshall Plan. While the rest of Germany was being split up, Berlin sat like an island deep inside the Soviet-controlled eastern zone. In June nineteen forty-eight, the Western Allies introduced a new currency called the Deutschmark to help the economy in their sectors. Soviet records from that time suggest Stalin saw this as a threat to his control over the east. He responded by shutting down every road, canal, and railway leading into West Berlin. This was the Berlin Blockade. By cutting these links, it seems the Soviet leadership hoped to starve the Western powers out of the city entirely. The two million people living in West Berlin suddenly had no food, no fuel, and no way to get supplies. You might think the Allies would send in tanks to break the roadblocks, but they didn't want to start a hot war. Instead, they took to the skies. They started the Berlin Airlift, which the Americans called Operation Vittles. For nearly a year, Allied pilots flew everything the city needed over the Soviet zone. It was a massive logistical feat. At the peak of the operation, a plane landed at Tempelhof Airport every ninety seconds. They flew in thousands of tons of coal, flour, and even petrol every single day. Gail Halvorsen was a pilot who became a hero during this time. He was known as the Candy Bomber. He started dropping chocolate and chewing gum to the children of Berlin using tiny handmade parachutes. This simple act was a massive win for the West in terms of public perception. He eventually dropped about twenty-three tons of sweets. It made the Americans look like generous rescuers and made the Soviet blockade look heartless. By May nineteen forty-nine, the decision to reopen the borders showed that the Soviet leadership saw the blockade as a spent force. The airlift had worked. However, the friction of the blockade seems to have changed how Western leaders viewed their own safety. They no longer felt that economic aid alone was enough to stay secure. Diplomatic records suggest they felt a formal military alliance was now a necessity to discourage future Soviet moves. In April nineteen forty-nine, while the planes were still flying, twelve countries signed a treaty to create NATO. That stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a defensive alliance built on the idea of collective security. The most famous part is Article Five. It states that an attack against one member is an attack against them all. If the Soviet Union pressured one member, everyone else would step in to help. This changed the map of Europe into two armed camps. Question. What did Stalin call the Marshall Plan when he banned Eastern Bloc countries from accepting it? Answer. Stalin called the Marshall Plan Dollar Imperialism because he believed the United States was using its wealth to buy influence and control over Europe.

The Korean War and the Warsaw Pact represent the global expansion of the Cold War, moving the conflict from the streets of Berlin to the battlefields of Asia and formal military alliances in Europe. In 1950, the Cold War turned hot in the Korean Peninsula. This conflict was the first major proxy war. A proxy war happens when two powerful countries fight each other indirectly by supporting different sides in a local conflict. North Korea was a communist state supported by the Soviet Union and China. South Korea was a capitalist state backed by the United Nations, led by the United States. President Truman saw the invasion of the South as a test of the Truman Doctrine. This was the American policy of containment, which aimed to stop the spread of communism anywhere in the world. The war ended in a stalemate in 1953 with the borders roughly where they started. It showed that the United States was willing to use military force to contain communism outside of Europe. You could say it proved the Cold War was no longer just a European problem. While fighting happened in Asia, tensions in Europe continued to rise. In May 1955, West Germany officially joined NATO. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed by Western nations for mutual defense. This event deeply alarmed the Soviet leadership. They viewed a rearmed Germany as a direct threat to their security. Historical readings suggest that Soviet leaders feared a repeat of the invasions they suffered during the two World Wars. They needed a way to consolidate their control over Eastern Europe. The Soviet response came just one week after West Germany joined NATO. They created the Warsaw Pact. This was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe. Satellite states are countries that are formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence from another country. The pact included nations like Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Members promised to defend each other if any one of them was attacked. By 1955, Europe was formally divided into two rival military camps. This meant any localized conflict could now spark a massive war between the two superpowers. It solidified the Iron Curtain that Winston Churchill had described years earlier. How did the global situation look by the mid-1950s? We had a hot war in Asia that ended in a draw. We had West Germany back in uniform as part of a Western alliance. And we had the Soviet Union locking its neighbors into a formal military block. The lines were drawn clearly. Both sides were now heavily armed and organized into two distinct teams. Question. What was the nickname given to Gail Halvorsen during the Berlin Airlift? Answer. His nickname was the Candy Bomber. He earned this by dropping small parachutes loaded with sweets for the children of West Berlin.

