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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 2: The changing world order (1945 to 2010)
Quick questions on Cold War crises 1956-1962: Hungary, Berlin, Cuba (VCE Modern History Unit 2)
11short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the Hungarian Uprising (October to November 1956)?Show answer
The Hungarian leadership had been split since 1953 between Stalinist Matyas Rakosi and reformist Imre Nagy. Nagy was prime minister from 1953 to 1955, then ousted. After the Secret Speech, Rakosi was forced to resign on 18 July 1956.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis (16 to 28 October 1962)?Show answer
In April 1962 Khrushchev decided to deploy Soviet medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles (R-12 SS-4s and R-14 SS-5s) to Cuba. Motives included deterring a second American invasion of Cuba, redressing the Soviet strategic disadvantage (the US had around 5,000 strategic warheads to the USSR's around 300), and matching the American Jupiter missiles in Turkey (operational from April 1962).
What is black Saturday?Show answer
A U-2 piloted by Rudolf Anderson was shot down over Cuba; Anderson was killed. A Soviet B-59 submarine off Cuba was depth-charged by the destroyer USS Beale. The submarine carried a nuclear-armed torpedo.
What is hotline and Test Ban?Show answer
The Moscow-Washington direct teleprinter "hotline" became operational on 30 August 1963. The Partial Test Ban Treaty (signed in Moscow on 5 August 1963) banned atmospheric, underwater and outer-space nuclear testing.
What is khrushchev's fall?Show answer
Khrushchev's colleagues blamed him for the Cuban humiliation. He was deposed in a Politburo coup on 14 October 1964; Leonid Brezhnev replaced him as First Secretary.
What is soviet arms build-up?Show answer
The USSR launched a massive nuclear and conventional build-up. Strategic parity (around 1,500 intercontinental ballistic missiles each) was reached by 1969 and underpinned SALT I (1972).
What is kennedy and Vietnam?Show answer
Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963. Lyndon Johnson inherited the deepening Vietnam commitment.
What is crisis management as doctrine?Show answer
The crisis taught both sides to keep open communication channels and to avoid public ultimatums. The pattern of carefully managed confrontation persisted through the rest of the Cold War.
What is q1?Show answer
Evaluate the extent to which the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) was a turning point in the Cold War. [10 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain the causes of the Hungarian Uprising (1956). [4 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Analyse why the Berlin Wall (1961) is hard to classify as a Soviet success or failure. [6 marks]