Module 10: The Cold War
A soviet medium-range nuclear ballistic missile in Red Square, Moscow
At the end of World War II, there were only two major powers - the United States and the Soviet Union. Although they both fought on the same side of the war, they would soon become major adversaries in the wake of Europe's destruction. With its troops occupying Eastern Europe after the defeat of Germany, the Soviet Union kept its troops in these territories as a buffer to the Western countries, whom it did not trust. The Soviets soon established communist dictatorships in the Eastern Bloc satellite states. In contrast, Western Europe had primarily democratically-elected governments with capitalist economies. The rivalries that would arise as a result of these ideological differences would dominate world affairs for the next 50 years.
In 1949, China had a communist revolution, creating the second large communist nation in the world. With many of the former European colonies agitating for independence, the Western powers feared that communism might spread throughout the world in new regions. New communist-rooted conflicts erupted in Korea and Vietnam. In response, the Western powers sent in troops in a struggle against what they perceived as the growing threat of communism and the Soviet Union.
As the Cold War was waged over the four decades following WWII, world leaders from the superpowers and from the developing world would have a great impact on world events. While events unfolded, the threat of nuclear annihilation loomed in the background, making every potential conflict that much more severe.
Pre-Assessment
Alliances were extremely important throughout the Cold War. In this interactivity, read each question about Cold War alliances and then choose the most appropriate answer. Once you have selected your answer, click Submit to check your response. Click the player to get started.
Key Vocabulary
To view the definitions for these key vocabulary terms, visit the course glossary.
| Berlin Wall | Ho Chi Minh | perestroika |
| Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) | Indira Gandhi | President John F. Kennedy |
| Containment | Iron Curtain | President Harry S. Truman |
| Cuban Missile Crisis | Korean War | satellite nations |
| Deng Xiaoping | Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong) | Vietnam War |
| Deterrence | Margaret Thatcher | Warsaw Pact |
| Formosa/Taiwan | Mikhail Gorbachev | Yalta Conference |
| glasnost | Nikita Khrushchev |