The wartime alliance between the USA and the USSR collapsed into rivalry. For more than 40 years the world was divided between two superpowers with rival ideologies.
🔥 From allies to rivals
At Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945) the Allies agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones, but disagreed about Eastern Europe. Soviet troops stayed in the countries they had liberated, and communist governments took power there. In 1946 Winston Churchill spoke of an “Iron Curtain” across Europe. The Truman Doctrine (1947) pledged US support for countries resisting communism (containment). The Marshall Plan (1948–1952) gave about $13 billion in aid to rebuild Western Europe. The USSR rejected it and created its own bloc.
Marshall Plan: about $13 billion over 4 years
13 / 4 = 3.25 billion dollars a year
Yalta Feb 1945 → Iron Curtain speech March 1946: about 13 months
🖼️ See it
🏗️ Blocs and the Wall
In 1948 the USSR blockaded West Berlin; the Western allies supplied the city by the Berlin Airlift and the blockade ended in May 1949. In 1949 the Western powers formed NATO (12 founding members), and the USSR responded with the Warsaw Pact in 1955. Germany split into West and East (1949). The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop East Germans from fleeing to the West, and stood until 1989. Both sides built up nuclear weapons, and the Cuban Missile Crisis (16–28 October 1962) came close to nuclear war.
NATO 1949 → Warsaw Pact 1955: 6 years
Berlin Wall: 1989 − 1961 = 28 years
Cuban Missile Crisis: 16 → 28 October = 12 days (13 days counting both ends)
“Cold” war because the superpowers never fought each other directly. They competed through alliances, arms races, spying, propaganda and proxy wars.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
Containment
The policy of containment aimed to:
Contain.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan gave:
Aid.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built to:
Keep people in.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was:
Eastern bloc.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
The Marshall Plan gave about $13 billion over 4 years.
What is the average per year, in billions?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
billion
Divide.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
The Berlin Wall stood from 1961 to 1989.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
NATO was founded in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
How many years later?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
The “Iron Curtain” described the:
Question 2 of 5
The Berlin Airlift supplied West Berlin during the:
Question 3 of 5
The Cuban Missile Crisis involved Soviet missiles in:
Question 4 of 5
A proxy war is one in which:
Question 5 of 5
NATO is a:
Lesson 2 · Post-1945
⏳ Cold War Conflicts & the End of the USSR
The Cold War turned hot in Korea and Vietnam. It ended not with a great battle, but with reform, protest and the sudden collapse of communist rule in Europe.
🔥 Hot spots
In the Korean War (1950–1953) a UN force led by the USA backed South Korea against communist North Korea, supported by China. It ended in an armistice that left Korea divided near the 38th parallel. In Vietnam, communist North Vietnam fought South Vietnam, backed by the USA, whose major combat troops fought from 1965 to 1973. The US withdrew in 1973, and in 1975 the North captured Saigon and united the country. The costs, in lives and money, led many Americans to doubt the war.
Korean War: 1953 − 1950 = 3 years
US combat role in Vietnam: 1973 − 1965 = 8 years
Vietnam reunited 1975 → 2 years after US withdrawal
🖼️ See it
📻 Reform and collapse
In 1985Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader and began glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). Peaceful protests across Eastern Europe in 1989 toppled communist governments. On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall opened, and Germany reunified on 3 October 1990. Economic troubles and independence movements weakened the USSR; after a failed coup in August 1991, it was dissolved on 26 December 1991 into 15 independent states. The Cold War is usually dated from 1947 (the Truman Doctrine) to 1991.
Gorbachev 1985 → USSR dissolved 1991: 6 years
Cold War: 1991 − 1947 = 44 years
Wall opens Nov 1989 → reunification Oct 1990: 11 months
USSR → 15 republics, each independent: 15 new states
Why did it end? Historians cite economic decline, the burden of the arms race, Gorbachev’s reforms, and the power of popular movements. There is no single agreed answer.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
Korean War outcome
The Korean War ended with:
No peace treaty.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
Glasnost
Glasnost meant:
Open.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
Wall
The Berlin Wall opened on:
Autumn 1989.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
Collapse
The USSR ended in:
Early 90s.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
Gorbachev became leader in 1985 and the USSR dissolved in 1991.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
The Cold War is dated from 1947 to 1991.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
The USSR dissolved into how many independent states?
