History · GCSE · The 20th-Century World
The arms race, NATO and the Warsaw Pact
gcse-hist-1bc-2-2aFree1:22Heddy Score 3 of 7, below the standardPlays from youtube-nocookie.com. No YouTube cookies until you press play.
What you need to know
- NATO was formed in 1949 as a Western military alliance.
- The Warsaw Pact of 1955 bound the Eastern bloc to the USSR.
- Both sides raced to build atomic and then hydrogen bombs.
- Mutually assured destruction meant neither side could win a nuclear war.
In this clip
0:09–2:52The Cuban Missile Crisisgcse-hist-1bc-3-22:52–4:14The arms race, NATO and the Warsaw Pactgcse-hist-1bc-2-2a4:14–6:12Communism in Asia: China, Korea and Vietnamgcse-hist-1bc-2-17:24–8:46Détente and SALT 1gcse-hist-1bc-3-4Heddy ScoreSeven checks every clip must pass before students see it: trusted, on the map, accurate, focused, accessible, safe, and proven by students.3/7, Below the standard
- Trusted source · passed. The creator's own upload, live and playable here.
- On the map · not judged yet. A teacher watched it: it mainly teaches this map topic.
- Spec-true · not judged yet. Accurate, and right for the current UK specification.
- Focused · passed. One idea, short enough to watch in one go.
- Accessible · passed. Good captions, clear sound and pictures.
- Safe for children · not judged yet. Right for 11 to 16 year olds, with no sales pitch.
- Proven · not judged yet. Earned from our students: they learn from it, find it helpful and watch it to the end.
Our students
How the Heddy Score worksNot enough students yet
Our own students' answers. These are what move ★7 Proven.Why we picked it
Second part of the animated Cold War narrative, from Cuba to the collapse of the USSR; much after 1973 is beyond the GCSE period.
OverSimplified on YouTubechecked 2026-10-16