The Cold War (1947-1991) Trivia Word Search

A Soviet physicist who helped build the hydrogen bomb, he later became a leading dissident and Nobel Peace laureate.

The best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin was nicknamed Checkpoint '_ _ _ _ _ _ _.'

Reagan and Gorbachev held their first summit together in this Swiss city in November 1985.

Near the war's end, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at this Crimean resort to plan postwar Europe.

A 1956 crisis over this Egyptian canal saw Cold War tensions rise as Britain, France, and Israel intervened.

In 1955, the USSR and its Eastern Bloc allies formed a mutual defense pact named for this Polish capital.

Suspected communist sympathizers in Hollywood were placed on this list, barring them from film work in the 1950s.

U.S.-backed rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist government in the 1980s were nicknamed the '_ _ _ _ _ _ _.'

This East German leader ruled from 1971 until being forced out just weeks before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

The American aircraft shot down over Soviet airspace in 1960 was a high-altitude '_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _' built for reconnaissance.

A disputed 1964 naval incident in this Vietnamese gulf gave President Johnson a pretext to expand U.S. involvement.

Cuban troops backed a Marxist government in this southern African nation during a Cold War-era civil war.

Formed in 1954, this Southeast Asian defense pact aimed to contain communist expansion in the region.

In 1960, this American U-2 pilot was shot down over Soviet territory, wrecking a planned summit.

U.S. forces invaded this small Caribbean island nation in 1983 to oust a Marxist-leaning government.

This U.S. president pursued detente and opened relations with communist China during a 1972 visit.

This reform-minded Soviet leader introduced the policies of glasnost and perestroika after taking power in 1985.

Gorbachev's policy of political openness and freer speech in the Soviet press was known by this Russian term.

Western nations countered the 1948 Berlin blockade with a massive resupply operation known simply as the '_ _ _ _ _ _ _.'

This Polish shipyard electrician led the Solidarity movement and later became his country's president.

This Soviet leader ordered the 1948 blockade of West Berlin's road and rail access.

This elderly Soviet leader held power only about a year, from 1984 until his death in 1985.

A playwright turned dissident, this man became president of Czechoslovakia after its peaceful 1989 revolution.

NATO's deployment of these U.S. medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe sparked mass protests in the early 1980s.

Nixon's national security advisor, later secretary of state, helped negotiate detente with Moscow and Beijing.

This West German chancellor pursued 'Ostpolitik,' a policy of engagement with the communist East from the late 1960s.

The independent trade union Solidarity was founded in 1980 at a shipyard in this Polish port city.

A failed 1961 CIA-backed invasion of Cuba is known as the Bay of '_ _ _ _.'

This military alliance of Western nations was founded in 1949 to counter Soviet expansion.

This U.S. president pulled American athletes from the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest a Soviet invasion.

This U.S. president signed the Helsinki Accords in 1975, recognizing Europe's Cold War-era borders.

Bush and Gorbachev met aboard ships off this Mediterranean island in December 1989 to declare the Cold War over.

An Argentine revolutionary who fought alongside Castro, this guerrilla icon's face became a symbol of rebellion.

Romania's communist dictator was overthrown and executed in a violent 1989 revolution; this was his surname.

A congressional committee investigating alleged communist influence in America was known by this abbreviation.

A former KGB chief, this Soviet leader briefly headed the USSR from 1982 until his death in 1984.

A 1972 treaty limiting missile-defense systems, paired with SALT I, is known by this acronym.

East German troops began sealing off this city's western half with barbed wire one night in August 1961.

The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics held in this Soviet capital.

This peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel after a war fought there from 1950 to 1953.

A surprise 1968 communist offensive during Vietnamese New Year shocked U.S. public opinion back home.

After the Cuban Missile Crisis exposed communication gaps, Washington and Moscow set up a direct '_ _ _ _ _ _ _' for emergencies.

This U.S. president, a WWII general, cautioned against a 'military-industrial complex' in his farewell address.

This young U.S. president faced down Khrushchev during the tense 1962 missile standoff over Cuba.

This Czechoslovak leader's 1968 reforms, known as the Prague Spring, were crushed by a Warsaw Pact invasion.

Fear of communist infiltration in American society during the McCarthy era became known as the Red '_ _ _ _ _.'

The decades-long buildup of nuclear weapons by both superpowers became known as the '_ _ _ _' race.

Soviet tanks crushed a 1956 uprising against communist rule in this Eastern European nation.

Soviet forces occupied this Afghan capital starting in 1979 to prop up a struggling communist government.

