International Relations MCQs (Cold War) Solved with Explanation

What was the main goal of the Truman Doctrine?
(a) Elimination of communism
(b) Implementation of the “Domino Theory.”
(c) Containment of communism
(d) Reconstruction of Western Europe after World War Ii
(e) Assistance to British colonies in Africa
Answer: (c)

On Friday, February 21, 1947, the British Embassy informed the U.S. State Department officials that Great Britain could no longer provide financial aid to the governments of Greece and Turkey. American policymakers had been monitoring Greece’s crumbling economic and political conditions, especially the rise of the Communist-led insurgency known as the National Liberation Front, or the EAM/ELAS. The United States had also been following events in Turkey, where a weak government faced Soviet pressure to share control of the strategic Dardanelle Straits. When Britain announced that it would withdraw aid to Greece and Turkey, the responsibility was passed on to the United States. Addressing a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman asked for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey and established a doctrine, aptly characterized as the Truman Doctrine, that would guide U.S. diplomacy for the next 40 years. President Truman declared, “It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” The sanction of aid to Greece and Turkey by a Republican Congress indicated the beginning of a long and enduring bipartisan cold war foreign policy.

The immediate cause of the U.S. military involvement in the Korean peninsula in 1950 was the
(a) crossing of the Yalu River by the Chinese “volunteers.’
(b) Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
(c) creation of the DMZ (demilitarized zone) along the 38th parallel.
(d) acquisition of a nuclear weapons by North Korea.
(e) attack by North Korea on South Korea.
Answer: (e)

The coining of the term iron curtain is attributed to which leader?
(a) Harry Truman
(b) George Marshall
(c) Dwight Eisenhower
(d) Winston Churchill
Answer: (d)

All of the following events contributed to Cold War tensions EXCEPT the
(a) United States airlift of food to the citizens of Berlin
(b) massive economic support for western Europe through the Marshall Plan.
(c) rejection of the Treaty of Versailles by the isolationist Senate
(d) United support of the Greek monarchy in 1947
(e) the establishment of the defensive North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Answer: (c)

The formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact were similar in that they
(a) focused on economic security and development
(b) called for collective security against outside threats
(c) were used as an attempt to alleviate Cold War tensions
(d) illustrated international opposition to the United Nations
Answer: (b)

NATO was created in April 1949, and the Warsaw Pact was established in 1955. Both held a policy of mutual military assistance and collective security against an attack made by a nation outside of the treaty organization. Though the United Nations was created to promote peace in the postwar world, the Soviet Union’s position as a member of the Security Council allowed it to veto many of the organization’s intended actions. Western nations began to feel that another institution was needed to protect them from potential Soviet aggression.
In 1949, the United States, Canada, France, Great Britain, and eight other nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to protect the West from possible Soviet-led communist aggression. This marked a significant shift in American foreign policy, which since the Monroe Doctrine had avoided permanent military alliances with European powers. In 1955, the Soviet Union retaliated by issuing the Warsaw Pact with its satellite states in Eastern Europe, which also held a policy of mutual assistance, thus furthering the notion of Churchill’s “iron curtain.”

George Kennan’s policy of containment was based on
(a) a belief that the communists would win the Chinese civil war
(b) an understanding with Britain regarding the post-World War II German government
(c) a belief that the Soviet Union would try to expand the reach of communism
(d) a need to decrease government spending in an effort to halt inflation
(e) a desire to keep the Republicans from regaining the White House in the 1948 election
Answer: (c)

Kennan and Containment, 1947. George F. Kennan, a career Foreign Service Officer, formulated the policy of “containment,” the basic United States strategy for fighting the cold war (1947–1989) with the Soviet Union.
At the end of the war, the Soviet Union was a closed society under the iron grip of Joseph Stalin. Few in the West had experience with the communist state and even fewer understood what motivated the Soviets. One man who had first hand knowledge was a Foreign Service officer, George F. Kennan. In 1946, while he was Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow, Kennan sent an 8,000-word telegram to the Department—the now-famous “long telegram”—on the aggressive nature of Stalin’s foreign policy. Kennan, writing as “Mr. X,” published an outline of his philosophy in the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs in 1947. His conclusion was that “the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.” Containment provided a conceptual framework for a series of successful initiatives undertaken from 1947 to 1950 to blunt Soviet expansion.