So far, we've traced the start of the Cold War through the Truman Doctrine, the Berlin Blockade, and the formation of military alliances, leading us to a moment of unexpected change in Soviet leadership. In 1956, the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech that changed how the world viewed the Kremlin. He spoke for four hours to a private meeting of Communist leaders, where he openly criticized the methods of his predecessor, Joseph Stalin. This shift is called De-Stalinization, which means the policy of moving away from the strict control Stalin used. Khrushchev’s words were meant to be private, but the details leaked out quickly. Could this be the end of the strict Soviet grip on Eastern Europe? People in countries like Hungary heard these reports and began to hope for more political freedom. In Hungary, the population was tired of high food prices and the lack of basic liberties under their leader, Matyas Rakosi. In October 1956, students and workers took to the streets of Budapest to demand change. Khrushchev responded by allowing a more popular reformer named Imre Nagy to become the new Prime Minister. Nagy wanted to introduce changes like free elections and the return of private farms. For a few days, it seemed like the Soviet Union might actually allow a satellite state to choose its own path. However, the situation changed when Nagy made a bold announcement. He stated that Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact, which was the military alliance connecting the Soviet Union to its Eastern European neighbors. Nagy also declared that Hungary would become a neutral nation. Khrushchev likely saw this as a threat to the safety of the Soviet borders. He reportedly feared that if one country left the alliance, the entire Soviet buffer zone would fall apart. How would the Soviet Union respond to a country trying to leave its military alliance? To prevent this, Khrushchev sent a massive military force into Hungary in November 1956. About 1,000 tanks and 200,000 Soviet troops entered Budapest to restore order. The Soviet forces encountered local resistance, and the interaction resulted in the deaths of over 2,500 Hungarians. Nagy was arrested and eventually executed for his role in the uprising. This event showed the world that De-Stalinization had very strict limits. Khrushchev was willing to talk about reform, but he would not let any country exit the Soviet sphere of influence. The West watched the events unfold but did not intervene, which suggested that the United States would not risk a direct war over an Eastern European country. Question. Which 1955 military alliance was formed by the Soviet Union in response to West Germany joining NATO? Answer. The Warsaw Pact.

The U2 spy plane incident and the building of the Berlin Wall put an end to the brief period of peace that followed the Hungarian Uprising. In May nineteen-sixty, the Soviet Union shot down an American U2 plane. These planes were built to fly at seventy-thousand feet so they could take secret photos of Soviet military bases. The pilot was Gary Powers. President Eisenhower tried to cover up the mission at first. He claimed it was just a weather plane that had lost its way. But then, Khrushchev revealed that the pilot had been captured alive along with his cameras. This caught the Americans in a lie and ruined the Paris Peace Summit. That summit was supposed to be a chance for leaders to decide the future of Berlin. Instead, Khrushchev walked out because Eisenhower wouldn't apologize for the spy flights. By nineteen-sixty-one, Berlin had become a major problem for the East. A lot of people were leaving East Germany to live in the West. This movement is often called the brain drain. It involved the most talented workers, like doctors, teachers, and engineers. They left because life in West Berlin was more prosperous thanks to American investment. Between nineteen-forty-nine and nineteen-sixty-one, roughly four million people fled to the West. This was a massive embarrassment for the Soviet Union. It made it look like people preferred capitalism over communism. Khrushchev knew he had to do something to keep the East German economy from collapsing. On the night of August thirteenth, nineteen-sixty-one, the borders were closed without any warning. East German soldiers started building a barbed wire fence across the city. Over the next few months, they replaced the wire with a permanent concrete wall. The wall was twenty-seven miles long and stood nearly twelve feet high. It completely surrounded West Berlin. This turned the area into an island inside East Germany. Behind the wall lay what they called the death strip. This was a wide stretch of land filled with mines, tripwires, and fierce dogs. Guards in watchtowers had orders to shoot anyone trying to escape to the West. The wall changed the Cold War in a big way. It stopped the refugee crisis and stabilized the East German economy. But it was a disaster for Soviet propaganda. It looked like the communist government had to imprison its own people just to make them stay. In the West, the wall became a symbol of tyranny. President Kennedy visited the city in nineteen-sixty-three to show his support for the people of West Berlin. He famously said that a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war. He meant that even though the wall was a tragedy, it at least prevented a direct military conflict between the superpowers. Question. Who was the Hungarian leader who announced Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact in 1956? Answer. Imre Nagy was the leader who made that announcement.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is the moment Cold War tensions reached their absolute peak after the construction of the Berlin Wall. In October of that year, American U2 spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites being built on the island of Cuba. Cuba is located only 90 miles from the coast of Florida. This placement meant Soviet missiles could hit almost any major city in the United States within minutes. President John F. Kennedy viewed this as an unacceptable threat to national security. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, likely saw the move as a way to protect Cuba from another American-led invasion. He also probably wanted to counter the American nuclear missiles already stationed in Turkey. The world spent 13 days in October 1962 waiting to see if a nuclear war would begin. Kennedy assembled a group of advisors known as ExComm, which stands for the Executive Committee of the National Security Council. They spent days debating whether to launch a direct air strike on the missile sites or a full military invasion. Kennedy eventually chose a naval blockade to stop Soviet ships from delivering any more military equipment. He specifically used the word quarantine to describe this action. In international law, a blockade is considered an act of war. A quarantine sounds like a more defensive measure to protect the country. For several days, the world watched as Soviet ships carrying missiles sailed toward the American line. Khrushchev eventually ordered his ships to stop or turn back to avoid a direct interaction with the American navy. The standoff ended after a series of tense letters were exchanged between the two leaders. Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites and return the weapons to the Soviet Union. In exchange, Kennedy publicly promised that the United States would not invade Cuba again. There was also a secret part of the deal involving American missiles in Turkey. Kennedy agreed to remove those missiles as long as the removal was not linked publicly to the Cuban deal. This compromise suggests that both men were looking for a way to back down without appearing weak to their own citizens. They had come to realize that a small misunderstanding could lead to a global nuclear conflict. To prevent future close calls, the two nations established the Hotline in 1963. This was a direct communication link between the leaders in Washington and Moscow. Despite what you might see in films, the Hotline was not a red telephone. It was a series of encrypted teletype machines that sent written text. Written messages were preferred because they reduced the risk of mistranslation or emotional outbursts during a phone call. This system ensured that if a crisis arose, the leaders could talk to each other in minutes rather than waiting hours for telegrams to be processed. This period marks the beginning of a new phase where both superpowers tried to manage their rivalry with more caution. Question. What was the main economic reason for building the Berlin Wall in 1961? Answer. The main economic reason was to stop the brain drain of skilled workers who were leaving East Germany for the West.

