Lesson 3 - GCSE History Edexcel S. Relations & Cold War: Soviet Satellite States & the Iron Curtain

Key Questions:

1. What and where were the Soviet Satellite States?
2. What was the importance of the creation of the satellite states?
3. What was the impact of Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in 1946.

STARTER: Students have 6 events from their previous learning which they should aim to organise in the correct chronological order.
RECAP QUIZ: Another chance to recap key terms about the Cold War, conferences and telegrams.
BACKGROUND: Clear background and images to help students learn about the location of the satellite states in eastern Europe.
ACTIVITY 1: Students given a blank copy of a European map and must shade the countries which are part of the Soviet state and those in the west. The sheet is differentiated to help students locate countries quickly but can be easily modified.
CLASS CLIP: Students watch a 6 minute clip from BBC Teach about the Iron Curtain speech to gain background information.
ACTIVITY 2: Students think about and mark on their map where the idea of the ‘Iron Curtain’ would be. A clear map follows to show this.
ACTIVITY 3: An A4 printable worksheet with comprehension style questions and extention tasks if needed.
LESSON RECAP: Students to identify which countries are in front or behind the ‘Iron Curtain ‘West Side’ or ‘East Side’?
**LESSON FACT SHEET **- All the information that students will need for the lesson to avoid having to use the books. This can be stuck into students’ books or kept as a handout.

UPDATE 2023: Please note that all images (clipart/vector/illustrations/photographs) are in the public domain and are therefore classed as Creative Commons 1.0 unless otherwise attributed in the notes section of each slide. If you believe there are any errors, please email me directly in the first instance to resolve the issue.