Cold War - 2000

Truman Doctrine

pledge by President Truman to support any nation against communism

Détente

easing of strained political relationships between countries

Korean War

1950-1953. A proxy war for the cold war. North and South Korea fought for control over the entire peninsula. United States intervened on the part of the South non-communist regime. It ended in a stalemate/armistice, with the temporary division between North and South Korea becoming a permanent boundary between two separate countries.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A thirteen-day stand-off between the United States and the Soviet Union over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962.

Globalism

Economic and foreign policy planning on a global basis

Disarmament

reduction or elimination of military force

Gulf War

the 1990 war that resulting from Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

Parestroika

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's political and economic restructuring plan (1985 - 1991); commonly considered to have contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union

Second Red Scare

A period of anti-communism hysteria during the early Cold War years. 1947.

Glasnost

Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of openness and transparency in government that encouraged citizens to discuss and seek solutions to issues within the Soviet Union; a move away from authoritarianism that is commonly considered to be a contributing factor in the fall of the Soviet Union

Invasion of Iraq

United States invasion in 2003 based upon the believe that Saddam Hussein had control of weapons of mass destruction

Paris Peace Accords

the treaty that ended the Vietnam War, signed on January 27, 1973

Tet Offensive

a coordinated series of attacks by the North Vietnamese on hundreds of South Vietnam cities and towns in 1968

Soviet Union

Communist Russia

Ronald Reagan

Elected in 1981, giving a strong boost to the conservative movement

Communism

A political theory and economic system in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. (vietnam)

Nationalism

Nationalism is a strong, often excessive, sense of loyalty and devotion to one's own nation, often accompanied by a belief in its superiority over others.

Operation Desert Storm

The combat phase of the Gulf War.

Saddam Hussein

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. Saddam Hussein rose to power as a member of the Ba’athist Party, a nationalist and socialist political party in Iraq dedicated to the creation of a unified Arab state.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783; his study of naval tactics influenced war strategies in the U.S., England, France, Germany, and Japan

George H. W. Bush

41st president of the United States

Sandinistas

members of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a socialist political and revolutionary movement in Nicaragua that came to power in 1979; the U.S. secretly backed their opposition (the Contras), citing fears of the spread of communism to create the Iran-Contra Affair

Kuwait

Arab country invaded by Iraq in 1990 in order to gain access to their oil

Henry Kissinger

National Security Advisor for President Nixon

Berlin Airlift

The aerial transport of supplies to the people of West Berlin by the United States and its allies.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Soviet spies who related information regarding the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union

Arms Limitations Agreements

agreement between the US and Soviet Union to limit the development and stockpiling of weapons

Mutually Assured Destruction

The theory that countries having an arsenal of nuclear weapons would discourage them from actually engaging in war.

Apollo 11

The first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969.

European Union (EU)

An economic union of over 25 European states. Includes a shared currency, the Euro.

Islamic Revolution (Iranian Revolution)

1979 (A.K.A. Iranian Revolution) uprising in Iran; led to the overthrow of the Western-backed Pahlavi monarchy and established an Islamic Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini; fundamentally changed the social, political, and economic landscape of Iran, creating a much more conservative government of Islamic Fundamentalism

Bay of Pigs

A failed military invasion of Cuba in 1961.

Vietnam War

1955-1975, United States intervened on the part of the non-communist regime, however, under enormous pressure from home, the United States finally pulled out of the war, allowing the North Vietnamese to easily overcome the stunted South Vietnamese army

Soviet-Afghan War

key Cold War conflict where the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support its communist government, facing resistance from U.S.-backed mujahideen fighters, ultimately weakening the USSR and intensifying Cold War tensions (1979-1989)

Ho Chi Minh

communist leader of Vietnam during the Cold War era

Cuban Revolution

The overthrow of the Cuban dictator by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement in 1956.

Vietnamization

the policy of transferring the prosecution of the Vietnam War from the US to the South Vietnamese

Iran Hostage Crisis

a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Iran lasting from 1979 (the Iranian Revolution) to 1981 when negotiations freed the 52 American hostages being held by the Iranian government

Cold War

The period after WWII in which the United States and the Soviet Union never truly engaged in warfare, but was marked by political disagreements between the capitalist and communist countries

Iran-Contra Affair

A political scandal in which senior officials in the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran and then channeled the money that was channeled to the Contras, a rebel group overthrowing the Nicaraguan government

McCarthyism

An anti-communist movement lead by Senator Joseph McCarthy

Arms Embargo (Iran vs. the U.S.)

the U.S. officially halted sales of weapons and other military supplies following the Iranian Revolution in 1979; broken during the Iran-Contra Affair when the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran and funneled the money to the Contras in Nicaragua

Marshall Plan

An American aid plan for Western Europe after World War II.

National Aeronautics and Space Act

Act that created NASA, the government agency responsible for space exploration.

Operation Rolling Thunder

a sustained US aerial bombing campaign against North Vietnam from 1965 to 1968

Ba’Athist Party

a nationalist and socialist political party in Iraq dedicated to the creation of a unified Arab state.

Joseph McCarthy

A Wisconsin Senator known for his anti-communist hearings in the 1950s.

Nikita Khrushchev

Communist leader of the Soviet Union

Iron Curtain

metaphorical barrier erected by the Soviet Union to block itself off from the Western world; a cultural, ideological, military, economic, and political divide between the U.S.S.R. and the West

Mikhail Gorbachev

Final leader of the Soviet Union

Yalta Conference of 1945

conference among allies to determine the plan to divide Germany after World War II

Contras

a U.S.-backed rebel group in Nicaragua during the 1980s, composed primarily of opponents of the socialist Sandinista government; central to the Iran-Contra Affair when money was secretly funneled to their cause by the Reagan administration

Albert Einstein (Historical Significance)

a famed scientist who left Germany during World War II and settled in the United States, he warned world leaders of the dangers of nuclear weapons

Kim Il-Sung

Communist leader of Korea during the Cold War era

Space Race

Competition between the Soviet Union and America to explore space.

United Nations

A global organization established in 1945 following World War II. Dedicated to international peace and stability.

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

An international organization of countries that produce the majority of the world's oil supply. Current member states range in location from South America to central Africa with the majority of member states located in the Middle East.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

A missile system proposed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. Launched in 1957. Triggered the Space Race.

Berlin Wall

the barrier that separated East Berlin from West Berlin

Fidel Castro

Communist leader of Cuba