Which two superpowers faced each other in the Cold War?
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USA and Soviet Union
They led two hostile blocs.
💡 Did you know? Capitalism and communism struggled over the world order.
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Why is it called “cold”?
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There was never a direct war
Nuclear weapons made an open war too risky.
💡 Did you know? People spoke of a “balance of terror”.
Which two military alliances faced each other?
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NATO and the Warsaw Pact
The West gathered in NATO, the East in the Warsaw Pact.
💡 Did you know? Both armed against each other.
What did Churchill call the border between East and West?
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The Iron Curtain
It divided Europe into two camps.
💡 Did you know? The phrase shaped the image of the era.
How did both sides try to outdo each other militarily?
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Through a nuclear arms race
Both stockpiled ever more nuclear weapons.
💡 Did you know? Together they could have destroyed the world many times over.
With which measure did the Soviet Union try to force the Western powers out of the divided city in 1948?
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With the Berlin Blockade
The Western powers supplied the city by airlift.
💡 Did you know? “Raisin bombers” brought food and coal.
Which structure divided a city from 1961 and became a symbol?
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The Berlin Wall
From 1961 to 1989 it separated East and West Berlin.
💡 Did you know? Its fall in 1989 heralded the end of the Cold War.
Which 1962 crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war?
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union stationed missiles in Cuba.
💡 Did you know? Kennedy and Khrushchev backed down at the last moment.
What did the launch of Sputnik in 1957 set off?
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The space race
In 1957 the Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik.
💡 Did you know? In 1969 the Americans were first to land on the Moon.
What are the wars in which the superpowers fought indirectly called?
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Proxy wars
Examples are Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
💡 Did you know? They were mostly fought in the “Third World”.
Which deterrence logic prevented an open nuclear war?
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The balance of terror
An attack would have meant one's own destruction.
💡 Did you know? It is aptly abbreviated in English as “MAD”.
Which Soviet reformer heralded the end of the era?
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Mikhail Gorbachev
With “glasnost” and “perestroika” he opened the country.
💡 Did you know? He refrained from crushing uprisings in the Eastern bloc.
Which US president in 1987 demanded “Tear down this wall!”?
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Ronald Reagan
He called it out before the Brandenburg Gate.
💡 Did you know? He also rearmed massively to wear down the East.
Which 1989 event became a sign of the approaching end?
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The fall of the Berlin Wall
The border between East and West collapsed.
💡 Did you know? Soon the whole Eastern bloc fell apart.
Which secret services spied on each other in the Cold War?
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KGB and CIA
Espionage and counter-espionage were everyday matters.
💡 Did you know? Berlin was seen as the “capital of spies”.
Which European country was split into two states by the Cold War?
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Germany
West Germany belonged to the West, East Germany to the East.
💡 Did you know? In 1990 Germany was reunified.
How did the Cold War end in 1991?
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With the collapse of the Soviet Union
The USA remained the sole superpower.
💡 Did you know? Before that, Germany was reunified in 1990.
Which ideologies stood irreconcilably opposed?
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Capitalism and communism
Two models of society vied for the future.
💡 Did you know? Each side saw itself as a model for the world.
In which Asian country did the USSR wage a ten-year war from 1979?
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In Afghanistan
The war became the “Soviet Union's Vietnam”.
💡 Did you know? The USA secretly supported the Afghan fighters.
What remained of the world order after the Cold War ended?
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The USA as the sole superpower
The bipolar world briefly became unipolar.
💡 Did you know? Many Eastern European states turned to the West.
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