Cold War Vocab Quiz

arms race

Massive military build-up, especially of nuclear weapons, by both the Soviet Union and the United States in an effort to gain military superiority

brinkmanship

Purposely escalating a dangerous situation to the limit, while giving the impression that you are willing to go to war, in the hope of pressuring your opponents to back down

DEFCON

An acronym for "defense readiness condition." The term is followed by a number (one to five) which informs the U.S. military to the severity of the threat, with 5 representing normal, peacetime readiness; to 1 warning the need for maximum force readiness, i.e. war

detente

The relaxing of tension between the superpowers from 1969-1979

deterrence theory

A theory that proposed a massive build-up of military and weaponry in order to threaten a destructive counter-attack to any potential attack. The threat was intended to prevent anyone from attacking

domino theory

The belief that if the United States allowed one country to fall to Communism, then many more would follow suit

Eastern/Soviet Bloc

Group of Eastern European countries that were aligned militarily, politically, economically, and culturally with the Soviet Union approximately from 1945 to 1990. Members included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia

flexible response

Doctrine of Containment that provided for a variety of military and political strategies that the president could use to stem the spread of Communism. Developed by officials in the Kennedy administration who felt that Eisenhower’s “Massive Retaliation” doctrine restricted the president’s options too much

glasnost

A policy promoted during the latter half of the 1980s in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in which government secrecy was discouraged and open discussion and distribution of information was encouraged. The term translates to "openness" in Russian

Grand Alliance

Alliance between the US, UK, and USSR during WWII. Starts to break down in 1943

guerrilla warfare

A hit-and-run technique used in fighting a war;fighting by a small band of warriors using tactics, such as sudden ambushes

House Un-American Activities Committee

HUAC was problematically used in early years of Cold War to investigate those suspected of having ties to Communism or of being Soviet agents

ICBM

Intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear bombs across thousands of miles

Marshall Plan

(1947-1951) US sends over $12 billion to Western European countries to help them rebuild after WWII and to encourage them to ally with the US

massive retaliation

A primary component of Eisenhower’s foreign policy. Threatened massive Nuclear Retaliation against the Soviet Union for any Communist aggression abroad

McCarthyism

(1950–54) Campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under a Senator. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not belong to the Communist Party

military-industrial complex

Term coined and criticized by Eisenhower in his farewell address. Describes the relationship between a country's military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest influencing public policy

mutually assured destruction

MAD was the guarantee that if one superpower launched a massive nuclear attack, the other would reciprocate by also launching a massive nuclear attack, and both countries would be destroyed. This became the prime deterrent against nuclear war

peaceful co-existence

Proposed by Khrushchev in 1956. USSR and China developed the concept as a mechanism for communist states to coexist with capitalist states

perestroika

Introduced in 1987 by Mikhail Gorbachev, an economic policy to decentralize the Soviet economy. The term translates to "restructuring" in Russian

proxy war

A war fought between groups or smaller countries that represent the interests of larger powers, often receiving support from them. Examples: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan

SALT

talks from 1969-1979 between the Soviet Union and the United States to limit the number of newly created nuclear weapons

Space Race

(1955-1975) Technological and scientific battle between the US and USSR to achieve superior spaceflight capability

Sputnik

Launched by USSR in 1957, the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into Earth’s orbit

Star Wars

Nickname for President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based system to destroy incoming nuclear missiles. Introduced in 1983

Warsaw Pact

Collective defense treaty between the USSR and Soviet bloc countries

Acronym for First 3 US Presidents

TEK

Acronym for Middle 3 US Presidents

JNF

Acronym for the Last 3 US Presidents

CRB

Acronym for the 4 Soviet Premiers

SKBG