Cold War Quiz

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What’s in the Cold War Quiz?

This quiz covers one of the most fascinating periods of modern history, when the world held its breath as two superpowers engaged in a decades-long standoff. The questions include:

  • Major events like the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Blockade
  • Key figures such as Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Gorbachev
  • Important treaties and diplomatic developments
  • The Space Race and technological competition

Did you know that during the Berlin Airlift, Allied pilots dropped supplies and sweets for children, with one pilot becoming known as the ‘Candy Bomber’? Or that the hotline between Washington and Moscow wasn’t actually a red telephone but a teletype machine that was later upgraded to a fax?

Cold War Quiz

From the Iron Curtain to the fall of the Berlin Wall, this quiz will test your knowledge of an era that shaped our modern world. You might be surprised to learn that the term ‘Cold War’ was first coined by George Orwell in 1945, just months after the end of World War II. Speaking of surprises, did you know that the CIA once considered using cats as spies during the Cold War? Project Acoustic Kitty was a real $20 million programme. Fortunately, this quiz asks more sensible questions about actual historical events! Take a journey through time and discover the fascinating stories behind the headlines. You can find all the questions and their correct answers by clicking Preview Quiz Content at the bottom of the page.

Preview Quiz Content

This section contains all of the questions that could be a part of this quiz. The quiz will choose 15 random questions from the pool below. If you've found this section feel free to take a look but to start the quiz you should press "Start Quiz". You may also be thinking that some information is missing for some of the below questions and you'd be right! The answers listed below only contain answers that appear in the quiz, so as a hypothetical example, if a question asks about which superpower had more Olympic medals during the Cold War and 4 options are given in the question, only the correct answer will appear in the below information. This is because this supplemental information is about the quiz itself and not intended as a comprehensive list. We hope you found the quiz to be entertaining and informative. If you haven't taken it yet, Good Luck!

Q1: Which agreement divided Berlin into four zones after World War II?

A1: Potsdam Agreement

Q2: Select all countries that were members of the Warsaw Pact:

A2: Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria

Q3: Match each Cold War leader to their country:

A3: Nikita Khrushchev - USSR, John F Kennedy - USA, Fidel Castro - Cuba

Q4: Which crisis in 1962 brought the world closest to nuclear war?

A4: Cuban Missile Crisis

Q5: Arrange these Cold War events in chronological order:

A5: Berlin Blockade, Cuban Missile Crisis, Fall of the Berlin Wall

Q6: What was the name of the US policy of preventing the spread of communism?

A6: Containment

Q7: Which Soviet leader introduced the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika?

A7: Mikhail Gorbachev

Q8: What was the name of the barrier that divided East and West Berlin?

A8: Berlin Wall

Q9: Select all countries that were founding members of NATO:

A9: France, United Kingdom, Norway

Q10: Match each term to its Cold War meaning:

A10: Détente - Easing of tensions, Perestroika - Restructuring, Glasnost - Openness

Q11: Which US programme provided economic aid to Western Europe after World War II?

A11: Marshall Plan

Q12: Which space achievement marked the beginning of the Space Race?

A12: Launch of Sputnik 1

Q13: Arrange these Soviet leaders in chronological order:

A13: Stalin, Brezhnev, Gorbachev

Q14: Which arms limitation treaty was signed by the US and USSR in 1972?

A14: SALT I Treaty

Q15: Which US President established the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)?

A15: Ronald Reagan

Q16: Select all the proxy wars that occurred during the Cold War:

A16: Vietnam War, Korean War, Angola Civil War

Q17: Match each organisation to its purpose:

A17: COMECON - Economic cooperation, NATO - Military alliance, CIA - Intelligence gathering

Q18: Which communist leader ruled Yugoslavia during most of the Cold War?

A18: Josip Tito

Q19: What was the name of the Soviet economic system that competed with capitalism?

A19: Command economy

Q20: Arrange these Cold War milestones in chronological order:

A20: Formation of NATO, First H-bomb test, Vietnam War ends

Q21: Which European country remained neutral throughout the Cold War?

A21: Switzerland