Chapter 28

Cold War (1945-1989)

The rivalry between the United States and the USSR that divided most of Europe into USSR allied communists and US allied capitalists.

Displaced Persons (DPs)

Refugees, concentration camp survivors, freed POWs, and orphaned children who all needed food and shelter, and wanted to return to their homes if they could.

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)

The United Nations organization that opened more than 760 displaced person camps and spent millions in aid for DPs.

Israel

The Jewish state newly formed in 1948 that many displaced Jews immigrated to.

Collaborators

Those deemed to have assisted German troops. They were harshly punished.

"Horizontal Collaboration"

The term used to shame French women who were thought to have had sexual relations with German soldiers.

Denazification

The process of identifying and punishing Nazis after WWII.

Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946)

The international military tribunal held by the four Allied powers for the purpose of trying the highest level Nazis for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 12 were sentenced to death and 10 to long prison sentences.

Big Three

Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt.

Conference of Teheran

The November 1943 conference between the Big Three where they first opened the topic of post-war settlement. Stalin asked for a second front to be opened in France and the US and Great Britain disagreed about how to proceed.

Yalta

The Russian city that was the site of the February 1945 meeting of the Big Three. They agreed that the four Allied powers would occupy four different parts of the divided land. The USSR would receive heavy reparations from Germany and keep the portion of Poland they had annexed in exchange for agreeing to help the US with the Japanese front. Russia also negotiated that the border countries between them and Germany would be freely elected but "friendly" to Russia.

Potsdam Conference

The July 1945 meeting where the differing goals of the Big Three finally came to the front. President Truman wanted free elections in the border countries between Russia and Germany and Stalin point-blank refused.

Harry Truman

The President of the United States after FDR. He created his own Doctrine of containment after tense negotiations with Stalin.

"Iron Curtain"

The political metaphorical wall between the Eastern European Bloc and the Western European Bloc.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid and relief to any country in an effort to stave off and contain communism.

Greek Civil War

The Greek conflict between communist revolutionaries and a capitalist authoritarian government supported by the US. The US sent aid to the anticommunist forces in accordance with the Truman Doctrine.

Marshall Plan

The US program of economic aid offered to European countries by George C. Marshall. It gave economic aid to the western European countries struggling after the war and was initially offered to the east bloc as well, but refused.

George C. Marshall

The US Secretary of State who who created his own plan for European economic recovery in accordance with the Truman Doctrine.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)

The Soviet economic organization for the rebuilding of eastern bloc European countries. it was created in response to the creation of the Marshall Plan.

Berlin Airlift

The 1948 airlift of food and supplies to East Berlin after the Soviet closure of all roads leading to the city. Western powers coordinated around the clock relief to aid the eastern Berlin people and keep the city from being absorbed by east Germany and the Soviets. The city was eventually won back after 324 days.

Federal Republic of Germany

The name of post-war West Germany, which was allied with the US.

German Democratic Republic

The name of post-war East Germany, which was allied with the USSR.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

The anti-Soviet military defense alliance of western powers.

Warsaw Pact

The Soviet military alliance between the USSR and their communist satellites created in response to the creation of NATO.

Radar

The new invention used to detect enemy aircraft.

Atomic Bomb

The hugely destructive and questionably moral type of bomb invented during WWII and dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Big Science

The new model of combined theoretical science and practical engineering in bureaucratic organizations hugely funded by the government.

Sputnik

The Soviet satellite that was the first man-made satellite in space, launched in 1957.

"Sputnikitis"

The proverbial disease caught by the US after the Soviets successfully launched a satellite and a man into orbit. It spurred the US into action to get ahead in the space race.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

The organization formed in the US for the purpose of researching and exploring space. It was formed as a big step towards "winning" the space race with the Soviet Union.

Colossus

The computer used by Great Britain in WWII to break German codes.

ENAIC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

The huge computer mainframe built for the US army at the University of Pennsylvania.

University of Pennsylvania

The American college where the ENAIC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was made.

Transistor

The small electronic device that replaced the vacuum tube in most electronic devices like radios and computers. It allowed these products to be much more readily available, as well as cheaper, for the general public.

Postwar Green Revolution

The agricultural movement that industrialized farming and directed research, improving food supply and farming methods.

"Economic Miracle"

The period of exponential European economic growth starting with the Marshall Plan in 1948.

