16 Cold War trivia questions with answers, from the Berlin Airlift to the Moon

Blocs and blockades

1. 11947–1991

   Why is it called a 'cold' war?

   • AIt was conducted entirely through diplomatic negotiation and cost no lives
   • BThe decisive campaigns were fought in the Arctic and the northern seas
   • CIt was a trade and currency conflict rather than a military one
   • DThe two superpowers never fought each other directly, competing through proxies and arms
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   D. The two superpowers never fought each other directly, competing through proxies and arms. Cold between Washington and Moscow, very hot elsewhere: Korea, Vietnam, Angola and Afghanistan together cost millions of lives.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

2. 2Washington · 1947

   What did the Truman Doctrine commit the United States to?

   • AWithdrawing from European affairs and returning to isolation
   • BRolling communism back by force wherever it had taken hold
   • CContaining the spread of communism by supporting states resisting it
   • DSharing nuclear technology with its allies in Western Europe
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   C. Containing the spread of communism by supporting states resisting it. Announced in 1947 over Greece and Turkey. Containment — not conquest — remained the organising principle of American policy for forty years.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

3. 3Berlin · 1948–1949

   The Berlin Airlift of 1948–49 was a response to what?

   • AThe withdrawal of Soviet forces from their sector of the city
   • BA famine across the Soviet occupation zone of eastern Germany
   • CA Soviet blockade of the road and rail routes into West Berlin
   • DThe construction of the wall dividing the city in two
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   C. A Soviet blockade of the road and rail routes into West Berlin. The Western allies flew in food and coal for eleven months rather than force the roads open — a deliberate choice to avoid giving Stalin a pretext for war.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

4. 4Europe · 1949–1955

   Which two military alliances faced each other across Europe?

   • ANATO and the Warsaw Pact
   • BNATO and the League of Nations
   • CThe Comintern and the Marshall Plan
   • DThe Triple Entente and the Central Powers
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   A. NATO and the Warsaw Pact. NATO was founded in 1949; the Warsaw Pact followed in 1955, immediately after West Germany was admitted to NATO.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

5. 51948–1979

   Which came FIRST?

   • AThe building of the Berlin Wall
   • BThe Cuban Missile Crisis
   • CThe Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
   • DThe Berlin Blockade
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   D. The Berlin Blockade. Blockade 1948, Wall 1961, Cuba 1962, Afghanistan 1979.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

Thirteen days in 1962

1. 6Cuba · October 1962

   What triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962?

   • AAmerican troops landed in Cuba in an attempt to remove Castro
   • BThe Soviet Union tested a nuclear device in the western Caribbean
   • CCuban forces attacked the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay
   • DAmerican reconnaissance flights found Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba
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   D. American reconnaissance flights found Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. U-2 photographs revealed the sites in October. Kennedy chose a naval quarantine over the air strike his generals urged.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

2. 7Washington and Moscow · October 1962

   How was the Cuban Missile Crisis resolved?

   • AThe Soviets withdrew after American aircraft destroyed the launch sites from the air
   • BThe Soviets withdrew the missiles; the US promised not to invade Cuba and quietly removed its missiles from Turkey
   • CThe United Nations took custody of the missiles and supervised their removal
   • DCuba expelled its Soviet advisers on its own initiative and dismantled the sites
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   B. The Soviets withdrew the missiles; the US promised not to invade Cuba and quietly removed its missiles from Turkey. The Turkish half of the bargain was kept secret for decades, so the outcome looked like a pure Soviet climb-down at the time. A direct Washington–Moscow hotline followed.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: What was the Cold War, really?

The space race

1. 8Baikonur · October 1957

   What event in 1957 turned the space race into a matter of national urgency for the United States?

   • AThe Soviet Union landed a probe on the Moon
   • BThe Soviet Union tested its first hydrogen bomb
   • CYuri Gagarin orbited the Earth
   • DThe Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite
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   D. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. A rocket that could put a satellite overhead could also deliver a warhead. Sputnik was read in Washington as a strategic warning as much as a scientific first.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

2. 91958–1969

   Which came FIRST?

