Miltary Rivalries

Question 1

When was NATO formed? What was it in response to?

Answer 1

April 1949

Question 2

When was the Warsaw Pact created? What was it in response to?

Answer 2

1955
In response to West Germany being allowed to join NATO.

Question 3

How many original members were in NATO? Who were they?

Answer 3

12 original members
The USA and its allies.

Question 4

How many original members were in the Warsaw Pact? Who were they?

Answer 4

8 members
USSR and other countries behind the Iron Curtain

Question 5

What was the purpose of NATO?

Answer 5

• collective defence
• if one member came under attack, it would be seen as an attack on all members

Question 6

What was the purpose of the Warsaw Pact?

Answer 6

• formed as a counter-balance to the power of NATO
• aimed to protect the security and interests of countries behind the Iron Curtain

Question 7

How was NATO lead?

Answer 7

• collective leadership of the member countries
• USA provided the majority of funds and fire power and built bases across Western Europe

Question 8

How was the Warsaw Pact lead?

Answer 8

• officially a collective organisation
• in reality all armed forces were controlled by the USSR
• all decisions made in Moscow

Question 9

Why was there a space race?

Answer 9

Propaganda
- both countries keen to show they were superior
- both countries wanted to be seen as leading the world into the modern age

Weapons development
- the Americans were concerned that nuclear missiles could be launched using the same system as the soviets used to launch rockets into space
- this concern was justified as intercontinental ballistic missiles could be carried thousands of miles using rockets

Question 10

What happened in the space race in October 1957?

Answer 10

☭🚩
- USSR launches Sputnik
- first man made satellite to orbit Earth

Question 11

What happened in the space race in November 1957?

Answer 11

☭🚩
- USSR sends the first animal into space
- a dog named Laika

Question 12

What happened in the space race in December 1958?

Answer 12

🇺🇸
- USA launches the first communications satellite into space

Question 13

What happened in the space race in April 1961?

Answer 13

☭🚩
- the USSR sends the first human into space
- Yuri Gagarin

Question 14

What happens in the space race in 1961?

Answer 14

🇺🇸
- Kennedy announces that an American will land on the moon by the end of the decade
- this promise seems impossible at the time is technology is a long way from being advanced enough to achieve this

Question 15

What happened in the space race in 1963?

Answer 15

☭🚩
- USSR send first woman into space
- Valentina Tereshkova

Question 16

What happens in the space race is July 1969?

Answer 16

🇺🇸
- USA get first man on the moon
- Neil Armstrong
- Kennedy’s promise fulfilled

Question 17

What happens in the space race in 1971?

Answer 17

☭🚩
- first human-crewed space station is launched by the USSR

Question 18

What happens in the space race in 1975?

Answer 18

☭🚩 🇺🇸
- first joint space mission between USA and USSR
- Apollo Soyuz

Question 19

Why was Apollo Soyuz significant?

Answer 19

seen as a symbol of a new age of cooperation between the superpowers

Question 20

Who were the first man and woman in space?

Answer 20

• Yuri Gagarin
• Valentina Tereshkova

Question 21

What started the development of nuclear weaponry?

Answer 21

• the use of atomic bombs against Japan in 1945

Question 22

When did the Soviets successfully detonate their first A-bomb?

Answer 22

29th August 1949

Question 23

How did the Americans response to the Soviet’s detonation of the A-bomb? When was this? How long did it take the Soviets to respond?

Answer 23

• the USA built the hydrogen bomb
• in 1952
• the Soviets had built their own within a year

Question 24

What was Polaris?

Answer 24

a missile the Americans had that could be launched from a submarine

Question 25

What is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)? What did this mean for the Cold War?

Answer 25

The knowledge that launching a weapon wopildlead to retaliation and therefore destruction of both sides.
This is probably the main reason no nuclear weapons were ever launch.

Question 26

What was brinkmanship?

Answer 26

Each side would push the other to the brink of using weapons knowing that they would eventually back down.

Question 27

During what events was the possibility of using nuclear weapons raised?

Answer 27

• the Berlin Blockade
• the Korean War
• Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 28

What were the impacts of the arms race?

Answer 28

• preparations were made by both sides for a nuclear war
• ‘ban the bomb’ movement
• inspired many works of literature, film and television

Question 29

How did governments on both sides prepare for nuclear attack?

Answer 29

• constructed huge underground bunkers
• campaigns to teach children to ‘duck and cover’ under their school desks
• many of the public awareness campaigns were simply attempts to reassure people and prevent panic

Question 30

What was the ‘ban the bomb’ movement?

Answer 30

• 1950s
• some questioned the morality of nuclear weapons
• The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) called for Britain to unilaterally disarm
• similar movements grew across the Western world

Question 31

How did the nuclear standoff between East and West inspire works of literature, film and television?

Answer 31

Dr Strangelove
- satirical film
- the film points out the danger and absurdity of the situation