Question 2 of 5
Vietnam was reunited under communist rule in:
Question 3 of 5
Which leader began perestroika?
Question 4 of 5
Eastern European communist regimes in 1989 fell mostly through:
Question 5 of 5
Why is there debate about the end of the Cold War?
Lesson 3 · Post-1945
🕊️ Decolonisation
After 1945, European empires in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean broke apart. Within about 30 years most of the colonised world was independent.
🇮🇳 Asia first
The war had weakened Britain, France and the Netherlands, and nationalist movements were strong. India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, after Gandhi’s mass non-violent campaigns; Partition displaced about 15 million people and caused terrible violence. Indonesia won independence from the Dutch in 1949. France lost Indochina after the defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The Bandung Conference (1955) brought Asian and African leaders together.
India 1947 → Ghana 1957: 10 years
Dien Bien Phu 1954 → Algerian independence 1962: 8 years
Partition: 15 million displaced, a third of them to a new country: 15 / 3 = 5 million
🖼️ See it
🌍 Africa and the UN
Ghana (1957), led by Kwame Nkrumah, was the first sub-Saharan colony to become independent. In 1960, “the Year of Africa”, seventeen African colonies gained independence. Some transitions were peaceful; others were violent: the Algerian War (1954–1962) against France and the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (1952–1960), with independence in 1963. The Suez Crisis (1956) showed that Britain and France were no longer great powers. Many new states faced borders drawn by colonial powers, weak economies and Cold War pressures. UN membership grew from 51 in 1945 to 193 today.
Algerian War 1954 → 1962 = 8 years
UN members: 193 − 51 = 142 more than in 1945
Ghana 1957 → Kenya 1963: 6 years
Neo-colonialism is the argument that former colonies often stayed economically dependent on their old rulers or on powerful outside countries.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
Gandhi
India’s independence movement under Gandhi relied mainly on:
Non-violence.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
Ghana
Ghana is famous because it was the first:
Think of the British Empire in West Africa.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
Suez
The Suez Crisis of 1956 showed that:
Empire’s end.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
Borders
Colonial borders often caused later problems because they:
Arbitrary lines.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
India became independent in 1947 and Ghana in 1957.
How many years later?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
The Algerian War ran from 1954 to 1962.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
The UN had 51 members in 1945 and has 193 today.
How many more members?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
Subtract.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
Partition in 1947 divided British India into:
Question 2 of 5
Indonesia gained independence from the:
Question 3 of 5
1960 is called the “Year of Africa” because:
Question 4 of 5
Which war was fought for Algerian independence?
Question 5 of 5
Decolonisation was helped by:
Lesson 4 · Post-1945
✊ Civil Rights & the Struggle Against Apartheid
In the USA and South Africa, citizens challenged laws that kept people unequal because of race. Their campaigns changed laws and inspired people around the world.
🚌 The US civil rights movement
Even after slavery ended, Black Americans in the South faced segregation (“Jim Crow” laws) and were blocked from voting. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. After Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. used non-violent protest. In the March on Washington (28 August 1963), about 250 000 people heard King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The Civil Rights Act (1964) banned discrimination, and the Voting Rights Act (1965) protected the right to vote. King was assassinated in 1968.
