1. After World War II, the U. S. and its Allies fought to contain the spread of . 2. - used the term "iron curtain" to describe the division of democratic and communist nations in Europe.

3. - advisor to Presidents Truman and Roosevelt, coined the term "cold war" in 1947.

4. What TWO conflicts did the U. S. fight in during the Cold War?

5. The article describes the Cold War as a decades-long test of a) , b) , c) between the U. S. and Soviet Union.

6. How did the Allies react to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin from 1948 to 1949?

7. - Soviet Premier (leader) in the 1950s-1960s.

8. Why did the Soviets build the Berlin Wall?

9. How was the Cuban Missile Crisis resolved?

10. What was the goal of President Truman's Marshall Plan?

11. What was the U. S. practice of "brinksmanship"?

12. The arms race between the U. S. and Soviets was a race to develop .

13. What feat did the Soviets accomplish in 1957 and how did the U. S. respond?

14. How did President Nixon try to promote a policy of détente with the Soviet Union during the 1970s?

15. What TWO factors eventually led to the downfall of the Soviet Union?

16. - last leader of the Soviet Union.

17. What was glasnost and perestroika?

18. - U. S. President who famously said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

19. - year the Berlin wall came down, - year East and West Germany were reunited, and - year Soviet Union dissolved.

As World War II drew to a close, the alliance that had made the United States and the Soviet Union partners in their defeat of the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—began to fall apart. Both sides realized that their visions for the future of Europe and the world were incompatible. Joseph Stalin, the premier of the Soviet Union, wished to retain hold of Eastern Europe and establish Communist, pro-Soviet governments there, in an effort to both expand Soviet influence and protect the Soviet Union from future invasions. He also sought to bring Communist revolution to Asia and to developing nations elsewhere in the world. The United States wanted to expand its influence as well by protecting or installing democratic governments throughout the world. It sought to combat the influence of the Soviet Union by forming alliances with Asian, African, and Latin American nations, and by helping these countries to establish or expand prosperous, free-market economies. The end of the war left the industrialized nations of Europe and Asia physically devastated and economically exhausted by years of invasion, battle, and bombardment. With Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China reduced to shadows of their former selves, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the last two superpowers and quickly found themselves locked in a contest for military, economic, social, technological, and ideological supremacy.