The Cold War and global affairs since 1945
What this domain tests
This domain covers the origins, crises and end of the Cold War, including its impact on Africa and Namibia. You must explain ideology, containment, alliances and the interaction between superpower rivalry and decolonisation.
Core concepts
- Origins: Yalta and Potsdam, Soviet security fears, US containment, the Truman Doctrine (1947) and Marshall Plan (1948).
- Alliances: NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955); the Berlin blockade and airlift (1948–49).
- Crises: the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Vietnam, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and the “Second Cold War”.
- End: Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, the 1989 revolutions and the dissolution of the USSR in 1991; non-alignment and proxy wars in the Global South.
Worked example
Explain the Cuban Missile Crisis. Weak answers say “the USSR backed down”. Strong answers trace US missiles in Turkey, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Soviet deployment in Cuba, Kennedy’s quarantine, the risk of nuclear war, the secret Turkey deal and the hotline. It produced détente but also pushed both sides to rearm.
Traps
Treating the Cold War as only US–USSR; claiming Reagan alone ended it; ignoring African agency in the Namibian–Angolan settlement; confusing the Berlin blockade with the Berlin Wall.