Two Super Powers Emerge Practice Test

In the late 1940s, the United States promoted containment and rebuilt West Germany within a Western alliance system. The Soviet Union responded by consolidating communist governments in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and by portraying Western initiatives as threats. Observers noted that Germany’s status symbolized the new European order. Which event most clearly demonstrated superpower competition over Germany’s future?

In the aftermath of World War II, European colonial empires weakened, and both the United States and the Soviet Union sought influence in newly independent states. European publics watched crises such as Korea and later Cuba with anxiety, fearing escalation beyond Europe. Which statement best captures how the rise of two superpowers altered Europe’s global position after 1945?