maddyhelps

Social Studies 30-1

Social Studies 30-1 · Worksheets

Communism, fascism and the Cold War · Set A

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Communism, fascism, Cold War. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

All worksheets

Communism, fascism and the Cold War · Set A

Social Studies 30-1 · maddyhelps.com

Name
Date
Score
/ 10

Circle the best answer for each question. Use the space to note the reasoning or the source detail that decided it.

  1. Why did many Germans support the Nazi Party in the early 1930s?

    1. a) The Nazis were the only party allowed to run
    2. b) The Depression and resentment over the Treaty of Versailles made promises of strength and order appealing
    3. c) The Nazis promised to reduce the army
    4. d) Germany had a long tradition of fascist government

  2. Collectivization of agriculture in the Soviet Union meant that:

    1. a) farming was left entirely to private companies
    2. b) peasants were forced to give up private farms and join state-controlled collective farms
    3. c) the government bought crops at market prices
    4. d) farmers were given more land to own privately

  3. Fascism places the highest value on:

    1. a) equal ownership of all property
    2. b) the nation and a single strong leader, above individual rights
    3. c) individual rights and free elections
    4. d) international cooperation and peace

  4. The Korean War and the Vietnam War are often called proxy wars because:

    1. a) no country actually fought in them
    2. b) they were fought only between the United States and the Soviet Union
    3. c) the superpowers backed opposing sides without fighting each other directly
    4. d) they were fought mainly over access to oil

  5. Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union were bitter ideological enemies. Why are both described as totalitarian?

    1. a) Both used one-party rule, terror, propaganda and total state control, despite opposite ideologies
    2. b) Both were led by kings
    3. c) Both held regular free elections
    4. d) Both supported free markets

  6. Who led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution of 1917?

    1. a) Joseph Stalin
    2. b) Vladimir Lenin
    3. c) Karl Marx
    4. d) Mikhail Gorbachev

  7. How did totalitarian states use propaganda?

    1. a) To help citizens criticize the government
    2. b) To control public opinion and build loyalty to the leader and party
    3. c) To present balanced views from many sources
    4. d) Only during elections

  8. In what year did the Berlin Wall fall?

    1. a) 1991
    2. b) 1961
    3. c) 1989
    4. d) 1945

  9. Benito Mussolini led the fascist government of:

    1. a) the Soviet Union
    2. b) Germany
    3. c) Spain
    4. d) Italy

  10. The idea of "mutually assured destruction" (MAD) meant that:

    1. a) one side could win a nuclear war quickly
    2. b) both superpowers agreed to destroy their weapons
    3. c) neither superpower would launch a nuclear attack, because both would be destroyed
    4. d) nuclear weapons were only for testing

Answer key · Communism, fascism and the Cold War · Set A

Social Studies 30-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. b) The Depression and resentment over the Treaty of Versailles made promises of strength and order appealing — Mass unemployment and national humiliation after the First World War made a weak democracy look like it had failed. Other parties were only banned after the Nazis took power.
  2. b) peasants were forced to give up private farms and join state-controlled collective farms — Private farms were abolished, often by force. Resistance was crushed, and the disruption contributed to devastating famines, including the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932–33.
  3. b) the nation and a single strong leader, above individual rights — Fascism is ultranationalist: the nation comes first, the leader embodies it, and individual rights exist only as far as they serve the state.
  4. c) the superpowers backed opposing sides without fighting each other directly — The U.S. and USSR supported rival governments and armies in each country. The fighting happened there, not between the superpowers themselves.
  5. a) Both used one-party rule, terror, propaganda and total state control, despite opposite ideologies — Totalitarianism describes how power is used, not which ideology is behind it. Far right and far left arrived at strikingly similar methods of control.
  6. b) Vladimir Lenin — Lenin led the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917. Stalin took control after Lenin's death in 1924. Marx died in 1883 and never saw it.
  7. b) To control public opinion and build loyalty to the leader and party — Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union controlled newspapers, film, radio and schools to spread one message and create a personality cult around the leader.
  8. c) 1989 — The Wall went up in 1961 and came down in 1989. The Soviet Union itself dissolved two years later, in 1991.
  9. d) Italy — Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922, a decade before Hitler, and the word "fascism" comes from his movement.
  10. c) neither superpower would launch a nuclear attack, because both would be destroyed — If either side attacked, the other could still strike back with enough force to destroy it. That deterrence kept the Cold War from turning into a nuclear war.