History · Unit 16

The Cold War

Superpowers, tension and a divided world

Two superpowers spent forty-five years avoiding direct war with each other while fighting through proxies, funding coups, racing to build weapons neither could use, and racing to the Moon.

The unit covers the origins in the wartime alliance's collapse, the division of Europe, the crises that came closest to nuclear exchange, the space race, and the reasons the whole structure came apart between 1989 and 1991.

This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 20
Questions: 120
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Arms and Space Race
Conflicts and Crises
A Divided Europe
The End of the Cold War
Origins

Where this fits

Begins where World War Two ends and runs into The Modern World.

Where people slip

Cold does not mean bloodless. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and a long list of proxy conflicts killed millions - the two principals simply never fought each other directly.

How the unit is structured

The Cold War runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 20 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 120 in the unit altogether.

A Divided Europe

Guess the numberLevel 1
1. In which year was the Berlin Wall built to divide the city?
Answer: 1961 CE
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people leaving communist East Berlin.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
2. What name was given to the imaginary line dividing communist Eastern Europe from the democratic West?
- the Iron Curtaincorrect
- the Great Wall
- the Silk Road
- the Berlin Bridge
The 'Iron Curtain' described the divide between the communist East and the democratic West.
Picture questionLevel 1
3. 🧱 This wall separated families in a divided German city for nearly 30 years. What was it called?
- the Berlin Wallcorrect
- Hadrian's Wall
- the Great Wall of China
- the Wailing Wall
The Berlin Wall divided East and West Berlin from 1961 until 1989.
Fill the blankLevel 2
4. The 1948-49 operation in which Western planes flew supplies into the blockaded city was called the Berlin ____.
- Airliftcorrect
- Blockade
- Wall
- Pact
The Berlin Airlift kept West Berlin supplied by air until the Soviet blockade ended in 1949.
Match the pairsLevel 2
5. Match each Cold War group to what it was.
Answer: NATO = Western military alliance led by the USA; Warsaw Pact = Eastern military alliance led by the USSR; East Germany = A communist state; West Germany = A capitalist state
NATO and the Warsaw Pact were the two rival alliances of a divided Europe.
Odd one outLevel 3
6. Three of these countries belonged to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. Which one is the odd one out?
- Francecorrect
- Poland
- Hungary
- Bulgaria
France was a Western power and NATO member, while Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria were Warsaw Pact members.

Arms and Space Race

Fact or fibLevel 1
7. American astronauts first walked on the Moon in 1969.
Answer: True
Apollo 11 astronauts first walked on the Moon in 1969.
Guess the numberLevel 1
8. In which year did the Soviet Union launch Sputnik, the first artificial satellite?
Answer: 1957 CE
Sputnik was launched in 1957, shocking the United States and starting the space race.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
9. The competition between the superpowers to build more and deadlier weapons, such as nuclear bombs, was known as the...?
- arms racecorrect
- space race
- gold rush
- horse race
The arms race saw both sides stockpile powerful weapons, including nuclear bombs.
Picture questionLevel 1
10. 🚀 This rocket stands for the contest between the USA and the USSR to explore space. What was it called?
- the space racecorrect
- the arms race
- the gold rush
- the marathon
The space race was the competition to achieve firsts in space exploration.
Odd one outLevel 2
11. Three of these were milestones of the Space Race. Which one does NOT belong?
- The Marshall Plancorrect
- The launch of Sputnik 1
- Yuri Gagarin's first crewed spaceflight
- The Apollo 11 Moon landing
Sputnik, Gagarin's flight and Apollo 11 were Space Race milestones; the Marshall Plan was an economic aid program, not a space achievement.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
12. Which of the following were agreements intended to slow or limit the nuclear arms race? Select all that apply.
- The SALT I strategic arms limitation talkscorrect
- The Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963correct
- The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treatycorrect
- The Warsaw Pact
SALT I, the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty and the ABM Treaty aimed to curb the arms race; the Warsaw Pact was a military alliance, not an arms-control deal.

