cold war flash cards

what is the United Nations

The United nations is the national peace organization made after ww2 with the planning beginning from the Atlantic charter. there are 193 countries who are part of the united nations with multiple councils and courts. The difference from the league of nations is that there is more membership and more enforcement techniques.

what economy did the US want for the former occupied Axis countries and the USSR

they wanted the countries to have a capitalism system and USSR would want a communistic system

which country lost the most people in the war and how did that make them feel when it came down to business later

the USSR lost the most people in the war and they felt that they should have the most territory when dividing up Japan and Germany

who said iron curtain and what does it mean

winston churchill said his famous speech that talked about the iron curtain being created from the split of what the US and the USSR wanted

which two alliances bi-polarized Europe

the alliances NATO and the Warsaw pact caused the bi-polarization of europe

what happened at the Yalta conference and when was it

• February 1945

• Churchill (UK) FDR (US) Stalin (USSR) set up plans for after the end of WWII

• they agreed to have free elections in Poland *The USSR later does not honor this agreement

• discussed plans for splitting up and temporarily occupying Germany

• Stalin promised that the USSR would help US fight Japan after Germany’s defeat

what conference did the US UK USSR decide on the division on the axis countries

Potsdam conference

what were the years of the cold war

1945-1991

which country fell to communism after ww2

china

what was the US France and the UK territory in Europe from the dividing axis countries

Western Europe

West Germany

West Berlin

= Capitalist/

*Democracy

what was the USSR territory in Europe from the dividing axis countries

Eastern Europe

East Germany

East Berlin

=Communist

what did Stalin think about capitalism and

“The fundamental principles of modern capitalism can be put this way: Guaranteeing maximum profits through the exploitation, ruination, and enslavement of the majority of the population of the given country, through the systematic plundering of the people in other countries, in particular the undeveloped nations, and finally through war and economic militarization. All these contribute to high profits.”

What are some ways the US and the USSR could “fight” the Cold War without the direct use of military weapons?

trade

influence

races

proxy wars

1. Which countries did the Truman Doctrine help?

2. How - How did the Truman Doctrine help those countries?

3. Why - Why did the Truman Doctrine and the US help those countries?

1. greece and turkey securing the limitations on the soviet control of resources and influence to other areas

2. stopped the complete control of the Soviet union for resources that would make them unstoppable

3. stop communism from spreading

1. Who - Which countries did the Marshall Plan help?

2. How - How did the Marshall Plan help those countries?

3. Why - Why did the Marshall Plan and the US help those countries?

1. countries in western and northern Europe

2. using 13 billion dollars to help rebuild those nations

3. stop the concern of extremest groups, created new markets, right thing to do, stopped the spread of communism

what was proposed by George Kennan (under the name Mr. X),  State Department policy planner

the policy of containment. basically saying let communism be in countries that already have it focus on the ones who don’t.

how did kennan describe the soviet union and what way do they think they need to defeat the Soviet union

Soviets are a system, rather than Germany built around a key leader (Hitler). Soviet Union is more pliable, willing to give in on a particular area or “battle” because it is playing the long game, so diplomacy can work better here than it could with Germany. Conversely, the Soviets will not be brought down by one key win; there is no panacea. Fighting the Soviets will require MANY different strategies, not just take out the capital city and leader.

how does kennan believe we will win the war

 Kennan believes the US can and should wait out the Soviet Union, because its own communist system is not sustainable, and it will eventually collapse from the inside.

what was the Berlin airlift and did tensions increase

after WWII ended in 1945, the major European (and US) Allies agreed to temporarily occupy Germany, dividing it (and Berlin) into 4 zones)

In 1948, Stalin blocked US, British, and French land or water access to West Berlin.

Truman then decided to fly resources over the blockade and he did this to not increase tensions

what is NATO

Nato is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization including the

• United States

• Belgium

• Britain

• Denmark

what is the Warsaw pact

alliance comprised of the Soviet Union and Eastern European Countries

why were people worried about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

they were convicted as spies when Julius was totally guilty but Ethel the wife was innocent but was used as a political pawn to try to get Julius to spill secrets. both were executed

what were says that the US combated communism

• HUAC – House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

  • Legislative Branch - House of Representatives

  • committee in Congress setup in 1938

  • investigate disloyalty, used blacklisting 

• Loyalty Program

  • Executive Branch - Truman Administration (1947)

  • federal employees face background checks

  • Loyalty Review Board

• McCarthyism

  • Legislative Branch - Senate

  • investigate suspected Communists (1950-1954)