During the tense October 1962 standoff, U.S. Navy ships blockaded Cuba to stop delivery of Soviet nuclear '_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.'

This U.S. president escalated American involvement in Vietnam after a disputed 1964 naval incident.

On November 9, 1989, jubilant crowds began tearing down the concrete barrier dividing Berlin.

North Korea's 1968 seizure of a U.S. Navy intelligence ship of this name inflamed Cold War tensions in Asia.

Cold War proxy fighting in the 1980s pitted U.S.-backed rebels against a Marxist government in this Central American nation.

A French word for the easing of tensions describes improved U.S.-Soviet relations in the early 1970s.

A supposed Soviet lead in nuclear missiles, later shown to be exaggerated, was dubbed the missile '_ _ _.'

West Germany's first chancellor after WWII steered the country firmly into the Western alliance.

Reagan and Gorbachev nearly agreed to eliminate nuclear weapons at a 1986 summit in this Icelandic capital.

This East German leader oversaw construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

Reagan's proposed missile-defense shield was popularly nicknamed 'Star Wars' but officially known by this acronym.

Nations refusing to side with either superpower met at a landmark 1955 conference in this Indonesian city.

This Soviet leader's long tenure from 1964 to 1982 is often called an era of stagnation.

American diplomat George '_ _ _ _ _ _' authored the strategy of containment in a famous 1946 telegram.

East Germany's feared secret police, notorious for surveilling its own citizens, was nicknamed this.

Yugoslavia's communist leader charted an independent course, keeping his country outside the Warsaw Pact.

This Caribbean island hosted Soviet nuclear missiles that triggered a 13-day crisis in October 1962.

In a 1946 speech, this former British prime minister warned that an 'iron curtain' had descended across Europe.

Signed in 1991, this treaty went further than SALT by actually cutting, not just capping, strategic nuclear arsenals.

This U.S. president met Gorbachev off Malta in 1989 and later welcomed German reunification the next year.

This U.S. general commanded UN forces in Korea before being dismissed by President Truman in 1951.

This U.S. senator led aggressive investigations into alleged communist infiltration of government in the early 1950s.

This Russian president stood atop a tank to resist a hardline coup attempt in Moscow in August 1991.

This Hungarian leader took power after Soviet tanks crushed his country's 1956 uprising.

This U.S. Secretary of State's 1948 plan funded the economic recovery of war-torn Western Europe.

This U.S. president labeled the Soviet Union an 'evil empire' in a 1983 speech.

The Soviet Union set up this international communist information bureau in 1947 to coordinate allied parties.

A 1975 accord signed in this Finnish capital recognized Europe's postwar borders and addressed human rights.

A short-lived Middle Eastern defense alliance formed in 1955 was also known as the Baghdad Pact and by this acronym.

Czechoslovakia's bloodless 1989 transition away from communist rule is remembered as the '_ _ _ _ _ _' Revolution.

Missiles carrying several separately targetable nuclear warheads instead of just one share this acronym.

A 1987 treaty eliminating ground-launched missiles with medium ranges is known by this acronym.

This bearded revolutionary overthrew Cuba's government in 1959 and later aligned the island with Moscow.

Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met at this German palace in mid-1945 to settle terms after WWII.

Its covert operations included backing the failed 1961 invasion of Cuba; this is the main U.S. intelligence agency.

U.S. policymakers feared a '_ _ _ _ _ _' effect, in which one nation falling to communism would topple its neighbors.

Soviet-bloc nations coordinated their economies through this council, founded in 1949 as an answer to the Marshall Plan.

Kennedy and Khrushchev held a tense summit in this Austrian capital in June 1961.

Soviet tanks rolled into this Czechoslovak capital in August 1968 to end a period of liberalizing reform.

Known in the West as 'Mr. Nyet' for his frequent vetoes, this man served decades as Soviet foreign minister.

The Soviet premier during the Cuban Missile Crisis was '_ _ _ _ _ _' Khrushchev.

Julius and Ethel, a married couple sharing this surname, were executed in 1953 for passing atomic secrets to Moscow.

This Soviet cosmonaut became the first human in space in April 1961, a major propaganda win for Moscow.

The Soviet Union's main intelligence and secret police agency is known by this three-letter abbreviation.

Signed in 1972, this arms control treaty limited how many strategic nuclear weapons each superpower could build.

A 1986 nuclear disaster at this Soviet power plant exposed deep flaws in the USSR's secrecy and infrastructure.

Cold War fears of spreading communism drew the U.S. into a long, divisive war in this Southeast Asian nation.

The Soviet Union's formal name is often abbreviated by these four letters.