a race between the USA and USSR (Soviet Russia) and their allies to compete for superiority in military arms, often referred to during the Cold War
very destructive bombs based on nuclear energy the sealing off of a place to prevent people or goods from entering or leaving
an economic and political system in which the country’s industry and trade are privately owned, and not owned by the state
period of hostility between the USA and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies which lasted from after the Second World War to the collapse of communism in the early 1990s
political belief associated with Soviet Russia that the state (or government) should control industry and agriculture
the political relations between two or more countries, based on each country’s foreign policy
a war fought with atomic and hydrogen (nuclear) bombs
competition between the USA and the USSR (Soviet Union) to be better at space exploration
USA and USSR after World War II, which were the two most powerful countries in the world
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union – union of states under the control of the Russian Communist Party, established after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and lasted until its collapse in 1991
Review Questions
1. Which of these statements relate to (a) The Berlin Blockade (b) The Korean War or (c) The Cuban Missile Crisis?
(i) A Washington-Moscow telephone ‘hotline’ was set up so that the leaders could talk directly to each other.
(ii) An American U-2 spy plane photographed these Soviet missile bases being constructed.
(iii) The Soviet Union responded by cutting off road, rail and canal links.
(iv) General Douglas MacArthur led the UN forces.
(v) While the Soviet Union was prepared to raise tensions, it was not prepared to go to war with the West.
(vi) The Western countries used three 20-mile-wide air corridors that the Soviet Union had not cut off.
2. Questions on Sources
The image opposite shows the cover of an American comic book published in 1960. This was a time during the Cold War when many Americans feared that the spread of communism around the world would threaten their freedom and their way of life.