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Year 11
AQA

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

I can explain why NATO and the Warsaw Pact were formed.

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New
New
Year 11
AQA

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

I can explain why NATO and the Warsaw Pact were formed.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The USSR and Germany were considered threats to Western Europe after WW2.
  2. NATO was founded in 1949 as a military alliance of Western countries.
  3. West Germany was allowed to join NATO in 1955.
  4. The USSR opposed West German entry into NATO.
  5. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance of Eastern European countries founded in 1955.

Common misconception

NATO was established in response to the USSR setting up the Warsaw Pact.

The Warsaw Pact was a response to NATO's formation in April 1949 (which itself followed the Berlin Crisis and Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia).

Keywords

  • Alliance - an agreement between countries or political parties to work together to achieve something

  • Controversial - something that causes a lot of disagreement or argument

  • Rearmament - the process of supplying yourself or others with new weapons, especially in order to become a strong military power again

Ask students whether the formation and expansion of NATO means that the West should receive most of the blame escalating tensions in the Cold War during the mid-20th century.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word. Sputnik 1 was a Soviet .
Correct Answer: satellite
Q2.
Which country sent the first woman into space?
Britain
China
France
USA
Correct answer: USSR
Q3.
Who was the first man in space?
Correct Answer: Yuri Gagarin
Q4.
Which country won the 'Race to the Moon'?
Britain
China
France
Correct answer: USA
USSR
Q5.
Why did JFK plan to land a man on the Moon?
Claim it as new land for the USA
Find resources such as oil
Correct answer: Restore US prestige
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - ICBMs first developed
2 - Sputnik 1 launched
3 - First spy satellite launched
4 - First man in space
5 - First man on the moon

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word. An is an agreement between countries or political parties to work together to achieve something.
Correct Answer: alliance
Q2.
Which superpower was a member of the Warsaw Pact?
Correct Answer: Soviet Union, the Soviet Union, USSR, the USSR
Q3.
Write the missing word. The USA was a member of .
Correct Answer: NATO
Q4.
Why did France initially oppose West German membership of NATO?
It feared West German communism.
It feared West German economic competition.
Correct answer: It feared West German rearmament.
Q5.
Which of the following was a characteristic of most Warsaw Pact member states?
They were capitalist.
They were democracies.
Correct answer: They were Soviet satellites.
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Potsdam Conference
2 - Berlin Blockade
3 - NATO formed
4 - West Germany joins NATO
5 - Warsaw Pact formed

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