AP World Modern: Unit 8

Decolonization

The collapse of colonial empires. Between 1947 and 1962, practically all former colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence.

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

Tehran Conference

First major meeting between the Big Three (United States, Britain, Russia) at which they planned the 1944 assault on France and agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war

Yalta Conference

1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister(PM) Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war

Potsdam Conference

The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdam, outside Berlin, in July, 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Led the U.S. to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time. Shaped U.S. foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after the war.

military-industrial complex

The close association of the federal government, the military, and defense industries

Self-determinism

Idea that each country should its own form of government and leaders

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

Capitalism

an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Communism

a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

Authoritarianism

A political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public.

Satellite Nations

Communist nations in Eastern Europe on friendly terms with the USSR and thought of as under the USSR's control

containment

A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Marshall plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

Non aligned movement

The group of nations that didn't side with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War.

Proxy war

a war in which the powers in conflict use third parties as substitutes instead of fighting each other directly

Berlin Wall

A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

a group of 28 countries that has agreed to protect each other in case of attack; founded in 1949

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the creation of NATO

Communist bloc

The group of Eastern European nations that fell under the control of the Soviet Union following World War II.

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Bay of Pigs Crisis

March 1960, CIA was given permission to secretly train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba, aim was to create an uprising against Castro and his government, mission failed

John F. Kennedy

President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation bewteen US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

An international treaty, signed in 1968, that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Great Leap Forward

Started by Mao Zedong, combined collective farms into People's Communes, failed because there was no incentive to work harder, ended after 2 years.

Land reform

Breakup of large agricultural holdings for redistribution among peasants

Cultural Revolution

Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.

Red Guards

the Radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966. Often wore red armbands and carried Mao's Little Red Book.

Iranian Revolution

(1978-1979) a revolution against the shah of Iran led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which resulted in Iran becoming an Islamic republic with Khomeini as its leader

Muslim League

an organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India's Muslims, which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations

Kwame Nkrumah

founder of Ghana's independence movement and Ghana's first president

one-party state

a political system in which one party controls the government and actively seeks to prevent other parties from contesting for power

Organization of African Unity (OAU)

group founded in 1963 by Kwame Nkrumah to promote Pan-Africanism and the end of colonialism in Africa

Algerian War for Independence

Began in 1954 with Algerians campaigning for independence from France.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Viet Cong (VC)

A Communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam that fought its government and was supported by North Vietnam.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

He led the coup which toppled the monarchy of King Farouk and started a new period of modernization and socialist reform in Egypt

Suez Crisis

crisis in which Britain and France attempted to seize control of the Suez canal from Egypt

Zionist Movement

a nationalist movement among the Jews to establish a home land in Palestine

Palestinian Liberation Organization

political party and organization that fought for Palestinian rights

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

Kashmir Conflict

Ongoing conflict for territorial control; between Pakistan & India; Origins of British imperialism

Mohandas Gandhi

Leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance. After being educated as a lawyer in England, he returned to India and became leader of the Indian National Congress in 1920.

Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918)

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Ronald Reagan

first U.S. elected president in 1980 and elected again in 1984.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons

Pan-Africanism

the unity of all black Africans, regardless of national boundaries

Pan-Arabism

A movement that calls for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation.