Post-1945 world: Cold War, decolonisation and contemporary issues
Post-Second World War history covers the Cold War, decolonisation, the Non-Aligned Movement, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and contemporary global issues. Answer with chronology, institutions and concepts rather than headlines.
Core framework
- Cold War origins. Yalta and Potsdam 1945; Truman Doctrine 1947; Marshall Plan 1948; Berlin Blockade 1948–49; NATO 1949; COMECON 1949; Warsaw Pact 1955.
- Flashpoints. Korean War 1950–53; Cuban Missile Crisis 1962; Vietnam; the Berlin Wall, built 1961 and opened in 1989.
- Decolonisation. India 1947, Ghana 1957, Algeria 1962; Bandung 1955; NAM founded at Belgrade, 1961.
- End of the Cold War. Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika; the eastern European revolutions of 1989; dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
- Contemporary world. The UN and its agencies, the NPT, globalisation, terrorism, climate change, regional organisations.
Worked example
Question: Why is the Cuban Missile Crisis considered a turning point?
Reasoning: describe the facts - Soviet missiles detected in Cuba, the US "quarantine", thirteen tense days in October 1962 - then explain the consequences: the superpowers stepped back from the brink, established the Moscow–Washington hotline and signed the 1963 Test Ban Treaty. Note too that the crisis exposed the logic of mutually assured destruction and damaged Khrushchev's standing. That combination of narrative, consequence and evaluation earns full marks.
Traps
- Describing the Cold War as a direct armed conflict between the superpowers.
- Confusing the Marshall Plan with COMECON.
- Explaining the Soviet collapse only by external pressure, ignoring economic stagnation and nationality questions.
- Treating NAM as an anti-Western military bloc.
- Misplacing the Berlin Wall's construction (1961) and fall (1989).