Another pressure upon the Soviet Union was the massive cost of keeping up with the United States in terms of nuclear weapons. Students answer questions based around a timeline and as an extension activity conduct some research into the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In this card-sort activity students piece together the causes, course and consequence of the war with Afghanistan, which caused such havoc for the military and the economic position of the Soviet Union.

Students investigate the uprisings in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia to develop their understanding of the poor socio-economic conditions in the Eastern Bloc.

Some sourcework questions designed to be used as a homework / extension activity.

Students investigate the problems in agriculture, industry and society that plagued the USSR by the 1980s. They look at a number of Soviet jokes from the period and deduce what these tell us about life under Soviet rule.

Students compare and contrast communism and capitalism and produce a written summary outlining the inherent weaknesses of the Soviet system.