One area studied in GCSE History is the Cold War, which lasted from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union. As a part of this, students will look at the situation in the 1950s, which saw a Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and the Suez Crisis of the same year.
Despite Stalin's death in 1953 the Cold War intensified under his successors. In 1956, for example, Soviet forces invaded Hungary to bring a more liberal government to heel. Also in 1956, the Western powers were divided by the Suez Crisis.
Find out more about the Cold War in the 1950s, the Suez Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Hungary, in this quiz.
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You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - The Cold War and Vietnam
The French, trying to recover their former colony, were defeated by Vietnamese Communist forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. An international conference ensued, that allowed for a French withdrawal and the division of Vietnam into two states: North and South
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The USSR was keen to concentrate on defending those parts of the "Iron Curtain" that were most essential to her defence
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The USSR and its Allies regarded any expansion of NATO as a direct and serious threat
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The USSR was not prepared to accept any liberalisation of the Communist government in Hungary, still less any intention to leave the Warsaw Pact
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The Russian authorities put the former Hungarian leader to death, hoping that this would serve as a deterrent to others who might consider straying from the Soviet line
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The Egyptian leader sought to use the revenues from the canal to build a "high dam" on the Nile, giving Egypt ample electricity
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The British leadership saw the Egyptian government as similar to Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s. They further believed that force (rather than appeasement) was the way to deal with what they saw as naked aggression
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The United States regarded Britain and France as dangerous aggressors, especially as the USSR seemed to be getting away with its attack on Hungary at the same time
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Communist Party members were astonished to hear from the new leaders details of Stalin's crimes
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Russia's NATO opponents were astonished to realise that the USSR was ahead of them in the "Space Race"
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