U9 Vocab

38th Parallel

The line dividing Soviet-occupied North Korea and US-occupied South Korea

Ahmed Ben Bella

Algerian socialist revolutionary and first President of Algeria from 1963 to 1965

Agent Orange

Herbicide used by the US military during the Vietnam War

Alexander Dubcek

Slovak politician who led the Prague Spring reform movement in Czechoslovakia

Alger Hiss

State Department official accused of espionage for the Soviet Union in the 1930s

Algerian Civil War

Conflict between Algerian government and Islamist rebels from 1991 to 2002

Algerian War for Independence

War for Algerian independence from France from 1954 to 1962

Al-Qaeda

Originally formed to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan

African National Congress (ANC)

South Africa's governing social democratic party

Angolan Civil War

Major conflict in Angola from 1975 to 2002 after independence

Augusto Pinochet

Chilean president who came to power in a coup and nationalized industries

Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA)

Organization seeking independence for the Basque region in Spain

Benazir Bhutto

First female Prime Minister of Pakistan, elected in 1988

Berlin Airlift

US and British effort to supply West Berlin during the Soviet blockade

Berlin Wall

Barrier built to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany

Biafran Civil War

Nigerian conflict after the secession of Biafra in 1967

Big Three

Allied leaders of Great Britain, US, and the Soviet Union during WWII

Brezhnev Doctrine

Soviet policy to intervene if socialist countries were threatened

Brinkmanship

Policy of responding to aggression with the threat of war

Camp David Accords

Peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1979

Charles de Gaulle

French president who sought Algerian independence

Cold War

Conflict between the US and Soviet Union without direct military confrontation

Communes

Groups sharing possessions and responsibilities

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Soviet plan to rebuild Eastern Europe

Containment

Policy to prevent the spread of communism

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 confrontation over Soviet missiles in Cuba

Cultural Revolution

Mao's campaign to revive Chinese communism in 1966

Détente

Relaxation of strained relations through communication

Domino Theory

Belief that communist influence in one nation would spread to others

Douglas MacArthur

US commander during the Korean War

Fatah Faction

Palestinian group controlling the West Bank

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Egyptian leader who established the Republic of Egypt

Glasnost

Soviet policy of openness and political freedom

Great Leap Forward

Mao's disastrous economic policy in China

Hamas Faction

Palestinian group controlling Gaza

Ho Chi Minh

North Vietnamese communist leader

Hydrogen Bomb

More powerful than atomic bombs, developed in the 1950s

Imre Nagy

Hungarian leader executed after declaring freedom from Soviet control

Indian National Congress

Political party advocating Indian participation in government

Indira Gandhi

Indian Prime Minister after her father's death in 1966

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)

1987 US-Soviet treaty limiting nuclear weapons

Irish Republican Army (IRA)

Group fighting British rule in Northern Ireland

Iron Curtain

Political barrier isolating Eastern Europe after WWII

Julius Nyerere

First president of Tanzania promoting African socialism

Kashmir

Region causing tension between India and Pakistan

Kent State University

Site of anti-war protest where students were killed in 1970

Khmer Rouge

Cambodian communist group led by Pol Pot

Korean War

Conflict between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953

Kwame Nkrumah

First president of independent Ghana in 1960

Land Reform

Changing land ownership laws for agrarian reform

Mao Zedong

Founder of the People's Republic of China and supporter of peasants

Marshall Plan

US aid program to rebuild Europe after WWII

Martin Luther King Jr.

Prominent US civil rights leader in the 1950s and 1960s

Mengistu Haile Mariam

Ethiopian leader attempting to establish a communist state

Metropole

Large city of a former colonial ruler

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet leader who ended the Cold War and introduced reforms

Military-Industrial Complex

Alliance between government and defense contractors

Muslim League

a political organization founded in India in 1906 and led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah to defend the interests of India’s Muslim minority; advocated for a separate nation for Indian Muslims

Nelson Mandela

a socialist lawyer who led the black resistance to apartheid in South Africa

Nikita Khrushchev

led the de-Stalinization of Russia and argued for major innovations

Non-Aligned Movement

created in the Bandung Conference, this was a group of countries which vowed to stay neutral in the Cold War

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

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

One-Party State

a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government

Organization of African Unity (OAU)

founded in 1963 by Nkrumah to protect African sovereignty

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

a political movement formed in 1964 uniting Palestinian Arabs in an effort to create an independent state of Palestine

Perestroika

attempts to restructure the Soviet economy to allow elements of free enterprise

Potsdam Conference

final wartime meeting of the leaders in the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdam 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

Prague Spring

period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia

Proxy War

a war in which a major power helps bring about conflict between other nations but does not always fight directly

Quiet Revolution

a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in the Canadian Provence of Quebec after the election of 1960

Red Guards

groups of revolutionary students that Mao ordered to seize government officials, teachers, and others to be sent to reeducation camps

Ronald Reagan

US president during the Cold War era

Salvador Allende

president of Chile who was overthrown in 1973 by revolt of Chilean military with the support of the United States

Sandinista-Contras Conflict

a proxy conflict in Nicaragua in which the Contras were US-backed and the Sandinistas were Soviet-backed

Satellite Countries

small states that are economically or politically dependent on a larger more powerful state

self-determination

the idea that every country should choose its own form of government and leaders

shining path

a revolutionary organization founded by Abimael Guzman in the 1970s that was based on the ideas of Mao Zedong and Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge; this organization was responsible for decades of bombings in Peru 

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 1960 after the assassination of her husband; was the world’s first female prime minister 

Sixty-Day War

Israeli-Palestinian war in 1967 in which Israel gained the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan heights from Syria

Space Race

a competition of space exploration between the US and the Soviet Union

Strategic Arms Limitation (SALT)

negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that were aimed at curtailing the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons  

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

dubbed “Star Wars,” this was a missile defense system that was supposed to be able to destroy any Soviet nuclear missiles that targeted the US or its allies 

Suez Crisis

military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel in 1956 after Egypt seized the Suez Canal from British administration

Sukarno

the leader of Indonesia's struggle for independence from the Netherlands 

Tehran Conference

meeting in 1943 in Iran 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 

Truman Doctrine

a 1947 speech by US president Harry Truman that outlined what the US needed to do to stop the spread of communism, specifically in Turkey and Greece 

Ulster Defense Association

Protestant group fighting against the Irish Republican Army in the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland in the 1960s 

United Nations

established in 1945 to promote world peace and cooperation; replaced the League of Nations 

Viet Cong

the name given to the communist guerrilla movement in southern Vietnam

World Revolution

the belief that organized workers would overthrow capitalism in every country

Warsaw Pact

the Soviet response to NATO in 1955 which included an alliance between eight countries of Eastern Europe

White Revolution

a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive modernization in Iran from 1960 to 1963

Wladyslaw Gomulka

secretary of the Polish Communist Party who came to power in Poland amid demonstrations against Soviet domination; pursued independent domestic policy but was still loyal to the Soviet Union

Yalta Conference

meeting in 1945 between the Big Three to make final war plans, arrange the post-war fate of Germany, and discuss the proposal for creation of the United Nations as a successor to the League of Nations 

Yom Kippur War

a surprise invasion by Egypt and Syria which was repelled by Israel in 1973