Studied by 41 people
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.
Containment
American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world.
Iron Curtain
A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region
Marshall Plan
A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952).
Military industrial complex
Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.
Mutual assured destruction
Idea that both sides would face certain destruction in a nuclear war.
Non-Aligned Movement
The group of nations that didn't side with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War.
Potsdam Conference
July 26, 1945 - Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.
Satellite countries
Countries bordering USSR that Soviets made Communist to have "friendly ring of
countries”.
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
United Nations
An organization of independent states formed in 1945 to promote international peace and security.
Commune
A body of people or families living together and sharing everything.
Communist bloc
The group of Eastern European nations that fell under the control of the Soviet Union following World War II.
Contra War
The contras is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the
left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua.
Cultural Revolution
Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.
Domino theory
A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.
Land reform
Breakup of large agricultural holdings for redistribution among peasants.
Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
An international treaty, signed in 1968, that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Proxy War
A war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate.
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.
White Revolution
The term used by the shah to describe reforms in Iran between the end of World War II and the downfall of his regime in 1979.
Algerian Civil War
1954-1962: France tried to keep colony; brutal conflict and ultimate failure.
Charles de Gaulle
French general and statesman who became very popular during World War II as the leader of the Free French forces in exile (1890-1970).
Gamal Abdel Nasser
He led the coup which toppled the monarchy of King Farouk and started a new period of modernization and socialist reform in Egypt.
Ho Chi Minh
Communist leader of North Vietnam.
Kwame Nkrumah
Founder of Ghana's independence movement and Ghana's first president.
Muslim League
An organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India's Muslims, which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations.
One-Party State
A political system in which one party controls the government and actively seeks to prevent other parties from contesting for power.
Quiet Revolution
A period of rapid change experienced in Québec from 1960 to 1966.
Suez Crisis
July 26, 1956, Nasser (leader of Egypt) nationalized the Suez Canal, Oct. 29, British, French and Israeli forces attacked Egypt. UN forced British to withdraw; made it clear Britain was no longer a world power.
Viet Cong
This was the name of the members of the communist guerrilla movement in Vietnam (North).
Basque Homeland and Freedom
A revolutionary group of northern Spain who used terrorist attacks to force the government to grant territorial independence.
Brezhnev Doctrine
Soviet Union and its allies had the right to intervene in any socialist country whenever they saw the need.
Camp David Accords
A peace treaty between Israel and Egypt where Egypt agreed to recognize the nation state of Israel.
Hamas
A militant Islamic fundamentalist political movement that opposes peace with Israel and uses terrorism as a weapon.
Irish Republican Army (IRA)
A militant organization of Irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerrilla warfare in an effort
to drive British forces from Northern Ireland and achieve a united independent Ireland.
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.
Khmer Rouge
A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.
Metropole
The dominant part of an empire, distinguished from the subordinate colonies, which is normally the state that initiated colonization.
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
This organization formed in 1964 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Palestinians in Israel.
Prague Spring
The term for the attempted liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Détente
A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Glasnost
A policy of the Soviet government allowing freer discussion of social problems.
Indira Gandhi
Daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. She was also prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977.
John F. Kennedy
President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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.
Nelson Mandela
First black president of South Africa.
Nikita Khrushchev
A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.
Perestroika
The restructuring of the economy and the government instituted in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Ronald Reagan
1981-1989, “Great Communicator" Republican, conservative economic policies.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
A Sri Lankan stateswoman and politician and the modern world's first female head of government.
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