The Changing World Order 1945–2011
MOD-CWO is worth about 25 marks out of 100 in recent HSC Modern History papers. Practise 15 exam-style questions (multiple choice, short answer) with instant marking and a worked solution for every question.
START PRACTISINGTopic notes
The USA and the UN in the Cold War world, the collapse of the USSR and Putin's Russia, US hard and soft power after 1991, new centres of power (the EU, the BRICs, non-state actors) and UN peacekeeping, with how to answer the multi-part Section IV question.
- 1What you need to know
- 2The Cold War world order, 1945–1991
- 3The collapse of the USSR
- 4US power after the Cold War, 1991–2011
- 5New centres of power
- 6The UN after the Cold War
- 7Interpretations
- 8Answering the parts of a Section IV question
- 9Common mistakes
- 10Exam tips
- 11Links to other topics
Example questions
Example 1 · 1 mark · multiple choice
Why was the UN Security Council often unable to act during the Cold War?
- AEach permanent member could veto substantive resolutions
- BIts decisions had to be approved by a majority of the General Assembly
- CThe USSR left the Security Council permanently after 1950
- DIt had no power to authorise the use of force
Example 2 · 1 mark · multiple choice
Which event in December 1991 formally ended the Soviet Union?
- AThe fall of the Berlin Wall
- BThe failure of the August coup against Gorbachev
- CThe withdrawal of the last Soviet troops from Afghanistan
- DGorbachev's resignation as the republics left
Example 3 · 1 mark · multiple choice
Which statement best describes the UN's response to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994?
- AA large UN force stopped the genocide within days
- BThe UN had no peacekeepers in Rwanda when the genocide began
- CThe UN authorised NATO to bomb the forces carrying out the genocide
- DThe Security Council cut its force as the killing spread
Answers and worked solutions appear when you practise these questions.
Other Modern History topics
- MOD-CORECore: Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919–1946
- MOD-RUSRussia and the Soviet Union 1917–1941
- MOD-AUSAustralia 1918–1949
- MOD-CHNChina 1927–1949
- MOD-INDIndia 1942–1984
- MOD-INDOIndonesia 1945–2005
- MOD-JPNJapan 1904–1937
- MOD-USAUSA 1919–1941
- MOD-IRANIran 1945–1989
- MOD-EURConflict in Europe 1935–1945
- MOD-COLDThe Cold War 1945–1991
- MOD-INDOCHConflict in Indochina 1954–1979
- MOD-PACConflict in the Pacific 1937–1951
- MOD-ARISRThe Arab–Israeli Conflict 1948–1996
- MOD-GULFConflict in the Gulf 1980–2011
- MOD-CRCivil Rights in the USA 1945–1968
- MOD-BURMAThe Pro-democracy Movement in Burma 1945–2010
- MOD-TIANThe Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square 1966–1989
- MOD-NUCThe Nuclear Age 1945–2011
- MOD-APARTApartheid in South Africa 1960–1994