1. TRUE
2. FALSE

The Soviet Union didn't officially exist until 1922. And it wasn't until 1933 that America formally recognized the USSR. It didn't take long for diplomatic relations to take a frosty turn.

1. prayers
   many supplies and weapons
2. armed troops

As the Nazis killed millions of Soviet troops and civilians, the U.S. shipped countless tons of war goods to the USSR. It took years of awful combat, but the Soviets finally drove the Germans back to Berlin.

1. Nikita Khrushchev
   Joseph Stalin
2. Mikhail Gorbachev

Joseph Stalin, an iconic totalitarian if ever there was one, was in charge of the USSR during and after WWII. His brutal (and deadly) leadership made it unlikely that the United States would ever develop a real alliance with the Soviets.

1. Democratic
   Communist
2. Fascist

Stalin was a Communist with designs on a dictatorship. The West, including America, was more than a little wary of Communism and its effects on the post-war world.

1. The Soviets abandoned Eastern Europe.
   The Soviets bequeathed Eastern Europe to Germany.
2. The Soviets forcibly took much territory in Eastern Europe.

After the war, the Soviets took control of much of Eastern Europe, folding territory into the expanding USSR. This land grab didn't sit well with the locals and it didn't please politicians in the West, either.

1. the Korean War
   the Cold War
2. WWIII

With the cessation of hostilities in WWII, the West and USSR settled into decades of political hostility. The era is known as the Cold War.

1. YES
2. NO

The Allies did pitch the Marshall Plan to the Soviets, but under terms (such as free elections) that they knew Stalin would never accept. The Soviets didn't really receive Western help for their reconstruction efforts.

1. Stalin strangled the Polish president with his bare hands.
   The USSR threatened to destroy Poland with nuclear weapons.
2. The USSR offered Poland a lot of aid.

Stalin had no intention of letting Poland (or Czechoslovakia) take part in the Western-driven Marshall Plan. The Soviets threatened Czechoslovakia and then bought off Poland with a gigantic trade agreement, giving the Soviets a better geographical cushion from the West.

1. GEICO
   NATO
2. NFL

In the ashes of WWII, the Western Allies created NATO, basically a military alliance. But NATO had some pretty obvious anti-Soviet leanings, a fact that didn't sit well with Stalin and his men.

1. They invaded China.
   They created the Warsaw Pact.
2. They assassinated JFK.

The Soviets were alarmed by the Western Allies and their NATO alliance. In reaction, Moscow conjured the Warsaw Pact, a defense treaty that rallied Eastern Europe and the USSR to a common cause.

1. Libya
   India and Pakistan
2. the countries of the Warsaw Pact

Following the Warsaw Pact, the Western media referred to this Soviet alliance as the "Eastern Bloc." It was also sometimes called the "Soviet" or "Communist Bloc."

1. to stop Soviet expansion
   to kill Joseph Stalin
2. to resurrect Hitler's lifeless body and return the Third Reich to power

Following WWII, President Harry Truman and other Western politicians worried about Soviet expansion in Europe. Truman's anti-Soviet policies became known as the Truman Doctrine, and they set the tone for increased tensions during the Cold War.

1. Republican Party
   Communist Party
2. Birthday Party

The Communist Party became an ominous, overpowering force in the Eastern Bloc. Opponents of the party were brutally suppressed and sometimes "disappeared" altogether.

1. It escalated tensions.
   They fought together on a common cause.
2. Both countries launched nuclear missiles at one another.

During the Korean War, the U.S. came to the aid of South Korea. The USSR took the side of North Korea and China, a fact that worsened overall tensions.

1. China attacked the USSR.
   Stalin died.
2. Communism ended.

In 1953, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. His death resulted in the Communist Party ruling as a group for a time. Eventually, First Secretary of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev, took control and became a figurehead for the Soviet Empire.

1. They launched the first satellite.
   They won every event at the Olympics.
2. They stopped exporting beets.

In 1957, the Soviets put the first man-made satellite (Sputnik I) into orbit around the Earth. The incredible accomplishment was fuel for the fire of the coming Space Race.

1. U-2 Incident
   Roswell Incident
2. Moon landing

In 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory. The pilot was captured … and the "U-2 Incident" became a major point of contention between the two nations.

1. Cuba
   Australia
2. Canada

In 1962, the U.S. uncovered Soviet nuclear missiles en route to Cuba for deployment. President Kennedy led a diplomatic confrontation and ultimately forced the Soviets to back down from the plan, which would have placed enemy nukes very close to U.S. territory.

1. It helped the U.S.
   It aided North Vietnam.
2. It stayed out of the mess.

During the Vietnam War, the Soviets aided the Communist-led North Vietnamese forces. With the U.S. fighting on the side of the South, the conflict essentially became a proxy war between America and the USSR.

1. To ease the loneliness of Communism.
   For late night chat sessions.
2. To avoid potentially devastating delays in diplomatic talks.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, delays in receiving and translating messages nearly escalated the situation into a war. The new hotline made it easier and faster for top U.S. and USSR politicians to contact each other, particularly in tense situations.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

From 1978 to 1986, there were no commercial flights between the two countries. This fact did nothing to ease tensions between the foes.

1. rampaging polar bears
   listening devices
2. a Moscow mule

In 1987, Embassy workers found Soviet listening devices inside the building. President Reagan was angry and ordered that no further sensitive messages were to pass through the Embassy.

1. Nixon married Lenin's great-granddaughter.
   Nixon visited Moscow.
2. Nixon nuked Moscow.

In 1971, a period of "détente" (release of tension) began as President Nixon deescalated the Cold War. In 1972, he even visited Moscow on a mission of goodwill.

1. He really liked vodka.
   He wanted to visit his nephew, Vladimir Putin.
2. There was a lot of turmoil in America.

Vietnam War-era turmoil was rocking all of America in the early 1970s. Nixon hoped for a dramatic breakthrough with the USSR to improve his qualifications for reelection.

1. TRUE
2. FALSE

Keep in mind that the USSR had only been around since 1922 … and wasn't really friendly to the U.S. So when Nixon visited Moscow in 1972, he became the first American president ever there on a diplomatic mission.

1. salt mining
   strategic arms
2. tactical legs

In 1969, the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) meeting between the U.S. and USSR took place. In these talks, the countries tried to come to an agreement on the issue of arms control, particularly with regard to nuclear weapons.

1. death of Ronald Reagan
   the fall of the Berlin Wall
2. death of Mikhail Gorbachev

In 1989, the Polish people voted Communists out of their government, and it wasn't long afterward that the Berlin Wall fell. Abruptly, Communism spiraled toward its death all over Eastern Europe.

1. Vladimir Putin
   Mikhail Gorbachev
2. Donald Trump

In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected president. His election was foreshadowing for the ways that Soviet society would quickly change.

1. 1956
   1989
2. 2015

In 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the U.S and USSR announced the end of the Cold War. After decades of post-WWII hostilities, there was finally hope for a new beginning.

1. It attacked Kuwait.
   It ceased to exist.
2. It was bombed by China.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the spread of anti-Communist revolution in the Eastern Bloc sounded the death knell of the Soviet Empire. In 1991, the country quickly unraveled and was replaced by Russia, which has a tense relationship with the West.