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Source set · 7 sources ✓ Lesson ready

Who started the Cold War?

Wartime agreements, the Iron Curtain, containment, and rival alliances let students assign responsibility for the Cold War.

Timeline of key events →

Teach it

✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Rank-the-Blame Card Sort. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
Winston Churchill, Fulton, Missouri (March 5, 1946)

Ask: Allies in 1945, enemies by 1946? What does Churchill’s “iron curtain” describe, and who does he blame?

2. Main activity: Rank-the-Blame Card Sort

Grouping: Groups of 3 or 4

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • One set of 7 evidence cards per group (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • A blame line on paper: “Mostly the United States and its allies” to “Mostly the Soviet Union”
  • Exit ticket slips
  1. Timeline first 5 min
    Groups put the 7 cards in date order, 1945 to 1955.
  2. Blame line 12 min
    Groups place each card on the blame line and write a reason. Ask: does this source show an action, or a reaction to the other side?
  3. Action or reaction? 10 min
    Groups mark each card A (action) or R (reaction). Discuss: which side acted first?
  4. Gallery check 10 min
    Groups walk to one other group’s blame line and leave one challenge note.
  5. Take a stand 8 min
    Use the vote slide.
  6. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Who started the Cold War?

  • Mostly the Soviet Union: The Soviets did not hold the free elections promised at Yalta, and Churchill and Kennan described Soviet control spreading across Eastern Europe.
  • Mostly the United States and its allies: The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and NATO built a Western bloc; the Warsaw Pact says it answered a rearmed West Germany joining NATO.

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: “iron curtain”
  • 8 min Compare the Truman Doctrine and the Warsaw Pact preamble: which side says it is defending itself?
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: Churchill
  • 5 min Timeline
  • 12 min Blame line
  • 10 min Action or reaction?
  • 6 min Gallery check
  • 8 min Vote and exit ticket
  • 5 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

  1. Who did more to start the Cold War? Use one action and one reaction from the sources.
  2. Pick one source written by someone who was not American. How does it change the picture?

5. Differentiation

Support

Extension

  • Read more of the Long Telegram. What did Kennan recommend the U.S. do?
  • Research the Berlin Blockade (1948-49) and place it on the blame line.

Suggested sequence

  1. Yalta Conference Agreement
    Document · Yale Avalon Project · Great Depression & WWII (1929-1945) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    The February 1945 agreements among the U.S., Britain, and the USSR on postwar Europe.
    Ask: How did decisions at Yalta help set up the Cold War?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Churchill: Iron Curtain Speech (1946)
    Speech · Fordham University · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Churchill's 'Sinews of Peace' speech warning of an 'iron curtain' across Europe.
    Ask: When did the Cold War begin?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. George Kennan, The Long Telegram (1946)
    Document · Wikisource · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30+ min
    Kennan's February 1946 cable from Moscow explaining Soviet behavior; original in the National Archives (State Department records).
    Ask: How did one diplomat's telegram shape U.S. Cold War strategy?
    Original ↗Copy DocCopy AdaptedSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Truman Doctrine Address
    Speech · Yale Avalon Project · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Truman's 1947 request for aid to Greece and Turkey, launching containment.
    Ask: What is containment, and how does Truman justify it?
    Original ↗Copy DocCopy AdaptedSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. Marshall Plan
    Document · National Archives · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    1948 European recovery program.
    Ask: Why would the U.S. spend billions rebuilding Europe?
    Original ↗Copy DocCopy AdaptedSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. North Atlantic Treaty (NATO)
    Document · Yale Avalon Project · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    The 1949 treaty establishing NATO.
    Ask: What does Article 5 commit members to do?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  7. Warsaw Pact (1955)
    Document · Yale Avalon Project · Cold War (1945-1991) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    The Soviet-led military alliance formed in response to NATO.
    Ask: How did the Cold War divide Europe into rival blocs?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP

Watch

Free videos to pair with this set. Preview before showing in class.

Teach with (more from Hillsdale): Unit 7: Post-War America (1945-1974) (free K-12 curriculum unit)

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “Who started the Cold War?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.