The Prague Spring shows exactly how the Soviet Union kept its grip on Eastern Europe. This happened right after that period of intense tension in the Caribbean. By nineteen sixty-eight, Czechoslovakia had been under Soviet control for twenty years. The economy was failing. The secret police kept a tight lid on what people were allowed to say. In January of that year, Alexander Dubček became the leader of the Czech Communist Party. He was a committed communist, but he believed the system had to be more popular to survive. He introduced a series of reforms he called socialism with a human face. One of the biggest changes was getting rid of censorship. That is the formal suppression of speech or writing that a government finds harmful. For the first time in decades, newspapers and ordinary citizens could openly criticize the government. Dubček also wanted to give more power to the Czech parliament and rein in the secret police. He even suggested letting other political parties compete in elections. These four months of hope and reform are remembered as the Prague Spring. Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, watched these events with growing concern. He feared that if Czechoslovakia became more democratic, the rest of the Eastern Bloc would follow. He thought this might lead to the collapse of Soviet influence across the whole region. Brezhnev tried to talk Dubček out of the reforms through diplomacy, but Dubček refused to back down. On the night of August twentieth, nineteen sixty-eight, the Soviet Union responded with an intervention. About five hundred thousand troops from the Warsaw Pact countries crossed the border into Czechoslovakia. The Warsaw Pact was the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Dubček told the Czech people not to fight back with violence. Instead, they stood in front of tanks and handed flowers to the soldiers. After the intervention, the U-S-S-R issued a formal policy called the Brezhnev Doctrine. It stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any country where socialism was under threat. This meant that no member of the Warsaw Pact was allowed to abandon communism or move toward the West. It was a clear warning that Soviet control was not up for debate. Question. What communication system was set up in 1963, using encrypted teletype machines instead of a red phone? Answer. The Hotline.

Détente describes a period where tensions relaxed. It followed the intense friction of the late nineteen-sixties. The word itself is French, and it means a loosening or easing of a relationship. During the nineteen-seventies, both the United States and the Soviet Union decided it was time to lower the temperature. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev led this shift toward cooperation. The United States wanted to reduce its military spending while it dealt with the social impact of the Vietnam War. At the same time, the Soviet Union was struggling with a slowing economy. They needed to improve trade with the West. In nineteen-seventy-two, this new attitude led to the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, which most people call SALT one. This treaty was the first agreement to actually limit the number of nuclear weapons each side could have. It placed a cap on anti-ballistic missiles. These are weapons designed to intercept and destroy incoming nuclear warheads. By limiting these defensive systems, both countries ensured that a nuclear war remained too dangerous to start. If you cannot defend yourself, you are less likely to launch an attack. The treaty also froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles for a five-year period. It did not end the arms race, but it slowed the pace of production. The spirit of cooperation continued with the Helsinki Accords in nineteen-seventy-five. Thirty-five countries traveled to Finland to sign this agreement. The document was organized into three main areas, which diplomats called baskets. The first basket was a major priority for the Soviet Union. It officially recognized the existing borders of Europe. This meant the West accepted Soviet influence over Eastern European nations. In exchange, the third basket required all countries to respect human rights and basic freedoms. This included things like freedom of speech and the right to travel. Soviet leaders were likely pleased with the recognition of their borders. However, they often ignored the human rights requirements in the years that followed. Even with these tensions, the mid-nineteen-seventies felt like a much calmer era for the world. Trade between the two sides increased. For a short time, the threat of immediate nuclear destruction seemed to fade. Do you think a treaty can be successful if one side ignores part of the agreement? Question. What was Alexander Dubček's catchphrase for his reforms during the 1968 Prague Spring? Answer. Socialism with a Human Face.

