Cold War Regents Prep

Capitalism

An economic system in which private individuals and corporations control the means of production and use them to earn profits.

Communism

An economic and political system based on one-party government and state ownership of property.

Containment

The blocking of another nation's attempts to spread it's influence - especially the efforts of the United States to block the spread of Soviet influence during the late 1940s to early 1950s.

Satellite Nations

A country that is dominated politically and economically by another nation. During Cold War USSR had many of these nations.

Iron Curtain

A phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe the imaginary line that separated Communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from the countries in Western Europe.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy, announced by President Harry Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to free nations threatened by communist expansion.

Marshall Plan

The program, proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, under which the United States supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Military alliance created in 1949 made up of 12 non-Communist countries including the United States that support each other if attacked.

Warsaw Pact

A Military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites.

North Korea

The communist country on the Korean peninsula, that was backed by the USSR during the Cold War.

Fidel Castro

Communist dictator of Cuba who came into power in 1959.

Cuban Missile Crisis

13 Day period in October 1962 when Soviet nuclear missile were pointed at the United States in Cuba. The closest the world came to a nuclear war.

Berlin Wall

A concrete wall that separated East Berlin and West Berlin from 1961-1989, built by Communist East German government to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the West.

Korean War

A conflict between North Korea and South Korea, lasting from 1950-1953, in which the United States along with other UN countries fought to help South Korea contain communism, The USSR fought on the side of the North Koreans.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet leader following World War II, dies in the middle of the Korean War in 1953.

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States, made the decision to drop Atomic Bomb on Japan during World War II.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader from 1955-1964, responsible for putting missiles in Cuba.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam, led the fight against the French and then the Americans to reunify the country.

MAD Mutually Assured Destruction

Mutually Assured Destruction: the idea that the superpowers had so many nuclear weapons that they would completely destroy each other in a war

United Nations

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

Space Race

the competition between the USSR and the USA regarding achievements in the field of space exploration.

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons