Post-WWII Global Order and the Origins of the Cold War

This flashcard set covers the geopolitical shifts, economic reconstruction efforts, and early Cold War tensions following the end of World War II, including the creation of the UN and the state of Israel.

Jean Monnet

A French economist entrusted with the 1946 "commissariat au plan," which was in charge of planning economic development through state interventionism.

William Beveridge

A British PM who wrote a 1942 report denouncing the "five giants" Britain had to defeat: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness.

National Health Service (NHS)

The British welfare state institution founded in 1945 to offer free healthcare to citizens.

Sécurité sociale

The French welfare state system created in 1945, previously defined by the "programme du CNR," offering free healthcare to citizens.

United Nations Organisation (UN)

An international organisation created at the San Francisco conference in June 1945 to replace the League of Nations and frame future world diplomacy.

Security Council

A 15-member UN body where the five perpetual members (USA, USSR, UK, France, and China) control and potentially finalize all decisions of the General Assembly.

Crime against mankind

A specific legal term defined for the trials of Nuremberg and Tokyo to judge Nazi and Japanese leaders for their wartime actions.

Bretton Woods conference

A 1944 conference that imposed the indexation of main currencies on the US dollar to stabilize the global economy and ease exchanges.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

A branch of the UN created in December 1945 to finance the reconstruction of devastated countries and prevent national bankruptcy through loans.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

Created in 1947 to organize global trade negotiations and promote a liberal and capitalist model; today known as the World Trade Organisation.

Big Two

A term referring to the USA and USSR, the two superpowers that dominated the post-war world as France and the UK declined as global-scaled powers.

The 4D

The four objectives agreed upon by the Allies for the occupation of Germany: Demilitarisation, decartelisation, denazification, and democratisation.

Satellite countries

Eastern European nations controlled by Moscow through the Kominterm after the settlement of communist governments following WW2.

Iron Curtain

A metaphor used by Winston Churchill in his 1946 Fulton speech to describe the division between the free western half of Europe and the eastern half under Soviet intimidation.

Czechoslovak coup d'état

A 1948 event where the local communist party and Red army toppled the recently elected government in Czechoslovakia, forcing the president into exile.

George F. Kennan

The US ambassador in Moscow who sent an 8,000-word "long telegram" describing Soviet plans as a long-term threat to the USA.

Truman doctrine

A policy of "containment" defined in March 1947 that offered economic and financial help to stop the expansion of communism.

Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), it provided US financial help to European countries for reconstruction based on population and war losses.

Zhdanov doctrine

The Soviet reply to the Truman doctrine, stating the world was shared between the communist-pacific model and the capitalist-imperialist model.

Comecon

A Soviet-created counter-Marshall plan intended to spread communism and resist US imperialism.

Berlin airlift

A US military operation from June 1948 to May 1949 that supplied West-Berlin with food, medicine, and clothes by plane to bypass the Soviet blockade.

German Democratic Republic

The independent country unilaterally proclaimed in 1949 in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany.

Federal Republic of Germany

The country created in 1949 by merging the French, British, and American occupation zones in Germany.

Zionist movement

A movement born in the late 19th century convinced that Jews could only be safe and free if they had their own nation-state in Palestine.

Balfour declaration

A WW1-era official support by the French and British for the project of creating a Jewish state in Palestine.

Covenant of May 14th 1948

The date the Zionist organisation proclaimed the creation of the Jewish state of Israel.