8.1-8.3

8.1: Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization

• Big Three: Leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S.), Winston Churchill (U.K.), and Joseph Stalin (USSR) who coordinated Allied strategies during WWII and discussed post-war plans.

• Tehran Conference (1943): Meeting where the Big Three agreed on opening a second front against Nazi Germany and discussed post-war territorial arrangements.

• Potsdam Conference (1945): Final meeting of the Big Three, where they negotiated terms for the end of WWII, including the administration of defeated Germany.

• Harry Truman: 33rd U.S. President who authorized atomic bombs on Japan and established the Truman Doctrine to contain communism.

• Cold War: Period of geopolitical tension (1947-1991) between the U.S. and the USSR, characterized by ideological conflicts, arms races, and proxy wars.

• Dwight Eisenhower: 34th U.S. President who promoted the "domino theory" regarding the spread of communism and warned against the "military-industrial complex."

• Self-determination: The principle that nations have the right to choose their sovereignty and political status without external interference.

• Hydrogen Bomb: A thermonuclear weapon far more powerful than atomic bombs, developed by both the U.S. and USSR during the arms race.

• Military-Industrial Complex: Term popularized by Eisenhower warning against the growing influence of the defense industry on government policy.

8.2: The Cold War

• United Nations: International organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, security, and cooperation among nations.

• Iron Curtain: Term coined by Churchill describing the division between Western democracies and Eastern communist countries during the Cold War.

• Satellite Countries: Nations in Eastern Europe aligned with and under the influence of the Soviet Union.

• World Revolution: Marxist concept advocating for the global overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of communism.

• Containment: U.S. foreign policy aimed at preventing the spread of communism beyond its existing borders.

• Truman Doctrine: Policy declaring U.S. support for countries threatened by communism, initially applied to Greece and Turkey.

• Non-Aligned Movement: Group of states that chose not to align with either the U.S. or USSR during the Cold War, promoting independent paths.

• Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD): Doctrine where both the U.S. and USSR possessed enough nuclear weapons to deter direct conflict.

• Sputnik: First artificial Earth satellite, launched by the USSR in 1957, marking the start of the Space Race.

• Marshall Plan: U.S. initiative providing economic aid to Western Europe to rebuild after WWII and prevent communist influence.

• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON): Soviet-led economic organization facilitating development in Eastern Bloc countries.

8.3: Effects of the Cold War

• Proxy War: Conflicts where two opposing countries support combatants that serve their interests instead of waging war directly.

• Berlin Airlift (1948-1949): U.S.-led operation supplying West Berlin by air after the Soviet Union blockaded land routes.

• Berlin Wall: Barrier constructed in 1961 dividing East and West Berlin, symbolizing the Cold War’s division; it fell in 1989.

• Domino Theory: Belief that the fall of one nation to communism would lead to the spread of communism to neighboring countries.

• Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961): Failed U.S.-backed operation by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro’s communist government.

• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): 13-day confrontation over Soviet missiles in Cuba, bringing the world close to nuclear war.

• Angola: Southern African nation where Cold War superpowers intervened in its post-independence civil war.

• Contra War: Conflict in Nicaragua where U.S.-backed Contras fought the socialist Sandinista government during the 1980s.

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): Military alliance formed in 1949 among Western nations to counter Soviet power.

• Warsaw Pact: Military alliance of Eastern Bloc countries led by the USSR, established in 1955 as a counterbalance to NATO.

• Communist Bloc: Group of socialist states under Soviet influence during the Cold War.

• SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization): Alliance formed to prevent communism from spreading in Southeast Asia.

• CENTO (Central Treaty Organization): Military alliance aimed at containing Soviet influence in the Middle East.

• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963): Agreement prohibiting nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater.

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968): Treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting peaceful nuclear energy.

• Hotline: Direct communication link established in 1963 between the U.S. and Soviet leaders to reduce the risk of accidental war.

• Antinuclear Weapons Movement: Social movements advocating against nuclear weapons testing and proliferation, especially after incidents like Chernobyl.

• Douglas MacArthur: U.S. general who led UN forces in the Korean War but was dismissed by Truman for advocating the use of nuclear weapons against China.

• Lyndon B. Johnson: U.S. President who escalated U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

• John F. Kennedy: U.S. President during the Cuban Missile Crisis who promoted Cold War containment and the Space Race but was assassinated in 1963.

• Nikita Khrushchev: Soviet leader who oversaw de-Stalinization, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the early Space Race but was later removed from power.

• Land Reform: Redistribution of agricultural land, often as part of socialist or communist policies, seen in China, Iran, and Latin America.

• Commune: Large collective farm or community where property and labor were shared, notably implemented in China’s Great Leap Forward.

• Theocracy: System of government where religious leaders rule in the name of a deity, such as Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

• Mao Zedong: Communist leader of China who established the People's Republic in 1949 and launched the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.

• Great Leap Forward (1958-1962): Mao Zedong's failed economic plan to industrialize China rapidly through collectivized agriculture, leading to famine.

• Cultural Revolution (1966-1976): Mao’s campaign to purge capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, leading to widespread chaos and violence.

• Red Guards: Radical youth groups mobilized by Mao during the Cultural Revolution to enforce communist ideology and attack perceived enemies.

• White Revolution: Series of reforms by Iran’s Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1960s, including land redistribution and modernization, sparking opposition.

• Muhammad Reza Pahlavi: Last Shah of Iran, backed by the U.S., whose modernization efforts led to unrest and his overthrow in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

• Mohammad Mosaddegh: Iranian Prime Minister who nationalized the oil industry but was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup in 1953.

• Haile Selassie: Ethiopian emperor who modernized the country but was overthrown in 1974 during a Marxist revolution.

• Mengistu Haile Mariam: Communist leader of Ethiopia after the 1974 revolution, responsible for mass killings and famine under his authoritarian rule.