Lesson Y9-U07-L07

Y9-U07-L07 Why the Cold War Stayed Cold Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 20

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y9-U07-L07, Why the Cold War Stayed Cold: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 20: Year 9: The Cold War, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is 'détente'?

    • A trade ban between the USA and USSR
    • A relaxing of tension between enemies
    • A plan to share nuclear weapons with allies
    • A sudden outbreak of fighting between superpowers

  2. Why did the Cold War never turn into a direct war between the superpowers?

    • The United Nations forbade all war between member states in writing
    • Both superpowers agreed never to build weapons and to destroy their stock
    • The superpowers had no armies to fight with after the war in Europe
    • Nuclear weapons made an all-out war suicidal for both sides

  3. What does MAD mean in the Cold War?

    • Mutually Assured Destruction, which made a direct attack unthinkable
    • Military Allied Division, a US force stationed in West Germany
    • Military Agreement on Disarmament, a 1963 treaty between the superpowers
    • Mass Air Defence, a Soviet missile shield over Eastern Europe

  4. Which event showed how close the superpowers came to nuclear war?

    • The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
    • The Prague Spring of 1968
    • The fall of Berlin in 1945
    • The Korean armistice of 1953

  5. Which Soviet leader's refusal to use force helped keep the peace in 1989?

    • Stalin
    • Brezhnev
    • Gorbachev
    • Khrushchev

  6. What was the INF Treaty of 1987 about?

    • Reducing nuclear missiles, agreed between Gorbachev and Reagan
    • Banning all trade between the superpowers and their allies in Europe
    • Dividing Germany between the superpowers in a new peace settlement
    • Sending UN troops to Afghanistan to end the war between the two sides

  7. How did people power in Eastern Europe help end the Cold War?

    • The United Nations ordered communist governments to resign
    • The USA invaded and removed communist leaders
    • Armed rebels seized the Soviet capital
    • Peaceful protests, not war, toppled communist regimes

  8. Which Polish movement was a key example of people power?

    • The Swing Youth
    • The White Rose
    • Solidarity
    • The Edelweiss Pirates

  9. What was the main economic problem that pushed the USSR to stop competing?

    • It could not afford the arms race and a stagnant economy
    • It had too much oil to sell to its trading partners in Europe
    • It had a surplus of wheat and food for its satellite states
    • It had too many workers in its factories and could not pay them all

  10. What did the war in Afghanistan show about the USSR?

    • It was an easy win that boosted the economy
    • It was costly and drained Soviet resources
    • It had no effect on the Soviet economy
    • It proved the Soviet army was unbeatable

  11. Why did Gorbachev's reforms link to the economic problems of the USSR?

    • Economic weakness pushed Gorbachev to reform, and reform allowed people to protest
    • Economic problems were caused entirely by the USA and its trade bans
    • The economy grew rapidly and needed no reform during the 1980s
    • Gorbachev ignored the economy completely and focused on military spending

  12. What do historians mean by a 'judgement' about the past?

    • Deciding which reason mattered most and justifying it with evidence
    • Reading a source aloud from memory and copying its key words down
    • Choosing the most popular event for a textbook and listing its main dates
    • Repeating the events in date order without comment or any analysis

  13. Which interpretation says that 'Reagan won' the Cold War?

    • People power in Eastern Europe ended the Cold War alone
    • The United Nations ended the Cold War by vote
    • Gorbachev's reforms ended the Cold War by choice
    • US military and economic pressure forced the USSR to give up

  14. Which interpretation says that 'Gorbachev ended it'?

    • Eastern Europe was invaded by the West after the fall of the Wall
    • The USA dropped a bomb on Moscow after a long period of planning
    • His choice to reform and not use force was decisive
    • The United Nations forced a surrender by both superpowers in 1989

  15. What evidence supports the view that Reagan's pressure mattered?

    • The Solidarity elections of 1989, which the USSR accepted in the end
    • US military spending, such as the SDI programme, that the USSR could not match
    • The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, after crowds gathered at the checkpoints
    • The Sinatra Doctrine of 1988, which let satellite states choose their own path

  16. What evidence supports the view that Gorbachev's choices mattered?

    • Glasnost, perestroika and refusing to use the Red Army in 1989
    • The Korean armistice of 1953, which restored the old border line
    • The Vietnam withdrawal of 1973 after years of fighting in the jungle
    • The Cuban missile deal of 1962, when both sides agreed to step back

  17. Why might the two interpretations of the Cold War's end be linked rather than opposed?

    • US economic pressure made Soviet weakness worse, which helped push Gorbachev to reform
    • The two interpretations describe unrelated events in different centuries
    • Gorbachev was an agent of the USA who worked for Washington's interests
    • US pressure and Gorbachev's reforms never happened at the same time in history

  18. Why was the Cold War described as a 'stand-off' for over 40 years?

    • The superpowers were armed rivals who never fought each other directly
    • Both superpowers were ruled by the same government after the war ended
    • The two superpowers signed a peace treaty early on in the late 1940s
    • The superpowers were allies in every conflict across Asia and Europe

  19. Which factor is best described as the one that kept the Cold War cold?

    • The space race between the two superpowers in the 1960s and 1970s
    • Nuclear fear, combined with Gorbachev's decision not to use force
    • Rivalry in the Olympic Games held in Moscow and Los Angeles
    • Trade between the USA and USSR in grain and oil during the 1970s

  20. What was the US defence programme, known as 'Star Wars', cited as evidence that 'Reagan won it'?

    • SDI, the Strategic Defense Initiative
    • The Marshall Plan, which rebuilt European economies after the war
    • The Lend-Lease scheme that sent US weapons to Britain and the USSR
    • The Apollo programme that sent astronauts to the surface of the Moon

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