Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91: Detente, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold War, 1970-91 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

13 original exam-style questions - 4 pages of questions with a full mark scheme - free printable PDF.

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This topic is chapter 6 of GCSE History: Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 Practice Book.

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4.6 Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91: Detente, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold War, 1970-91

EDEXCEL 1HI0 · about 55 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer ALL questions. Write in full sentences for Questions 15, 16 and 17. You are advised to spend about 65 minutes on this pack.

Give the year in which Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

(Total for Question 1 is 1 mark)

Give the year in which Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, eliminating a whole class of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

(Total for Question 2 is 1 mark)

Give the date in November 1989 on which the Berlin Wall fell, and the year the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.

(Total for Question 3 is 2 marks)

Explain two consequences of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (December 1979).

(Total for Question 4 is 8 marks)

Write a narrative account analysing how relations between the superpowers changed between the signing of the INF Treaty in December 1987 and the end of the Cold War in 1991.

You may use the following information in your answer:
- the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989
- the Malta Summit of December 1989

You should also use information of your own.

(Total for Question 5 is 8 marks)

Explain two of the following:
(a) the importance of the Helsinki Accords (1975) for detente
(b) the importance of Gorbachev's reforms for relations between the superpowers
(c) the importance of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) for the end of the Cold War

You must answer on TWO parts.

(Total for Question 6 is 16 marks)

State what SALT I limited between the two superpowers.

(Total for Question 7 is 2 marks)

Give the year in which the Helsinki Accords were signed.

(Total for Question 8 is 1 mark)

State two things the Helsinki Accords committed the signing states to.

(Total for Question 9 is 2 marks)

Give the month and year in which the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

(Total for Question 10 is 2 marks)

State one reason the Soviet Union gave for its intervention in Afghanistan.

(Total for Question 11 is 2 marks)

Give the year Ronald Reagan became President of the United States, and the phrase he used in 1983 to describe the Soviet Union.

(Total for Question 12 is 2 marks)

Name the missile-defence system Reagan announced in March 1983, sometimes nicknamed 'Star Wars'.

(Total for Question 13 is 1 mark)

Mark scheme · 4.6 Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91: Detente, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold War, 1970-91

Question 1

B1 1985
Answer: 1985

Question 2

B1 1987
Answer: 1987

Question 3

B1 9 November 1989
B1 1991
Answer: 9 November 1989; the USSR was dissolved in 1991.

Question 4

Level 1 (1-2): Identifies one or two general consequences of the invasion, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (3-4): Identifies and begins to explain one consequence, supported by accurate detail.
Level 3 (5-6): Explains two consequences of the invasion, each supported by accurate and relevant detail.
Level 4 (7-8): Explains two consequences in a well-developed, logically structured way, supported throughout by precise and accurate detail, showing how the consequences connect.
Indicative content:
- It effectively ended the period of detente that had developed through the 1970s: the US Senate refused to ratify the already-signed SALT II treaty, and cooperation built up since Helsinki (1975) largely stalled.
- It led to direct American countermeasures, including the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, a grain embargo on the USSR, and covert US support for Afghan fighters resisting the Soviet-backed government, prolonging the conflict for years.
- It contributed to a renewed period of high tension in the early 1980s, sometimes called the 'Second Cold War', in which both sides increased defence spending and rhetoric hardened, seen in developments such as Reagan's 'evil empire' language and the Strategic Defense Initiative.
- The long, costly conflict in Afghanistan became a heavy drain on Soviet resources and morale over the following decade, and Gorbachev's decision to withdraw Soviet troops, completed in February 1989, was one sign of his wider wish to reduce the USSR's costly overseas commitments.