Christian Democrats

The emerging center-right parties with ideas surrounding reconciliation and recovery, rather than radicalism. They advocated free market economies with substantial public works and limited government planning.

Popular Republican Movement

The French Christian Democrat party who were the postwar leaders after General de Gaulle resigned from the provisional government.

Charles de Gaulle

The General who ruled the French provisional government until he stepped down and was replaced by the Popular Republican Movement. He was later reelected in the 1960s and caused an uptick in nationalism. During the Algerian War he supported Algerian independence and eventually granted it in 1962.

"Social Market Economy"

The economic in West Germany and other states characterized by a combination of free market liberalism, limited state intervention, and substantial social benefits.

"Cradle-to-Grave" Welfare State

The type of state existing in Great Britain with largely nationalized industry, free medicine and hospital care, retirement benefits, unemployment pensions, and an income based taxation system. It boasted one of the best standards of living.

Organization for European Economic Cooperation and the Council of Europe

The two organizations created in 1948 for the purpose of fostering cooperation between the western European nations. Many hoped they would become political unions, but the idea was shot down by Great Britain and other states who feared ceding their sovereignty.

European Coal and Steel Community

The economic alliance created between the Christian Democratic governments of West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Great Britain refused to participate. Its goal was a single, transnational steel and coal market without tariffs or quotas whose trade environment would foster alliances so strong that none of the participants would ever dream of fighting with each other.

Treaty of Rome

The pact created in 1957 between the members of the European Coal and Steel Community to create the European Economic Community, or Common Market.

European Economic Community/Common Market

The organization created according to the Treaty of Rome. Its purpose was to encourage free trade between European countries and gradually reduce tariffs, creating a cooperative international market.

"Credit"

The new concept where banks, businesses, and stores would offer the loan of their product in exchange for slow payment of the money owed. It grew in popularity as post-war citizens became more comfortable with the concept of small amounts of debt.

Cominform/Communist Information Bureau

The international organization formed by Stalin for the purpose of maintaining Russian control over Communist parties in satellite countries.

East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria

The eastern satellite states of the Soviet Union.

Josip Broz Tito

The Yugoslavian anti-Nazi Communist leader who created an independent Communist state outside of the grasp of Russia.

Social Realism

The art movement enforced in Soviet Russian that idealized the working classes and the Soviet Union. Artists who strayed from this type of art were shamed and punished.

Nikita Khrushchev

The leader of the Russian reform movement who became the new Soviet premier in 1955. His "secret speech" denounced the actions of Stalin and called for reform of the government.

"Secret Speech"

Khrushchev's impassioned dialogue to the Russian government about how Stalin had build a propaganda "cult of personality" and negatively effected the country.

"Cult of Personality"

The term for Stalin's intense propaganda promotion of himself as an incredibly strong and charismatic leader.

De-Stalinization

The process of removing Stalin's political influence from Communist countries and especially Russia. It was undertaken by Khrushchev and his government.

"Peaceful Coexistence"

It was Khrushchev's goal to come to this point in Russia's relationship with the West Bloc.

Boris Pasternak

The Russian author of the novel "Doctor Zhivago".

"Doctor Zhivago" (1957)

Pasternak's book about a poet rejecting the violence of the October Revolution and the Stalinist regime.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The Russian author of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

Solzhenitsyn's book about life in a Soviet labor camp.

Polish Communist Party

The Polish political party that rose to power in 1956 and gained some independence from the Soviet Union.

Budapest

The capital of Hungary, where the Hungarian Revolution took place.

Imre Nagy

The appointed prime minister of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution. He demanded free, multi-party election in his country and when he decided to leave the Warsaw Pact he asked the United Nations for protection of their neutrality. When the revolution failed he was captured and executed.

Berlin Wall

The wall separating East and West Berlin designed to prevent further emigration from East to West Germany. It was built by the East German government in violation of settlement agreements between the eastern and western powers, but President Kennedy did little to attempt to stop its construction.

John F. Kennedy

The president of the United States during the construction of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He accepted the wall but protested the missiles immediately.

Fidel Castro

The communist leader of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union when Khrushchev put nuclear warheads on communist Cuba. When they came to an agreement, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the removal of US missiles in Turkey, as well as the promise that the US would not interfere in the communist government in Cuba.

