Truman Doctrine
"It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples [against Communist aggression] "
Geneva Accords
formally divided Vietnam into the Communist North and Non-Communist South
containment
This term refers to the United States' attempts to prevent the spread of communism to Western Europe
The Marshall Plan
This four-year program (1948-1951) contributed 13 billion dollars to rebuilding the war-ravaged cities of Europe, encouraging industrial and agricultural growth, fostering political stability, encouraging trade, and most importantly, reducing the danger of Communism
German Federal Republic
When Germany was divided, the United States, France, and Great Britain combined their territories to form West Germany, also known as this.
Cuban Missile Crisis
October 16-28, 1962 were arguably the most dangerous thirteen days of the Cold War. During this period nuclear war seemed not only plausible but probable
Mao Zedong
Led Communists in China, supported by the U.S.S.R., founder of the People's Republic of China
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
"An armed attack against one or more shall be considered an attack against them all." This statement reflects the United States' goal of collective security, realized through this organization.
nonproliferation treaty
Marking the end of the Cold War, this document was signed, acknowledging the mutual efforts of the US and the Soviet Union to promote a more peaceful relationship.
deterrence
This American policy focused on strengthening the US and its allies in order to discourage Soviet aggression.
Nikita Khrushchev
Upon gaining control of the Soviet Union, he criticized the "cult of personality" of the Stalinist Era and argued that a "peaceful coexistence" between communism and capitalism was possible.
Sputnik
USSR launched 1st satellite
The Korean War
This was the first major military conflict between the West and the Communists.
Winston Churchill
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent . . . This is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build up." This is an excerpt from my famous "Iron Curtain Speech".
The Warsaw Pact
This alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellites, including Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, created unified military command and mutual protection from attack.
German Democratic Republic
In response to the formation of a united West Germany, the Soviets created this territory, also known as East Germany.
The Berlin Blockade
In efforts to gain complete control of Berlin, the Soviet Union instituted this in 1948, in response to the unification of American, French, and British zones to form West Germany.
peaceful coexistence
Khrushchev's statement that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. could compromise - "possibility/necessity of peaceful coexistence", sentiment ended when Mao(China) & at home(USSR) criticized
spirit of Camp David
Between USSR & US, spirit of peaceful coexistence and maybe even mutual disarmament (nuclear weapons), faded by 1960 :(
Berlin Wall
built by USSR (West Germany) in 1961 to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962, confrontation between US and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, Kennedy made blockade until USSR removes missiles, US agrees to remove missiles in Turkey & USSR removes missiles in Cuba
most ominous crisis of the Cold War
détente
formal relaxation of tensions
Ho Chi Minh
North Vietnamese Communist govt leader
Brezhnev
soviet leader after Khrushchev fall from power
-Brezhnev doctrine, Prague spring
Brezhnev doctrine
said Soviet Union's right to intervene in any Communist country in response to any "threat to socialism/socialist rule"
Prague spring (1968)
in Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubcek began program of reform, Brezhnev brutally crushed "incipient" (upcoming) revolution & removed Dubcek/reformists from power
ICBM
inter-continental ballistic missile, long-range nuclear missile capable of being fired at targets on the other side of the globe.
-reason for the Cuban Missile Crisis- USSR was threatening the U.S. by building launch sites for ICBMs in Cuba
Nixon-Kissinger policy
by US, détente, linked Western technology + trade + investment to Soviet cooperation in global affairs, very much needed by Soviets (poor LOL)
SALT I treaty (1972)
5 year agreement between US (Nixon) and USSR, limited the number of ICBM's and submarine-launched missiles
Helsinki Accords
not an official treaty
-ratified European territorial boundaries est. after WW2
-set up "Helsinki watch committees" to ensure human rights in countries that signed
-USSR agreed bc $$ but didn't anticipate eventually -> collapse of USSR (bc less crackdown on revolters/reformers)
Khrushchev
USSR leader after Lenin's death, volatile, boasted about USSR > Western capitalism but also didn't want war + peaceful coexistence (sentiment ended when he was criticized by Mao & people at home)