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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 2: The changing world order (1945 to 2010)
Quick questions on Shaping the postwar world 1945 to 1949: VCE Modern History Unit 2 Year 11
15short 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 security Council?Show answer
Five permanent members (USA, UK, USSR, France, Republic of China) with veto power, plus rotating non-permanent members. Authorised to use force; binding decisions.
What is general Assembly?Show answer
All member states have one vote. Non-binding resolutions. Approves the budget.
What is specialised agencies?Show answer
WHO (health), UNESCO (education and culture), UNICEF (children), FAO (food and agriculture), ILO (labour), and many others.
What is limitations?Show answer
Cold War vetoes in the Security Council blocked many actions. The Council was usually paralysed except where USSR boycotted (Korea 1950) or both superpowers agreed.
What is iMF?Show answer
Manages international monetary cooperation; lends to countries with balance-of-payments problems. 187 members today.
What is world Bank?Show answer
Originally International Bank for Reconstruction and Development; lent for postwar reconstruction, then development.
What is gATT?Show answer
Multilateral framework to reduce trade barriers. Replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO, 1995).
What is gold-dollar system?Show answer
US dollar pegged to gold ($35 per ounce); other currencies pegged to the dollar. This worked until Nixon ended dollar-gold convertibility in 1971.
What is yalta and Potsdam?Show answer
Allied leaders met to settle postwar Europe. Disputes over Polish elections and German reparations foreshadowed the breakdown.
What is iron Curtain?Show answer
Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech (5 March 1946) at Fulton, Missouri named the dividing line.
What is truman Doctrine?Show answer
US committed to "supporting free peoples resisting subjugation".
What is marshall Plan?Show answer
$13 billion in US aid to rebuild Europe. The USSR forbade Eastern European participation, sharpening the divide.
What is berlin Blockade and Airlift?Show answer
Stalin blockaded West Berlin; the Western Allies airlifted supplies. The blockade ended; the West stood firm.
What is nATO?Show answer
Western military alliance. 12 founding members.
What is two German states?Show answer
Federal Republic of Germany (West, 23 May) and German Democratic Republic (East, 7 October).