  • used smear tactics to raise doubts and ruin reputations

who was the president after Harry Truman

president Dwight D Eisenhower

who took over for Stalin

Nikita Khrushchev

what does the arms and space race mean

arms race - contest between nations (US vs USSR) to gain weapons superiority

• types of weapons (new technologies)

• stockpiles of weapons (production of large quantities)

space race - contest between nations (US vs USSR) to be the first to meet space exploration milestones

how many nuclear weapons did the US and the USSR have combined

63,000

what is brinkmanship and deterrence

-going to the edge of war, to intimidate or gain concessions from opposing country

-building up nuclear weapons capabilities so as to discourage an opposing nation from attacking

what is MAD

Mutually assured destruction

Why was Sputnik (1957) so important in the space race?

the first satellite launched by the Soviet union

what are some of the space race milestones

• 1961 April 12: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes first man in space.

• 1961 May 5: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.

• 1962 Feb. 20: John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.

• 1965 March 18: Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov carries out the first spacewalk.

• 1969 July 16: Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

1. Why is Eisenhower concerned about the military-industrial complex?

• The Profit Trap: If a company's main goal is to make money, they might try to convince the government to start fights so they can sell more weapons.

• The Money Wasters: Eisenhower knew that every dollar spent on weapons meant a dollar that couldn't be used to help children or feed the hungry

• Losing Control of the Rules: He worried that the "weapon-makers" would become so rich and powerful that they would start bossing the government around, rather than the government telling them what was best for the country

what happened in Cuba that lead to increased tensions with the US

the event where Fulgencio Batista (US Supported Dictator) was over thrown by Fidel Castro and Cuba becomes a communist country. this increases tensions because of the proximity of Cuba and the US

what was the bay of pigs

the bay of pigs was an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. the CIA trains Cuban exiles or people who were unwanted preparing for an attack. the intelligence was some how leaked and Castro knew something was going to happen. the US did not take into account that the Cuban people actually supported Castro. in the end the attack was a fail and the US tried to deny that they were part of it by not aiding air support to the exiles but people find out and then Kennedy was blamed

what was the Cuban missile crisis

the Cuban missile crisis was when the Soviet union decided to put missiles on Cuba to change the balance of power during the cold war. Khrushchev wanted to create the biggest military base there. the soviets were able to do it almost until there was no going back but then a spy plane noticed what was going on. after realizing Kennedy decided to broadcast a speech to the nation saying that they have found the missiles and will turn to atomic bombs if necessary. he did not know that the Soviet forces were actually already in possession of the bombs and if the US invaded they would have to lunch their weapons from Cuba which means that MAD would have to operate. this caused them to both take a step back and try to solve this problem diplomatically.

what happens with Khrushchev’s position after the Cuban missile crisis

he dramatically changes his position removing the missiles from Cuba and the US removes our missiles from the Soviet border

what were efforts toads peace between the US and the Soviet union

• Limited Test Ban Treaty - US and USSR agree not to test nuclear weapons above ground

• Alliance for Progress - nations in the Western Hemisphere agree to work together to meet the needs of the Americas

• Peace Corps - volunteer from US help people in developing states around the world (spreads good will)

korean war overview

• Korea had been occupied by Japan for decades before WWII. Japan lost control of the region after WWII.

• 1945 Soviets occupied North Korea (communist) (leave in 1948)

  • 38th parallel serves as temporary dividing line

• 1945 US supports South Korea (non-communist) (leave in 1949)

• US success in WWII leads to confidence in foreign wars

• Cold War tensions

• June 1950 - North Korean forces cross into South Korea - want to reunite the country under communism

• United Nations gets involved (mostly US troops)

• Becomes a “police action”, not a formal declaration of war

• China sees the UN in North Korea as a threat and Chinese troops attack on November 25, 1950. The UN forces are chased back south across the 38th parallel.

who goes against truman who was the leader of the UN forces

Douglas MacArthur and Truman also dismisses him as well

what happens at the end of the Korean war

• Ceasefire ends fighting in July 1953

  • stalemate - a situation in which further action is blocked; deadlocked

  • armistice - a temporary cessation of fighting by mutual consent; a truce

• Communism “contained”