Although the Cold War rapidly escalated with the end of World War II, the 1950s were marked by a period of “peaceful coexistence.” Tensions between the Soviet Union and United States were alleviated temporarily. Which of the following reinvigorated Cold War hostilities?
(a) Berlin Airlift
(b) Iran Hostage Crisis
(c) Cuban Missile Crisis
(d) U-2 Incident
(e) Suez Crisis
Answer: (d)

In July 1957, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower requested permission from Pakistani Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy for the U.S. to establish a secret U.S. intelligence facility in Pakistan and for the U-2 spyplane to fly from Pakistan. A facility established in Badaber (Peshawar Air Station), 10 miles (16 km) from Peshawar.Badaber was an excellent location because of its proximity to Soviet central Asia.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers (1929-77). Confronted with the evidence of his nation’s espionage, President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. The Soviets convicted Powers on espionage charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. However, after serving less than two years, he was released in exchange for a captured Soviet agent in the first-ever U.S.-USSR “spy swap.” The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War (1945-91), the largely political clash between the two superpowers and their allies that emerged following World War II.

The communist revolution in China was led by
(a) Jiang Jieshi
(b) Kim Il Sung
(c) Ho Chi Minh
(d) Mao Zedong
Answer: (d)

In 1949, the popular communist armies under the leadership of Mao Zedong captured the Chinese capital of Peking (Beijing), defeating the Nationalist leader Jiang Jieshi. Jiang Jieshi and his followers set up a provisional government in exile on the island of Taiwan. The United States was shocked by the fall of China to communism, and this furthered the government’s resolve to prevent the further spread of communism in Asia. This resolve was illustrated by the efforts to defeat the communist leader Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. Beginning in 1954, the United States began providing assistance to the anticom- munist government in Vietnam, and after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1963, the United States began the long-term military escalation that became the Vietnam War. Deng Xiaop-ing came into power in China in 1981. He adopted some progressive reforms for China, highlighted by the Four Modernizations, which focused on agriculture, industry, science, and defense, and allowed for limited ownership of private property and some free market policies. Kim Il Sung was the leader of North Korea through much of the Cold War. He forged alliances with both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. In the 1950s, his military invaded the democratic South Korea, sparking the Korean War.

The Kitchen Debates of 1959 can best be described as
(a) advertising strategies to attract Americans to purchase new home appliances
(b) subcabinet-level policy discussions in the executive branch
(c) discussions about American imperialism in Latin America
(d) arguments for women to join the domestic workforce
(e) conversations between Nixon and Khrushchev concerning communism and capitalism
Answer: (e)

The Kitchen Debate was a series of impromptu exchanges (through interpreters) between then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959.

What was the Berlin Airlift?
(a) The massive evacuations of diplomats following the Soviet takeover of West Berlin
(b) The aerial arrival of Soviet forces to capture the capital of Germany
(c) The delivery of goods and necessities after a Soviet blockade of West Berlin
(d) The evacuation of West German citizens following the construction of the Berlin Wall
Answer: (c)

The Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift (26 June 1948 – 30 September 1949) to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the city’s population. Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food. The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict.

The Soviet Union responded to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by
(a) providing military assistance to the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO)
(b) forming the Warsaw Pact
(c) giving financial aid to Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)
(d) placing nuclear missiles in Cuba
(e) sending advisors to the Organization of American States (OAS)
Answer: (b)

George F. Kennan most strongly supported which policy?
(a) Containment
(b) Massive retaliation
(c) Mutually assured destruction
(d) Bans on nuclear testing
Answer: (a)

George F. Kennan was a diplomat, stationed in Moscow, who wrote what has become known as the Long Telegram in 1946. In this telegram and a later essay entitled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” (1947), he argued that the Soviet Union was expansionist and its influence needed to be contained.
He especially stressed the containment of Soviet influence in areas that were of strategic importance to the United States. Kennan’s idea of containment became the basis for the Truman Doctrine, issued in February 1947, and the Marshall Plan, announced in June of the same year. His notion of containment also influ- enced the formation of NATO in 1949, American military activities during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, U.S. policy toward Cuba after the rise of Castro, and other defining aspects of U.S. diplomacy throughout the Cold War.

