12th Standard History — The World after World War II Online Test

About The World after World War II

Medium ~60 min study

The World after World War II is the fifteenth and last unit of the Tamil Nadu State Board Class 12 History book. It explains how the USA and the USSR emerged as super powers in 1945 and how their mutual suspicion divided the world into two camps.

The lesson covers the Potsdam meeting, Kennan's Long Telegram and Churchill's iron curtain speech, the Berlin Blockade, and the six Cold War strategies: economic aid, military pacts, propaganda, espionage, brinkmanship and surrogate wars. It then turns to the Third World and NAM, the UNO and its role in global disputes, the growth of European unity, and the end of the Cold War.

This page gives the twenty one mark questions of the book exercise with answers checked against the lesson, plus additional questions on persons, pacts, headquarters, crises and dates, each with a short explanation.

What you'll learn

• Explain how the USA and the USSR emerged as rival super powers after 1945.
• Describe the six strategies used by the super powers during the Cold War.
• Compare the Marshall Plan with the Molotov Plan, and NATO with the Warsaw Pact.
• State the origin, founders and objectives of the Non-Aligned Movement.
• Assess the role of the UNO in the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, Hungary and Palestine.
• Trace the stages from the OEEC and the ECSC to the European Union.
• Explain how perestroika and glasnost led to the end of the Cold War.

Before you start

• The course and results of the Second World War from the previous unit.
• The League of Nations and why it failed.
• The meaning of capitalism, communism and imperialism.

The World after World War II explained

What this lesson covers

Post-war Europe and the bipolar world

The war killed 60 million civilians, and the Nazis killed 6 million European Jews. By 1948 the Soviets had set up left wing governments in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Churchill's Fulton speech of March 1946 is taken as the signal for the Cold War; the division of Germany in 1949 marked its real beginning and reunification in 1990 its end.

Cold War strategies

The US used the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the USSR replied with the Cominform, the Molotov Plan and Comecon. Military pacts followed: NATO, SEATO, CENTO and the Warsaw Pact. The CIA and the KGB spied, Dulles gave brinkmanship its name, and Korea and Vietnam became surrogate wars.

Third World and NAM

Alfred Sauvy coined the term Third World in 1952. The Bandung Conference of 1955 adopted ten principles, and the first NAM summit met at Belgrade in 1961 under Nehru, Sukarno, Nasser, Nkrumah and Tito.

UNO and global disputes

The UNO came into existence on 24 October 1945 with 51 members. The lesson studies Palestine, recognition of China, the Korean War, the Suez and Hungarian crises of 1956 and the Arab-Israeli wars.

Towards the European Union

OEEC, the Council of Europe, the Schuman Plan and the ECSC led to the EEC, the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty that created the European Union.

End of the Cold War

Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost, the events of 1989 and the disintegration of the USSR on 8 December 1991 ended the Cold War.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Naming Bernard Baruch as the coiner of the term Cold War. He used it in 1947, but it was coined earlier by George Orwell.
• Placing the first NAM summit at Bandung. Bandung hosted the Afro-Asian Conference of 1955; the first NAM summit was at Belgrade in 1961.
• Saying the USSR set up West Germany. The western powers set up the FRG in August 1949; the USSR set up the GDR in October 1949.
• Confusing perestroika with glasnost. Perestroika is restructuring; glasnost is transparency and openness.
• Calling the United States a member of CENTO. It supported CENTO only as an associate, not as a member.

Test yourself on these with the practice test, then check the worked reasoning in the solved MCQs.

Frequently asked questions

Which event is considered the signal for the beginning of the Cold War?

Churchill's speech at Fulton in Missouri in March 1946 is considered to signal the beginning of the Cold War. He said an iron curtain had descended across Europe from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, and called for a western alliance against communism. Stalin criticised him as a warmonger.

What was the Truman Doctrine?

When Britain said in 1947 that it could no longer fight communist insurgencies in Greece and Turkey, President Harry S. Truman committed the US to give financial and military help to countries where communism was ascendant. This policy of containing communism dominated US policy until the end of the Cold War.

How did the USSR respond to the Marshall Plan?

Molotov called the Marshall Plan dollar imperialism. The USSR set up the Cominform in September 1947 to link all European communist parties, announced the Molotov Plan in 1949, and formed Comecon to co-ordinate the economic policies of the USSR and its satellite states.

Why was the Warsaw Pact formed?

When West Germany joined NATO in 1955 the USSR saw it as a direct threat. In May 1955 the Soviet Union and seven European allies signed a treaty of mutual friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance at Warsaw, with a unified command under Marshall Ivan S. Konev. It lasted till 1991.

Who founded the Non-Aligned Movement?

Five leaders played a prominent role: Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Sukarno of Indonesia, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia. Based on the ten principles of Bandung, the first NAM summit was held at Belgrade in 1961.

What was the Uniting for Peace resolution?

Passed by the General Assembly in 1950 at US initiative during the Korean War, it set the precedent that if the Security Council could not agree to act in a crisis, the General Assembly could meet in emergency session and recommend armed force. The USSR regarded it as illegal.

How did the Cold War end?

Gorbachev's perestroika and glasnost from 1986 loosened central control. In 1989 Poland held free elections, the Berlin Wall fell and Eastern Europe broke from communism. The Soviet Union disintegrated on 8 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned on 25 December and Boris Yeltsin became President of Russia.