Deck 13: The Age of the Cold War, 1949-1989

Question 1

Summarize the disintegration of communist power in Hungary and Poland.What part did Pope John Paul II play in encouraging the Polish opposition? What was the role of Solidarity?

Answer 1

The chapter provides a fairly detailed discussion, especially on Poland, so pulling the facts together in an essay should not be difficult-names and dates should be included.

Question 2

After the Second World War, western European nations experienced all of the following except

A)dependence on U.S.leadership.
B)a consensus that government needed to promote economic growth and social welfare.
C)a renewal of intense and violent national rivalries.
D)rapid economic recovery and unprecedented prosperity.
E)having to exist in a bipolar Europe.

Answer 2

a renewal of intense and violent national rivalries.

Question 3

What does the fall of communism reveal about the history of the West since the Renaissance?

Answer 3

Essays should discuss that the rise, dynamism, and power of civil society helped make modern Western civilization distinctive and lie at the heart of the collapse of communism in east-central Europe and, to a lesser extent, the dissolution of the Soviet Union.An important hint is offered in Kennan's critique of communism presented in Chapter 28.

Question 4

Much of postwar European literature and philosophy reflected a mood of

A)new optimism.
B)appreciation of economic prosperity.
C)despair and anxiety.
D)serenity and relief.
E)going through the motions with nothing worth saying or doing.

Question 5

Summarize the political development of West Germany under Adenauer and Brandt.What factors tended to make the Federal Republic a more stable regime than that of Weimar?

Question 6

The popular postwar philosophy, existentialism

A)was led by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.
B)held that engagement, commitment, responsibility, and friendship are all possible and desirable in a world that is absurd.
C)split over the relevance of Marxism.
D)explored what it meant for humans to be adrift from their cultural guideposts without standards and values.
E)All of the above.

Question 7

What types of political and social tensions began to surface in western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s? In which country did unrest seem most acute?

Question 8

What were some features of Marxist thought in the postwar period, and what positions were taken by some prominent anticommunist writers?

Question 9

Why did President de Gaulle and some other Europeans oppose the Common Market? What was the original rationale for some degree of European economic integration, what roles were played by Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, and what were the implications of increasing economic unity for national sovereignty?

Question 10

Discuss the situation in postwar east-central Europe from 1945 to the mid-1970s.What was the relationship of the countries of the region to the Soviet Union? What internal tensions developed, and what changes did they produce?

Question 11

The Berlin Wall came down to euphoric crowds and world wide cheers.Symbolically it was more than a wall, Discuss this symbol in the time era of this chapter.

Question 12

How did the reunification of Germany come about, and what problems did it cause?

Question 13

How was Cuba involved in cold war tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s? What split developed in the communist world, and why?

Question 14

In 1914, Europe exercised hegemony over most of the world.In 1945, Europe lay in ruins under the shadow of two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.Explain Europe's experience, both international and domestic, in the bipolar world of the second half of the twentieth century.

Question 15

Discuss the Soviet bloc in the 1970s and 1980s.Explain the fall of communism in east-central Europe in 1989.

Question 16

Describe the prosperous mass culture of the West and of Americanism in the second half of the twentieth century, and explain how it was critiqued by existentialism, pop art, and Havel's book, The Power of the Powerless.

Question 17

Describe the Soviet political and economic situation under Brezhnev, the changes implemented or attempted by Gorbachev, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Question 18

Examine postwar France as an example of European traditions and institutions adapting to modern realities.Consider both domestic and foreign affairs.

Question 19

Describe the process of decolonization in the postwar period.What were the particular spheres and policies of the various colonial powers, and what complicating factors affected their decisions on independence? What problems affected the newly independent states?

Question 20

Discuss the economic recovery of Europe following the war.What first stimulated it, and how did it vary from country to country? What were some characteristics of the welfare state? Describe European economic integration.

Question 21

As the United States came to share in the leadership of Western culture, many perceived that

A)America offered a culture combining technology, value-free social science, and scientific management.
B)the old European way led to excessive theorizing, political extremism, and impasse.
C)Americanism meant "the end of ideology."
D)the American approach got things done by using experts.
E)All of the above.

Question 22

All of the following measures were taken by the new Federal Republic of Germany except

A)outlawing Communist and Neo-Nazi parties.
B)strengthening the authority of the chancellor.
C)discouraging splinter parties.
D)increasing the power of the multiparty Bundestag.
E)emphasizing the need to compromise to rule all of Germany.