   • AThe founding of NASA
   • BThe first human orbit of the Earth
   • CThe first human on the Moon
   • DThe first American spacewalk
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   A. The founding of NASA. NASA in 1958, Gagarin's orbit in 1961, the first American spacewalk in 1965, and the Moon in 1969 — eleven years from the agency's creation to the surface.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

3. 10Washington · May 1961

   Which president publicly committed the United States to landing a man on the Moon before the decade was out?

   • ADwight D. Eisenhower
   • BJohn F. Kennedy
   • CLyndon B. Johnson
   • DRichard Nixon
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   B. John F. Kennedy. He set the goal before Congress in May 1961, six weeks after Gagarin's flight. He did not live to see it met — Nixon was president in July 1969.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

4. 11Sea of Tranquility · July 1969

   What was the name of the lunar module that carried Armstrong and Aldrin to the surface?

   • AEagle
   • BColumbia
   • CEnterprise
   • DFreedom 7
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   A. Eagle. Columbia was the command module Collins stayed aboard. 'The Eagle has landed' was the first message sent from the surface.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

5. 12Sea of Tranquility · 20 July 1969

   The final descent was more dangerous than planned. What went wrong?

   • AA cabin window cracked during the braking burn and the crew completed the landing in suits
   • BThe computer raised alarms and the target site proved full of boulders, so Armstrong flew on manually
   • CThe descent engine failed part-way down and the module landed on its attitude thrusters alone
   • DRadio contact with Earth was lost for the whole descent and the crew landed without guidance
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   B. The computer raised alarms and the target site proved full of boulders, so Armstrong flew on manually. Armstrong took over and flew past the boulder field. By the gauges at the time, the Eagle touched down with under 30 seconds of fuel left before an abort call; later analysis found a little more in the tanks.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

6. 13Lunar orbit · July 1969

   Three men flew Apollo 11, but only two walked on the Moon. What was the third doing?

   • AMichael Collins stayed in lunar orbit aboard the command module
   • BHe remained at Mission Control in Houston
   • CHe was a reserve who never left Earth
   • DHe piloted a second lander that did not descend
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   A. Michael Collins stayed in lunar orbit aboard the command module. Collins orbited alone for about 21 hours, out of radio contact with Earth every time he passed behind the Moon.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

7. 14Apollo 11 · July 1969

   What did Armstrong and Aldrin bring back that had lasting scientific value?

   • APhotographs of the Earth's far side
   • BThe first measurements of the solar wind at Earth's orbit
   • CAbout 22 kg of lunar rock and soil
   • DIce samples from a polar crater
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   C. About 22 kg of lunar rock and soil. The samples supported the theory that the Moon was formed from debris thrown off when a body the size of Mars struck the early Earth.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

8. 151961–1969

   Why is the Moon landing usually described as a Cold War event as much as a scientific one?

   • AThe Soviet Union attempted to intercept Apollo 11 with an unmanned craft of its own
   • BIt was meant to show that American technology and its political system could out-perform the Soviet Union's
   • CThe mission carried military hardware intended to be left in position on the lunar surface
   • DThe landing site was formally claimed as United States territory under international law
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   B. It was meant to show that American technology and its political system could out-perform the Soviet Union's. The plaque left behind read 'We came in peace for all mankind' — but the programme was funded because the Soviets had been first at almost every earlier milestone.

   From the “Moon Landing (1969)” story in Histia · Full story: Did we really land on the Moon?

The end

1. 16Moscow · December 1991

   What event in 1991 is taken to mark the end of the Cold War?

   • AThe fall of the Berlin Wall
   • BThe signing of the Helsinki Accords
   • CThe dissolution of the Soviet Union
   • DThe reunification of Germany
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   C. The dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Wall fell in 1989 and Germany reunified in 1990; the Soviet Union itself was dissolved in December 1991.

   From the “Cold War” story in Histia · Full story: Why did the Soviet Union collapse?