Conflict and Tension between East and West, 1945–1972
What's covered
Key facts
Matching US defence spending crippled the Soviet economy, which could not sustain the burden — historians regard this as a major factor in the USSR's collapse.
The Berlin Blockade (June 1948 – May 1949) saw the USSR cut off road and rail access to West Berlin; the Western powers responded with the Berlin Airlift, flying in supplies until Stalin backed down on 12 May 1949.
The USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 to prop up the communist PDPA government that was struggling against the Mujahideen insurgency.
Despite raising stakes, the nuclear arms race made direct war between the USA and USSR LESS likely, because MAD deterred any first strike.
When the USSR blocked road and rail access to West Berlin in June 1948 the Western response was an airlift that supplied West Berlin by air for 11 months.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ended détente: the USA boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics and CIA-armed the Mujahideen via Pakistan.
The Berlin Wall was constructed from 13 August 1961, dividing East and West Berlin.
The Berlin Blockade hardened Western resolve and convinced the USA that it had to commit militarily to Europe — leading directly to NATO.
The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, the most visible symbol of communist collapse in Eastern Europe.
The USSR/East Germany built the Wall to stop the haemorrhage of East Germans into the West — more than 3 million had left between 1949 and 1961, many of them skilled workers.
Sample questions
A taste of the 65 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
The USA dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in which year?
- •1944
- ✓1945
- •1946
- •1949
What was the Berlin Blockade (1948–49) and how did the West respond?
- •NATO troops drove Soviet forces out of East Berlin
- ✓The Berlin Airlift forced Stalin to back down in May 1949
- •The UN Security Council ordered the blockade lifted
- •The West abandoned West Berlin and negotiated Soviet control
SALT I (1972) was an agreement between the USA and USSR to:
- •Ban all nuclear weapons testing
- ✓Limit the number of nuclear missiles each side could hold
- •Remove nuclear weapons from Europe
- •Share nuclear technology for peaceful purposes
The concept of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) meant that:
- ✓A nuclear attack would destroy both sides — making nuclear war suicidal
- •Both superpowers agreed never to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances
- •Each side had exactly enough weapons to destroy the other precisely once
- •Nuclear war was acceptable if it secured a decisive military advantage
Why was the Berlin Wall built in August 1961 and what did it represent?
- •American spies were using Berlin to recruit East German officials
- •Soviet troops were defecting to the West through Berlin
- ✓Three million East Germans had fled West by 1961
- •West Berliners were flooding into East Germany for cheap goods
Why did the USSR invade Afghanistan in 1979?
- •In response to a US military presence on its border
- •To prevent Afghanistan ever joining NATO
- ✓To prop up the communist government that was struggling against the Mujahideen
- •To protect oil and gas pipelines running through Afghanistan
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