Question 23

Under the government of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany

A)was oriented toward the United States and the Atlantic bloc.
B)failed to achieve prosperity.
C)experienced serious political instability.
D)had close diplomatic and economic ties with East Germany.
E)refused to make a commitment to NATO.

Question 24

Which of the following was not a characteristic of Sweden's welfare?

A)Children's issues became a prime responsibility of the government.
B)Day care centers were private church controlled ventures.
C)Government became involved in situations involving sexuality.
D)Corporal punishment came under government control.
E)Society as a whole was responsible for the well-being of its children.

Question 25

The Berlin Wall symbolized the

A)power of NATO.
B)power and long-term success of East Germany.
C)polarization of Europe after World War II.
D)end of World War II.
E)Stalin Era.

Question 26

Referring to the Chronology Chart in this chapter, which event was not a result of direct communist aggression or action?

A)Warsaw Pact
B)Cuban Missile Crisis
C)Suez Crisis
D)Hungarian reform movement crushed
E)Victory in Vietnam

Question 27

The Communist Party in France

A)was banned after the war.
B)had very little support within the country.
C)gained support through the 1940s.
D)took control of the government.
E)refused to become involved in coalitions.

Question 28

American culture in the postwar period was affected by

A)the continued dominance of American provincialism.
B)a rejection of foreign cultural influences.
C)the wartime migration to America of many European artists and intellectuals.
D)a profound inferiority complex.
E)concern about economic and political unrest in America.

Question 29

What is Ostpolitik?

A)Adenauer's policy to isolate East Germany
B)Willy Brandt's attempt to improve relations with the Soviet bloc
C)The attempt to reunify Germany
D)The East German attempts to copy West Germany
E)The Soviet occupation of East Germany

Question 30

The key to the immediate postwar revival of Europe was

A)the United Nations.
B)the Common Market.
C)COMECON.
D)the Marshall Plan.
E)the Warsaw Pact.

Question 31

Welfare states of one type or another

A)existed everywhere in western Europe in the postwar period.
B)were formed in Sweden and Denmark but not in Britain.
C)developed only in Scandinavia, Britain, and the United States.
D)were formed in eastern Europe only.
E)prevented governments from providing welfare and maintaining a capitalistic economy at the same time.

Question 32

What was the Basic Law?

A)The system under which war criminals were tried
B)The first post-war legal system that stabilized Germany
C)The charter of the United Nations
D)The Soviet constitution
E)The NATO agreement

Question 33

Which of the following is related to pop art?

A)Imaginative renderings of familiar images
B)Return to classical landscape paintings
C)Term was coined in Harlem
D)Symbolized the world's acceptance of war and pain
E)Symbolized the enthusiasm for the new technology and science of post WW II

Question 34

Why was Antonio Gramsci significant?

A)He introduced Communism to Italy.
B)He became Italy's first Socialist premier.
C)His modified fascism became popular after the war.
D)He rooted Marxism in a flexible and contextual political strategy.
E)He was the father of the Italian industrial renaissance of the 1960s.

Question 35

Which person was not associated with existentialism?

A)Sartre
B)De Beauvoir
C)Becket
D)T)S.Eliot
E)Camus

Question 36

In postwar western Europe, labor

A)had no share in economic decision making.
B)began demanding more benefits in the 1960s.
C)disrupted the European economy with incessant strikes.
D)was severely repressed in all states.
E)became part of a massive consumer society.

Question 37

What was NATO?

A)The enforcement mechanism of the Marshall Plan.
B)The military arm of the United Nations.
C)The military coalition of the US, Canada, and Western Europe against communism.
D)The Soviet military alliance.
E)None of the above.

Question 38

Under Willy Brandt, West Germany

A)cut off relations with communist countries.
B)repudiated ties with the United States.
C)adopted communism.
D)improved relations with East Germany and the rest of the Soviet bloc.
E)was refused membership to the United Nations.

Question 39

In western Europe

A)government intervention in the economy generally grew but was not uniform throughout the region.
B)strong economic growth continued until the late 1960s.
C)industrial production had regained 1938 levels by the end of the 1940s and doubled by the late 1950s.
D)nations took advantage of the need to rebuild by adopting up-to-date methods and technologies.
E)All of the above.