The Second Cold War began when the fragile peace of the nineteen-seventies shattered after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In December nineteen-seventy-nine, the Soviet Union sent thirty thousand troops across the border. They were there to support a pro-communist government that was struggling to stay in power. To be clear, a pro-communist government follows the political and economic ideas of the Soviet Union. This particular leadership was facing a revolt from the Mujahideen. These were religious fighters who opposed the new secular laws the government had introduced. The Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, seems to have believed that a quick military intervention would stabilize the region. But the United States saw this move as a clear act of expansionism. That is the policy of a country growing its political influence over other nations. President Jimmy Carter worried that the Soviet Union was trying to get closer to the Persian Gulf. This area was vital because it supplied a huge portion of the world's oil. In response, the President announced the Carter Doctrine in nineteen-eighty. This policy stated that the United States would use military force to defend its interests in the Persian Gulf. It was a major shift back to the policy of containment, which is the strategy of stopping the spread of Soviet influence. Carter also took immediate steps to punish the Soviet Union economically. He stopped grain exports to the U-S-S-R and ended most trade agreements between the two countries. The President even asked the Senate to stop the process of approving the SALT Two treaty. This was a plan to further limit the number of nuclear weapons each side could have. The most visible sign of this new hostility happened on the sports field. In nineteen-eighty, the United States led a boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games. A boycott is a refusal to take part in an event as a form of protest. Over sixty other nations joined the United States. This made the Moscow games feel much smaller and less significant. The Soviet Union waited for four years to get their revenge. In nineteen-eighty-four, Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, and the U-S-S-R and fourteen of its allies refused to attend. These events marked the start of what historians call the Second Cold War. The friendly vibes of the nineteen-seventies were gone. They were replaced by new military spending and harsh language. Question. Which 1972 treaty during Détente limited the number of anti-ballistic missiles the US and USSR could have? Answer. The treaty was SALT I. It was signed in 1972 and limited the number of anti-ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles each superpower could possess.

The final recap quiz for this course starts now. Try to answer each question in your head before I give you the answer. Ronald Reagan took a firm stand against the Soviet Union when he became president in nineteen eighty-one. He famously called the Soviet Union an evil empire. Then, in nineteen eighty-three, he introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative. People often called it Star Wars. The plan was to put satellites in space that could use lasers to shoot down nuclear missiles. This was a major shift in strategy. It meant the United States might not have to rely on the threat of hitting back just to stay safe. The Soviet Union could not afford to build a system like that. Their economy was already struggling to keep up with military costs. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader in nineteen eighty-five, he knew he had to change the system to save it. He introduced two main policies. The first was Glasnost, which means openness. This allowed people to speak more freely about the government. It also let the media report on problems like corruption. The second policy was Perestroika, or restructuring. This was an economic plan that allowed some private businesses to exist for the first time in decades. Gorbachev also worked with Reagan to sign treaties. These agreements reduced their nuclear arsenals. He hoped these changes would modernize the country. Instead, they gave people the freedom to move away from communism entirely. The Cold War was finally coming to an end. Question. What was the name of the July 1945 conference where President Truman tried to intimidate Stalin with the atomic bomb? Answer. This was the Potsdam Conference. Question. Which 1946 message from George Kennan advised the United States that the Soviet Union must be contained? Answer. This was the Long Telegram. Question. Which 1955 military alliance was formed by the Soviet Union in response to West Germany joining NATO? Answer. This was the Warsaw Pact. Question. What was the main economic reason for building the Berlin Wall in 1961? Answer. The wall was built to stop the brain drain of skilled workers leaving East Germany for the West. Question. What were the names of Mikhail Gorbachev's two main policies designed to reform the Soviet Union? Answer. These were Glasnost, which meant openness, and Perestroika, which meant restructuring the economy.

How many of five? Replay the chapter for each one you missed.