Cold War Vocab

Guerrilla Tactics

the use of unexpected maneuvers like sabotage and subterfuge to fight an enemy

Redistribution of Wealth

the shifting of wealth from a rich minority to a poor majority

Satellite State

a country that is economically and politically dependent on another country

Policy of Containment

a plan to keep something, such as communism, within its existing geographical boundaries and prevent further aggressive moves

Arms Race

building up armies and stores of weapons to keep up with an enemy

Deterrance

during the Cold War, the US and Soviet policies of holding huge arsenals of nuclear weapons to prevent war, each nation believed that neither would launch a nuclear attack since both knew that the other side could strike back with devastating power

Commune

in China during the 1950s, a group of collective farms, which contained more than 30,000 people who lived and worked together

Permanent Revolution

an atmosphere of constant revolutionary fervor favored by Mao Zedong to enable China to overcome the past and achieve the final stage of communism

Proxy War

a war in which the powers in conflict use third parties as substitutes instead of fighting each other directly

Domino Theory

idea that if one country falls to communism, neighboring countries will also fall

Welfare State

a state in which the government takes responsibility for providing citizens with services such as health care

Bloc

a group of nations with a common purpose

Real Wages

the actual purchasing power of income

Consumer Society

a society preoccupied with buying goods

Women’s Liberation Movement

the renewed feminist movement of the late 1960s, which demanded political and economic equality with men

Heavy Industry

the manufacture of machines and equipment for factories and mines

De-Stalinization

the process of eliminating Stalin’s more ruthless policies

Detente

a phase of relaxed tensions and improved relations between two adversaires

Dissident

a person who speaks out against the regime in power

Perestroika

fundamental restructuring of the Soviet economy, a policy introduced by Gorbachev

Glasnost

a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political and social

Ethnic Cleansing

a policy for forcibly removing an ethnic group from its lands, used by the Serbs against the Muslims minority in Bosnie

Autonomous

self-governing