Cold War and Post-WWII History Practice Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers key events, figures, and concepts of the Cold War, the industrialization of China, and the post-war developments of Japan and Korea as discussed in the lecture notes.

Space Race

A competition between the US and USSR to reach outer space and the moon, which slurred an arms race as missiles were needed for both space and nuclear weapons.

Sputnik

The Russian satellite launched in $1957$ that started the arms race.

Arms Race

A competition beginning in $1957$ where the US and USSR tried to gain a military advantage by increasing their nuclear air assault.

U-2 Spy Plane Incident

A $1960$ event where a US spy plane was shot down over Soviet Russia and the pilot was captured, causing increasing tensions.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A $1962$ confrontation where the US discovered USSR nuclear missiles on the island of communist Cuba, leading to the closest the world got to nuclear war.

Kennedy

The American president who gave an ultimate to the USSR to remove missiles from Cuba and invoked a blockade on the island.

Modern Japan

The era from $1945$ to the present day where Japan embraced democracy and capitalism, becoming an economic war power by the $1980s$ with brands like Honda, toy toy toy and Sony.

Mao

The leader who won the Chinese civil war in $1949$ and created a communist dictatorship.

Great Leap Forward

Mao's $1958$ attempt to fully industrialize China through communism, which failed and caused millions to die of starvation.

Cultural Revolution

Mao's $1966$ attempt to create a pure communistic economy.

38th Parallel

The geographic line that split North Korea and South Korea.

Korean War

A conflict from $1950$ through $1953$ sparked by North Korea invading South Korea, where the US defended the South under the banner of the United Nations.

Policy of containment

The US strategy used to defend South Korea and later South Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism.

Seventeenth payroll

The location where the US fought against North Vietnam in an attempt to contain communism.

Ho, Xi Mao

The leadership figure associated with communism during the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War Outcome

After the US withdraw, the North communist dictate defeated and conquered the South in $1975$, making it one country.

Soviet Union reforms

The opening of freedoms like press and speech and allowing for capitalism, which caused Russians to want more freedom and led to the fall of communism.

Ronald Wayne

The President who started a new arms race with the USSR, knowing they lacked the money to keep up, potentially leading to their financial collapse.

German $1990$

The year marking key events or changes in Germany following the collapse of communism.