GCSE History: The Cold War 1945-1991 Guide

Origins of the Cold War

After World War Two, tension grew between the capitalist USA and the communist USSR over differing ideologies and the division of post-war Europe, leading to a "Cold War" of hostility without direct military conflict between the two superpowers.

Key events and crises

Major flashpoints included the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-49), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) — which brought the world close to nuclear war — and proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam, where the superpowers supported opposing sides rather than fighting each other directly.

The arms race

Both sides built up huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons, based on the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) — that neither side would launch a nuclear attack because it would guarantee their own destruction too.

The end of the Cold War

Reforms in the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev, economic strain, and growing protest movements in Eastern Europe led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Common mistakes

• Describing the Cold War as a direct military conflict — it was defined by proxy wars, political tension and the arms race, not direct combat between the USA and USSR.
• Mixing up the order of key events and their dates.
• Forgetting internal Soviet reforms and economic problems were as important as Western pressure in ending the Cold War.