• Predecessor to the Vietnam War

• Korea still divided at the DMZ (demilitarized zone), close to the 38th parallel

what happened when the French tried to re-colonization Indochina

they failed to ho chi minh’s viet minh in 1954 and the US declined to intervene on behalf of France

how was the state of Vietnam split

it was split among the 17th parallel

who ruled the south of vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem in who the US was in support of

what was the first group that emerged mostly in north vietnam who opposed French rule and which one came after

viet Minh was a communist national movement and after viet independence they turned to the viet Cong which was a communist guerrilla in south Vietnam that supported the north Vietnam’s army

what was the Geneva accords

it was an international conference saying that Vietnam would be split among the 17th parallel and free elections were supposed to take place but south vietnam refused saying that north Vietnam would be unfair

captitals of north and south Vietnam and were they communist or not and who did the US back

• North Vietnam - Communist

-Hanoi – capital N. Vietnam

• South Vietnam – Anti-Communist, (US backed)

-Saigon – capital S. Vietnam

how many presidencies did the cold war span

5

what kind of person was Ngo Dinh Diem

he was a dicatorial ruler his family held all of the power. the wealth is hoarded by the elites. the majority of Buddhist were persecuted and in the country there was also lots of torture and a lack of political freedom.

even though this happened the US(Eisenhower) aided them and supported the south and sent 675 army advisors by 1960

what does Kennedy do and what happens after

• Increases military “advisors” to 16,000

• 1963: JFK supports a Vietnamese military coup d’etat – Diem and his brother are murdered (Nov. 2)

• Kennedy was assassinated just weeks later (Nov. 22)

what is the domino theory

idea that if one country falls to communism, so will its neighbors (S. Vietnam falls to Communism, so will the rest of Southeast Asia)

who is William Bundy

johnsons aid who wrote the draft for the congressional resolution authorizing him to use force if needed

who is Le Duan

the person who was seemed to be responsible for the gulf of Tonkin incident and apparently he wanted to elevate the war

what happened in the first incident in the gulf of Tonkin incident

north Vietnam vessels tried attacking the USS Maddox but planes and the boat were able to damage some of the Vietnamese vessels because of this Johnson issued a warning telling the north of the consequences if there were any more situations of unprovoked attacks

what happened in the second incident in the gulf of Tonkin incident

the US misunderstood what north Vietnamese radios were saying and thought another attack was close. because of this the USS Maddox and turner Joy braced for an attack. the US sonar operators convinced that there was an attack even though it was not certain Johnson decided it should no go unanswered

who was Everett Alvarez

the first American airman to be shot out of the sky over north Vietnam who was a prisoner for 8.5 years

the incident in the gulf of Tonkin gave Johnson what

just the edge he needed for the resolution(1964)so he could do what ever was fit against Vietnamese aggression

what was Ho chi Minh never going to consider and what was Johnson doing

ho chi Minh was never going to consider a barter or negotiations that would split his country and Johnson was using bombs as a political resource unknowing of ho chi minh’s ultimatum

what did general Harold K Johnson predict on how they could win the war

he said it would take 5 years and 500,000 men to win

who was George ball

he was one of the presidents advisors and wrote a memorandum challenging everything that we knew about the vietnam war and came to the conclusion that we could not win

what do all of his advisors say in the end about the war

that it will be a longed protracted war that will need hurdreds of thousands of men

what did Johnson not want that we had done at the end of ww2

to give a big reward to aggression

how did Johnson get all of the men he needed

he made a draft to get all of his men

general Westmoreland lied about what

the progress of the war in Vietnam saying that the light was at the end of the tunnel and said we are making great progress

what did the north Vietnam believe would happen once they began the tet offensive

they believed that the north would defect and eventually go to live up north in a communist country. this was wrong. the tet offensive was composed of a series of attacks among south Vietnam urban cities and towns. the north had basically destroyed all of their homes and created many casualties in the south and to believe that the south would then follow them was a large miscalculation. they had no intention of living in a communist country

what did the north Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap say that the tet offensive was

he said that the attack was a costly lesson paid for in blood and bones and he had also opposed the attacks from the beginning

who believed to had won the tet offensive

the US militarily but it still broke the US and the morale of the people

some north Vietnam officers had to surrenbder which had not happened before and no unit was left intact

the American people had been told that from 1967-early 68 that the war was being won and the test offensive contradicted everything that they had been saying

also after the attack the news broke that the government was looking for more men to join in the military and this made the people really confused because if they were winning they would not need more men to fight

what does it mean if the preidents own party has its doubts and expresses their concerns

it shows that something is really wrong

what did the media think about the tet offensive

they believed that they were defeated

because of the domestic response from the Vietnam war what did Johnson say he will do

he said that he will not be running for another term

who was William laws calley jr

• Platoon leader 1st Lieut. William Laws Calley Jr. convicted for the Mi Lai massacre

