Q 01/05

Who was Russia's president when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991?

A) Vladimir Putin

B) Yuri Andropov

C) Boris Yeltsin

D) Dmitry Medvedev

Answer · why

C) Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin, elected Russia's president in June 1991, defied an August coup attempt from atop a tank; the Cold War is often dated from the 1947 Trum...

Q 02/05

Which British writer used the phrase 'cold war' in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb?

A) H. G. Wells

B) Winston Churchill

C) Aldous Huxley

D) George Orwell

Answer · why

D) George Orwell

George Orwell wrote in Tribune in October 1945 that the bomb could leave great powers in a permanent 'cold war', a 'peace that is no peace'; president...

Q 03/05

In which journal did the pseudonymous 'X Article' introducing 'containment' to US policy appear in July 1947?

A) World Affairs

B) The New Republic

C) The Atlantic

D) Foreign Affairs

Answer · why

D) Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs ran the essay in July 1947 under the byline 'X' because its author was a serving State Department official; its call for 'long-term, p...

Q 04/05

At which university did George C. Marshall deliver the June 1947 address proposing US aid for European recovery?

A) Harvard

B) Yale

C) Princeton

D) Columbia

Answer · why

A) Harvard

Harvard was giving Marshall an honorary degree on 5 June 1947; his short address offered no figures and said the initiative 'must come from Europe', a...

Q 05/05

What nickname did Berliners give the airlift planes that dropped candy on tiny parachutes?

A) Sugar bombers

B) Raisin bombers

C) Honey bombers

D) Toffee bombers

Answer · why

B) Raisin bombers

Raisin bombers, 'Rosinenbomber' in German: pilot Gail Halvorsen began the candy drops without permission, and the airlift's commander then expanded th...