Cold War

Potsdam conference plan for Germany

demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, and decartelization.

Demilitarization

no military

Denazification

nazis were made illegal in Germany

Democratization

allow free elections

Decentralization

no central government; multiple parts

Decartelization

introducing an economy that was not connected to the government

Nuremberg Trials

Germans were tried for crimes against humanity from 1945-46. 22 leaders tried- 12 sentenced to death.

The United Nations

Created by the United States in an effort to stop wars and discuss matters in a civil way

General Assembly

every member state sends a representative

The Security Council

5 permanent members who can veto ANYTHING from the assembly, U.S., Soviet Union, Britain, France, China

UN conflict in Korea

UN forces invade North Korea in Oct 1950 and continued to be pushed back and forth to eventually cause a stalemate between the north and south

Iron Curtain

the idea that Eastern Europe is under an “iron curtain” because we don’t know what’s happening over there

Nuclear diplomacy

the more nukes a country has the more power they have, always threatening with nukes

Decolonization

some countries that were freed from colonization turned to communism in response to colonies

The Marshall Plan

George Marshall comes up with the idea after WWII to rebuild Germany instead of forcing them down (Versailles) as a different approach to avoiding another war

Truman Doctrine

1947- promises u.s. aid to anyone fighting communism but the result was many countries taking advantage of the U.S.

Containment

concept to contain the spread of communism

CIA (central inteligence agency)

26 July 1947, spies with plausible deniability

MAD (mutually assured destruction)

no victory can be achieved because of nuclear powers that would result in the annihilation of both sides, led to deterrence- if you have more weapons others will be too scared to fight you

NATO (north atlantic treaty organization)

49, includes western Europe and others to fight communism

OAS (organization of American States)

48, fight communism in the Americas

Warsaw Pact

55, response to being denied entry to NATO, included eastern Europe countries

SEATO

54/55 south east Asia treaty organization

Berlin Airlift

America giving supplies to the people within the iron curtain (Germany)

The Berlin Wall

the separation between West and East Berlin that forbid crossing because people kept trying to leave

The Chinese Revolution

china going communist with the support of the USSR

Mao Zedong

leader of the Chinese communist party

Chaing Kai-Shek

leader of the Chinese nationalist party

Taiwan involvement in china

the Nationalists fled to Taiwan where they remain today

38th parallel, Korean war

where north and south Korea are split

Stalemate

north and South Korea are unmoving with their troops

Cuban revolution

Cuba going communist, dangerous because could lead to the D

Bay of pigs

the US plan to infiltrate Cuba with exile who lived in Florida to overthrow Castro so in the middle of the night they send a ship with these people but were arrested by Castro when they arrived in Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis

closest US and USSR came to a nuclear war, one-week standoff where the Soviet Union was trying to set up a nuclear base aimed at the US from Cuba

Fidel Castro

leader of the communist party in Cuba who the CIA failled to kill many many times

Fulgencio Batista

the person who Castro overthrew when he came into power

Defcon

the different stages of nuclear threat?

Sputnik

first satellite shaped like a basketball launched by Russia to prove something could be launched into space

Sputnik 2

Russia’s second spaceship was sent into space this time with dog Laika, to prove that a human would soon follow, burned up on reentry

The Domino Theory

when a country falls to communism the surrounding countries are likely to also fall

Vietnam War

fought from Nov 1 1955 to August 30 1975, America lost which was very hard to accept, ended with Vietnam being communist even though they weren’t really connected to USSR

Indochina

the French colony including Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh

leader of North Vietnam who was a communist

Dien Bien Phu

the battle that ended the colonization of Vietnam

Mikail Gorbachev

leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991 who was hated by the military and truly elected to be the president in 1990, disbanded the USSR eventually

Perestroika

the opening of the economy because it was dying and he believed that more capitalism would be useful

Glasnost

the opening of society people in the USSR were given more rights and were allowed free speech

January proposal

1986- agreement with Regan to get ride of nukes

Sinatra doctrine

1988- his response to the protests in the Eastern bloc was that they could have it their way (frank sinatra)

Revolutions of 1998 and fall of the Soviet Union

many countries started protesting and by Dec 25, 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved, this ended the cold war and 15 new countries were created from the former soviet union