Name _____________________________
WHII – The Cold War – Self Guided Notes
Former Allies Diverge
1. Why was their tension between the United States and the Soviet Union even prior to the end of
WWII?
2. What was the purpose of the United Nations?
3. Complete the chart below: (p. 476)
Superpower Aims in Europe
United States
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union Corrals Eastern Europe
1. Why did the Soviet Union occupy a strip of countries along the western border?
2. What type of government did Stalin set up in those countries?
3. What does Stalin declare at his meeting with Truman and Churchill?
4. Who controlled the eastern part of Germany? What was its new name?
5. Who controlled the western part of Germany? What was its new name?
6. How does Winston Churchill describe this division of Germany?
7. How did Winston Churchill influence political events after World War II?
United States Counters Soviet Expansion
1. What was Truman’s foreign policy of containment?
2. What was the Truman Doctrine?
3. What issues were plaguing Western Europe post World War II?
4. What was the Marshall Plan?
5. What was President Truman’s major reason for offering aid to other countries?
6. Look at the chart on p.478 and answer the questions below:
a. Which country received the most aid from the United States?
b. Why do you think Great Britain and France received so much aid?
7. What did the Soviet Union cut off from western Berlin?
8. How did the U.S. and Britain break this blockade?
9. What Soviet actions were the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the Berlin airlift
responses to?
The Cold War and a Divided World
1. What was the Cold War?
2. What did each side use against each other?
3. What defensive military alliance was created in 1949? What was its purpose?
4. As a response to the defensive military alliance in 1949, what do the Soviets develop in 1955?
5. Who was part of the Warsaw Pact?
6. What two countries had nuclear capabilities?
7. Define brinkmanship.
8. How did the U.S. policy of brinkmanship contribute to the arms race?
9. What was the arms race?
10. What is an ICBM?
11. How did Sputnik have an impact on the United States?
12. What was the “open skies” policy?
13. What was the U-2 Incident?
Create a web diagram listing the causes of the Cold War below.