Question bank › GCSE › GCSE History › Paper 2 – Period study

Superpower relations & the Cold War 1941–91

2 guides

Answer on paper first, then reveal the mark scheme one mark at a time.

8 marks · About 12 minutes

Paper 2 period study – Narrative account: the Berlin Crisis, 1958–61

Write a narrative account analysing the key events of the Berlin Crisis in the years 1958–61.

You may use the following in your answer:
• Khrushchev's ultimatum (1958)
• the building of the Berlin Wall (1961)

You must also use information of your own.

[8 marks]

What is being assessed
  • AO1: show accurate, relevant knowledge of the key features of the period (4 marks)
  • AO2: explain and analyse events using second-order concepts such as causation and consequence (4 marks)
What examiners reward
  • Events told in the right chronological order, from cause to outcome
  • Explicit links between events ('this led to…', 'as a result…') – an analysed sequence, not a list
  • Accurate specific detail: dates, names, numbers
  • At least one event beyond the two prompts (needed for the top level)
  • Staying inside the dates in the question
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Level 36–8An analytical narrative that shows how events led to one another, organised in a clear, logical sequence. Knowledge is accurate and detailed and goes beyond the given prompts.
Level 23–5A narrative with some links between events, but parts are descriptive or the sequence is not always clear. Knowledge is mostly accurate but may be limited to the prompts.
Level 11–2A simple or general account with few links between events and basic knowledge.
No marks0Nothing worthy of credit.
How to plan it
  1. Beginning: why Berlin was a problem – refugees – leading to the 1958 ultimatum
  2. Middle 1: talks – Geneva 1959, Camp David 1959 – tension falls
  3. Middle 2: breakdown – U-2 and Paris 1960, Vienna 1961 – refugees surge
  4. End: the Wall (August 1961), Checkpoint Charlie (October 1961) – how the Wall ended the crisis
Show the top-band model answer

The Berlin Crisis began because1 West Berlin had become a serious problem for the Soviet Union and East Germany. Since 1949 around three million East Germans had left for the West2, most of them crossing into West Berlin, and many were skilled young workers such as doctors and engineers. This drain of people damaged the East German economy and was an embarrassment for communism. As a result, in November 1958 Khrushchev issued an ultimatum: the USA, Britain and France had six months to withdraw their troops from West Berlin, which would become a 'free city'. This turned a local problem into a direct confrontation3 between the superpowers.

At first the crisis was handled through talks. The Western powers refused to leave Berlin, but they agreed to discuss its future, and foreign ministers met at Geneva in 1959. Although no agreement was reached, the six-month deadline passed quietly, and in September 1959 Khrushchev visited the USA and met Eisenhower at Camp David4. This lowered tension, because the two leaders agreed to hold a full summit in Paris in 1960.

However, the summits then broke down, which made the crisis worse5. On 1 May 1960 an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR and its pilot, Gary Powers, was captured. Eisenhower refused to apologise, so Khrushchev walked out of the Paris summit that May. At the Vienna summit in June 1961 Khrushchev saw the new president, Kennedy, as young and inexperienced and repeated his threat to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany, which would end Western rights in Berlin. Kennedy responded by increasing US defence spending. Because neither side would back down, the number of refugees rose sharply, reaching about 2,000 a day by the summer of 1961.

This led directly to the building of the Berlin Wall6. On the night of 12–13 August 1961 East German soldiers sealed the border between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, which was soon replaced by a concrete wall with guard posts. Tension peaked in October 1961, when US and Soviet tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie for around sixteen hours before both sides withdrew. The Wall ended the crisis because7 it stopped the flow of refugees without forcing the West out of Berlin, and Kennedy accepted it, reportedly remarking that a wall was a lot better than a war.