The coining of the term iron curtain is attributed to which leader?
(a) Harry Truman
(b) George Marshall
(c) Dwight Eisenhower
(d) Winston Churchill
Answer: (d)

In 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, Missouri. He announced that an “iron curtain” had been spread across Europe, dividing the continent between free democratic nations and countries forced under authoritarian rule. This notion of a divided Europe was furthered in April 1949 with the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by the democratic nations and in 1955 with the formation of the Warsaw Pact by the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both instituted policies to address the threat of authoritarian states on the other side of the iron curtain through their administrations.
The Truman Doctrine was created in 1947 to contain the spread of communism into Greece and Turkey. This policy was continued to protect other nations throughout the Cold War. Truman’s secretary of state, George Marshall, unveiled his reconstruction plan for Europe (called the Marshall Plan) in part to strengthen European democracies in order to protect them from Soviet influence. Eisenhower’s presidency also took on the fight against the spread of communism, adopting a policy of massive retaliation and the Eisenhower Doctrine, which attempted to keep Soviet influence out of the Middle East.

Which of the following was least likely to provoke a direct military confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.?
(a) the Berlin Airlift of 1948
(b) The Cuban missile crisis of 1962
(c) the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolt in 1956
(d) the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961
(e) the Korean War of 1950-1953
Answer: (e)

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were similar in that they
(a) provided justification for military actions against authoritarian governments
(b) provided economic aid while containing Soviet influence
(c) returned the United States to its prewar isolationist policies
(d) focused on expanding American business interests in Latin America
Answer: (b)

Following the Second World War, the United States adopted policies that were intended to help rebuild war-torn Europe, promote self-determination, and contain the spread of Soviet influence. After Great Britain announced in 1947 that it could no longer afford to aid the Greek government’s fight against the communist insurgents, President Truman asked Congress for nearly $400 million in military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey. Truman stated that it was the duty of the United States to support free nations that were fighting to resist communist domination.
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was instituted in 1947 in response to fears that communist organizations were gaining strength in democratic nations across Europe. The Marshall Plan illustrated the United States’ belief that American aid in reconstruction would allow for economic recovery and create strong democracies. The Soviet Union openly rejected the Marshall Plan and pressured its satellite nations to not participate in the program.

Why was geography important during the Cuban missile crisis?
(a) The communist government took over American businesses on the island.
(b) The island is located just 90 miles from the coast of Florida.
(c) The Soviets gave financial aid to the communist government of Cuba.
(d) The Bay of Pigs invasion failed to overthrow Castro.
Answer: (b)

Which of the following contributed the MOST to the fall of the Soviet Union?
(a) President Nixon’s policy of détente
(b) the collapse of a flawed economic system
(c) the United States boycott of the 1980 Olympics
(d) the destruction of the Berlin Wall
Answer: (b)

The causes of the fall of the Soviet Union were many and included ethnic conflict, a lack of support for the idea of communism and economic troubles caused by a focus on arms. Despite reform efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union, the country was never able to reorganize and rebuild.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s the Soviet Union seemed to be one of the most stable political units in the world. In international politics the Soviet Union was very strong and seemed only to be getting stronger. It was, for example, securing political client states in Africa. The Western powers believed this image was valid. But in the Soviet Union few things were really what they seemed to be.
There were many economic problems for the Soviet Stalinist system. One very general problem was the lack of incentives for productivity. As anonymous Soviet citizen said
They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.
The Russian economist, Grigory Yavlinsky, who ultimately became an important advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev, became convinced to the need for reform when he investigated the low productivity in the Soviet mines. He found the miners were not working because they had no incentives to work. Said Yavlinsky