Brown 1954 → Civil Rights Act 1964: 10 years
Boycott 381 days − 365 = 16 days longer than a year
Civil Rights Act 1964 → Voting Rights Act 1965: 1 year
🖼️ See it
🌈 Apartheid in South Africa
In 1948 South Africa’s National Party introduced apartheid, a system of legal racial separation that gave the white minority political and economic power and forced Black, Coloured and Indian people into separate and unequal areas. The African National Congress (ANC), strikes, the Soweto uprising (1976) and international sanctions challenged it. Nelson Mandela was jailed in 1962 and released on 11 February 1990. Apartheid laws were repealed and in 1994 South Africa held its first democratic elections; Mandela became president.
apartheid 1948 → first democratic election 1994: 46 years
Mandela freed 1990 → elected 1994: 4 years
Mandela jailed 1962 → freed 1990: 28 years
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996) let victims and perpetrators of political violence tell their stories as a path toward healing.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
Brown v. Board
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled that:
Schools.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. campaigned mainly by:
Peaceful.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
Apartheid
Apartheid was:
Legal racism.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
Sanctions
International sanctions against South Africa aimed to:
Pressure.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
Brown v. Board was in 1954 and the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
How many years later?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days.
How many days longer was that than one year of 365 days?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
days
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
Apartheid began in 1948 and the first democratic election was in 1994.
How many years was that?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
Jim Crow laws were:
Question 2 of 5
The 1963 March on Washington was famous for:
Question 3 of 5
Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president in:
Question 4 of 5
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to:
Question 5 of 5
The Soweto uprising of 1976 began as a protest by:
Lesson 5 · Contemporary
🌐 Globalisation & the Modern World
Since 1945 trade, travel, technology and ideas have linked the world more closely than ever, bringing growth and new tensions.
💱 Economic integration
In 1944 the Bretton Woods conference created the IMF and the World Bank. The GATT trade agreement (1947) cut tariffs and became the World Trade Organisation in 1995. In Europe the Treaty of Rome (1957) created a common market of 6 countries, which became the European Union (Maastricht Treaty, 1993); it now has 27 members after the UK left in 2020. China’s economic reforms after 1978 under Deng Xiaoping opened it to trade and investment and brought rapid growth. The share of the world’s population in extreme poverty fell from about 36% in 1990 to about 10% in 2015.
GATT 1947 → WTO 1995: 48 years
EU: 27 − 6 = 21 more members than in 1957
extreme poverty: 36% − 10% = 26 percentage points lower
🖼️ See it
Trade, finance, migration and ideas now cross borders faster than ever, but the crises show how connected, and how exposed, economies have become.
📡 Technology and challenges
The internet and World Wide Web (1989–91), mobile phones and cheap shipping (containers) created global supply chains and instant communication. World population grew from about 2.5 billion in 1950 to 8 billion in 2022. Globalisation also brought challenges: inequality within and between countries, job loss in some industries, financial crises (such as 2008), pandemics, climate change, and debates about migration, identity and national sovereignty. International agreements such as the Paris Agreement (2015) try to manage shared problems.
population 2.5 billion (1950) → 8 billion (2022):
8 / 2.5 = 3.2 times larger
Treaty of Rome 1957 → Maastricht 1993: 36 years
Globalisation is not new: the Silk Road and the Atlantic trade were earlier global networks, but today’s speed and scale are unprecedented.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
WTO
The World Trade Organisation (1995) grew out of:
Trade agreement.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
Bretton Woods
Which institutions came from Bretton Woods?
Money bodies.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
EU
The EU developed from a common market begun by the:
Rome.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
China reforms
China’s rapid growth after 1978 followed:
Reform.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
GATT began in 1947 and the WTO started in 1995.
How many years later?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
The EU started with 6 members and now has 27.
How many members have been added?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
World population grew from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 8 billion in 2022.
How many times larger?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
Divide.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
The Maastricht Treaty (1993) created the:
Question 2 of 5
Which is a challenge of globalisation?
Question 3 of 5
Extreme poverty fell worldwide between 1990 and 2015, mainly due to growth in:
Question 4 of 5
The Paris Agreement (2015) deals with:
Question 5 of 5
Container shipping helped globalisation by:
Lesson 6 · Skills
🔍 Thinking Like a Historian
History is more than dates. Good historians weigh evidence, explain why events happened, and recognise that different people tell the past in different ways.
