US History: The Cold War: Standard Practice

# Medium Level Guide Grade-level practice aligned to typical classroom expectations and unit assessments. # Origins of the Cold War After WWII, the US and USSR emerged as superpowers with opposing ideologies: democracy and capitalism versus communism. The Iron Curtain divided Europe. Containment aimed to stop Soviet expansion without direct war between nuclear powers. # Major Conflicts and Crises The Korean War and Vietnam War were Cold War proxy conflicts. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) brought the world close to nuclear war. The Berlin Wall symbolized division until 1989. # Domestic Impact McCarthyism and Red Scare fears affected American politics. The space race spurred science education. Civil rights movements unfolded alongside Cold War foreign policy debates. # End of the Cold War Gorbachev's reforms, economic strain, and popular movements weakened Soviet control. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The USSR dissolved in 1991. The US remained the sole superpower for a time.