Deck 49: Superpower Rivalry and the European Recovery

Question 1

The most dangerous moment of the Cold War, as far as potential direct nuclear confrontation between the superpowers was concerned, occurred during the

A) Bay of Pigs invasion.
B) Berlin Wall crisis.
C) Cuban Missile Crisis.
D) Hungarian revolt.
E) Berlin Blockade.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Global student protests against NATO policies reached a peak in 1968, when the overriding issue was

A) the Korean conflict.
B) American involvement in Vietnam.
C) the Iranian revolution.
D) the Cuban Missile Crisis.
E) nuclear proliferation.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The best definition of détente is

A) confrontation.
B) balance of power.
C) foreign aid.
D) relaxation of tensions.
E) improved flow of information.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Compare and contrast the leadership styles of Charles de Gaulle, Harry Truman, and Nikita Khrushchev. Can you see any similarities among them? What are the major differences, other than political beliefs?

Question 5

Cuban leader Fidel Castro asked for military help from the Soviets after

A) the Bay of Pigs invasion.
B) the Cuban Missile Crisis.
C) the 1959 revolution.
D) Kennedy became president.
E) the Soviets offered to trade food for missile sites.

Question 6

In 1962, the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its nuclear missiles from Cuba in return for

A) a U.S. agreement to recognize East Germany and the Berlin Wall.
B) the signing of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
C) a U.S. commitment not to invade Cuba.
D) U.S. agreement to non-intervention in Afghanistan.
E) the United States agreeing to remove missiles from Germany.

Question 7

Analyze and describe Western Europe's post-war economic recovery, and discuss the gradual steps toward a projected European Union.

Question 8

It became clear when NATO was unwilling to take action against the Soviets after the squelching of the 1956 revolution in ____ that the West had accepted the status quo in eastern Europe.

A) Yugoslavia
B) Czechoslovakia
C) Hungary
D) Poland
E) Romania

Question 9

This Western ally pursued the most independent course as far as diverging from U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union:

A) Charles de Gaulle
B) Konrad Adenauer
C) Alcide de Gasperi
D) Harold McMillian
E) Winston Churchill

Question 10

Assess the underlying causes for the United States-Soviet Union confrontation after World War II. In light of these matters, was the Cold War inevitable? Defend your answer.

Question 11

Explain the ways in which Germany and Western Europe were a focal point for superpower tension during the early years of the Cold War, 1945-1949.

Question 12

In comparison with Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev proved to be much more

A) militaristic.
B) vicious.
C) rigid.
D) flexible.
E) feared.

Question 13

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) resulted in

A) the death of détente.
B) economic sanctions against allies of the Soviets.
C) a threat of police action by the UN.
D) mobilization of NATO forces.
E) no significant action by the West.

Question 14

The Korean War began in 1950 when

A) South Korea invaded North Korea.
B) North Korea invaded South Korea.
C) China invaded South Korea.
D) Japan invaded North Korea.
E) South and North Korea split into two countries.

Question 15

Describe the course of the Cold War, 1961-1979. Identify and rate the significance of the "defining events" of this period.

Question 16

A retaliatory response to the creation of NATO was the

A) Afghan invasion.
B) Berlin Blockade.
C) Korean War.
D) Warsaw Pact formation.
E) building of the Berlin Wall.

Question 17

Developments in Western Europe since 1945 have been described as

A) an economic miracle.
B) a renaissance.
C) dismal.
D) predictable.
E) less than stellar.

Question 18

By the Truman Doctrine, the United States

A) pledged to rebuild Europe with military hardware.
B) agreed to limit nuclear weapons testing.
C) began its intervention in Vietnam.
D) placed atomic warheads in Turkey.
E) pledged to preserve friendly governments from communism.

Question 19

NATO was formed

A) in response to the creation of the Warsaw Pact.
B) in April 1946, to oversee the Marshall Plan funds.
C) by seven European countries that were afraid of communism.
D) to protect Western Europe from the spread of communism.
E) with its headquarters in West Germany.

Question 20

Which of these was most responsible for the beginning of European recovery after World War II?

A) the Marshall Plan
B) NATO
C) the Truman Doctrine
D) the Yalta Agreement
E) the ending of the Berlin Blockade

Question 21

In the Communist Bloc during the 1970s,

A) the government banned Western TV and periodicals.
B) the "technology gap" became narrower.
C) the economics betrayed signs of a breakdown.
D) workers were generally peaceful and well-satisfied.
E) significant strides were made toward a free market economy.

