Facts You Should Know: The Cold War Quiz

Question: In 1946 Winston Churchill popularized what term used to describe Soviet relations with Western powers?

Answer: Just one year after World War II, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in which he warned of the threat the former ally posed, proclaiming, “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” In the same speech, Churchill coined the term special relationship to describe the U.S.-U.K. alliance.

Question: Frequently cited as the counterpart to the CIA, what was the name of the Soviet intelligence agency?

Answer: KGB stands for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, in English “Committee for State Security.” The KGB’s foreign intelligence allowed the Soviet Union to keep up technologically with the West. Unlike the CIA, who mainly acted abroad, the KGB also conducted brutal operations at home against Soviet citizens.

Question: An early move by the U.S. during the Cold War, the Marshall Plan had what goal?

Answer: Many in the U.S. government feared that economic struggles in war-torn Europe would cause political instability and open the door for communist parties to take over. More than $13 billion in economic aid was distributed over four years, helping Europe rapidly renew its industries.

Question: Which theory stated one country’s “fall” into communism would precipitate neighboring countries to do the same?

Answer: U.S. President Harry Truman proposed the domino theory to justify sending aid to Greece and Turkey. Later presidents would apply the notion in Southeast Asia, using it to justify increased military invention.

Question: In a famous 1950s filmstrip shown in classrooms across America, Bert the Turtle offered kids what advice for surviving an atomic blast?

Answer: Bert the Turtle’s advice may seem laughably ineffective, but atomic weapons of the late 1940s and early ’50s were much weaker and produced far less radioactive fallout than the hydrogen bombs that would soon become standard. Today, for low-yield nuclear detonations, the government still recommends going inside and staying inside.

Question: Often cited as their first regime change, the CIA deposed the prime minister of what country in 1953 after he nationalized their oil industry?

Answer: When Iran’s prime minister nationalized their oil industry, British business interests were forced to abandon the lucrative wells they’d been pumping since 1909. Fears of growing communist influence pushed the U.S. to replace the prime minister with an autocratic but Western-friendly shah. The CIA would go on to orchestrate many more regime changes throughout the Cold War.

Question: In a failed attempt to overthrow communist ruler Fidel Castro, U.S.-funded Cuban exiles used which site to start their invasion?

Answer: In 1961 about 1,500 Cuban exiles, financed and equipped by the U.S., stormed the island’s Bay of Pigs with the goal of toppling Fidel Castro. They failed, and more than a thousand were taken prisoner. Eventually, a ransom of $53 million worth of food and medicine was paid for their release.

Question: A direct “hotline” from the White House to the Kremlin was established as a result of which of these events?

Answer: In 1962 U.S. President John F. Kennedy placed a “quarantine” around Cuba, preventing the further delivery of Soviet missiles. Hoping to avoid nuclear war, the Soviets contacted an ABC news reporter, John Scali, to deliver their terms for removing their missiles. The U.S. responded, also using Scali as an intermediary. After tensions eased, a direct line from Washington to Moscow was put in place to avoid further fiascos.

Question: Devised in 1959, the DEFCON system has five stages of military readiness. Which DEFCON rating is used when a nuclear attack is imminent or already underway?

Answer: DEFCON 5 is used during peacetime, while DEFCON 1 describes imminent war. The United States has not been at DEFCON 1, but DEFCON 2 was reached during the Cuban missile crisis, when the U.S. Air Force put 60 bombers armed with nuclear weapons in the air, prepared to execute rapid strikes.

Question: American Francis Gary Powers gained notoriety during the Cold War because he…

Answer: The CIA used U-2 spy planes to take reconnaissance photos of the Soviet Union. A surface-to-air missile took down pilot Francis Gary Powers’s plane. He survived the crash, elected not to use a toxic pin given to him, and was taken alive. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had denied his country’s use of spy planes, making Powers’s resulting show trial an embarrassing black eye for the U.S.

Question: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev interrupted a United Nations meeting with which disruptive activity?

Answer: Sometimes the leaders of world superpowers aren’t above childish theatrics. During a session of the UN General Assembly in 1960, a member of the Philippine delegation criticized the Soviet Union for curtailing rights in eastern Europe. Khrushchev objected by taking off his shoe and banging it on his desk.

Question: True or false: The first woman in space was from the Soviet Union.

Answer: The U.S.S.R. had many of the firsts during the space race with the United States: the first human-made object in orbit (Sputnik), the first animal in space (Laika the dog), the first man in orbit (Yuri Gagarin), and the first spacecraft on the Moon (Luna 2). Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, 20 years before Sally Ride.

Question: During one of the most famous Cold War speeches, who famously said the German phrase “Ich bin ein Berliner?”

Answer: "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words‚ Ich bin ein Berliner!" The first American president to visit Berlin after World War II, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that made clear his dedication to West Berlin.

Question: Although never fully leaving the organization, in 1966 what country withdrew its military from NATO and expelled NATO headquarters from its borders?

Answer: Feeling that the United States was dominating the organization and that its own sovereignty was being threatened, France withdrew from NATO’s military structure in 1966. NATO’s military headquarters was forced to move from Paris to Brussels. However, France remained a member of NATO. Despite its quarrels, the organization remained intact.

Question: Often seen as the Soviet version of the United States’ Vietnam quagmire, the U.S.S.R.’s 10-year-long invasion of what country began in 1979?

Answer: In 1978 communist factions in Afghanistan overthrew the government but met resistance from insurgents called the mujahideen. The U.S.S.R. sent troops to support the new communist government, while the U.S. supplied the mujahideen with heavy weapons. The Afghan War would sap resources from the Soviet Union until its withdrawal in 1989.

Question: Promising to defend against Soviet missiles using technology that had yet to be developed, Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative was often called by what nickname?

Answer: The Strategic Defense Initiative promised to use space-based laser battle stations to destroy Soviet missiles before they could reach their targets. Congress approved initial funding for the project even though there was much debate about whether such a project would be technologically feasible and whether it would provoke another arms race.

Question: A Soviet policy instituted in the late 1980s, glasnost means what in English?

Answer: When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, he wanted to resuscitate the stagnant Russian economy and make Russian bureaucracy more efficient. He instituted a program called glasnost, or “openness,” which expanded freedoms of expression and information. The result helped thaw the Cold War.