Cold War and Global Conflict Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering Chapter 15, Sections 1-5, focusing on the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the reforms in China and the Soviet Union.

Superpowers

The United States and the Soviet Union, known as the dominant nations after World War 2.

Berlin Wall

A structure built because people were escaping; its opening during Gorbachev's rule led to its slow destruction.

Arms race

A competition where both sides engaged in matching each other’s new weapons.

Mutually Assured Destruction

The concept that each side would be destroyed if it launched its weapons, which discouraged nuclear war.

SALT

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, which led to an ease of tensions through control agreements.

Detente

The ease of tensions between superpowers achieved through control agreements like SALT.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, developed by the United States due to conflicts with Europe.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

A conflict that occurred because Cubans fled to the US and the US wanted to stop Fidel Castro.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A major conflict caused by missiles in Turkey and the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Policy of Containment

A strategic policy based on the need to contain communism.

Welfare state

A country with a market economy but with increased government responsibility for the social and economic needs of its people.

Mao Zedong

The leader who imperialized China with the support of peasants.

Great Leap Forward

A policy initiated by Mao Zedong that resulted in a famine where $55$ million Chinese people starved to death.

Domino Theory

The belief that a communist victory in South Vietnam would cause noncommunist governments across South Asia to fall to communism.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

An act that gave LBJ the authority to take all necessary measures to repel armed attacks against US forces and prevent further aggression.

Paris Peace Accord

The agreement that led America to withdraw from the Vietnam War.

Glasnost

A reform introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev meaning openness.

Perestroika

A reform by Mikhail Gorbachev involving the restructuring of the government and economy.

Soviet Satellite States

Nations like Poland and Bulgaria that were destroyed during Gorbachev’s rule.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader who reformed the Soviet Union and removed Soviet missiles during the Cuban Missile Crisis.