Cold War Beginnings and Mao’s China

Cold War

• A long period of tension (no direct war) between the United States and the Soviet Union after WWII

• Divided the world into two sides and caused crises like Berlin and Cuba

Denazification

• Removing Nazi influence from Germany after WWII

• Helped rebuild Germany as a peaceful, democratic country

Truman Doctrine

• Policy by Harry S. Truman to stop the spread of communism

• Marked the start of US containment policy in the Cold War

Iron Curtain

• Term by Winston Churchill describing the division between Western and Eastern Europe

• Symbolised the split between democracy and communism

Marshall Plan

• US program giving money to rebuild Western Europe after WWII

• Strengthened Western economies and limited communism

Berlin Airlift (Berlin Crisis)

• When the West flew supplies into Berlin after the USSR blocked land access (1948–49)

• First major Cold War crisis; showed strong US–UK opposition to Soviet actions

NATO

• Military alliance of Western countries (formed 1949)

• United countries to defend against communist expansion

Warsaw Pact

• Military alliance of communist countries led by the Soviet Union

• Strengthened the Eastern Bloc against NATO

United Nations

• International organisation created after WWII to keep peace

• Aimed to prevent future wars and encourage cooperation

Mao Zedong

• Communist leader of China

• Made China a communist country in 1949, led to major Cold War shift

Great Leap Forward

• Mao Zedong’s plan to rapidly industrialise China

• Failed badly, which caused famine and millions of deaths

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

• Campaign by Mao Zedong to enforce communist ideas and remove opposition

• Caused chaos, violence, and destruction of culture

Little Red Book

• Book of quotes by Mao Zedong

• Used to spread communist ideology and control people’s thinking