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A-Level Paper 1, Theme I: How the Cold War developed (1945-1991)

What the A-Level syllabus expects for Paper 1, Theme I: How the Cold War developed (1945-1991), and how to practise it.

What the syllabus expects

• Why hostility first grew between the USA and the USSR after the Second World War.
• The early signs that this rivalry was hardening, traced through a series of postwar flashpoints and moves.
  Scope: The creation of NATO and, opposite it, the Warsaw Pact; the blockade of Berlin; the Marshall Plan paired with the Truman Doctrine; Kennan's Long Telegram; the Iron Curtain speech delivered by Churchill; the sovietising of the states of Eastern Europe; and the wartime meetings at Yalta and Potsdam.
• The rival schools of thought historians draw on to explain how the conflict originated.
  Scope: traditional, revisionist, post-revisionist, post-Cold War
• The Korean War (1950-1953) as a Cold War episode: how it broke out, unfolded, and fed back into superpower rivalry.
  Scope: Covers China's rise as a communist power and mounting Cold War tension in Asia; the parts played by South Korea, North Korea, China and the two rival superpowers; and the war's effect on the Cold War.
• The Vietnam War (1959-1975) as a Cold War conflict: its roots, its course, and its consequences for the wider struggle.
  Scope: Covers how the First Indochina War affected US ties with North and South Vietnam and the Cold War; the parts played by South Vietnam, North Vietnam, China and the two rival superpowers; and the impact on the Cold War.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): its build-up, escalation, and aftermath within the Cold War.
  Scope: Covers how the Cuban Revolution reshaped the way Cuba related to both the USSR and the USA; the parts played by Cuba and the two superpowers; and the crisis's effect on the Cold War. Exam note: candidates will not be required to compare the Korean War, Vietnam War and Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Washington's shift back to a harder confrontational stance and renewed containment.
  Scope: The Reagan Doctrine; the Strategic Defense Initiative programme; and Washington's part in bargaining over arms control.
• The weakening of the Soviet Union and the reorientation of its foreign policy.
  Scope: The Sinatra Doctrine; the 'New Thinking' associated with Gorbachev; and the economy's mounting difficulties.
• Popular movements and revolutions that swept Eastern Europe during the 1980s.
  Scope: Poland and East Germany
• Competing explanations historians give for why the Cold War came to an end.
  Scope: Debates centred on 'People Power', on Soviet initiative, and on Western triumphalism.

More A-Level H2 History topics

Paper 1, Theme II: How the world economy grew from 1945 through 2000 · Paper 1, Theme III: Conflict and cooperation in the international order (1945-2000) · Paper 2, Theme I: Forming nation-states in Southeast Asia · Paper 2, Theme II: Economic change after independence · Paper 2, Theme III: Regional conflicts and cooperation · all of A-Level H2 History