cold war/decolonization

cold war

a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies

communism

political and economic ideology aiming to establish a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production, eliminating private property

capitalism

an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production (factories, mines, businesses) and their operation for profit

iron curtain

the ideological, political, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas—Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the democratic West

satellite nations

formally independent nations in Central and Eastern Europe that were, in reality, under heavy political, economic, and military control by the Soviet Union

containment

foundational U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War (1947–1989) designed to prevent the spread of communism and Soviet influence

Truman Doctrine

stop the spread of communism to Turkey and Greece

Marshall plan

The U.S. financially supported Western European countries following WWII so that they would not be tempted to try communism

Mutually assured destruction

regardless of who would start a war (Soviets or U.S.) both nations would be obliterated in nuclear war

Berlin Airlift

a massive, year-long humanitarian and military operation by the United States and United Kingdom to supply West Berlin by air

Berlin wall

Concrete and wire barrier that completely encircled West Berlin, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany

NATO

this treaty pledged mutual support within the alliance against conflicts and wars

Warsaw Pact

a Soviet-led military and political alliance comprising Eastern European communist states

Sputnik

first artificial satellite launched in 1957 by the soviets

Proxy Wars

an armed conflict where major powers, or "third parties," support combatants (state or non-state) in a local conflict to advance their own strategic interests without directly engaging in full-scale battle themselves

Bay of Pigs

Fidel Castro and other communist revolutionaries created a communist dictatorship in Cuba. This upset many companies from the United States (Texaco, Esso, etc

John F. Kennedy

elected U.S. President in 1960, gave his support to the Bay of Pigs invasion.  This invasion was a total failure and cemented a Soviet-Cuban relationship

Cuban Missile Crisis

soviets (Nikita Khrushchev) shipped nuclear weapons to Cuba in response to U.S. putting nuclear weapons in Turkey

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam’s nationalist communist leader, essential for leading the fight for independence against French colonial rule, Japanese occupiers, and the United States

Korean War

Soviets occupied the north and the U.S. and its allies occupied the south.  The communist north invaded the south to try to reunite the country

Vietnam War

a long, costly armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, pitting the communist North Vietnamese (supported by China and the USSR) against South Vietnam (supported by the U.S.)

Partition of India

division of British India into the two independent dominion states of India and Pakistan

Mao Zedong

Chinese communist leader

Palestine

a geographic region in the Middle East located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea

Creation of Israel

the establishment of the modern State of Israel on, as a sovereign Jewish state in Palestine following the end of the British Mandate

Apartheid

a formalized system of institutionalized racial segregation, discrimination, and political oppression enforced by the white minority government in South Africa

Ronald Reagan

ended the Cold War by shifting U.S. policy from détente to active confrontation, aimed at reversing Soviet advances and collapsing the communist system

Mikhail Gorbachev

was the last leader of the Soviet Union whose reforms—glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring)—unintentionally brought about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR.

Perestroika

“restructuring" in Russian, was a 1980s policy instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev to modernize the Soviet Union's stagnant economy and government

Glasnost

Russian for "openness" or "transparency," was a policy introduced in the Soviet Union that allowed for unprecedented freedom of speech, debate, and access to information