Question 40

The Fifth Republic differed from the Fourth

A)in name only.
B)by having a stronger, popularly elected president.
C)in some economic policies only.
D)in having Charles de Gaulle in the government.
E)because it was elected by the Chamber of Deputies and not public vote.

Question 41

Margaret Thatcher sought to invigorate the British economy by all of the following except

A)a complete dismantling of the welfare system.
B)the fostering of a new "enterprise culture."
C)privatization of state-owned companies such as Rolls Royce.
D)curtailment of trade-union power.
E)increasing the price rate of public housing to increase government income.

Question 42

What was the Warsaw Pact?

A)The German instrument of surrender to the Soviets
B)The Communist economic system
C)The military alliance of the Soviet Bloc, designed to counter NATO
D)The Soviet answer to the United Nations
E)The Soviet plan to rebuild eastern Europe

Question 43

By the end of the 1970s, the economy in the Soviet bloc fell seriously behind the West mainly because

A)communist ideology had eliminated the consumer mentality.
B)Western economic warfare and sanctions succeeded.
C)of a lack of flexibility and freedom to experiment.
D)stagflation in the West spread eastward.
E)of the expense involved in the arms race with the United States.

Question 44

Amidst postwar prosperity, political disaffection appeared in

A)the United States with the civil rights and antiwar movements.
B)France with student unrest culminating in the 1968 "Days of May."
C)Italy with terrorists in the 1970s.
D)Germany with the Green movement.
E)All of the above.

Question 45

The predecessor of the European Union was the

A)Warsaw Pact
B)NATO
C)COMECON
D)The European Economic Community
E)None of the above

Question 46

What is "stagflation"?

A)Rapidly rising inflation
B)A propaganda term used by the communists
C)High levels of unemployment
D)Low rates of growth
E)A combination of low growth, with high unemployment and inflation

Question 47

Referring to liberalization of the Communist Party and the revolt in Hungary in 1956, which of the following is not true?

A)Moderates began to dismantle collective farms.
B)Attempts were made to create a multi-party system.
C)Liberals called for a withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.
D)Soviets, fearing the spread of the movement, acted with strong military force.
E)Khrushchev called for compromise.

Question 48

Khrushchev's de-Stalinization speech in 1956

A)condemned Stalin's "cult of personality."
B)probably aimed at undercutting his rivals.
C)stated that Stalinism deviated from Marxism-Leninism.
D)suggested the possibility of liberalization and reform.
E)All of the above.

Question 49

Western European economic integration

A)received impetus from "Eurocrats."
B)was highly successful, with growth rates approaching 8 percent per annum (1958-1962).
C)helped to solidify democracies.
D)required some forced coordination of social and economic policies from member states.
E)All of the above

Question 50

In a world dominated by two superpowers, de Gaulle asserted French sovereignty by all of the following except

A)the creation of an independent French nuclear force.
B)withdrawal from the European Economic Community.
C)recognition of the People's Republic of China.
D)curtailment of the French role in NATO.
E)checking the increasing supranationalsim evident in the EEC.

Question 51

Which democratic country had a strong, popularly elected, communist minority in the post-war era?

A)France
B)West Germany
C)Italy
D)Great Britain
E)Spain

Question 52

The Brezhnev Doctrine

A)sought to reverse Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign.
B)attempted to introduce market forces into the Soviet economy.
C)stated that the Soviet Union could intervene in any of its satellites to preserve communism.
D)is also called "détente."
E)reversed Khrushchev's attempts at arms limitations and easing of tensions.

Question 53

In hindsight, the most revolutionary provision of the Helsinki Accords concerned

A)economic cooperation.
B)environmental cooperation.
C)human rights.
D)recognition of existing borders.
E)the opening to the East started by Willy Brandt.

Question 54

The cold war came closest to becoming a nuclear war during the

A)Cuban Missile Crisis.
B)erection of the Berlin Wall.
C)Prague Spring.
D)Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
E)Hungarian Revolt.

Question 55

Decolonization included all of the following except

A)an almost total dismantling of European empires dating back to Columbus.
B)harmony among the liberated nations.
C)expansion of the British Commonwealth.
D)the belief that the West was spiritually exhausted.
E)a new world that circumcised the political, economic, and social role and place of Europe.

