Cold War Study Guide Practice Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the major events, leaders, and ideologies of the Cold War based on the 2026 Final Exam Study Guide transcript.

Communism

A system used by the Soviets intending to spread worldwide where the government owns business factories and resources to make everything equal, with limited political freedoms.

Free market economy (Capitalism)

The US system where businesses are privately owned, prices are decided by supply and demand, and there is a focus on freedom and voting.

Yalta Conference

A meeting between Franklin roosevelt, joseph stalin and winston churchill that established blueprints to divide Germany, required total and unconstitutional German surrender, and created the United Nations.

Potsdam Conference

The final meeting involving Franklin roosevelt, joseph stalin and winston churchill where the Nuremberg trails were established and the nation was divided 4 ways among Britain, USSR, America, and France.

Berlin airlift

The massive US transport of food and fuel to bypass the Berlin blockade, which led the Soviets to call off the blockade because they could not shoot down planes without starting a war.

United Nations

A new institution for global cooperation replacing the League of Nations that adjudicates disputes and established human rights through an international military force.

Veto powers

The specific power held by China, US, united kingdoms, france and russia within the United Nations.

Marshall Plan

A program where the US sent funds and goods to rebuild war-torn nations in western Europe to prevent them from becoming susceptible to Soviet influence.

Containment (Truman Doctrine)

A US policy stating that President Truman will do what is necessary to keep and spread the government of democracy to the world.

Iron Curtain

A metaphor for the boundary dividing Europe from the end of WWll to the end of the Cold War, representing Soviet efforts to block themselves and other countries from US influence.

Soviet satellite states

States that were allies with the Soviets and had communist governments, such as hungry, czeck s, and poland.

Warsaw Pact

The alliance of Soviets and their allies, including the USSR, east germany, czelocviikai, and poland, formed to match NATO.

NATO

An alliance built by western allies where an attack on any of the 12 nations would result in all other nations attacking back and helping each other.

Space race

A Cold War competition where Soviets put satellites into orbit and the US founded NASA to compete with them.

Proxy Wars

Wars where the US and Soviets supported opposite sides of other conflicts, such as those in czecks, cuba, and vietnam, to fight without starting a world war.

Berlin wall

A wall built within Germany to separate east germany and Soviets from US-run places, preventing citizens from fleeing.

Prague Spring

A time when Czechs tried to increase freedom and get rid of consumer, leading to increased Cold War tension as Soviets invaded to force communism.

Fidel Castro

The leader of cuba who was allied with the Soviets.

Bay of Pigs invasion

A failed US attempt to train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fedel Castro, which resulted in making Castro stronger and closer to the Soviets.

Brinkmanship

A policy meaning on edge, based on the idea that the US would retaliate instantly if interests were attacked, keeping the world at the brink of war.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A high-tension event where the Soviets placed nuclear missiles in cuba, leading to a US navel blockage and a refusal to buy or sell things from cuba.

Vietnam war

A proxy war where the US supported the south to make it democratic and the Soviets supported the north with military and aid to force communism.

Lyndon B. Johnson

The US president who argued that Americans fight in Vietnam because they must fight if countries are to shape their own destiny and secure freedom.

Ayatollah Khomeini

A religious leader in iran who overthrew the shah, ending Iran's alliance with the US and worsening tensions in the middle east.

Shah Pahlavi

The ruler of Iran before the revolution who tried to modernize and westernize the country, maintaining a close alliance with the US.

Russians in Afghanistan

An invasion by Soviets to force a communist government where the US supported the rebels, eventually weakening the Soviet side.

Nikkita Khrushchev

The Soviet leader after stalin who practiced destalinization and sought a more peaceful connection with the US to decrease tensions.

Destalinization

Efforts to reduce stalin's influence after his death by allowing slightly more freedom in the Soviet Union while remaining communist.

Soviet Propaganda goals

Efforts to convince people that communism was the best system and that democracy was horrible.

Leonid Brezhnev

The Soviet leader after Khrushchev who increased tensions by using force to stop reforms in eastern europe.

Richard Nixon

The US president in the 1970s who used a policy of dente to improve relations with the Soviets and China.

Detente

A policy of relaxing Cold War tensions to make conflicts smaller and encourage cooperation between countries.

SALT

The Strategic arms limation talk which took away nuclear weapons and reduced the arms race.