Y223: the Cold War in Europe 1941-1995 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y223: the Cold War in Europe 1941-1995

79 questions
7 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

The Cold War in Europe 1941–1995 is unit Y223 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are the origins of the Cold War to 1945, the development of the Cold War 1946–1955, the Cold War 1956–1984 and the end of the Cold War 1984–1995. 79 recall questions across 7 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y223: the Cold War in Europe 1941-1995

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The origins of the Cold War to 1945: situation in 1941 and wartime tensions in the Grand Alliance

Explain why the western powers distrusted the Soviet Union before 1941.

Show the answer
They remembered the Bolshevik repudiation of debts, allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, the Comintern's calls for world revolution, the purges, and above all the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.
The origins of the Cold War to 1945: situation in 1941 and wartime tensions in the Grand Alliance

How did the atomic bomb and Lend-Lease add to wartime suspicion?

Show the answer
The Americans supplied huge quantities of Lend-Lease aid but kept the atomic project secret from their Soviet ally, who learned of it through espionage rather than from Truman.
The origins of the Cold War to 1945: the wartime conferences and the breakdown of the alliance

Define the Declaration on Liberated Europe.

Show the answer
It was the Yalta pledge that the peoples freed from Nazi rule would be able to create democratic institutions of their own choosing through free elections.
The origins of the Cold War to 1945: the wartime conferences and the breakdown of the alliance

How did the liberation of Europe differ in the east and the west?

Show the answer
In the west the allies restored parliamentary governments and excluded communists from power, while in the east the Red Army remained in occupation and Soviet-sponsored figures took the key ministries.
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid

How did the communists take control of Poland?

Show the answer
The Soviet-backed provisional government rigged a referendum and then the elections of January 1947 through intimidation and fraud, until the non-communist leader Mikołajczyk fled the country.
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid

Define the Truman Doctrine.

Show the answer
Announced in March 1947 as Britain withdrew from Greece and Turkey, it promised American support for free peoples resisting armed minorities or outside pressure, and so committed the United States to containment.
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: Cominform and Comecon, conflicts over Germany, atomic weapons

Explain why the western powers chose an airlift rather than force.

Show the answer
Sending an armed convoy risked war, while flying supplies in put the burden of firing the first shot on Stalin and demonstrated western resolve without provocation.
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: Cominform and Comecon, conflicts over Germany, atomic weapons

How did the nuclear balance change between 1945 and 1953?

Show the answer
The American monopoly ended when the USSR tested an atomic bomb in 1949, and after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in 1952 the Soviets followed within a year, so both sides held thermonuclear weapons.

The 7 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The origins of the Cold War to 1945: situation in 1941 and wartime tensions in the Grand Alliance	Recall questions on the situation in 1941, Capitalism and Communism and general attitudes in East and West, wartime tensions in the Grand Alliance.	8
The origins of the Cold War to 1945: the wartime conferences and the breakdown of the alliance	Recall questions on Tehran, Yalta and the Declaration on Liberated Europe, Potsdam and the atomic bomb, liberation in east and west, Greece, Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s approaches to Stalin and the collapse of the alliance.	11
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid	Recall questions on Iron Curtain speech, Soviet control of Eastern Europe: including Baltic States, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid.	10
The development of the Cold War 1946–1955: Cominform and Comecon, conflicts over Germany, atomic weapons	Recall questions on Cominform and Comecon, conflicts over Germany including the Berlin blockade and airlift, NATO, the Warsaw Pact, atomic weapons.	10
The Cold War 1956–1984: Hungary, the Prague Spring and Poland	Recall questions on the Secret Speech, Poland in 1956, the Hungarian rising and its consequences, the Prague Spring and invasion of 1968, the Brezhnev Doctrine and events in Poland in 1980 and 1981.	8
The Cold War 1956–1984: Berlin, the arms race, détente and the new Cold War	Recall questions on West German rearmament, the Berlin ultimatum and Wall, the arms race and MAD, the space race, détente, SALT, Ostpolitik, Helsinki and the collapse of détente into the new Cold War.	12
The end of the Cold War 1984–1995: Soviet decline, Gorbachev and the end of communism	Recall questions on Soviet economic and social problems, eastern Europe in the 1980s, glasnost and perestroika, the Sinatra Doctrine, Afghanistan, the summits, the revolutions of 1989, German reunification, the 1991 coup, Yeltsin and Yugoslavia.	20

Y223: the Cold War in Europe 1941-1995 is 79 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.