Question 56

Which country attempted to leave the eastern Bloc in 1968?

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

Question 57

The political system in Italy after World War II

A)created a constitutional monarchy.
B)was under the total control of the Catholic Church.
C)depended on the balance of political forces.
D)came under the control of communism in a coalition government.
E)evolved with Italian moderates, fearing the church, aligning with the communists.

Question 58

The stagflation of the 1970s

A)threatened to undermine the social compact that had brought postwar stability.
B)was caused in part by the oil embargo implemented to punish the West for its support of Israel.
C)was a sign of globalization.
D)was the result of global competition and rising unemployment, putting the labor movement on the defense.
E)All of the above.

Question 59

When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956

A)the whole world community accepted the decision.
B)Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt.
C)the United States bombed Cairo.
D)the Soviet Union sent a fleet to keep the canal open.
E)the old colonial powers, reverting to their traditional techniques, caused a coup in Egypt removing Nasser from power.

Question 60

Unlike other east-central European Communists, Tito was able to break with the Soviet Union because

A)the West supported him.
B)having liberated Yugoslavia on their own, the Yugoslav Communists possessed a legitimacy that other east-central European Communists did not have.
C)unlike the other Communists, Stalin trusted Tito.
D)Yugoslavia immediately joined NATO.
E)his forces were able to repulse all military actions of the Soviet Union.

Question 61

In Britain, the Labor Party seemed better equipped to deliver on the promise of providing a national health service as opposed to the Conservatives under Churchill who were strongly opposed to the idea of a welfare state.

Question 62

Communism ended in Poland because

A)of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
B)of pressure from the West.
C)of popular pressure, a partially free election, and the voluntary ceding of power by the Communist authorities.
D)of a violent popular uprising.
E)Gorbachev was seeking reform and less likely to intervene militarily.

Question 63

Among the domestic causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union was

A)a combination of economic decline and freedom to criticize the system.
B)discontent in the Soviet republics beginning with Lithuania.
C)an attempted coup by hard-liners.
D)promises made with perestroika never fully developed
E)All of the above.

Question 64

Margaret Thatcher was a major proponent of the Labor party's vision of the welfare state.

Question 65

All of the following were true of Solidarity in the years 1980-1981 except that it was

A)led by Lech Wałęsa, an electrician.
B)concerned mainly with higher wages and lower food prices.
C)concerned with the recognition of independent labor unions and the right to strike.
D)concerned with freedom of expression.
E)initiated, supported, and financed by the Catholic Church.

Question 66

Konrad Adenauer was an ex-Nazi who sympathized with socialism.

Question 67

In his critique of "post-totalitarianism," Václav Havel stated all of the following except that

A)communism is solid and permanent because it embodies modernity.
B)living according to the truth would undermine communism.
C)the West has its own latent harmful tendencies.
D)the emptiness of life in the post-totalitarian system is a caricature of modern life in general.
E)hope for change would come from people outside the structure of the party and the state.

Question 68

Gorbachev's program included all of the following except

A)nonintervention in and liberalization of the satellite states.
B)dismantling communism.
C)economic restructuring (perestroika).
D)freer discussion and criticism (glasnost).
E)arms reduction.

Question 69

Communism ended in east-central Europe as a domino effect originating with

A)the fall of the Berlin Wall.
B)the end of communist rule in Poland.
C)a reaction against Gorbachev's reforms in the neighboring Soviet Union.
D)the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.
E)a marked illegal migration of Eastern Europeans to the West.

Question 70

The largest and most influential party in West Germany was the Free Democratic Party (FDP)led by Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967).

Question 71

The pop art of artists such as Warhol and Lichtenstein

A)may indicate the everyday beauty or haunting emptiness of mass production, mass consumption, and the mass media.
B)was a continuation of the abstract expressionism popular just after the Second World War.
C)was also known as "rock and roll."
D)originated in and was characteristic of postwar Europe.
E)was a reaction against the melancholy, nostalgia, and tragedy of the era.

Question 72

Much of post-World War II literature and writing displayed a feeling of relief and serenity.

Question 73

The Berlin Wall was erected to deter illegal immigration from West Berlin to East Germany.

Question 74

The Cold War came closest to becoming a nuclear war during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Question 75

The primary catalyst leading to the fall of the Soviet Union was the uprising in Poland led by the Catholic-sponsored trade union, Solidarity.