Cold War PT. 1 Vocab

United Nations

An international organization that approved and organized military action against North Korea

Iron Curtain

A phrase coined by British Prime Minister Churchill to represent Europe's division into democratic West and communist East

Containment

A policy aimed at blocking Soviet influence and stopping the spread of communism

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. pledge to support nations resisting communist revolutions

Marshall Plan

A program that gave aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII

Berlin Air Lift

The U.S., Britain, and France flew supplies to West Berlin during a Soviet blockade

Berlin Wall

A wall built by communists to stop East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin

Cuban Missile Crisis

A crisis where the U.S. blockaded Cuba after discovering Soviet missiles

Cold War

A conflict between the U.S. and USSR without direct fighting

NATO

A military alliance formed to protect against Soviet expansion

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country fell to communism, nearby countries would follow

Arms Race

A competition between the U.S. and USSR to build nuclear weapons

Fidel Castro

Leader of the Cuban communist revolution

Daniel Ortega

Leader of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Iranian leader who nationalized oil and was later overthrown

Ayatollah Khomeini

Leader of the Iranian Revolution who created an Islamic republic

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Détente

A period of eased tensions between the U.S. and USSR

SALT

Talks between the U.S. and USSR to limit nuclear weapons

Brinkmanship

Pushing a dangerous situation to the edge of war

38th Parallel

The dividing line between North and South Korea

Vietcong

Communist fighters in South Vietnam

Nonaligned nations

Countries that did not take sides during the Cold War