levo

Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91

The end of détente and the ‘Second Cold War’

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 booklet P

Overview

Afghanistan and the American response, the Carter Doctrine, the Olympic boycotts, Reagan's evil empire and military build-up, the Strategic Defence Initiative, Gorbachev's aims, the 1987 missile treaty and the trust between the leaders.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why did Soviet forces enter Afghanistan in December 1979?

Key term

How did the USA respond to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, apart from the Olympic boycott?

Numbers

Which Olympic Games did each superpower stay away from?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why did Soviet forces enter Afghanistan in December 1979?

    Model answer

    To prop up a friendly communist government that was losing control to Muslim rebels, and to keep the country within Moscow's sphere.

  2. 2

    How did the USA respond to the intervention in Afghanistan apart from sport?

    Model answer

    It stopped grain and technology sales, abandoned the arms limitation treaty and secretly armed the mujahideen fighting the Soviet army.

  3. 3

    What did the Carter Doctrine of 1980 declare?

    Model answer

    That the Persian Gulf was a vital American interest and that any attempt by an outside power to control it would be repelled by force.

  4. 4

    Which Olympic Games did each superpower stay away from?

    Model answer

    The USA led a boycott of the Moscow games in 1980, and the Soviet Union retaliated by boycotting Los Angeles in 1984.

  5. 5

    What did Reagan call the Soviet Union in 1983?

    Model answer

    An evil empire, language that abandoned the polite tone of the previous decade and treated communism as something to be defeated.

  6. 6

    What did Reagan do to American military spending in the early 1980s?

    Model answer

    He increased it enormously, funding new missiles and bombers in order to outbuild an economy he judged unable to keep pace.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88
British America, 1713–83: Empire and Revolution
Conflict in the Middle East, 1945–95
Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000–present

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

£6.6 , fixed in 1921.
billionmillionthousand

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe huge loss of life left England short of workers.
BForeign craftsmen and labourers were wanted.
CCompetition for work also bred resentment.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Strategy means the plan for a whole campaign.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.