The Berlin Wall and the Cold War – answers and explanations
Here are the answers to all 15 questions in the The Berlin Wall and the Cold War quiz, each with a short explanation. From the Berlin airlift to the fall of the Wall – how well do you know the Cold War? Haven't played yet? Take the quiz first and compare your score.
Play the quiz · 15 questions1. The 1948–49 Berlin Airlift was a response to what Soviet action?
Answer: Blocking land routes into West Berlin
In June 1948 the Soviet Union blocked all road, rail and canal access to West Berlin. The Western Allies answered by flying in food and fuel until the blockade was lifted in May 1949.
2. Reagan's 1987 'Tear down this wall' line was aimed at which leader?
Answer: Mikhail Gorbachev
On 12 June 1987, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, US President Ronald Reagan called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
3. In which year did East Germany begin building the Berlin Wall?
Answer: 1961
East Germany started building the Berlin Wall overnight on 13 August 1961, beginning with barbed wire. The aim was to stop the mass flight of its citizens to the West through West Berlin.
4. On which date did East and West Germany officially reunify?
Answer: 3 October 1990
Germany officially reunified on 3 October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic. That date is now celebrated as German Unity Day, nearly a year after the Wall opened on 9 November 1989.
5. What was the common name of East Germany's feared secret police?
Answer: The Stasi
The Stasi was the common name of East Germany's Ministry for State Security, set up in 1950. It ran a huge network of informers to watch the population and was broken up after the Wall came down.
6. Who popularised the term 'Iron Curtain' in a famous 1946 speech?
Answer: Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill popularised the phrase 'Iron Curtain' in his 'Sinews of Peace' speech on 5 March 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He said an iron curtain had descended across Europe 'from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic'.
7. Which city served as the capital of West Germany?
Answer: Bonn
Bonn was the seat of government and provisional capital of West Germany from 1949 until reunification. After the Bundestag voted in 1991 to move back to Berlin, it relocated there in 1999.
8. In which month of 1989 did East Germany open the Berlin Wall?
Answer: November
East Germany opened the Berlin Wall on the night of 9 November 1989. Government spokesman Günter Schabowski had mistakenly announced at a press conference that new travel rules took effect immediately, and crowds then gathered at the border crossings.
9. Which Soviet leader faced John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Answer: Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The crisis ended when he agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba. In return, the US pledged not to invade Cuba and secretly agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey.
10. The Warsaw Pact, NATO's Eastern Bloc rival, was named after a city in which country?
Answer: Poland
The Warsaw Pact is named after Warsaw, the capital of Poland, where it was signed in May 1955. It was formed shortly after West Germany joined NATO and was dissolved in 1991.
11. What German phrase did JFK famously declare in West Berlin in 1963?
Answer: Ich bin ein Berliner
John F. Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner" in a speech at Rathaus Schöneberg in West Berlin on 26 June 1963. He was showing US support for the city less than two years after the Berlin Wall went up.
12. In which year did the Cuban Missile Crisis take place?
Answer: 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis took place in October 1962 and lasted about 13 days. It began when US spy planes photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba, and it ended when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.
13. Which country's entry into NATO in 1955 helped prompt the Warsaw Pact?
Answer: West Germany
West Germany joined NATO on 9 May 1955. Days later, on 14 May 1955, the Soviet Union and its allies signed the Warsaw Pact. Greece and Turkey had already joined NATO in 1952, and Spain did not join until 1982.
14. Who was West Germany's chancellor when Germany reunified in 1990?
Answer: Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl was West Germany's chancellor from 1982 and led the country through reunification on 3 October 1990. He then became the first chancellor of reunified Germany and stayed in office until 1998.
15. What was the name of East Germany's iconic, often-mocked small car?
Answer: Trabant
The Trabant was a small East German car built in Zwickau, with a body made of Duroplast, a plastic reinforced with cotton fibres. It became a symbol of the fall of the Wall in 1989, when crowds of 'Trabis' drove into the West.