cold war

Cold War

A state of conflict between nations involving economic and political actions, espionage, or surrogates, without direct military engagement.

Surrogates

States allied to conflicting nations or under their political influence, used in conflicts like the Cold War.

Democracy

Form of government where power is held by people through a free electoral system.

Dictatorship

Government controlled by one person or a small group.

Capitalism

Economic system with private ownership, profit, free market, and competition.

Communism

Economic idea where the government owns and operates all business and industry.

Yalta Conference

Meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin to reorganize Germany post-WWII.

Iron Curtain

Metaphor for the political division separating Western Europe from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Berlin Blockade

Soviet blocking of roads and railways into Allied zones in Berlin in 1948.

Marshall Plan

U.S. economic assistance to restore postwar Europe's infrastructure and stabilize governments.

NATO

Military alliance formed by the U.S. and 11 other nations in 1949 to defend each other.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet alliance with Eastern European communist nations in response to NATO.

Brinkmanship

Pursuing dangerous policies to the limits of safety, using fear and intimidation in politics.

Proxy Wars

Wars instigated by major powers but fought by others, as seen in the Cold War.

Korean War

Conflict between North and South Korea, with U.S. and Soviet involvement, ending in a stalemate in 1953.

U-2 Spy Plane Incident

1960 event where a U.S. spy plane was shot down over the USSR, escalating tensions.

Brain Drain

Measures taken to prevent the mass departure of educated individuals from East Germany.

Berlin Wall

Barrier built in 1961 to divide East and West Berlin, symbolizing Cold War division.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Failed 1961 CIA operation by Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro's regime in Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over missiles in Cuba, leading to a blockade.

Domino Theory

President Eisenhower's belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, other Southeast Asian countries would follow suit.

Geneva Accords

Post-WWII agreement dividing Vietnam into communist North Vietnam and capitalist South Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Route used by North Vietnamese to supply guerilla fighters in South Vietnam during the war.

Operation Rolling Thunder

Series of unsuccessful U.S. air attacks in North Vietnam in 1965.

Vietnamization

Nixon's policy to shift war responsibility to South Vietnam and withdraw U.S. troops gradually.

Tet Offensive

Coordinated attack by North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces in South Vietnam in 1968.

Paris Peace Accords

Agreement in 1973 ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Iranian Revolution

Overthrow of the Imperial Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran, leading to the establishment of an Islamic Republic.

Iran-Contra Affair

Secret arms sales to Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua, despite an arms embargo.

Mao Zedong

Chinese Communist leader who led the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Proposed by President Ronald Reagan, it was a weapons defense system based in space, also known as "Star Wars."

Cold War

A period of political tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union characterized by the threat of nuclear conflict.

Berlin Wall

A barrier that divided East and West Berlin during the Cold War, symbolizing the divide between Eastern and Western blocs.

Reunification

The process of bringing together separate entities, such as the reunification of West and East Germany in 1990.

Gorbachev

The last President of the Soviet Union, known for his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) that contributed to the end of the Cold War.