• sentenced to life in prison, but President Nixon commuted the sentence. Calley served about three years

who was elected after Johnson

Richard Nixon

what was the secret war

the secret war was when we expanded the conflict into Cambodia and laos

what were the Pentagon papers

The Pentagon Papers were a top-secret Department of Defense study that revealed how successive U.S. presidential administrations systematically lied to the public and Congress about their political and military involvement in the Vietnam War.

who were the plumbers

The “Plumbers” (White House "Special Investigations Unit" during the Nixon Administration) was a covert group formed in response the publishing of the Pentagon Papers. Its purpose was to stop future classified leaks, as well as discredit Daniel Ellsberg.  Later, members of the Plumbers would become involved in CREEP and the Watergate Scandal.

what was the New York Times v. United States about

was a landmark Supreme Court case. NYT won the case upholding First Amendment protections of freedom of the press, could the First Amendment. 

Former defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg
leaked govt. docs. regarding war efforts during Johnson’s administration to the New York Times. why did this make Johnson worry

this made his worry about people leaking information on the secret war which could ruin the next election

what did Nixon mean when he said peace with honor

that we will leave Vietnam for the south to continue the fight and leave with out head held high

what was the 26th amendment

it allowed anyone who was 18 to join the military because you could be drafted at the age of 18

Nixon stopped using the draft and focused on volunteers

what is the war powers act 1973

• President must notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying military force

• President must withdraw forces unless he gains Congressional approval within 90 days

who is Maya Lin

the person who created the Vietnam memorial

who is Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a 19th-century German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary socialist. He is mainly known for his critique of capitalism and his foundational theories predicting that it would eventually be replaced by a classless, communist society

who is Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin was a Russian revolutionary and political theorist who masterminded the 1917 October Revolution and founded the Soviet Union, the world's first communist state.

who was Mikhail Gorbachev important

he was the last leader of the Soviet union before the country dissolved

what happened in February of 1972

Nixon visited the peoples republic of china making the Soviet union worried and concerned

what happened in May of 1972

Nixon visited the Soviet union called the Moscow summit

agreeing to the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty(limiting systems designed to defend incoming missiles), and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) limiting the amount of nuclear weapons being made

what was the Shanghai communique

this was the agreement made when Nixon visited china resolving the issues of

The Taiwan Issue: The PRC stated its position that Taiwan is a part of China and the ultimate goal is national reunification. The United States acknowledged this claim ("One China" principle), declaring it would not challenge this position, and stated its interest in a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan question.

Anti-Hegemony: Both nations agreed that neither should seek hegemony (dominance) in the Asia-Pacific region, and opposed efforts by any other country (a thinly veiled reference to the Soviet Union) to establish such dominance.

Normalization & Trade: The document pledged both nations to work toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations and agreed to foster "people-to-people" contacts and bilateral trade

what is detente

french for easing the tensions between rivals which is what Nixon did using triangular diplomacy

realpolitik

“practical” rather than ideological approach to foreign policy

SDI- (1983) - Strategic Defense Initiative,

a.k.a. Star Wars, supposed to destroy incoming missiles from space, does not work exactly as intended, but pressures the Soviet Union to spend even more money on defense

why was the soviet union weak in 1980

they spent way too much on weapons and science related fields trying to keep up with the US

what does Mikhail Gorbachev do with Soviet policy

• Mikhail Gorbachev (1985) institutes changes to Soviet systems

  • perestroika - restructuring the economy - less central planning, more private enterprise

  • glasnost - “openness” - freedom of speech and religion

    • democracy on the rise

    • USSR satellite nation, Poland, holds free elections and ousts communism (1989)

what was the fall of the Berlin wall acknowledged with

the end of the cold war

what is the INF treaty

(1987)  Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty arms control treaty 

what happened in the 1990s

• START - (1990) Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - reduce / destroy some existing nuclear weapons

• Soviet Union breaks up into 15 independent nations (1991)

• Boris Yeltsin elected President of Russia (1991)

who were the presidents in the years 1970s, 1980s, 1990s

Nixon, Reagan, Bush

Under the FDR’s New Deal, the laws establishing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), were important because they

attempted to restore public trust in financial institutions 

True or false: As a result of the Vietnam War, in 1975 Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel into communist North and noncommunist South.

false

What role did student activists play in the antiwar effort?

they helped lead the protest movement 

what was the capital of south Vietnam before the North took over

saigon

Following the attack in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Lyndon Johnson began to

increase the number of American troops in Vietnam.