The Cold War was a time of conflict and (1) between the free western world and Communist countries. It started in 1945 after the Soviet Union had set up Communist (2) in most of Eastern Europe. After World War II two (3) organizations were founded: NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Their aim was to defend themselves in case the (4) attacked.

Berlin was one of the hot spots of the Cold War. At the end of the 1940s the Soviets set up a (5) of West Berlin. For over a year Americans and their allies airlifted (6) to the city. During the 1950s thousands of East Berliners fled from Communism to live in the western part of Berlin. In 1961 East German leaders stopped the (7) by constructing a wall around the free part of Berlin. It became the most important symbol of the Cold War.

The world was close to a new world war after Communists had set up (8) missiles in Cuba, a country that was ruled by (9) leader Fidel Castro. After unmistakable warnings from the American government and days of tension, the Soviets finally agreed to remove the (10) from the island.

The Cold War also (11) to the Asian continent. Between 1950 and 1953 a war was fought on the Korean (12) . Communists took over North Vietnam after the French had withdrawn as a (13) power. The United States sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to southeast Asia but could not stop North Vietnam from taking over the southern part.

The Cold War slowly came to an end during the second part of the 1980s. Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to open up his country to the west. In 1989 Communist governments lost (14) of many eastern European countries. In 1991 the Soviet Union (15) to exist and broke up into 15 (16) nations.