1. Opens with the cause, so the narrative has a clear starting point rather than jumping straight to 1958.
2. Precise supporting detail that explains why the USSR acted.
3. Analysis: shows the consequence of the ultimatum, not just that it happened.
4. Own knowledge beyond the two prompts – required for Level 3.
5. Signposts the turning point and keeps the account linked.
6. Explicit causal link between the refugee surge and the Wall.
7. Gives the narrative an outcome – a complete sequence from start to resolution.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Writing a list of unconnected facts with no links between them
  • Explaining why the Wall was built in detail (a 'why' essay) instead of telling the sequence of events
  • Running outside the dates – e.g. writing about the 1948–49 Berlin Blockade or Kennedy's 1963 visit at length
  • Only covering the two prompts, which caps the mark
  • Confusing the 1958 ultimatum with the 1948 Blockade, or the U-2 incident (1960) with the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
8 marks · About 12 minutes

Paper 2 period study – Explain the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis for superpower relations

Question 3. Explain two of the following:

  • The importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) for relations between the USA and the Soviet Union. [8 marks]
  • The importance of … (second option). [8 marks]
  • The importance of … (third option). [8 marks]

Practice: this guide models one 8-mark part – the first bullet. In the exam you answer two of the three (16 marks in total).

What is being assessed
  • AO1: show accurate, relevant knowledge of the key features of the period (4 marks)
  • AO2: explain and analyse the consequences and significance of the event (4 marks)
What examiners reward
  • Explaining what changed because of the crisis – the focus is the effect on relations, not the story of the crisis
  • Two or three developed points about importance, each supported with accurate detail
  • Specific follow-up agreements: hotline (1963), Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963), Outer Space Treaty (1967), Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968)
  • Recognising limits (rivalry continued) shows a more developed understanding of 'importance'
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Level 36–8Explains the importance of the event for the named relationship with well-chosen, accurate detail; the answer is analytical and well organised.
Level 23–5Some explanation of importance, but parts slip into describing the crisis or the support is general.
Level 11–2Simple statements about the crisis, mostly description, with basic knowledge.
No marks0Nothing worthy of credit.
How to plan it
  1. P1: the near-war and how it was resolved – both sides learned the danger (keep the narrative short)
  2. P2: agreements that followed – hotline, Test Ban Treaty, later treaties → cooperation
  3. P3: limits – Soviet humiliation, Khrushchev removed 1964, arms build-up → cautious rivalry
Show the top-band model answer

The Cuban Missile Crisis was important for relations between the USA and the Soviet Union because1 it brought them closer to nuclear war than at any other time in the Cold War. In October 1962, after American U-2 photographs revealed Soviet missile sites being built on Cuba, Kennedy announced a naval 'quarantine' of the island on 22 October. For thirteen days the superpowers came close to war: on 27 October an American U-2 was shot down over Cuba2. The crisis was resolved on 28 October when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a US promise not to invade Cuba, with a secret promise that American Jupiter missiles would also be removed from Turkey. This was important because both leaders had seen how a misunderstanding could lead to the destruction of both countries, which made them far more willing to manage the arms race3.

The most important result was a set of agreements that reduced the risk of accidental war. In June 1963 the two governments agreed to set up a 'hotline'4, a direct communication link between Washington and Moscow, because during the crisis messages had taken hours to arrive5. In August 1963 the USA, USSR and Britain signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and under water. This was followed by the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. These agreements were important because they began a period of greater cooperation which led towards détente in the 1970s.

However, the crisis did not end rivalry6, and in some ways it increased the arms race. The Soviet leadership felt humiliated, because the deal over Turkey was kept secret and Khrushchev appeared to have backed down. This contributed to his removal from power in 1964, and the USSR then built up its nuclear forces so that it would never again be in such a weak position. The crisis was therefore important because it changed relations into a more cautious but still competitive rivalry7.

1. Uses the wording of the question at once, keeping the answer on importance.
2. Precise detail showing how close to war the crisis came.
3. Turns the story into a consequence – the AO2 step.
4. Accurate, specific knowledge of a direct result of the crisis.
5. Explains why the hotline mattered, rather than only naming it.
6. A balancing point that shows a developed understanding of importance.
7. A precise summary of how relations changed – a clear final point.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Retelling the thirteen days in detail and never explaining the effect on relations
  • Writing about importance for Cuba or for Castro instead of for US–Soviet relations
  • Muddling dates – the hotline and Test Ban Treaty were 1963, the NPT 1968
  • Claiming the crisis ended the Cold War or the arms race
  • Forgetting the secret deal over the Jupiter missiles in Turkey, which explains the Soviet reaction

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