Untitled Flashcards Set

📘 Cold War Study Guide (Filled Out)

🔍 Key Concepts and Definitions

• Cold War: A period of political tension and military rivalry between the U.S. and the USSR from 1945 to 1991, without direct warfare between them. It was driven by ideological differences: capitalism vs. communism.
  
  

• Containment: U.S. strategy to stop the spread of communism, introduced by George Kennan. Example: Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Truman Doctrine.
  
  

• Command Economy: An economic system where the government controls all production and distribution. Common in communist states like the USSR.
  
  

• Domino Theory: The belief that if one country fell to communism, nearby countries would too (like dominoes). It was used to justify U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
  
  

• Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD): The idea that if either the U.S. or USSR launched nuclear weapons, both would be destroyed, creating a deterrent to war.
  
  

📅 Important Events and Conferences

• Yalta Conference (Feb 1945): Attended by Churchill (UK), Roosevelt (US), and Stalin (USSR). They discussed post-WWII Europe, the division of Germany, and plans for the United Nations.
  
  

• Potsdam Conference (July 1945): Truman (US), Stalin (USSR), and Attlee (UK) met to finalize Germany’s fate. Tensions rose as the U.S. had successfully tested the atomic bomb.
  
  

• Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948–1949): Stalin blocked West Berlin. The U.S. and UK flew in supplies for almost a year until Stalin lifted the blockade.
  
  

• Hungarian Uprising (1956): A revolt against Soviet control. It was crushed by Soviet tanks, showing how the USSR would not tolerate dissent in Eastern Europe.
  
  

• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): A 13-day standoff between the U.S. and USSR after the Soviets placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Ended with the USSR withdrawing missiles and the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba.
  
  

• Berlin Wall (Built 1961): Built by East Germany to stop citizens from fleeing to West Berlin. Symbolized communist repression. Fell in 1989.
  
  

• Détente: A period of eased tensions between the U.S. and USSR in the 1970s. Included treaties like SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks).
  
  

• Tiananmen Square Protests (1989): Chinese students demanded democratic reforms. The government violently cracked down, resulting in many deaths and global condemnation.
  
  

🧱 Organizations and Alliances

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): Formed in 1949, a military alliance of Western nations to defend against Soviet aggression.
  
  

• Warsaw Pact (1955): A Soviet-led alliance of Eastern European communist countries in response to NATO.
  
  

• United Nations—Security Council: Body of 5 permanent members (U.S., USSR/Russia, UK, China, France) that tried to maintain international peace. Often gridlocked during the Cold War.
  
  

• Iron Curtain: Term by Winston Churchill describing the division between democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe.
  
  

• Buffer Zone: Eastern European countries occupied by the USSR after WWII that served as a protective zone against Western invasion.
  
  

🇨🇳 China

• Chinese Civil War (1927–1949): Fought between Mao Zedong’s communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists. Mao won; Chiang fled to Taiwan.
  
  

• Mao Zedong: Communist leader of China. Launched the Great Leap Forward (economic disaster) and the Cultural Revolution (purge of political enemies).
  
  

• Chiang Kai-shek: Leader of the Nationalist Party. Defeated in 1949, fled to Taiwan where he continued to lead the "Republic of China."
  
  

• Deng Xiaoping: Introduced capitalist economic reforms in the 1980s but kept strict political control. Ordered the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
  
  

• Relationship between USSR and China (1960s): Tense and competitive. Despite both being communist, they had ideological and border conflicts.
  
  

• First U.S. President to visit Communist China: Richard Nixon in 1972. This visit helped open diplomatic relations (called "Ping Pong Diplomacy").
  
  

• Falun Gong: A spiritual movement in China suppressed by the government starting in the late 1990s.
  
  

• “Grey Culture”: Refers to underground or unofficial media/culture that challenged Chinese Communist orthodoxy.
  
  

• Hu Jintao: President of China from 2002–2012. Known for economic growth and maintaining tight control over political expression.
  
  

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

• Russian Satellites: Countries in Eastern Europe (like Poland, Hungary, East Germany) under Soviet control after WWII.
  
  

• Soviet A-bomb: Successfully tested in 1949, ending U.S. nuclear monopoly.
  
  

• Glasnost ("Openness"): Policy by Gorbachev encouraging more transparency and freedom of speech.
  
  

• Perestroika ("Restructuring"): Gorbachev’s policy to reform the Soviet economy with limited market-like reforms.
  
  

🇰🇷 Korean War (1950–1953)

• North Korea (communist) invaded South Korea. The U.S. and UN intervened to defend South Korea.
  
  

• General MacArthur led UN forces but was fired by Truman for insubordination.
  
  

• War ended in a stalemate at the 38th parallel (still divided today).
  
  

🇻🇳 Vietnam War

• Ho Chi Minh: Communist leader of North Vietnam.
  
  

• Ngo Dinh Diem: U.S.-backed leader of South Vietnam; unpopular and eventually assassinated.
  
  

• Viet Minh: Nationalist-communist group led by Ho Chi Minh during the fight against France.
  
  

• Viet Cong: Communist insurgents in South Vietnam supported by the North.
  
  

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964): Alleged attack on U.S. ships by North Vietnam. Led to U.S. escalation via the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving Johnson broad war powers.
  
  

• Tet Offensive (1968): Major surprise attack by the Viet Cong. Military failure for them, but turned American public opinion against the war.
  
  

• Vietnamization: Nixon’s plan to gradually withdraw U.S. troops and turn the war over to South Vietnamese forces.
  
  

🗺 Colonial Background

• France fought to recolonize Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) from 1946–1954, but lost at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
  
  

🧔🏽‍♂️ U.S. Presidents and Vietnam

• Truman: Began U.S. aid to the French in Vietnam.
  
  

• Eisenhower: Supported South Vietnam under the domino theory.
  
  

• Kennedy: Increased U.S. advisors in Vietnam.
  
  

• Johnson: Escalated the war with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and sent combat troops.
  
  

• Nixon: Expanded the war to Cambodia, started Vietnamization, and eventually withdrew U.S. forces.