Conflicts and Crises

Fill the blankLevel 1
13. The ____ War, fought in the early 1950s, split the country into a communist North and a non-communist South.
- Koreancorrect
- Vietnam
- Egyptian
- Roman
The Korean War (1950-1953) left Korea divided into North and South.
Fact or fibLevel 2
14. During the Vietnam War, American soldiers fought directly against the Soviet Union's own army.
Answer: False
False - the superpowers avoided direct battle, supporting opposing sides instead.
Guess the numberLevel 2
15. In which year did the Cuban Missile Crisis bring the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war?
Answer: 1962 CE
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, over Soviet missiles in Cuba, was resolved through negotiation and is seen as the Cold War's most dangerous moment.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
16. In which year did the Cuban Missile Crisis bring the superpowers close to nuclear war?
- 1962correct
- 1945
- 1989
- 1914
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was one of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War.
Build the sentenceLevel 3
17. Arrange the words to complete a definition of a proxy war.
Answer: a proxy war is fought through local allies
In a proxy war the superpowers supported opposing local forces rather than fighting each other directly, as in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
18. Which of these countries had communist governments that the Soviet Union supported during the Cold War? Select all that apply.
- Cubacorrect
- North Vietnamcorrect
- East Germanycorrect
- West Germany
Cuba, North Vietnam, and East Germany all had communist governments backed by the Soviet Union, while West Germany was aligned with the West.

Origins

Guess the numberLevel 1
19. In which year did World War Two end, just before Cold War tensions grew between the superpowers?
Answer: 1945 CE
World War Two ended in 1945, and the wartime allies soon became Cold War rivals.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
20. Arrange the words to describe the clash of ideas at the heart of the Cold War.
Answer: capitalism versus communism
The Cold War was largely a struggle between capitalism in the West and communism in the East.
Fill the blankLevel 2
21. The United States and its allies supported ____, a system based on private business and free markets.
- capitalismcorrect
- communism
- feudalism
- monarchy
Capitalism is based on private ownership and free markets, which the Western nations promoted.
Match the pairsLevel 2
22. Match each Cold War term to its meaning.
Answer: Superpower = A very powerful, dominant nation; Communism = The state controls industry and property; Capitalism = Private business and free markets; Cold War = Rivalry and tension without direct fighting
These terms describe the two sides and the nature of the Cold War.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
23. Which of the following helped raise tension between the superpowers in the years immediately after 1945? Select all that apply.
- A clash between capitalist and communist economic ideologiescorrect
- Disagreement over the political future of Eastern Europecorrect
- Mutual mistrust deepened by the atomic bombcorrect
- A formal alliance uniting the US and USSR against Europe
Ideological rivalry, disputes over Eastern Europe, and atomic-era mistrust all fed the growing divide; the superpowers were rivals, not allies, after 1945.
Fact or fibLevel 3
24. During the Cold War, some American writers and actors suspected of communist sympathies were blacklisted and denied work in Hollywood.
Answer: True
The Hollywood blacklist kept a number of film industry figures from working after they were accused of communist ties.

The End of the Cold War

Guess the numberLevel 1
25. In which year did the Berlin Wall fall, a key moment near the end of the Cold War?
Answer: 1989 CE
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 as communist rule in Eastern Europe collapsed.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
26. Arrange the words of President Reagan's 1987 challenge to the Soviet leader at the Berlin Wall.
Answer: tear down this wall
Speaking at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, Reagan urged Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall'.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
27. Which TWO events are linked to the end of the Cold War? (Choose two.)
- The fall of the Berlin Wallcorrect
- The collapse of the Soviet Unioncorrect
- The first Moon landing
- The sinking of the Titanic
The Berlin Wall's fall (1989) and the Soviet collapse (1991) marked the Cold War's end.
Fill the blankLevel 2
28. Gorbachev's programme to restructure and partly reform the Soviet economy was called ____.
- perestroikacorrect
- glasnost
- containment
- detente
Perestroika attempted to revive the stagnant Soviet economy but instead exposed deep structural problems.
Match the pairsLevel 2
29. Match each Cold War term or name to its meaning.
Answer: Glasnost = Political openness; Perestroika = Economic restructuring; Mikhail Gorbachev = Reforming Soviet leader; 1991 = Dissolution of the USSR
Gorbachev introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring); the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
30. Which Soviet leader introduced reforms known as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring)?
- Mikhail Gorbachevcorrect
- Joseph Stalin
- Vladimir Lenin
- Nikita Khrushchev
Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms helped bring the Cold War to a peaceful end.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 17 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Listen and choose
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Picture question
Put in order
Sequence recall
Sort into groups
Spell it
Tap the pairs
True or false
Type the answer

Practise The Cold War

120 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about The Cold War

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

What Was the Cold War? A Clear Guide to the Global RivalryLearn how the US-Soviet rivalry shaped alliances, nuclear tension, proxy wars, propaganda, and politics after World War 2.August 14, 2026 · 5 min read

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