Curriculum extra Unit 2
Focus on History: The Cold War
1 Complete the texts with the correct form of the
words in the box.
bloc communism communist
disagreement emerge fight missile
nuclear war proxy separate
superpower tension
A 4 Work in pairs or small groups. Choose an event
This military conflict was an example of the
battles that were fought by (1) ____________
between the USA and the USSR. The American
army (2) ____________ unsuccessfully against
the (3) ____________ movement for many years
before forces from the north captured the
largest city in the country, Saigon.
B action?
It was a year of high (1) ____________ in the
Cold War. Khrushchev’s government wanted to
stop his population from emigrating to the West.
The two global (2) ____________ arranged a
conference in Paris to talk about the issue.
However, the conference was cancelled after the
USSR shot down a US spy plane. Khrushchev
ordered that a wall be built to
(3) ____________ East from West.
C place on/between … .
There was a spontaneous rebellion against the
government of this Eastern (1) ____________
nation. The Prime Minister Imre Nagy rejected
the ideology of (2) ____________ and
introduced democracy to the country, but
(3) ____________ with Khrushchev led to a
violent confrontation.
D
This event happened after the discovery of
Soviet (1) ____________ by an American spy
plane. President Kennedy prepared for
(2) ____________ but an agreement between
Kennedy and the Soviet leader Khrushchev was
reached and they were removed. It later
(3) ____________ that Kennedy had also
agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey.
2 Write the name of the event next to texts A–D.
There is one event that you do not need.
Berlin Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis
Hungarian Revolution Vietnam War
Warsaw Pact
3 Write the dates of the events next to texts A–D.
There is one date that you do not need.
1955 1955–75 1956 1961 1962
from the Cold War and research it. It could be
one of the events from exercise 1 or another
event. Find out:
 when it occurred: was it during a period of high
or low tension?
 who was involved: what ideology did they
believe in?
 if it was hot or cold: was there direct military
 the causes: what happened to cause the event?
 the consequences: were they positive or
negative? Why?
 the importance of the event in the context of the
Cold War: how significant was it?
5 Present your research to the class. Use these
phrases to help you.
We chose to focus on … . The event we chose
was …
It occurred on … . It happened during … . It took
The main protagonists / key players were … .
They believed that … . They supported the
ideology of … .
This event can be described as hot / cold
because … .
Its causes were … . / It originated in … .
The consequences of the event were … . They
were positive / negative because … .
We feel this was an important / influential event in
the Cold War because … .