Cold War

Arms Race

Struggle between nations to gain an advantage in weapons.

Bay of Pigs invasion

Failed secret United States plan to overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961.

Berlin Airlift

Massive effort by Western leaders to supply West Berlin, which had been cut off from East Berlin, by air in 1948.

Boris Yeltsin

Leader of the Republic of Russia who favored even more radical changes for the Soviet Union than Mikhail Gorbachev had proposed and did not want to see hard-liners take over the Soviet Union.

Cold War

Era of tension and hostility, between the United States and Soviet Union, that lasted from 1947-1991.

Containment

The United States policy the involved resisting Soviet aggression in order to contain the spread of Communism.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union, in 1962, over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Détente

1968 policy of Richard Nixon that sought to reduced tension between the United States and Soviet Union.

Deterrence

the development of or maintenance of military power to deter, or prevent, an attack.

Fidel Castro

Leader of Cuba during the Cold War era Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis conflicts.

Glasnost

Radical concept by Mikhail Gorbachev that meant "openness" or a willingness to discuss openly the Soviet Union's problems.

Hydrogen Bomb

Bomb whose violent explosive power is due to the sudden release of atomic energy resulting from the fusion of light nuclei at very high temperature.

Iron Curtain

Speech given by British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, to describe the sharp division of Europe that was the result of Soviet actions.

John F. Kennedy

United States leader during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Marshall Plan

United States plan, named after secretary of state George Marshall, to provide $13 billion for the rebuilding of Europe.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet leader who called for major reforms of the Soviet economic and political system, as well as sought to build better relations with the United States and the West.

NATO

(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - Alliance made up of the United States, Canada, and most Western European countries designed to counter Soviet power in Europe.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader who sought to "de-Stalinize" the Soviet Union as well as loosened some of the more drastic Stalin-era economic and political restrictions.

Nonaligned nations

Nations refusing to support either the United States or the Soviet Union opting instead to use their combined strength to promote the interests of poorer countries.

Nuremberg Trials

Military courts held in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949, that tried more than two hundred Nazi and military officials.

Perestroika

Radical concept by Mikhail Gorbachev that meant "restructuring" and referred to the reform of the Soviet economic and political system.

Richard Nixon

United States President who introduced the policy of Détente in 1968.

SALT I

(Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) - Agreement between the United States and Soviet Union limiting the number of nuclear weapons held by each nation.

SALT II

(Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) - Second meeting between the United States and Soviet Union.

Satellite

An object that orbits the Earth.

Solidarity

1980 anti-government protest in Poland.

Sputnik

Launched by the Soviet Union, was history's first artificial satellite.

Truman Doctrine

Pledge, by the United States, to provide economic and military aid to oppose the spread of Communism.

Warsaw Pact

Alliance made up of the Soviet Union and the Communist nations of Eastern Europe.