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Year 11
AQA

Tensions between the superpowers by the late-1960s

I can explain different causes of tension between the USSR and USA by the end of the 1960s.

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Year 11
AQA

Tensions between the superpowers by the late-1960s

I can explain different causes of tension between the USSR and USA by the end of the 1960s.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The arms race continued in the 1960s.
  2. The Vietnam War created tensions between the USA and USSR.
  3. The USA was critical of the Soviet's record on human rights.
  4. Many rights were heavily restricted in the USSR, or not respected at all.

Keywords

  • Censorship - to examine books, documents, or films and remove parts of them that are not considered acceptable

  • Dissident - a person who publicly disagrees with and criticises their government

  • Gulag - severe prisons used in the Soviet Union where prisoners had to perform forced labour

Common misconception

From the 1950s onwards, the USSR's human rights record continually improve.

Under Khrushchev, more respect was shown for political and social freedoms but these restrictions were tightened again once Brezhnev took power in 1964.


To help you plan your year 11 history lesson on: Tensions between the superpowers by the late-1960s, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Ask students to assess which issue had the greatest impact on US-Soviet relations. Students may wish to pay particular attention to the level of interest governments as well as the public took in each issue (i.e. were human rights as concerning for the US government as the arms race?).
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content-guidance

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the keywords to the correct definitions.
Correct Answer:anti-socialist,actions which are considered hostile towards communist beliefs
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actions which are considered hostile towards communist beliefs

Correct Answer:sphere of influence,a region of the world in which one state is dominant
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a region of the world in which one state is dominant

Correct Answer:deterred,to make someone less likely to do something
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to make someone less likely to do something

Correct Answer:arms race,the race between the USSR and the USA to achieve nuclear superiority
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the race between the USSR and the USA to achieve nuclear superiority

Q2.
What policy did Leonid Brezhnev set out in his article written in Pravda in September 1968?
Correct Answer: The Brezhnev Doctrine, the Brezhnev Doctrine, Brezhnev Doctrine, the brezhnev doctrine, brezhnev doctrine
Q3.
Which of the following did the doctrine written by Brezhnev do?
Helped to reinforce the idea of a Soviet sphere of influence in Western Europe.
Correct answer: Helped the USSR to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Correct answer: Helped to reinforce the idea of a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.
Correct answer: Deterred any attempts at reform that threatened to weaken communism.
Helped the USSR to justify the invasion of Hungary in 1968.
Q4.
Which country in Asia had been communist since Mao Zedong took power in 1949?
Correct Answer: China, china
Q5.
Who refused to send troops to take part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia and increasingly took an independent line from the USSR?
Mao Zedong
Correct answer: President Ceaușescu
Enver Hoxha
Walter Ulbricht
Q6.
Which countries welcomed the doctrine written by Brezhnev?
Correct answer: Poland
Correct answer: East Germany
Romania
Albania

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word: A is a person who publicly disagrees with and criticises their government.
Correct Answer: dissident, Dissident
Q2.
Which of the following weapons was first developed during the 1960s?
Correct answer: Anti-ballistic missile
Hydrogen bomb
Inter-continental ballistic missile
Q3.
During the 1960s, the USA was at war in which country?
Cuba
China
USSR
Correct answer: Vietnam
Q4.
Which Soviet leader increased social and political restrictions in the USSR after 1964?
Stalin
Khrushchev
Correct answer: Brezhnev
Q5.
What does the example of Andrei Sinyavsky best demonstrate?
There were strong restrictions on freedom of assembly in the USSR.
There were strong restrictions on freedom of religion in the USSR.
Correct answer: There were strong restrictions on freedom of speech in the USSR.
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order
1 - Stalin died.
2 - Khrushchev reduced restrictions.
3 - Brezhnev gained power.
4 - Sinyavsky was sent to a gulag.
5 - Committee on Human Rights in the USSR was founded.

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