Social Science 4 Marks Each

1. Military Blocs: After World War II Europe and other countries of the world joined with power groups and the power was centralised between two poles i.e  America and Russia Owing to fear born out of distrust and doubts created between both power groups, military blocs were formed.
2. NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed to check the spread of communism and the Soviet expansionism. NATO was formed in April 1949 under the leadership of the USA. The western capitalist-democratic states were its members.
3. SEATO: After the Communist party came to power in China, there was a perceived threat of communist expansionism in the South-East Asia. To counter this threat South-East Asia Treaty Organisation was formed in 1954, SEATO was a military alliance formed with the initiative taken. by the USA and England.
4. Warsaw Pact: With a view to counter the dominance of the USA after the formation of the NATO and the SEATO, the USSR and the 'Socialist' states in Eastern Europe entered into Warsaw Part in 1954. This alliance was headed by the USSR Albania, Bulgaria. Romania. Czechoslovakia. Hungary, Poland and East Germany were the member-states .

(A) Disintegration of Germany: After the defeat of Germany in World War II. German territory was occupied by the armed forces of the Allied Powers-the USA. the UK. France and the USSR.
→ The German territory was divided among the Allied Powers-
(1) the eastern part of Germany was assigned to the USSR.
(2) the north-western part was assigned to the USA.
(3) the territory adjacent to France was assigned to France, and
(4) the territory adjacent to Helgrum and The Netherlands was assigned to the UK.
→ The capital city of Berlin, was divided into four zones.
→ The territories under the control of the USA. the UK and France were merged and the Federal Republic of Germany was established in 1949. The East Germany was named by the USSR as Democratic Republic of Germany.
→ Similarly three zones in Berlin under control of the USA, the UK and France were merged into West Berlin.
→ The cold war had already started and the USSR resorted to Berltu Blockade in 1948 and constructed Berlin Wall in 1961.
(B) Unification of Germany: People of the East and West Germany destred unification of Germany .
→ As the cold war was nearing its end, unification of the East and West Germany was brought about on 3rd October, 1990.
→ People demolished the most hated 'Berlin Wall. Mikhail Gorbachev, the Prime Minister of the USSR did not intervene in this process.
→ Thus after 45 years of separation, the unification of two Germanys was accomplished.

During the era of the 'cold war', the USA and the USSR possessed nuclear weapons and missiles. The world was on the brink of a third nuclear world war during the Cuban Crisis.
→ In their quest for world dominance, the super powers were engaged in nuclear arms race.
→ Their ambitions led to local and regional conflicts like the Korean war and the war in Vietnam.
→ The small nations felt threatened and joined either of these groups.
→ The mutual suspicion and fear had created an atmosphere of international tension, which became unbearable at times.
→ Cold war resulted in neglect of human welfare as huge funds were spent on weaponry.

The United Nations:
→ After the Second World War, a large-scale destruction and ruined economy shook the world.
→ The countries of the world finally realized a serious need to establish a world organization which would maintain peace and harmony in the world.
→ Owing to this need, United Nations Organisation (UNO) was established on 24th October, 1945. It was later renamed as United Nations.
→The United Nations Charter starts with the Preamble (i.e. Introduction) of the Constitution.
Aims of the United Nations:
→ To maintain world peace and security.
→ To take collective action to prevent any threat to world peace and against the acts of aggression.
→ To make efforts to resolve international disputes. by peaceful means.
→ To develop friendly relations among the nations. of the world on the basis of self-determination and equal rights of the nations.
→ To promote international cooperation to resolve economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.
→ To protect the human rights and respect for these rights irrespective of differences in race, religion. language and gender.
→ To develop the sentiment of world unity and brotherhood.
→ To be at centre, coordinating the activities of the nations in achieving the aims of the UN.

The Indo-US relations have seen mash ups and downs during the last seven decades.
→ There was warmth for India in the USA as it was a democratic country.
→ However, India decided to follow the policy of Non-Alignment. This caused the initial strain in the Indo-US relations.
→ Pakistan had joined the power bloc headed by the USA. Thereby Pakistan became an ally of the USA. Therefore the USA supported Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. The USA also provided economic and military aid to Pakistan.
→ India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1967 was not approved by the USA.
→ The nuclear explosions at Pokhran in 1974 and 1998 by India was strongly resented by the USA. It had imposed a number of restrictions on trade with India.
→ The attack on 'Twin Towers' in New York by the terrorists on 11th September, 2001 started the process of reconciliation.
→ India is an ally of the USA in the war against terrorism.
→ The Indo-US relations received further boost after Shri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014. He has established personal rapport with the US President Barak Obama who attended celebration of the 66th Republic Day in 2015.
→ After so many down-swings, the Indo-US relations are on the up-swing at present.

The USA and the USSR emerged as the superpowers after the world war II.
→ Their rivalry for the dominance over the world politics was the main cause of the 'cold war'.
→ There was also ideological conflict between communism advocated by the USSR and capitalism practised by the western democracies.
→ The USSR had brought Eastern Europe under its control and there was threat of the spread of communism and the Soviet expansion in Western Europe. This led to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) by the USA and its allies in Europe.
→ The Communist Revolution took place in China. This was threat to the allies of the USA in South-East Asia. This led to the formation of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO).
→The USSR was looking forward to dominate Central Asia. Therefore, the USA and its allies formed Central East-North Treaty Organisation (CENTO).
→ In response to the formation of the military alliances by the USA, the USSR and its allies formed Warsaw Treaty Organisation.
→ These two powergroups and military alliances tried to win over to their side the rest of the countries in the world.
→ There was atmosphere of mutual suspicion and fear, leading to the race for nuclear armaments. Till 1949, the USA was the only nuclear power. The USSR acquired nuclear capabilities in 1949.