Cold War Quiz
From 1947 to 1991, the world lived under the threat of a conflict between two superpowers. The Berlin Blockade, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space race, the fall of the Wall: do you really know this era? Test your knowledge with 90 questions split across three difficulty levels.
Cold War Quiz: From 1947 to the Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Cold War pitted the United States against the USSR for more than forty years. The Truman Doctrine against the Zhdanov Doctrine, the Marshall Plan against Comecon, NATO against the Warsaw Pact: two systems, two visions of the world. This Cold War quiz offers 90 questions to test your knowledge of this pivotal era. It's part of our history quiz category, which covers every era from antiquity to the present day.
The Major Crises of the Cold War
Berlin, 1948: the Soviets block all land access to West Berlin. The Americans respond with a 462-day airlift. Cuba, 1962: Soviet nuclear missiles are discovered just 90 miles from Florida. Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiate on the brink of disaster. Prague, 1968: Warsaw Pact tanks crush "socialism with a human face." Any of these crises could have tipped over into world war. These events form the core of our medium-level quiz.
The Arms Race and the Space Race
Sputnik 1 in 1957, Gagarin in 1961, Armstrong on the Moon in 1969: the space race served as a technological showcase for both blocs. Meanwhile, nuclear arsenals exploded in size. By 1986, the United States and the USSR together held more than 60,000 nuclear warheads. The SALT and later START treaties attempted to slow this escalation. Our hard-level questions dig into these negotiations and the figures behind them.
Test Yourself in Chronological Mode
Think you've got Cold War dates down cold? Try our chronological quiz format: put events in order, from the Fulton speech (1946) to the dissolution of the USSR (1991). A great way to review before a test or simply gauge your grasp of the facts.
Score, Timer, Overall Leaderboard
Every quiz shows your score out of 10, your response time, and your success rate. Compare your results with other players on the overall leaderboard. And if you want a daily challenge, stop by the quiz of the day: a different theme every day, with a leaderboard that resets at midnight.
More History to Explore
The Cold War is just one chapter among many. Coming soon to Quizoland: a World War II quiz, a French Revolution quiz, a World War I quiz, and a French history quiz. In the meantime, check back often: new questions are added every month.