A-Level History: The Cold War in Asia and the Crises of the 1960s, 1962–72

This material fills the decade between the Cuban Missile Crisis and the height of détente, the part of the Cold War 1945–91 option that textbooks often compress. It starts where the category's material on confrontation ends and stops where the détente material begins, so the two fit together as a continuous story.

Four strands run through it. The first is arms control after Cuba: what the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 did and did not ban, who stayed outside it, and how the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 divided the world into nuclear and non-nuclear states. The second is the Sino-Soviet split, traced from Mao's rejection of de-Stalinisation and peaceful coexistence, through the cancelled nuclear assistance and the withdrawal of Soviet advisers, to China's first atomic test in 1964 and the armed clashes on the Ussuri River in 1969. The third is Vietnam: the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Rolling Thunder, the Tet Offensive and its political effect, Johnson's withdrawal from the 1968 election, the Nixon Doctrine, Vietnamisation and the Cambodian incursion with the Kent State shootings. The fourth is Czechoslovakia in 1968: Dubček's Action Programme, why the reforms alarmed Moscow although Czechoslovakia stayed in the Warsaw Pact, the invasion of 20–21 August and the Brezhnev Doctrine. The material ends with 'triangular diplomacy' and Nixon's visit to China in February 1972.

The quiz uses chronology questions (where the exact order of 1968 matters), multiple-answer questions that test precise knowledge, and short scenarios and summarised statements to identify. The flashcards fix the key dates and terms. The written work sets eight explanation and essay-style tasks, such as how far Tet was a turning point or why the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia, each with a reference answer and key points. The oral exam asks you to argue a case aloud, one question at a time, and ends with brief feedback.

The content is based on the Cold War options of the A level History specifications (for example AQA and Pearson Edexcel), whose date boundaries differ, so check which years your own paper covers.

  • Explain what the Partial Test Ban Treaty and the Non-Proliferation Treaty achieved and their limits
  • Trace the causes and stages of the Sino-Soviet split from 1956 to 1969
  • Explain the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam and the shift to Vietnamisation
  • Assess the significance of the Tet Offensive
  • Explain why the Prague Spring was crushed and what the Brezhnev Doctrine claimed
  • Explain how triangular diplomacy prepared the way for détente

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Cold War content of the A level History specifications (for example AQA and Pearson Edexcel), period 1962–72.

Sample question

Which TWO statements about arms-control agreements between 1963 and 1968 are accurate?

See the answer

The Partial Test Ban Treaty of August 1963 banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water, but not underground., The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, opened for signature in July 1968, committed states without nuclear weapons not to acquire them.

The PTBT (signed in Moscow by the USA, USSR and UK) left underground testing legal. The NPT (July 1968) divided states into nuclear and non-nuclear; non-nuclear signatories renounced nuclear weapons, while nuclear states promised only to pursue negotiations on disarmament. France and China refused to sign the PTBT; China tested its first bomb in October 1964.

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