Question 5

Level 1 (1-2): Simple, generalised statements about the end of the Cold War, with little organisation or sense of change over time.
Level 2 (3-4): Some accurate knowledge is deployed, with limited organisation into a sequence; the account may be more a list of events than a developed narrative.
Level 3 (5-6): The account is organised and mostly coherent, and shows some analysis of how relations changed, with accurate supporting detail.
Level 4 (7-8): The answer demonstrates a coherent, well-organised narrative that analyses connections between events across the period, showing clearly how arms control, reform and revolution combined to end the Cold War, fully supported by precise and accurate detail.
Indicative content:
- The INF Treaty, signed in Washington in December 1987, eliminated an entire class of intermediate-range nuclear missiles and showed both leaders were genuinely committed to reducing the arms race, building further trust after the Geneva (1985) and Reykjavik (1986) summits.
- Through 1988 and into 1989, Gorbachev's reforms (glasnost and perestroika) encouraged growing openness across the Eastern Bloc, and he signalled the USSR would not use force to keep unpopular communist governments in power, unlike under the earlier Brezhnev Doctrine.
- This encouraged rapid change across Eastern Europe in 1989, including partly free elections in Poland and mass protests in East Germany, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 as East German authorities lost control of the border.
- Weeks later, at the Malta Summit in December 1989, US President Bush and Gorbachev met and both publicly described the Cold War as coming to an end, a striking contrast to the confrontational rhetoric of the early 1980s.
- Over the following two years, Germany was formally reunified (1990), the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, and finally the Soviet Union itself was dissolved in December 1991, showing a connected sequence running from arms control, through Gorbachev's internal reforms, to the political collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe and, ultimately, of the USSR itself.

Question 6

Level 1 (1-4): For each part answered: identifies a general point of importance, with little or no supporting detail or explanation.
Level 2 (5-8): For each part answered: begins to explain importance, supported by some accurate detail.
Level 3 (9-12): For each part answered: explains importance clearly, supported by accurate and relevant detail, with some analysis of consequences.
Level 4 (13-16): For each part answered: explains importance in a well-developed, analytical way, fully supported by precise and accurate detail, showing clearly why the event mattered for the outcome named.
Indicative content:
- (a) The Helsinki Accords were important for detente because they extended cooperation beyond arms control alone (already begun with SALT I in 1972) into recognition of European borders and human rights, giving detente a broader diplomatic and social foundation, even though this same human rights commitment later gave Eastern Bloc dissidents and reformers a document to appeal to.
- (b) Gorbachev's reforms were important for relations between the superpowers because his willingness to negotiate seriously on arms reductions, culminating in the INF Treaty of 1987, and his more open domestic approach removed much of the mutual suspicion that had driven the tension of the early 1980s, making cooperation possible again.
- (c) The fall of the Berlin Wall was important for the end of the Cold War because it was the most visible, symbolic collapse of the division of Europe that had defined the Cold War since 1961, and it was followed within months by the Malta Summit, at which both superpowers publicly declared the confrontation over.
- A strong answer on any two parts explains a clear causal chain from the named development to the outcome specified, using precise dates, and may note how arms control, Gorbachev's internal reforms and the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe were closely connected rather than separate causes.

Question 7

B1 it limited the number of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defence systems each side could build
B1 it also froze, for five years, the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers each side held
Answer: It limited anti-ballistic missile systems and froze the number of strategic missile launchers for five years.

Question 8

B1 1975
Answer: 1975

Question 9

B1 recognising the existing borders of European states as fixed, accepting the post-war territorial settlement
B1 respecting basic human rights and freedoms, and increasing cooperation and trade between East and West
Answer: Recognising existing European borders as fixed, and respecting human rights while increasing East-West cooperation.

Question 10

B1 December
B1 1979
Answer: December 1979

Question 11

B1 identifies a Soviet-stated reason, e.g. the USSR said it was supporting the allied Afghan Marxist government at its own request, against a growing armed rebellion
B1 supporting detail, e.g. the Soviet Union was also concerned about maintaining a friendly, stable government on its southern border
Answer: The USSR said it was supporting Afghanistan's Marxist government against rebellion, and it wanted a stable, friendly state on its southern border.

Question 12

B1 1981
B1 the 'evil empire'
Answer: 1981; Reagan called the USSR the 'evil empire' in 1983.

Question 13

B1 the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Answer: The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-91: Detente, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold War, 1970-91 - Worksheets, Questions and Revision

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