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Edexcel GCSE History

Edexcel option: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 — Edexcel GCSE History revision

Free revision notes, key terms, common exam traps and 5 practice questions with answers. About 8 minutes to read.

Origins, 1941-58

  • Wartime alliance masked deep ideological differences between US capitalism and Soviet communism, exposed at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam and by the atomic bomb.
  • Escalation: Soviet expansion in eastern Europe, the Iron Curtain, Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan (1947), Cominform and Comecon, then the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-49) and the creation of NATO and later the Warsaw Pact.
  • The arms race and the hydrogen bomb increased fear, while the Hungarian Uprising (1956) showed the limits of Western intervention in the Soviet sphere.

Crises, 1958-70

  • Berlin: refugee flows through West Berlin led to the Wall in 1961, stabilising the division but symbolising repression.
  • Cuba: the missile crisis of 1962 brought the world close to nuclear war; resolution came through blockade, secret negotiation and mutual withdrawal, leading to the hotline and Test Ban Treaty.
  • Czechoslovakia: the Prague Spring (1968) was crushed and justified by the Brezhnev Doctrine, showing the USSR would enforce control in its bloc.

Key terms

Iron Curtain
The division between communist east and capitalist west Europe.
Truman Doctrine
US policy of containing the spread of communism.
Marshall Plan
US economic aid to rebuild western Europe.
NATO
Western military alliance formed in 1949.
Warsaw Pact
Soviet-led military alliance formed in 1955.
Brezhnev Doctrine
Claim that the USSR could intervene in socialist states.

Common exam traps

  • Saying the Cold War began in 1945 without recognising wartime tensions from 1941.
  • Confusing the Truman Doctrine (policy of containment) with the Marshall Plan (economic aid).
  • Assuming the Berlin Wall caused the Cuban Missile Crisis; they were separate flashpoints.

Practice questions with answers

  1. 1. Which conference took place after Germany's surrender?

    • • Tehran
    • • Yalta
    • • Potsdam
    • • Munich

    Answer: Potsdam

    July-August 1945, with new leaders and greater tension.

  2. 2. What was the Truman Doctrine?

    Answer: A US commitment to support free peoples resisting communism — containment

    It shaped US policy for decades.

  3. 3. The Marshall Plan provided:

    • • Troops
    • • Economic aid to rebuild Europe
    • • Nuclear weapons
    • • A wall

    Answer: Economic aid to rebuild Europe

    Prosperity was seen as a barrier to communism.

  4. 4. Why did Stalin blockade Berlin in 1948?

    Answer: To force the Western powers out of Berlin after currency reform and the merging of western zones

    The airlift defeated the attempt.

  5. 5. NATO was formed in:

    • • 1945
    • • 1947
    • • 1949
    • • 1955

    Answer: 1949

    The Warsaw Pact followed in 1955.

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