Cold War

Big Three

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Tehran Conference

First major meeting between the Big Three (United States, Britain, Russia) at which they planned the 1944 assault on France and agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Joseph Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

John F. Kennedy

President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Harry S. Truman

Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

United Nations

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

Security Council

Five permanent members( US, UK, France, China, USSR) with veto power in the UN. Promised to carry out UN decisions with their own forces.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

a group of 28 countries that has agreed to protect each other in case of attack; founded in 1949

Warsaw Pact

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

Communist Bloc

The group of Eastern European nations that fell under the control of the Soviet Union following World War II.

Eastern Bloc

Soviet allies in eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Hungary.

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region

Winston Churchill

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

Policy of Containment

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

Marshall Plan

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

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Berlin

Capital of Germany

Berlin Airlift

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

East germany

After WWII, Germany was divided into two countries, this part was communist in government and had a command economy

West Germany

British, American and French zone of Germany and was democratic.

Guomindang

Nationalist political party founded on democratic principles by Sun Yat-sen in 1912. After 1925, the party was headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who turned it into an increasingly authoritarian movement.

Chang Kai-Shek

leader of the Nationalists after Sun Yat-sen, he tried to destroy the Communists

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Long March

The 6,000-mile (9,600-kilometer) flight of Chinese Communists from southeastern to northwestern China. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, were pursued by the Chinese army under orders from Chiang Kai-shek.

People's Liberation Army

Chinese Communist army; administered much of country under People's Republic of China.

People's Republic of China

Communist government of mainland China; proclaimed in 1949 following military success of Mao Zedong over forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang.

Great Leap Foward

a program Mao Zedong began in 1958 to speed up economic development

Five Year Plan

Stalin's economic policy to rebuild the Soviet economy after WWI. tried to improve heavy industry and improve farm output, but resulted in famine

Cultral revolution

a movement that Mao Zedong began in China in1966 in another attempt to remove oppostion to Communist Party

Domino Theory

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

Atomic Bomb

bomb dropped by an American bomber on Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroying both cities

Hydrogen Bomb

A thermonuclear bomb which uses the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Free Market Economic Policies

The idea that law of supply and demand, rather than a central government, regulates production and labor

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.

Socialism

A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of capital

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989,"Great Communicator" Republican, conservative economic policies, replaced liberal Democrats in upper house with consevative Democrats or "boll weevils" , at reelection time, jesse jackson first black presdiential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro as VP running mate (first woman)

Margaret Thatcher

Conservative British Prime Minister and first women to head a major European government (1925-)

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

defensive alliance aimed at preventing the spread of communism in Southeast Asia

European Union (EU)

(syn Common Market) an economic association established in 1957 by a number of Western European countries to promote free trade among its members

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

An international treaty, signed in 1968, that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)

series of meetings in the 70s, in which leaders of the US and the Soviet Union agreed to limit their nations' stocks of nuclear weapons

INF Treaty

Reagan and Gorbachev signed this treaty, which provided for the dismantling of all intermediate range nuclear weapons in Russia and all of Europe. Considered by some to be Reagan's single most important piece of foreign policy.

Satellites

any object that revolves around another object in space

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

The possession of second-strike nuclear capabilities, which ensures that neither of two adversaries could prevent the other from destroying it in an all-out war.

Non-Aligned Movement

The group of nations that didn't side with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War.

Red Guards

the Radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966. Often wore red armbands and carried Mao's Little Red Book.

Tiananmen Square

Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with great loss of life.

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Viet Cong

A Communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam that fought its government and was supported by North Vietnam.

Viet Minh

Communist-dominated Nationalist Movement. Ruled Vietnam when Japanese rule ended. Leader was Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Tet Offensive

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

"Prague Spring"

The term for the attempted liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Brezhnev Doctrine

Soviet Union and its allies had the right to intervene in any socialist country whenever they saw the need.

Kent State University

An Ohio university where National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War on May 4, 1970, wounding nine and killing four

Berlin Wall

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

Bay of Pigs

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation bewteen US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

"Star Wars"

President Reagan's proposed weapons system to destroy Soviet missiles from space.

Glasnost

a policy of the Soviet government allowing freer discussion of social problems

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Alexander Dubcek

Communist Party Secretary of Czechoslovakia; loosens strict rules; permits criticism of government; assures loyalty to USSR; gets kicked out

Afghan War

Failed attempt by USSR to take over Afghanistan - expense/negative public reaction hurt USSR communists - US supported Afghan guerillas

Taliban

A group of fundamentalist Muslims who took control of Afghanistan's government in 1996

Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)

First tested in 1959; Capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S territory.

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

Space Race

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

Anti Nuclear Weapons Movement

social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies