COLD WAR

Cold War (1945-1991)

A war of words and threats between the United States and the Soviet Union that was marked primarily by a political and economic, rather than military, struggle between the two nations.

spread world-wide communism

The goal of Soviet Union during the Cold War

George Kennan

He was an American diplomat and ambassador best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

"containment" of communism, keep it where it already exists

Goal of US and Western Democracies during Cold War

espionage

spying (KGB vs CIA)

Arms Race

nuclear expansion

Bi-Polarization of Europe

NATO vs. Warsaw Pact

Proxy Wars

A war that results when opposing powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly.

Satellite State

independent nation under the control or highly influenced of a more powerful nation

Yalta Conference (1945)

FDR, Stalin, Churchill - Purpose was to set up occupation zones, temporarily divide Germany among US, GB, France and USSR into spheres of influence. Demonstrated ideological difference between allied powers and set up cold war divide in Europe.

Potsdam Conference

1945 - Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill - restatement of Yalta goals, confirmed German borders, set up nuremberg trials, terms of surrender for Japan

Iron Curtain

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

Non-Aligned Movement

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

non-aligned

yugoslavia

non-aligned

indonesia

non-aligned

egypt

non-aligned

ghana

Truman Doctrine (1947)

Containment policy. Stated that the U.S. would support any nation threatened by communism. Played a large role in the developing cold war with the Soviet Union.

Marshall Plan (1948)

Economic Policy. Massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe, intended to bolster capitalist and democratic governments and prevent domestic communist groups from riding poverty and misery to power.

Berlin Blockade/Airlift (1948)

Berlin was blocked off by the Soviet Union in order to strangle the Allied forces. In order to combat this, the United States began to airlift supplies into Berlin.

Nato

United States

Nato

Belgium

Nato

Britain

Nato

Canada

Nato

denmark

Nato

france

Nato

iceland

Nato

italy

Nato

luxemburg

Nato

netherlands

Nato

portugal

Nato

greece

Nato

turkey

Nato

west germany

nato

spain

Warsaw Pact (1955)

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

warsaw

USSR

warsaw

Albania

warsaw

Bulgaria

warsaw

Czechoslovakia

warsaw

East Germany

warsaw

Hungary

warsaw

poland

warsaw

Romania

NATO (1949)

an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries

United Nations

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

Korean War (1950-1953)

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

SEATO

Alliance formed to oppose Communism in Southeast Asia, prompted non-alignment movement

Domino Theory

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

DMZ

the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea from which military forces or operations or installations are prohibited

38th Parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea

Cambodian Genocide

1975-1979 attempt to form Communist peasant farming society resulted in deaths by starvation, overwork, and executions.

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975. Pol Pot was leader.

Pol Pot

Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who terrorized the people of Cambodia throughout the 1970's

argarian society

farm focused society

Cambodian Civil War

The war where the Khmer Rouge defeated the Cambodian army in 1975.

Nikita Khrushchev

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

De-Stalinization

social process of neutralizing the influence of Joseph Stalin by revising his policies and removing monuments dedicated to him and renaming places named in his honor

Peaceful Coexistence

Term used by Khrushchev in 1963 to describe a situation in which the United States and Soviet Union would continue to compete economically and politically without launching a thermonuclear war.

Space Race

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

Sputnik (1957)

The first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union

Kitchen Debate (1959)

televised exchanged between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and American Vice President Richard Nixon; meeting at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, the two leaders sparred over the relative merits of capitalist consumer culture versus Soviet state planning.

Berlin Wall (1961)

The Soviet Union, under Nikita Khrushchev, erected a wall between East and West Berlin to keep people from fleeing from the East, afterwards Kennedy asked for an increase in defense funds to counter Soviet aggression.

Hungarian Revolt 1956

Attempt by students and workers to liberalize the Communist regime and break off military alliance with the Soviet Union. First act of rebellion in satellite state.

Hungary

Withdrew from Warsaw Pact after internal revolt, resulted in Soviets invading

MAD

the idea that the superpowers had so many nuclear weapons that they would completely destroy each other in a war

Cuban Revolution (1959)

Fidel Castro overthrew Batista, and introduced Communism to the island of Cuba.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

Fulgencio Batista

He was a pro-American dictator of Cuba before Castro. His overthrow led to Castro and communists taking over Cuba, who was now friendly to the Soviets.

Bay of Pigs 1961

a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the CIA landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. Invasion ended in disaster, US embarrassed, foreign policy disaster, more tension with SU

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. U2 planes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, JFK demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

Vietnam War

war 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.

Vietnam War

Resulted in the rise of communist Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge in Cambodia due to bombings of the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

A network of paths used by North Vietnam to transport supplies to the Vietcong in South Vietnam, bombed by the US and resulted in an unstable Cambodia.

Chi Minh

Vietnamese Communist leader, successfully conducted a guerrilla war against the French which climaxed in 1954 with the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, a decisive defeat for the French

France Indochina

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia

Vietminh

An organization of Vietnamese Communists and other nationalist groups that between 1946 and 1954 fought for Vietnamese independence from the French

Viet Cong (VC)

South Vietnam rebels who used guerilla warfare to try to topple US powers in Vietnam, supported by the North

Dien Bien Phu (1954)

Battle in which the French were defeated. Resulting in the French leaving Vietnam

Geneva Conference (1954)

French wanted out of Vietnam , the agreement signed by Ho Chi Minh France divided Vietnam on the 17th parallel, confining Minh's government to the North. In the South, an independent government was headed by Diem.

17th parallel

Line of latitude that separated North and South Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress. it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. Led to massive escalation of Vietnam War.

Brezhnev

Seized power from Nikita Khrushchev and became leader of the Soviet Communist party in 1964. Ordered forces in to Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia.

SALT Treaties

name for series of treaties between US and USSR regarding nuclear weapons

Detente

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

Helsinki Accords (1975)

35 nations signed, agreed to work together (emphasis on Detente), de-escalation agreement that focused on security and co-operation

Invasion of Afghanistan 1979

Russia invades Afghanistan, US train and supply weapons to rebels- Mujahadeen

Mujahideen

Islamic extremist organization- guerilla fighters

Yugoslavia

communist, came to power with soviet aid

Josep Tito

Communist chief of Yugoslavia who was able to resist Soviet domination successfully.

Dubcek

leader of Czechoslovakia during the Prague of Spring, he expanded freedom of discussion and other intellectual rights at a time when they were being repressed in the Soviet

Prague Spring Movement (1968)

promised idea "socialism with a face" and wanted reforms that softened Soviet communism

Chinese-Soviet rift

the growing tensions between China and Russia due to China getting closer with the US. Soviets accused of "rewriting communism" and China accused of being too extreme.

Charles De Gualle

A general in WWII, he organized a government in exile immediately after the collapse of France and believed himself to be the true representative of France. Rejected nuclear test ban treaty

World Bank

A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Third World

Term applied to a group of "developing" or "underdeveloped" countries who professed nonalignment during the Cold War.

Treaty of Rome (1957)

The founding document of the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market, now subsumed by the European Union.

EEC

Alliance among European nations to set up free trade for those members. Today known as European Union

EU (1993)

Leads charge in all things Europe, plan of economic, political, and social co-operation. Created the Euro

Maastricht Treaty (1991)

Created the European Union (EU)