Gorbachev's new thinking

Cold War GCSE Bundle Part 2

This bundle is the second part in a series of lessons I have created for Edexcel GCSE 9-1: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991. The lessons are all differentiated, fully resourced, amendable on Powerpoint and are tailored to enable the students to achieve the highest grades. The lessons will allow students to demonstrate (AO1) knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the period studied from the building of the Berlin Wall and its eventual collapse to the end of the Cold War. They will also explain and analyse (AO2) second-order concepts such as change and continuity in tensions between East and West such as détente and Reagan’s Second Cold War and the causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Prague Spring, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Gorbachev’s new ideas. The lessons are as follows: L12 Berlin Ultimatum L13 Building the Berlin Wall L14 Cuba and the Bay of Pigs L15 Cuban Missile Crisis L16 Prague Spring L17 Détente and SALT 1 L18 Helsinki Accords and SALT 2 L19 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan L20 Reagan and the Second Cold War L21 Gorbachev’s new ideas L22 Fall of the Berlin Wall The lessons are enquiry based with a key question of how close was the world to a nuclear war using a lightbulb posed at the start of the lessons and revisited throughout to show the progress of learning. The lessons in this bundle are therefore linked together to build up a picture of how diplomacy, propaganda and spying led two Superpowers with opposing political ideologies to create tensions, rivalries and distrust as well as form mutual understanding and cooperation over the time period in question. The resources include retrieval practice, suggested teaching strategies, differentiated materials and GCSE exam practice questions. They all come in Powerpoint format if there is a wish to adapt and change.