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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 10 of 13

The Cold War

Superpowers, alliances and the Space Race

What your child practices

How the Cold War grew out of World War II, NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the United Nations, communist China under Mao, the Korean War and Cuban Missile Crisis, the arms and space races, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 9.13; 9.15 · the origins and course of the Cold War to the collapse of the Soviet Union

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. After World War II, Churchill said an Iron Curtain divided Europe. The US offered the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan; the Soviets answered with COMECON.
  2. Alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact), the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and arms and space races followed.
  3. Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) and Poland’s Solidarity helped end it.

Example: What did the Marshall Plan do? Europe was in ruins after World War II. The US gave billions to rebuild Western Europe. Answer: gave billions of dollars to rebuild Western Europe

The Cold War in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 13 in 9th grade Social Studies, after The Holocaust and before The End of Empires.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    During the Cultural Revolution, Mao's Red Guards…

    • built democracy
    • ended Mao's rule
    • attacked teachers, officials and traditional culture
    • opened free markets

  2. Question 2

    The United Nations was founded in…

    • 1919
    • 1991
    • 1960
    • 1945

  3. Question 3

    The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with…

    • a communist victory under Mao Zedong
    • a monarchy
    • Japan ruling China
    • a Nationalist victory

  4. Question 4

    Solidarity was a trade union movement that challenged communist rule in…

    • Vietnam
    • Poland
    • China
    • Cuba

  5. Question 5

    The Warsaw Pact (1955) was the alliance of…

    • Latin American nations
    • the United States and Britain
    • the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries
    • Japan and China

  6. Question 6

    The Soviet Union broke apart in…

    • 2001
    • 1989
    • 1945
    • 1991

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