cold war vocab

Cold War

An era of high tension and bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the decades following World War II

Superpower

A nation stronger than other powerful nations – mainly the US & USSR

Truman Doctrine

Truman’s pledge to provide economic and military aid to countries threatened by communism

Containment

The US policy to stop the spread of communism by providing economic AND military aid to countries opposing the Soviets.

Korean War

Cold War conflict on the Korean peninsula beginning in 1950 when the communist North invaded the noncommunist South

38^th Parallel

An imaginary line marking 38 degrees of latitude dividing the Korean peninsula between north and south

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

A thin band of territory across the Korean peninsula separating North Korean forces from South Korean forces; established by the armistice of 1953.

U.S.S.R.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Soviet Union - a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- NATO

A defensive military alliance of 12 Western nations formed in 1949 to stop the Soviet Union

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance of the Soviet-dominated countries of Eastern Europe, established in 1955.

Berlin Airlift

A program in which the US and Britain shipped supplies by air to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of all routes to the city.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

In 1961, it was the failed attempt of Cuban exiles  supported by the US govt to overthrow Fidel Castro

Cuban Missile Crisis

A 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.

Vietnam War

A long, costly, and divisive conflict that placed the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the US.

Vietcong

Communist guerilla force allied with North Vietnam which fought to overthrow the government of South Vietnam from the 1950s to 1975

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

An authorization signed by President Lyndon Johnson to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression in Southeast Asia

Quagmire

a difficult or precarious position: predicament. (The Vietnam War was often referred to as this)

Domino Theory

The belief that the fall of one non-communist country to communism would cause neighboring non-communist countries also to fall to communists

Mujahedin

Greatly resisted Soviet expansion into Afghanistan in “the Soviet Vietnam” – supported by the US

Glasnost

“Openness”  - a Soviet policy of greater freedom of expression introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s.

Perestroika

“Restructuring”  - a Soviet policy of democratic and free-market reforms introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s

Tiananmen Square Massacre

A violent suppression by the Chinese communist government of a large prodemocracy protest in Beijing’s central square in 1989.

Communism

an economic system based on community or government ownership of business

Capitalism

an economic system based on private ownership of business

Iron Curtain

an imaginary line dividing the communist controlled sphere within Europe and the "free" or democratic nations of Europe