USW Final

Marshall Plan

a massive American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe to rebuild economies, modernize industry, remove trade barriers, and prevent the spread of communism.

McCarthyism

the practice of making unfair, unsubstantiated accusations of disloyalty or treason, often to suppress political dissent.

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party.

Communist vs Nationalist

Nationalism prioritizes national unity, cultural identity, and the sovereignty of the nation-state, typically supporting capitalist or mixed economies. Communism is a far-left, internationalist ideology that seeks to abolish private property, social classes, and national borders in favor of a classless, stateless society governed by the workers.

US connection to Chinese Civil war

the United States heavily supported the Nationalist government (Kuomintang/KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to prevent communist control

Taiwan connection to the Chinese Civil War

Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War, approximately 2 million members of the Nationalist (Kuomintang or KMT) government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan starting in late 1949, marking the final stage of the conflict

Partition of India and Pakistan

in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. India is majority Hindu and Pakistan is majority Muslim.

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc.

Cold War in relation to NATO

NATO served as the primary Western military alliance designed to deter Soviet expansionism in Europe throughout the Cold War

“Iron Curtain” speech

The Iron Curtain speech was delivered by former British prime minister Winston Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946. Churchill used the speech to emphasize the necessity for the United States and Britain to act as the guardians of peace and stability against the menace of Soviet communism, which had lowered an “iron curtain” across Europe.

Berlin Wall

a 155-kilometer guarded concrete barrier built in 1961 by East Germany that encircled West Berlin. Designed to stop mass defections to the democratic West, it became the defining symbol of the Cold War's ideological divide before falling on November 9, 1989

Soviets in Afghanistan

Around 642,000 Soviet troops served in this brutal, decade-long "Vietnam" for the USSR, ultimately withdrawing in defeat after failing to stabilize the country

Korean War

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought on the Korean Peninsula between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations led by the United States under the auspices of the United Nations Command.

Cuban Missile Crisis

a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.

Civil Rights Movement

a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, disenfranchisement in the country to achieve social justice, secure equal rights under the law for Black Americans, and dismantle institutionalized racism.

Brown v. board of eductaion

a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if the segregated facilities are equal in quality.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

legally ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.

Indochina colonized by French

France colonized Indochina between 1858 and 1907, forming a federation that included Vietnam (Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina), Cambodia, and Laos. Primarily driven by economic exploitation and strategic competition with Britain, the French established a harsh administration that lasted until their defeat by nationalist forces (Viet Minh) in 1954.

North (Ho Chi Minh - nationalist, wanted independence, became communist) vs. South

The North, led by communist leader Ho Chi Minh and backed by the Soviet Union/China, prioritized reunifying the country under communism, while the South, backed by the U.S., was an anti-communist, non-communist nationalist state.

Draft of Vietnam War

deeply polarized the US, fueling massive anti-war sentiment by forcing young, predominantly working-class men into combat. It triggered widespread protests, draft evasion, and distrust in government, as over 4 million held deferments (often favoring wealthy college students) while others faced high combat risks.

Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers were a 7,000-page, top-secret Department of Defense study detailing America's political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967, revealing that successive administrations had systematically misled Congress and the American public.

Impact of chemical weapons (Agent Orange)

caused severe, long-term health and ecological destruction. Contaminated with dioxin, it led to roughly 400,000 deaths, 3 million illnesses/disabilities, and severe birth defects in Vietnam, while causing numerous cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic issues for veterans.

Iran majority language

Persian

Iran majority religion

Shia Islam and Sunni Islam

Iran Coup 1953

On 19 August 1953, Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown in a coup d'état that strengthened the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran

Iran Revolution 1979

The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution, culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979

Iran current concerns and conflicts

As of May 2026, Iran is in a severe, escalating conflict with the U.S. and Israel, characterized by direct military strikes, stalled diplomacy, and a closed Strait of Hormuz causing global economic strain. Domestically, the regime faces an ailing economy, deep social unrest over rights, and succession uncertainties

Iraq majority language

Arabic

Iraq majority religion

Shia and Sunni Islam

Gulf War

The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States

2003 Iraq Invasion

the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations. The invasion was conducted by a United States-led coalition of mainly American, British, Australian, and Polish troops.

War on Terror

a global military campaign initiated by the United States in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. A global conflict spanning multiple wars, some researchers and political scientists have argued that it replaced the Cold War.

9/11

The September 11 attacks, colloquially known as 9/11, were a coordinated series of suicide attacks perpetrated by the Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001.

Al Qaeda

islamist terrorist group

ISIS

transnational Sunni jihadist extremist organization infamous for its brutal violence, strict interpretation of Islamic law, and history of governing captured territories as a "caliphate"

Hamas

a Sunni Islamist Palestinian nationalist political organisation with a military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades. It has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.

Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party with an active paramilitary wing that has been banned by the Lebanese government since March 2026, amid Israel's war on Lebanon.

Mao Zedong

a Chinese revolutionary, politician, writer, political theorist and the founder of the People's Republic of China.

Chian Kai-shek

a Chinese military commander, revolutionary, and statesman who was President of the Republic of China from 1948 to 1975 and head of the Nationalist government from 1925 to 1948.

Winston Churchhill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.

Castro

a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008.

Ho Chi Minh

was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman who founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. He served as its first president from 1946 until his death in 1969 and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

Ayatollah Khomeini

an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ended the Pahlavi era, and transformed the country into an Islamic republic.

JFK

President of the US during Cuban Missile Crisis

George W. Bush

President of the US during 9/11

Jimmy Carter

US president

Ronald Regan

US President

Mikhail Gorbachev

the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1985, and additionally as head of state from 1988.

Osama Bin Laden

was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. A Salafi jihadist, bin Laden worked to establish a pan-Islamist caliphate by using al-Qaeda to organize and fund jihadist militants and terrorists worldwide.

Saddam Hussein

an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq.