IB: Cold War

Cold War Orthodox View

The Cold War was a result of fighting the aggressive advances of communism around the globe.

Cold War Revisionists View

The Cold War was a result of mutual suspicion between the superpowers.

Cold War Post-Revisionists View

The Cold War was not the fault of either superpower but was inevitable.

Containment Theory

The US theory that stated, if Communism in Asia could be restrained in the area the system would eventually die out.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Detente

relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China

Peaceful Coexistence

Khrushchev's proposal that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. could compromise and learn to live with each other.

Flexible Response

A policy, developed during the Kennedy administration, that involved preparing for a variety of military responses to international crises rather than focusing on the use of nuclear weapons.

New Look

The defense policy of the Eisenhower administration that stepped up production of the hydrogen bomb and developed long-range bombing capabilities.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology; an example being Turkey and Greece.

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

Berlin Airlift

airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Soviets closed off land access to Berlin

Joseph Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis and advocated for "Peaceful Coexistence" of the superpowers.

Henry Kissinger

The main negotiator of the peace treaty with the North Vietnamese; secretary of state during Nixon's presidency (1970s).

Korean War

1950-1953

Vietnam War

1955-1975

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem

Leader of South Vietnam

Sygman Rhee

Leader of South Korea

Kim Il Sung

Communist leader of North Korea

38th Parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea

Ho Chi Minh Trail

A network of paths used by North Vietnam to transport supplies to the Vietcong in South Vietnam

Vietnamization

President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the Vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawal of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution that authorized President Johnson to commit US troops to South Vietnam.

Tet Offensive

a massive surprise attack by the Vietcong on South Vietnamese towns and cities in early 1968.

Search and Destroy

American war tactic that terrorized Vietnamese villagers and turning them against communism

Strategic Hamlet Program

- isolate peasants from Vietcong (southern rebels)
- put them in compounds
- alienated villagers
- meant to avoid killing our allies

Mao Zedong

Chinese Communist leader from 1949 to 1976.

Alliance for Progress

a program in which the United States tried to help Latin American countries overcome poverty and other problems

Suez Canal Crisis

Military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel in 1956 after Egypt seized the Suez Canal from British administration.

U2 Incident

The downing of a U.S. spy plane and capture of its pilot by the Soviet Union in 1960.

NATO

An alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO

Second Berlin Crisis

May 1959, US has six months to get out of Berlin or there will be war. Eventually, Khrushchev meets with Eisenhower and they agree to a summit conference.

Geneva Accords

Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel

Eisenhower Doctrine

Policy of the US that it would defend the Middle East against attack by any Communist country

Nixon Doctrine

It stated that the United States would honor its existing defense commitments, but in the future other countries would have to fight their own wars without support of American troops.

Reagan Doctrine

US would support freedom fighters trying to overthrow Communist regimes.

Evil Empire

Ronald Reagan's nickname for the Soviet Union; illustrated an end to detente.

United Fruit Company

U.S. corporation that controlled the banana trade in much of Latin America

Arbenz

1950s leader of Guatemala, overthrown by people

Fidel Castro

Communist leader of Cuba

Mutual Assured Destruction

the strategy assuming that, as long as two countries can destroy each other with nuclear weapons, they will be afraid to use them

Brinkmanship

A 1956 term used by Secretary of State John Dulles to describe a policy of risking war in order to protect national interests

Peace Corps

Federal program established to send volunteers to help developing nations

Soviet-Afghan War

A war between Afghanistan and USSR. Afghanistan wins with the help of the US. Big defeat for the USSR.

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Yalta Conference

FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War

Potsdam Conference

The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held outside Berlin, in July, 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.

Berlin Wall

A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

Sputnik

The world's first space satellite. This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US.

National Education Defense Act

Offered direct federal funding to higher education in order to combat the increasing scientific prowess of the Soviet Union.

Highway Act of 1956

- Eisenhower
- national defense
- approved funds for interstate highway system
- facilitate commerce and enable military to move around US more easily

Panmunjom

The site where the armistice was signed during the Korean War. It ended hostilities of the Korean conflict.

Results of Cuban Missile Crisis

developed a hotline between the white house and kremlin. saved us from a nuclear attack=Kennedy's popularity went up

Results of Berlin Airlift

1. Berlin and Germany remained divided
2. German Federal Republic (West Germany) created
3. German Democratic Republic (East Germany) created

Results of the Second Berlin Crisis

1. West Berlin divided from East Germany.
2. The tensions were not escalated, but not de-escalated.
3. East Germany begins to culturally and economically develop.

Revolutions of 1989

fall/collapse of communism, revolutions which overthrew Soviet-style communist states in the Eastern-Bloc.

Viet Cong/National Liberation Front

Communistic guerrilla forces who launched attacks on the Diem government.

John F. Kennedy

1961-1963

Harry S. Truman

1945-1953

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1953-1961

Lyndon B. Johnson

1963-1969

Richard Nixon

1969-1974

Gerald Ford

1974-1977

Jimmy Carter

1977-1981

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989

South African Apartheid

Official South African government policy and laws designed to segregate whites from blacks and to oppress black citizens; -whites of South Africa (10%) invented this to control 90% of the black population

Panama Canal Treaty

Signed in 1977, it stated that Panama would gain control of the canal after 1999

Demokratizatsiya

Program of democratization implemented by Gorbachev

Strategic Defense Initiative

Reagan's Star Wars defense system to shoot down missiles while they're in space.

SALT I

Treaty signed in 1972 between the U.S. and the USSR. This agreement limited the number of missiles in each nation and slowdown of the arms race between the two countries.

Iron Curtain Speech

Given by the former Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, in which he talks about the dangers of communism engulfing Europe.

Communism

A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of capital

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

Camp David Accords

The first signed agreement between Israel and an Arab country, in which Egyptian president Anwar Sadat recognized Israel as a legitimate state and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.