AMSCO Unit 8 AP World Vocab (1900-Present) 2020

Tehran Conference (1943)

First major meeting between the Big Three (United States, Britain, Russia) at which they planned the 1944 assault on France

Yalta Conference (1945)

Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Potsdam Conference (1945)

The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union; Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.

Cold War

Power struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II

Dwight Eisenhower

United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy; Late became US President

Military-industrial complex

The close association of the federal government, the military, and defense industries

Hydrogen Bomb (1952)

US explodes the first hydrogen bomb at a test site; approx. 1 yr. later USSR tests their bomb

United Nations

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

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

Satellite Countries

Eastern European countries that remained under the control of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era.

Containment Policy

A military strategy to stop enemy expansion. It is best known as the Cold War policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

Stated that the U.S. would support any nation threatened by communism. First used in Greece and Turkey.

Non-Aligned Movement

The group of nations that didn't side with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War.

Mutually Assured Destruction

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

Sputnik (1957)

The first artificial satellite sent into space, launched by the Soviets. Started space race

Marshall Plan (1947)

Officially the European Recovery Program; U.S. economic program for rebuilding and creating a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Europe after WWII

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)

An economic alliance, founded in 1949, to coordinate the economic affairs of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries.

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

Bandung Conference (1955)

Newly independent nations that had formed during the breakup of European powers (during the Cold War) decided that they should side with neither the U.S. or the Soviet Union

Jawaharlal Nehru

Succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as leader of the Indian National Congress. He negotiated the end of British colonial rule in India and became India's first prime minister and lead a non-aligned movement

Proxy War

War in which the powers in conflict use third parties as substitutes instead of fighting each other directly

Berlin Airlift 1948

Joint effort by the US and Britian to fly food and supplies into W Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city

Berlin Wall (1961)

Built by the Communists to stop the flow of refugees seeking to gain political asylum in West Berlin from East Berlin. It became the symbol of division between the East and the West.

Korean War (1950-1953)

War between North and South Korea, but the conflict soon became international when, under U.S. leadership, the United Nations joined to support South Korea and China entered to aid North Korea. The war left Korea divided along the 38th parallel.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Domino Theory

Political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control

Bay of Pigs, 1961

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. CIA landed on the coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

Contra War

Covert (secret) military operation against anti-Western Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

1949 alliance of nations that agreed to band together in the event of war and to support and protect each nation involved

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

An international treaty, signed in 1968, that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Douglas MacArthur

American general, who commanded allied troops in the Pacific during World War II.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Berlin Blockade

Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy.

Commune

A collective farming community

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Great Leap Forward

Policy of Mao creating large agricultural communes that lead to failing harvests and severe food shortages

Cultural Revolution

Political policy in started in China by Mao Zedong to eliminate his rivals and train a new generation in the revolutionary spirit that created communist China. The Cultural Revolution resulted in beatings, terror, mass jailings, and the deaths of thousands.

Shah

Title of the former king/leader of Iran.

Kwame Nkrumah

Founder of Ghana's independence movement and Ghana's first president

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam; used guerilla warfare

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Arab leader, set out to modernize Egypt and end western domination, nationalized the Suez canal

Suez Crisis (1956)

International crisis launched when Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which had been owned mostly by French and British stockholders. This crisis failed without aid from the United States and marked an important turning point in the post-colonial Middle East and highlighted the rising importance of oil in world affairs

Muslim League

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

Vietcong

A group of Communist guerrillas who, with the help of North Vietnam, fought against the South Vietnamese government in the Vietnam War.

Pan-Africanism

Principle or advocacy of the political union of all the indigenous inhabitants of Africa.

Pan-Arabism

A movement that calls for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World

Camp David Accords (1978)

President Carter helped negotiate Middle East peace agreements between Jordan and Egypt and Israel

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

Group formed in the 1960s to regain the Arab land in Israel for Palestinian Arabs

Hamas

Military group intent on replacing Israel with an Islamic State

Khmer Rouge

Communist party in Cambodia that imposed a reign of terror on Cambodian citizens

Pol Pot

Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who terrorized the people of Cambodia throughout the 1970's

Kashmir Conflict

Ongoing conflict for territorial control; between Pakistan & India; Origins of British imperialism

Zionist Movement

Nationalist movement among the Jews to establish a home land in Palestine

Balfour Declaration (1917)

British promise of support for the establishment of Jewish settlement in Palestine.

India Partition

A division into parts, like the 1947 division of the British colony of India into nations of India and Pakistan.

Prague Spring (1968)

Failed attempt to reform communism in Czechoslovakia; crushed by Soviet troops

Brezhnev Doctrine (1968)

Soviet policy of interfering in the domestic politics of other communist countries to prevent them from liberalization.

Irish Republican Army (IRA)

Militant organization of Irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive British forces from Northern Ireland and achieve a united independent Ireland

Nelson Mandela

ANC leader imprisoned by Afrikaner regime; released in 1990 and elected as president of South Africa in 1994.

Shining Path

Radical guerrilla group in Peru with ties to Communist China

Civil Disobedience

A nonviolent, public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws.

Boko Haram

Nigerian militant Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law

Al Qaeda

Network of Islamic terrorist organizations, led by Osama bin Laden, that carried out the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001

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.

Détente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

Negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that reduced the two nations' supply of long-range nuclear weapons.

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Soviet-Afghanistan War

The Soviet invaded Afghanistan due to its resource to oil. But Afghans used the guerilla warfare to rebel with the help of US in 1979-1989

First World

Term from the Cold War era that is used to describe industrialized capitalist democracies

Second World

Term from the Cold War era that describes the Soviet Union and the Soviet Bloc

Third World

Term applied to a group of developing countries who professed nonalignment during the Cold War.