Question 22

Khrushchev's gamble of secretly sending nuclear weapons to Cuba was discovered and challenged in 1962 by U.S. President ____________________

Question 23

The supranational organization known as the European Union (EU)

A) contains twenty states at present.
B) has been approached by Russia, which would like to join.
C) has evolved from earlier organizations that date back to the 1970s.
D) now contains about 150 million customers.
E) introduced a standard currency, the Euro, in 2002, and lifted travel restrictions among member nations.

Question 24

The United States believed that the key to containing communism to the countries Stalin already had was

A) keeping a significant military force in all other European countries.
B) making sure that West Germany was economically successful.
C) gaining control of East Berlin.
D) convincing Europe's neutral countries that joining the fight against communism was necessary.
E) getting rid of Stalin, by assassination if necessary.

Question 25

The Ostpolitik of Willy Brandt

A) led to a recognition of the de facto borders that existed between East and West Germany.
B) led to the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban in 1963.
C) helped ease tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States.
D) both a and b
E) both a and c

Question 26

Khrushchev's term for the period 1955-1970 in the Soviet Bloc that placed somewhat more emphasis than before on consumer comfort was "____________________" communism.

Question 27

In 1956, Soviet tanks were dispatched to quell the ____________________ revolt, which they did with much violence.

Question 28

In 1947, Europe's reconstruction was begun under the ____________________ ____________________.

Question 29

A "mixed economy" is one in which

A) the government controls some industries and financial institutions, while some are completely privately owned, and some are in between.
B) members of all levels of the society are able to participate in all businesses as they see fit.
C) a country consciously enters into a wide variety of enterprises in all sectors of business for diversification purposes.
D) labor and management sometimes get along well and sometimes are so at odds that strikes occur.
E) the citizens can never be sure if their economy will be successful or not.

Question 30

East Germany's troubled postwar economic situation was exacerbated by

A) American refusal to provide funds under the Marshall Plan.
B) the removal of everything possible by the Soviet Union.
C) the fact that East Germany had no outside support at all.
D) the reality that most highly educated people lived in West Germany.
E) the fact that its people were too demoralized by Soviet occupation to work.

Question 31

The ____________________ Treaty of 1992 provided greater powers to the European Parliament and projected a single European currency by 1999.

Question 32

The ____________________ ____________________ was constructed in 1961, effectively separating East and West ____________________.

Question 33

During the Cold War, "détente" referred to the ____________________ of tensions between the ____________________ ____________________ and the ____________________ ____________________.

Question 34

In 1950, ____________________ ____________________ invaded ____________________ ____________________, bringing on the undeclared ____________________ ____________________.

Question 35

The Soviet Union's new conservatism during the 1960s was exemplified by its

A) agreement with the United States to remove nuclear missiles from Cuba.
B) allowance of free presidential elections in a few satellite states.
C) failure to get involved militarily against the Americans in the war in Vietnam.
D) quiet removal of communist slogans from Red Square.
E) decision to enter into trade agreements with European countries.

Question 36

The Soviet Union's response to the Western powers' formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was to form the ____________________ ____________________.

Question 37

Peaceful coexistence was the policy ostensibly followed by Soviet Chairman ____________________.

Question 38

Looking back, it seems clear that America's political power and economic influence in Europe

A) was never the same after President Nixon's trip to China.
B) usually depended on how aggressive the Soviets were feeling.
C) was greatest during the 1960s.
D) never achieved what the U.S. government hoped it would.
E) was resented even by the countries that succeeded because of that help.

Question 39

Europe began to regain an economic balance with the United States after

A) Americans began to invest heavily in West Germany.
B) Richard Nixon decided to let the dollar find its own level internationally.
C) the European Economic Community was founded.
D) the Vietnam War ended.
E) Jimmy Carter signed an economic agreement with Germany and France.

Question 40

Which of these was not a major factor in West Germany's economic recovery after World War II?

A) Monetary aid via the Marshall Plan
B) A large labor pool and unions willing to be cooperative
C) Social reforms such as universal medical insurance and paid vacation leave that gave the working class a reason to help make their countries successful
D) a free market economy modeled on that of the United States
E) Free trade among all NATO members that would be phased in over time