Unit 8: Cold war & Decolonization

European Economic Opportunity

An alliance formed in 1957 by six West European countries dedicated to developing countries dedicated to developing common trade policies and reduced tariffs; it gradually became the European Union

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance, created in 1949 between the United States and various European countries; largely aimed at defending against the threat of Soviet aggression during the Cold War

NATO stands for

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Marshall Plan

Huge U.S. government initiative to aid in the post

Great Leap Forward

Communist push for collectivization that created "people's communes" and aimed to mobilize China's population for rapid development.

People's Communes

large

Cultural Revolution

China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a massive campaign launched by Mao Zedong in the mid

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance between the Soviet Union and communist states in Eastern Europe, created in 1955 as a counterweight to NATO; expressed the tensions of the cold war in Europe

Cold War

Geopolitical and ideological conflict between communist regimes and capitalist powers after WWII, spreading from Eastern Europe through Asia; characterized by the avoidance of direct military conflict between the USSR and the United States and an amrs race in nuclear weapons

Cuban Missile Crisis

Major standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba; the confrontation ended in compromise, with the USSR removing its missiles in exchange for the United States agreeing not to invade Cuba.

Decolonization of Africa

withdrawal of European nations from Africa that occurred between 1955 and 1965; 35 new countries were established

Decolonization in India

Great Britain's negotiation with Indian National Congress, realization colony would need to be split into Muslim/Hindu countires to avoid conflict. Mahatma Ghandi objected because of possible war. Pakistan and East Pakistan were created in 1947

Decolonization

Process in which many African and Asian states won their independence from Western colonial rule, in most cases by negotiated settlement with gradual political reforms and a program of investment rather than through military confrontation.

Muslim League

Political group formed in response to the Indian National Congress in India's struggle for independence from Britain; the League's leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, argued that regions of India with a Muslim majority should form a separate state called Pakistan.

Indian National Congress

The political party led by Mahatma Gandhi that succeeded in bringing about Indian independence from Britain in 1947.

Globalization of Democracy

Late twentieth

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet

Iranian Revolution

Establishment of a radically Islamist government in Iran in 1979; helped trigger a war with Iraq in the 1980s

Mohandas Gandhi

Often known as "Mahatma" or "Great Soul," the political leader of the Indian drive for independence from Great Britain; rejected the goal of modern industrialization and advocated nonviolence.

Mao Zedong

Chairman of China's Communist Party and de facto ruler of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.

Deng Xiaoping

Communist Party leader who seen as responsible for Chinese economic reforms after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976

Mikhail Gorbachev

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 whose efforts to reform the USSR led to its collapse.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba

Israeli

Palestinian Conflict

Red Guards

The youths who led Mao's Cultural Revolution. Wore red arm bands and carried his book. Destroyed symbols of China's pre

Syrian Civil War

Conflict beginning in 2011 that generated over 12 million refugees and asylum seekers by mid

"Hot Wars" during the "Cold War"

Korean War, Vietnam War, Soviet

Proxy Wars

a war instigated by a major power that does not itself become involved.

During the Cold War, local or regional wars in which the superpowers armed, trained, and financed the combatants.

Non

Aligned Movement

Gamal Abdel Nasser

He led the coup which toppled the monarchy of King Farouk and started a new period of modernization and end western domination, nationalized the Suez canal, led two wars against the Zionist state, remained a symbol of independence and pride, returned to socialism, nationalized banks and businesses, limited economic policies

Algeria's independence (1962)