Resentment Harbor Trivia Quiz

Answer: Soviet Union

The Soviet Union and USA were embroiled for decades in what US presidential adviser Bernard Baruch coined the term "cold war". From 1947 to 1991 no formal large-scale combat waged between them, yet they were frozen toe-to-toe in significant military and political tension. In 1991 the Soviet Union broke up, the Communist Party and KGB ceased operation and Boris Yeltsin became President of Russia. The US and the new USSR signed a treaty first drafted in 1982 but heretofore unsigned, to reduce and limit all massively destructive weapons.

"Let us not be deceived: we are today in the midst of a cold war". -Bernard Baruch April 1947

Answer: Neutral bloc

The US "Western Bloc" had NATO and other allies. The Soviet Union "Eastern Bloc" had its allies in the Warsaw Pact. But other countries were neutral during the cold war, that is, officially non-aligned with either side. Neutral status carried specific rights and duties. Countries neutral (or claiming to be) during the cold war included Sweden (1918-1994), Finland (1956-1994), Austria (1955-1995) and Cambodia (1955-1970). Switzerland had become a "permanently neutral power" in 1815.

The Pope and Vatican City entered "perpetual neutrality" in 1929. Oddly, a neutral country may provide training, intelligence and support to others, and they can defend themselves from invasion as well.

But once occupied, they are no longer neutral.

Answer: An "iron curtain" across the continent

Shortly after the hard-won victories of WWII, allies Soviet Union and the US became mistrustful enemies. Joseph Stalin sent hundreds of thousands of his own returning soldiers to labor camps, for fear they'd been tainted by their contact with foreign influences.

Then Stalin gave a speech in which he said that capitalism thrives on war (1946). The US was greatly alarmed, made worse when a US Soviet expert wrote the "long telegram" describing the Soviets as "a political force committed fanatically" against capitalism. Winston Churchill then gave a speech shocking to many in which he accused the Soviets of dropping an "iron curtain" between themselves and the West. Stalin took that as an insult and a threat.

The Cold War had begun.

Answer: World Supremacy

In 1946 the Soviets created their own assessment document, the Novikov telegram, decrying the US as ruled by "monopoly capitalists" who were strengthening their military "to prepare the conditions for winning world supremacy in a new war". This was in answer to the US State Department "long telegram" about the Soviet Union, which described them as cruel, dictatorial, fanatical and bent on destroying the US way of life.

Lex Luthor is a comic and film super-villain seeking to dominate the world. He's an archenemy of Superman.

Answer: Korea

There were many "hot" wars during the "cold war" decades, including in Korea, Afghanistan and Vietnam, sometimes with Soviet or US backing. The term "cold war" refers primarily to tensions between the former Soviet Union and the United States and their allies. Both sides were in possession of deadly arsenals of nuclear and ballistic weapons, and both in heated competition to race into space. Yet many other countries had been economically, geographically and emotionally devastated by WWII, and the policies and actions of the superpowers during their Cold War affected more than just each another.

Answer: DEW: Distant Early Warning

The Distant Early Warning (DEW) line began as a reaction to US fears that the Soviet Union might launch an aerial bomb or nuclear attack over the Arctic into Canada and the US. Fifty-nine full or part-time manned radar stations were built in a line across the continent stretching from Alaska to Greenland and Iceland, about 200-300 kilometers (124-187 miles) north of the Arctic Circle.

The DEW line became operational in 1957, and was expected to provide "early warning" of oncoming Soviet attack. Two other lines were built farther south. Advances in Soviet warheads soon made the radar of the DEW line obsolete.

It was upgraded in the 1980s (North Warning System), then renewed and redesigned as needed.

Answer: NORAD

NORAD stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command. NORAD is an organization for the combined defense of Canada and the USA, created in 1957 as a response to the Cold War. NORAD built underground command centers, nuclear bunkers, missile locations, a "Space Detection and Tracking System" and the DEW lines (Distant Early Warning).

In 2011, on the other hand, the US, Canadian and Russian military began working together within NORAD, training pilots to intercept any potentially hijacked aircraft in arctic air space. NORAD is also known for a public website which tracks the route of Santa Claus as he makes his way across the skies and around the globe on Christmas Eve.

Answer: True

True. Once the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite (Sputnik) in 1957, the US feared they might take command of space and wage war from there. John F. Kennedy invested the US in a race to walk first on the moon, achieved in 1969. Meanwhile other types of competitions were fiercely waged, including the "brain race" in which the US upgraded the education of US citizens, psychological warfare research, espionage methods, mastering chess, writing musical scores, making movies, sending the winning athletes to the Olympics, and strengthening the military of course. Any arena in which each country could demonstrate their skill and might seems to have been pursued.

Some ventures were unusual, like ESP and mind control research.

Answer: Detente

Detente is a French term used to indicate the relaxation of tensions between countries. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford used the word throughout 1969-1977 regarding relations between the USA and the Soviet Union. The Russians called softening of tension "razryadka". During detente they signed some treaties, made concessions and employed efforts to communicate.

But when the Soviets intervened in Afghanistan (Leonid Brezhnev deployed his army in December, 1979), the US boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, then the newly elected president, Ronald Reagan (1981), ended detente, calling it a "one way street".

The Cold War went ice cold, again.

Answer: Nuclear annihilation

MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction, was the terrifying realization that since the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons as of 1949, and the US then developed the hydrogen bomb, the two could annihilate each other. Any resentment, rancor or perceived slight, or perhaps a mistaken belief one had launched attack on the other, could set off a chain of nuclear strike events which could bring about, perhaps for the entire planet, mutual and mass destruction.

This knowledge motivated leaders and citizens worldwide to seek to deter any nuclear "hot war", and to work toward disarmament.