Cold War

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region

Berlin Wall

A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West

Warsaw Pact (1955)

An alliance between Russia and Eastern communist countries against Western capitalist countries

Berlin Airlift

A joint effort by the US and Britain to fly food and supplies into W Berlin after the Soviets blocked off all ground routes into the city

Berlin Blockade

The blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift.

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan (1947)

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe on condition they wouldn't go communist. Helped contain communism in Europe and helped our economy as Europe bought from US businesses to rebuild.

NATO Pact

a military alliance formed in 1949 in which the signatories agreed to provide mutual assistance if any one of them was attacked. (United States)

Proxy Wars

after WWII many powerful countries used smaller countries to fight one another in wars called \_____ wars.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation bewteen US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Brinksmanship

The principle of not backing down in a crisis, even if it meant taking the country to the brink of war. Policy of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.

The Red Scare

fear that communists were working to destroy the American way of life

McCarthyism

The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Military Industrial Complex

Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned Americans against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.

Space Race

the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration.

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

Communist Witch Hunt

Homegrown communism, red scare part 2, teachers had to take loyalty oaths, House Committee on UnAmerican Activities

HUAC

The House Committee on Un-American Activities was an investigating committee that investigated what it considered un-American propaganda

Hollywood 10

10 witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee's investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood.

The Rosenbergs

an American couple that was tried and executed for selling secrets to the Soviet Union to make the atomic bomb.

Gulf of Tonkin

The incident in 1964 that President Johnson used to justify increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The claim was that two U.S. ships had been attacked.

Doves and Hawks

Hawks supported the war against global communism and Doves were against the war in Vietnam

Napalm and Agent Orange

Used by US to try to clear out vegetation so that they could locate the enemy in the jungles.

Green Berets

President Kennedy gave enthusiastic support to the expansion of the Special Forces, soldiers who trained specifically to fight guerrilla conflicts and other limited wars.

Search and destroy missions

a U.S military raid on a south Vietnamese village, intended to root out villagers with ties to the Vietcong but often resulting in the destruction of the village and the displacement of its inhabitants

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Hanoi

Capital of North Vietnam

LBJ's "Blank Check"

Tet Offensive

1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment

Vietnamization

President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawl of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism. His poor leadership and corrupt government spelled doom

Indochinese Communist Party

Created by Ho Chi Minh to fight/expel the French from Vietnam.

Saigon

Capital of South Vietnam

Paris Peace Agreement

an agreement between North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the U.S. to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam; was signed on January 1973

Kent State Protest

University students protesting against invasion of Cambodia, not allowed to demonstrate, violence (murder) caused by guardsmen