APWH Unit 8

Cold War

A sometimes physical but also ideological conflict between the US and the Soviet Union lasting c. 1945-1992. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats and proxy wars; capitalism vs. communism

Non-Alignment Movement

a group of states which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc of the Cold War; didn't want to take sides in the war; examples include: Sukarno in Indonesia and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an alliance of capitalist nations made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; included US, England, France, Canada, and Western European countries

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other communist Eastern European nations; formed in response to NATO

Proxy War

a war in which the powers in conflict use third parties as substitutes instead of fighting each other directly; happened often during the Cold War including the Korean War, Angolan Civil War, and the Sandinista-Contras conflict in Nicaragua

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976; led the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution to bring economic and cultural change to Communist China

Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong's economic and social plan used in China from 1958 to 1961; goals = rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern industrial society; resulted in famine and the deaths of more than 45 million people

Cultural Revolution

(1966-1976) Started in China by Mao Zedong to eliminate his rivals and train a new generation in the revolutionary spirit that created communist China; an attack on traditional Chinese cultural values; resulted in beatings, terror, mass jailing, and the deaths of thousands.

land redistribution

a policy by which land is taken from those who own large amounts and redistributed to those who have little or none; a popular practice among Communist nations who seek to gain the support of lower class citizens who had historically been denied property ownership; occurred in China, Mexico, USSR, Vietnam, Ethiopia, White Revolution Iran

White Revolution

occurred in Iran in 1962, the Shah's attempt appease the Iranian citizens; called for economic and and political reforms: created land reform, profit sharing, and women's right to vote

Indian National Congress

movement and political party founded in 1885 to demand greater Indian participation in government; membership was middle class (high caste), demands were modest until World War I. Led after 1920 by Gandhi, appealing to the poor.

Ho Chi Minh

1950s and 60s; nationalist communist leader of North Vietnam; fought against French colonization of Vietnam, used guerrilla warfare to fight anti-communist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable for the US

Muslim League

an organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India's Muslims, which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations (Pakistan and India); led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah from 1913 until creation of Pakistan in 1947

Partition of India

After gaining independence from Great Britain in 1947, India was separated into two countries Pakistan for Muslims and India for Hindus; led to conflict as well as population displacement and resettlement

Imperial metropoles

"mother city"; many people from former colonies moved to these locations; maintained cultural and economic ties between the colony even after the dissolution of empires; examples: South Asians to Britain, Algerians to France, Filipinos to the United States

Nelson Mandela

South African nationalist Leader of the African National Congress (ANC); arrested for opposing white S. African rule and apartheid; used nonviolent means of protest; released from prison to become the South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994

Apartheid

South African social policy and racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against non-whites; ended c. 1994

Al Qaeda

a network of Islamic terrorist organizations, led by Osama bin Laden, that carried out the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001

Mohandas Gandhi

Leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance. After being educated as a lawyer in England, he returned to India and became leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920; opposed British rule in India and wanted a united India for both Muslims and Hindus

Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968

Domino Theory

The US theory that stated, if one country would fall to Communism then they all would.

Containment Theory

stopping the spread of communism during the Cold War; the US theory stated: if Communism could be contained, the system would eventually die out

Marshall Plan

US plan to revive war-torn economies of Europe. Offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe; meant to improve economies so that communism would not sound appealing

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Glasnost

1986, a policy of Soviet leader Gorbachev which called for more openness and transparency in the Soviet gov't, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry; less censorship and control of the media, greater contact between the USSR and Western states

Perestroika

A policy initiated Soviet leader Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the economy in the USSR towards a market based (capitalist) economy and society

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Tehran Conference (1943)

Stalin urged Roosevelt and Churchill to open up a new front in Western Europe. Talked of a possible United Nations.

Yalta Conference (1945)

FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War

Potsdam Conference

July 26, 1945 - Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Led the U.S. to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time. Shaped U.S. foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after the war.

Joseph Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

Hydrogen Bomb (1952)

a thermonuclear weapon much more powerful than the atomic bomb

Satellite Nations

Communist nations in Eastern Europe on friendly terms with the USSR and thought of as under the USSR's control

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

Sputnik

The world's first space satellite. This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US.

Berlin Airlift, 1948

In June 1948, the USSR-who wanted Berlin all for themselves-closed all highways, railroads and canals into Berlin from West Germany. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the US out of the city for good. However, the US and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. The "Berlin Airlift," lasted for more than a year before the Soviet Union finally gave up and lifted the blockade

Berlin Wall (1961)

The Soviet Union, under Nikita Khrushchev, erected a wall between East and West Berlin to keep people from fleeing from the East, afterwards Kennedy asked for an increase in defense funds to counter Soviet aggression.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

Bay of Pigs

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

Contra War

The contras is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua

Angola War

1961 - 1974 the Angolan war for Independence began with protests against Portugal's forced cultivation of cotton in Angola. A leftist military coup ended the war, overthrowing the Portuguese government in Angola. Angola was plagued with a civil war almost immediately after gaining independence.

Red Guards

the Radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966. Often wore red armbands and carried Mao's Little Red Book.

African Socialism

A strain of socialism built more on African " traditional values" (village communalism and co-operation) than the class struggle of classical Marxism- Leninism.

Kwame Nkrumah

Leader of nonviolent protests for freedom on the Gold Coast. When independence was gained, he became the first prime minister of Ghana. He develpoped economic projects, but was criticized for spending too much time on Pan-African efforts, and neglecting his own countries' issues

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Arab leader, set out to modernize Egypt and end western domination, nationalized the Suez canal, led two wars against the Zionist state, remained a symbol of independence and pride, returned to socialism, nationalized banks and businesses, limited economic policies

Gandhi

This was a leader of the Indian independence movement in mid-20th century known for his nonviolent protests.

Pan-Arabism and Pan-Africanism

nationalist movements seeking to eliminate foreign influence and align cultural and political unification in Africa and Arab nations, eventually leading to the creation of many new nations who pitted the US and Soviet Union against each other to gain economic aid to better their country

Muslim League

Founded in 1906 to better support demands of Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India; represented division within Indian nationalist movement

Shining Path

a terrorist group formed in Peru in the late 1960s as a splinter group from the communist party of Peru

Irish Republican Army (IRA)

An unofficial nationalist military force seeking independence for Ireland from Great Britain

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

This organization formed in 1964 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Palestinians in Israel

Terrorism

Acts of violence designed to promote a specific ideology or agenda by creating panic among an enemy population

military-industrial complex

Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned Americans against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989)

proxy war that resulted from the rise of a communist party in Afghanistan whose policies were in direct opposition to Muslim beliefs and led to local resistance, leading to the Soviet Union invading to install a communist president to gain control of the country - this led to a nine year war in which western nations, including the U.S. sided with (and funded) the Islamic warriors but the resulting post-war political instability in Afghanistan allowed the Taliban to rise to power. Soviets spent so much money on this war that is helped hasten its decline.

Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)

A costly plan to put lasers in space to defend the United States against a nuclear attack.

Nationalize

To bring under the ownership or control of a nation, such as industries and land.

collectivization

forced common ownership of factors of production; used in the former Soviet Union in agriculture and manufacturing

Nuclear Proliferation

the spread of nuclear weapons to new nations