🧩 Concepts of historical thinking
Historians use key ideas: cause and consequence (long-term causes, triggers, short- and long-term effects), continuity and change (what stayed the same and what altered), significance (why an event matters: how many people it affected, how deeply, and for how long), and perspectives (what different people thought and why). Historians also distinguish fact from interpretation. Periods have names that reflect interpretation: Eric Hobsbawm called 1789–1914 the “long nineteenth century” and 1914–1991 the “short twentieth century”.
long nineteenth century: 1914 − 1789 = 125 years
short twentieth century: 1991 − 1914 = 77 years
significance test: how many affected × how deeply × how long
🖼️ See it
No source tells the whole story. Historians weigh several, and a biased source can still be useful for what it reveals about its author.
📊 Evidence, data and bias
To evaluate a source, use OPCVL: Origin, Purpose, Content, Value and Limitations. Check for bias and ask what is missing. Numbers need careful reading: a percentage rise depends on the starting value, an average can hide extremes (the median is the middle value), and a correlation does not prove causation. Different historians reach different conclusions, a field known as historiography; revisionism means re-examining accepted views in light of new evidence.
wages in a village: 10, 10, 12, 14, 60
mean = (10 + 10 + 12 + 14 + 60)/5 = 106/5 = 21.2
median = middle value = 12 (the mean is pulled up by one high wage)
population 2 million → 3 million: growth = 1/2 = 50%
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Records mostly survive from the literate and powerful, so ordinary voices have to be sought with care.
✏️ Quick check · 1 of 7
Primary source value
The main limitation of a government propaganda poster as evidence is that it:
Purpose.
✏️ Quick check · 2 of 7
Correlation
If two things rise together, a historian should:
Be careful.
✏️ Quick check · 3 of 7
Trigger
A trigger is:
Spark.
✏️ Quick check · 4 of 7
Revisionism
Historical revisionism, in its proper sense, means:
Reassess.
✍️ Type your answer · 5 of 7
Hobsbawm’s “long nineteenth century” ran from 1789 to 1914.
How many years?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
years
Subtract.
✍️ Type your answer · 6 of 7
Wages in a village are 10, 10, 12, 14 and 60. Find the median.
What is the median wage?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
Middle value.
✍️ Type your answer · 7 of 7
A town’s population grows from 2 million to 3 million.
What is the percentage growth?
Enter an exact answer, without rounding.
%
Divide the increase by the starting value.
📝 Lesson quiz · 5 questions
0 / 5
Re-read the lesson, then give it another go.
Question 1 of 5
Historians judge significance by asking:
Question 2 of 5
Which is an interpretation rather than a fact?
Question 3 of 5
Continuity and change asks:
Question 4 of 5
Why is the median sometimes better than the mean?
Question 5 of 5
Historiography is the study of:
Final Challenge
🏆 12-Question Challenge Quiz
Questions from every topic in this course. Pick an answer for each one, then hit Check My Answers.
0 / 12
💪 Keep practicing — go back through the lessons and retake the quiz!
Q1 · Origins of the Cold War
The Truman Doctrine of 1947 promised:
Q2 · Origins of the Cold War
NATO is a:
Q3 · Cold War Conflicts & the End of the USSR
German reunification took place on:
Q4 · Cold War Conflicts & the End of the USSR
Why is there debate about the end of the Cold War?
Q5 · Decolonisation
Who led Ghana to independence?
Q6 · Decolonisation
Decolonisation was helped by:
Q7 · Civil Rights & the Struggle Against Apartheid
The ANC was:
Q8 · Civil Rights & the Struggle Against Apartheid
The Soweto uprising of 1976 began as a protest by:
Q9 · Globalisation & the Modern World
The World Wide Web was developed around:
Q10 · Globalisation & the Modern World
Container shipping helped globalisation by:
Q11 · Thinking Like a Historian
Which question best tests the reliability of a source?