All Activities
History

Cold War in the Developing World

Overview

Students explore how the Cold War devastated many countries through proxy wars and political interference, far beyond the US-Soviet rivalry.

Learning Objective
Students understand how Cold War competition between superpowers affected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Resources needed

  • None

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Recap: what was the Cold War? Why did the superpowers not fight directly?
  2. 2 Introduce proxy wars: the superpowers supported opposing sides in conflicts in other countries.
  3. 3 Give specific examples: Vietnam, Korea, Angola, Mozambique, Central America.
  4. 4 Ask: why did the superpowers get involved in these distant conflicts?
  5. 5 Discuss the impact on local populations — years of war, economic damage, political instability.
  6. 6 Ask: did the people in these countries choose to be part of the Cold War?
  7. 7 Discuss: what did sovereignty actually mean when superpowers were actively interfering?

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Focus on one specific proxy conflict in depth.
  • Discuss the Non-Aligned Movement — countries that tried to stay out of both camps.
  • Debate: were the superpowers responsible for the suffering in proxy war countries?
More information

Teach: proxy war, interference, ally, opponent, superpower, non-aligned, sovereignty. Connect to the decolonisation lesson — many newly independent countries immediately became Cold War battlegrounds.

Use one clear, locally relevant example rather than a broad survey.

Can students explain what a proxy war is and give one example? Can they describe the impact on the local population of one proxy conflict?

No resources needed. Entirely discussion-based. Teacher knowledge of locally relevant examples is the primary resource.

Students view the Cold War as purely a US-Soviet story. This lesson directly corrects that by centring the experience of countries caught between the two superpowers.

Many conflicts still affecting the world today have direct roots in Cold War interference in the Global South. Centring these experiences gives a more complete and honest picture.

Activity details
Primary Challenging 25 minutes no prep Small Group, Whole Class Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Cold War Proxy Conflicts Global South