Cold War in the 1960s-80s

U-2 incident

An American spy plane was shot down in Soviet territory.  This ultimately caused a collapse of the summit conference in Paris and worsened relations between the U.S. and USSR

Fidel Castro

A Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as the leader of Cuba for decades and converted Cuba into a communist state. 

Bay of Pigs 

A failed military operation on Cuba by Cuban exiles. This resulted in hundreds killed and thousands taken as prisoners. 

M.A.D. & weapons technology 

Stands for **Mutually Assured Destruction** and is the idea that a nuclear attack by one superpower would be met with an overwhelming nuclear counterattack which would annihilate both sides completely. KABOOMMMM

Cuban Missile Crisis & outcomes

* Soviets began doing lots of trading with Cuba and had medium-range missiles in Cuba
* Soviets denied this when confronted by U.S.
* U.S. knew they were lying because they spied on them with U-2 planes which took pictures and spotted missiles. This Posed a major threat to the U.S.
* Best option for the U.S.: Impose a blockade (called a quarantine) and negotiate peacefully with the USSR.
* Resulted in the USSR taking their nuclear weapons down after going to the brink of war.

John F. Kennedy (Cuba, Space Race, Berlin)

* President after Eisenhower 
* Led the Bays of Pig invasion in Cuba
* **MAJOR EMBARRASSMENT FOR HIM** (dhriti is dumb)
* Stated that the U.S. was going to get a man on the moon 
* JFK visits Berlin stating how he understands what the people are going through and seeing the wall for himself showed him the true reality 
* very impactful speech to West Berlin because it showed that the US would support them 
* Was assassinated in 1963

Space Race

* Competition between U.S. and USSR for advanced space exploration. USSR was very ahead with their rockets compared to the U.S.
* USSR sent the first man to go to space, who’s name was

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

(before the U.S.)
* In May 1961 Alan B Shepard became the first American to go to space
* Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon (victory for US)
* Space Race had a major impact on space exploration and advancement today and helped create NASA

Moon Walk

* **Neil Armstrong** became the first man to walk on the moon
* Major achievement for the US

China (Nixon, Mao Zedong)

Nixon visited China to meet with Mao Zedong, former president of China in order to help gain more leverage over relations with the Soviet Union and improve the U.S. economically with better trade relations.

Berlin Wall (significance, escape attempts, how/why/when it fell)

* The wall was built to prevent the people of East Berlin to leave and to prevent any western influences from affecting them. It was a symbol of communism 


* Had a death strip, guard towers, illuminated strips, etc. 
* were renovated and built even stronger after each successful escape attempt. This cost the Soviets lots of money
* **Successful escape attempts**
* **hot air balloon**
* **digging tunnel through the entire wall**
* **driving into the wall**
* **zip lining across** 
* **Officially fell in November 1989**
* **Gorbachev gave less support for East Berlin**
* **East Berlin’s economy suffered and they tried to compensate by letting citizens leave for travel for a bit**

**Gunther Sehabowski**- made a huge mistake saying people could leave at once instead of the next which caused a riot and a flood of people at the gates.

the Stasi

Secret police in East Berlin who tried to catch anyone who would try to cross the Berlin wall or were planning on it. They were responsible for both domestic political surveillance and espionage (secret🤫)

Realpolitik

a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations. For example, Nixon meeting with Mao Zedong. Although many Americans distrusted China, Nixon met with the Chinese dictator because of the importance of diplomacy.

Détente

The easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries. Examples include SALT I, SALT II, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

S.A.L.T. I (what did it accomplish? Who signed it?)

It was a treaty to limit the number of missiles for each nation. The U.S. and USSR signed this treaty.

Olympic Boycotts (know major ones involving USA & USSR)

1980: USA doesn’t attend Summer games in Moscow in protest of USSR invasion of Afghanistan
1984: USSR boycotts summer games in LA as payback

Mikhail Gorbachev

A Soviet politician who served as the final leader of the Soviet Union. Played a key role in ending the Soviet Union and Cold War.

Glasnost - (in the former Soviet Union)

A policy that allowed more freedom of religion and speech in Soviet Union and satellite nations, enabling people to discuss politics openly. Issued by Gorbachev on 1985.

Perestroika - (in the former Soviet Union

The policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system. First proposed by Leonid Brezhnev in 1979 and actively promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev. Originally referred to increased automation and labor efficiency, but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets and the ending of central planning.

Ronald Reagan (Cold War/Berlin Wall significance, famous quote)

Played a significant role in the Cold War by holding meetings with Gorbachev to discuss important issues and future matters and signed treaties to ease tensions. “Tear down this wall” was one of Ronald Reagan’s famous quotes.

Velvet Revolution

Peaceful protest in Czechoslovakia that which resulted in the ending of communist rule in the country.

Lech Walesa, Solidarity in Poland

Led a successful pro-democratic effort which ultimately led to communism ending in Poland.

Break up of the USSR, new countries created

Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Usbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Turkmenistan
Tajikistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Russia
Georgia
Moldova

Boris Yeltsin

Russian leader who helped get Gorbachev out of prison. He stood on top of a tank that was owned by communist rebels that wanted to take Gorbachev out of power. He also made a treaty with Bush (START II), which called in the treaty of hope.

START III

Stood for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which reduced the number of nuclear weapons of both nations.

Order of presidents

Harry Truman (D) 1945-1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 1952-1960

John F. Kennedy (D) 1960-1963

Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 1963-1968

Richard M. Nixon (R) 1968-1974

Gerald Ford (R) 1974-1976

Jimmy Carter (D) 1976-1980

Ronald Reagan (R) 1980-1988

George HW Bush (R) 1988-1992