The Cold War

	Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the period 1945 to 1949?
	How did the Cold War develop in the period 1949 to 1963?
	How close to war did the world come over Cuba in 1962?

	East-West ideological gap; decisions made at Yalta and Potsdam, and their importance; attitudes of Stalin and Truman;
	Soviet expansion into Central and Eastern Europe; Iron Curtain;
	Truman Doctrine; Marshall Plan.
	Berlin 1945-48; Berlin blockade and airlift.
	NATO and Warsaw Pact; the beginnings of the Arms Race; arms/space race;
	Korean War;
	Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence and the USA’s response;
	Hungary, 1956;
	U2 incident, 1960;
	Berlin Wall; President Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, 1963.
	The background in Cuba; Castro; friendship with USSR; Kennedy and Bay of Pigs; the crisis of 1962 and its results.

Links:

Cold War: basic narrative overview

Cold War: simple overview specifically aimed at the AQA GCSE.

Scott Allsop's FABULOUS video of the post-war world - how many of the events he features do you recognise?

- Scott Allsop's very simple introductory podcast on the Cold War - just to start you off

- BBC debate-podcast on the start of the Cold War

- Giles Hill's podcast on the origins of the Cold War

- BBC debate-podcast on Khrushchev's effect on the Cold War

- BBC debate-podcast on how near the world came to extinction in 1962

- quirky view - Cold War: causes

- quirky view - Cold War: development

- quirky view - Cuban Missiles Crisis

Spidergram:

A Cold War Analogy - learn the principles of the Cold War by spotting the parallels.

(see a similar study comparing the Smurfs to a Marxist society)

CNN: Cold War Declassified (a brilliant set of interviews with 'key players' about a range of important Cold War issues)

The Cold War Online Museum (a collection of articles)

The Cold War Files - in depth documents site

Forum debates: answers to Cold War questions on the Education Forum (very difficult)

Cold War Policies (Steve Schoenherr)

	FOUR causes of the Cold War [BARE].
	NINE events which caused the Cold War.
	FOUR decisions made at the Yalta Conference.
	TWO decisions and three disagreements at the Potsdam conference.
	The ‘salami tactics’ that brought Communists to power in Eastern Europe
	FIVE causes [CABAN] and FOUR results [CENA] of the Berlin crisis, 1948–9.
	FIVE ‘Berlin Airlift Facts’.
	FOUR causes of the Korean War [CJD-Kim].
	FIVE phases of the Korean War, 1950–53.
	FOUR ways Khrushchev brought a ‘thaw’ in the Cold War.
	THREE ways ‘peaceful co-existence’ worsened the Cold War.
	EIGHT countries in the Warsaw Pact.
	FIVE crises after 1955.
	FIVE causes, the events and FOUR results of the Hungarian uprising
	THREE reasons tension grew after 1957.
	The events and FOUR results of the U2 crisis.
	THREE causes, the events and FOUR results of the Berlin Wall
	THREE causes, the events and FOUR results of the Cuban Missiles Crisis.