Which plan proposed by Churchill's government in May 1945 envisioned a surprise offensive against the Soviet Union?

• A. Operation Urgent Fury
• B. Operation Unthinkable
• C. Ostpolitik
• D. Paris Peace Accords (1973)

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is early Cold War planning and how Britain considered countering Soviet influence after World War II. In May 1945, Churchill’s government floated Operation Unthinkable, a plan for a surprise Western offensive against the Soviet Union to push back Soviet forces in Europe and safeguard Western Europe. It also included the possibility of using nuclear weapons if needed as a last resort. This plan was a contingency rather than a committed policy and never actually carried out, but it illustrates how leaders worried about Soviet expansion even as World War II was ending.

The other options don’t fit: Operation Urgent Fury was a 1983 U.S.-led invasion of Grenada; Ostpolitik refers to West Germany’s policy of normalizing relations with the East in the late 1960s and beyond; the Paris Peace Accords (1973) concerned ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam.