Cambridge IGCSE Modern World History Option B The 20th Century

Part 2: The Cold War and the Gulf, 1945-2000

US attempts at Soviet attempts to

containment control eastern
Europe
1940s Truman Cold War
Stalin atmosphere
1950s Eisenhower 1950-53 The Post-war 1956 Hungarian
Khrushchev Korean War disagreements uprising

Tense relations
and the arms
race
1960s Kennedy 10/1962 The Cuban 1961 Berlin Wall
missile crisis built
Johnson 1962-1975 1968 The Prague
Brezhnev American military Spring
involvement in
Vietnam

4: Who was to blame for the Cold War?

The situation before the Second World War
The personal relationships between various leaders
The conflicting beliefs of the superpowers
The war damage suffered by the USSR
Stalin’s takeover of eastern Europe
Marshall Aid for Europe
The Berlin Blockade

Allies against Hitler

Superpowers
The Yalta Conference, February 1945
 Agreements
 Disagreements
The Potsdam Conference, 7-8/1945
 The ‘iron curtain’
The reaction of the USA
 Greece, 1947
 The Truman Doctrine
 The Marshall Plan
 Czechoslovakia, 1948
 Marshall Aid

The Berlin Blockade

 The Western zones recover
 The blockade
 The Berlin airlift

The consequences of the Berlin Blockade

 A divided Germany
 A powerful symbol
 A flashpoint
 A pattern for the CW
 NATO and the Warsaw Pact

5: How effectively did the USA contain the spread of Communism?

The Korean War
 Background
 USA or United Nations?
o September 1950 – the UN force advances
o 10/1950 – the UN force presses on
o 11/1950 – the UN force retreats
o 3/1951 – MacArthur is sacked
o 6/1951 – peace talks begin
o 7/1953 – armistice
 A success for containment?
 Methods of containment
o Alliances
o Arms race
o The impact of the arms race
o Deterrence and MAD
o Fear
The Cuban Missile Crisis
 The Cuban Revolution?
o Enter Fidel Castro
o The USA responds
o To invade or not to invade
o The Bay of Pigs
o The impact of the invasion
 Khrushchev arms Castro
 The October crisis
 Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
 The outcomes

The Vietnam War

 Origins
o Fighting the Japanese
o Fighting the French
 Why did US involvement escalate?
o Financial support for Diem’s regime
o The emergence of the Viet Cong
o From advisers to combat troops
o Why did US send troops to Vietnam?
 Tactics and technology
 The Tet Offensive
 The peace movement in the USA
 The Ma Lai massacre
 Ending the war in Vietnam
o A new President
o ‘Peace with honour’
o