Leonid Brezhnev

The Soviet leader who seized power from Khrushchev in a coup. He immediately started re-Stalinizing the country and downplaying Stalin's crimes.

Decolonization

The process influenced by the Cold War of European retreat from formerly controlled colonies. It came in many varying levels of difficulty and speed.

Jomo Kenyatta

The Kenyan intellectual who wrote strong critiques of imperialism.

Aime Cesaire and Frantz Fanon

The French intellectuals from Martinique who wrote strong critiques of imperialism.

AK-47

The Russian made machine gun that was sold to anti-colonial forces in bulk amounts, leading to it becoming a strong symbol associated with decolonization.

Nonalignment

The diplomatic policy adopted by most new leaders who found themselves trapped between two superpowers in the Cold War. The leaders stayed neutral towards both the US and the USSR in terms of the conflict, but played both countries for everything they could get.

Indonesian Communist Party

The Soviet-friendly party in Indonesia that the president was close with after they gained independence.

French Indochina

The French controlled area of southeast Asia that is now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Ho Chi Minh

The Vietnamese guerilla leader who defeated the French in Vietnam.

North Vietnam

The Communist side of Vietnam formed shortly after their independence.

South Vietnam

The pro-Western side of Vietnam formed shortly after their independence.

Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The British-educated lawyer who started the Indian nationalist opposition movement in the 1920s and 30s and preached a system of nonviolent "noncooperation", which eventually led to the gain of a new constitution from Great Britain in 1935. He was assassinated in January of 1948 by anti-partitionist radicals.

"Noncooperation"

Gandhi's policy of nonviolent resistance to the British regime by simply refusing to go along with anything mandated.

Pakistan

The new country formed out of the predominantly Muslim territory to the east and west of India. It was created on August 15, 1947 and caused huge controversy.

Jawaharlal Nehru

The Indian political figure who was instated as prime minister after the assassination of Gandhi. He formed India in a liberal, nonaligned, democratic state and joined the British Commonwealth with Pakistan.

British Commonwealth

The voluntary and cooperative organization of the former British colonies that included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Pakistan.

Guomindang (National People's Party)

The authoritarian, US supported Chinese party led by Jiang Jieshi on one side of the Chinese civil war.

Jiang Jieshi (trad. Chiang Kai-Shek)

The leader of the Guomindang.

Chinese Communists

The USSR supported Chinese party led by Mao Zedong on one side of the Chinese civil war.

Mao Zedong

The leader of the Chinese Communists who forced the Guomindang onto the island of Taiwan, winning Japan for the communists.

Taiwan

The island where the Guomindang was forced onto after the Chinese civil war.

"Red Chinese"

The name for the Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

The political leader of the Egyptian revolution who drove out the pro-Western king, become president, and advocated nonalignment, playing both the US and the USSR for Egypt's gain. In July 1956 he nationalized the Suez Canal, causing the Suez Crisis, but ultimately won the canal and his country's freedom.

Suez Crisis

The event during which President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company, causing Great Britain, France, and Israel to attack him. The situation was eventually resolved and Nasser retained the canal.

Suez Canal Company

The company nationalized by President Nasser that caused an international crisis.

Mau Mau Rebellion

The Kenyan rebellion crushed by Great Britain.

Apartheid

A system of racial segregation by law existing in many African countries, and specifically South Africa, until its abolition.

Patrice Lumumba

The leader of the anticolonial movement in the Congo who was appointed president of the woefully unprepared Congolese government. He was eventually overthrown and executed in a coup by the CIA.

CIA

The American government agency that contributed to the organization of the coup against president Lumumba in the Congo.

Joseph Mobutu

The corrupt general who replaced president Lumumba as leader of the Congo. He ruled until 1997 and became one of the richest men alive, all while his country fell into political disrepair and socio-economic despair.

"Pieds-Noirs"

The term used to refer to the white colonists of Algeria who had settled and fostered 3-4 generations. They held power and enforced a two-tiered system of citizenship.

National Liberation Front (FLN)

The organization formed by the Algerian rebels during the Algerian war.

Algerian War (1954-1962)

The bloody and gruesome conflict between the FLN and the pieds-noirs and France. It eventually ended in April 1962 with independence for Algeria.

Secret Army Organization (OAS)

The organization created by the pieds-noirs that mounted a putsch against the Algerian nationalists. They were soon defeated.