Cold War Flashcards
Anti-War Movement
A social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation’s decision to start or carry on an armed conflict.
In US History, there were many anti-war movements (1964-1973) against the Vietnam War; these eventually pressured the US to sign a peace treaty, withdraw its remaining forces, and end the draft in early 1973.
Arms Race
This is when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military resources to gain military and political superiority over one another.
In the Cold War, it was a nuclear arms race between the US and Soviet Union. Each country competed by creating nuclear weapons, each time more dangerous than the last.
Atomic Bomb
A bomb which derives its destructive power from the rapid release of nuclear energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei, causing damage through heat, blast, and radioactivity.
Bandung Conference
The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference.
It was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place in April 1955 in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
The purpose of this conference was to discuss peace and the role of the Third World in the Cold War, economic development, and decolonization.
Berlin Wall
A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.
After World War II, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British and French zones of occupation. East Berlin (Soviet Union) was blocked off from West Berlin (US) to prevent its population from escaping to join the American side.
Blacklist
The blacklist involved the practice of denying employment to entertainment industry professionals believed to be or to have been Communists or sympathizers.
This can be related to McCarthy and the “Hollywood Ten.” (1947)
(Berlin) Blockade
(1948-1949) During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.
This resulted in the Berlin Airlift, where the US flew supplies in to the citizens.
Brinkmanship
The practice of trying to achieve an advantageous outcome by pushing dangerous events to the brink of active conflict.
Eg. the West and the Soviet Union using tactics of fear and intimidation as strategies to make the opposing side back down, nearly leading to a nuclear war.
Civil Disobedience
The refusal to obey the demands or commands of a government or occupying power, without resorting to violence or active measures of opposition.
Its usual purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.
The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools.
Civil Rights Movement
(1950s-1960s) The civil rights movement in the United States was a decades-long campaign by African Americans and their like-minded allies to end institutionalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation in the United States.
Cold War
Generally, a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare.
Specifically, the state of political hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the US-led Western powers from 1945 to 1990.
Containment
It was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.
A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.
Desegregation
The ending of a policy of racial segregation.
De-Stalinization
It was political reform launched by Nikita Khrushchev that condemned the crimes committed by his predecessor, Joseph Stalin.
As a result, it destroyed Stalin’s image as an infallible leader, and caused profound shock among communists throughout the world—who had been taught to admire Stalin—this severely damaged the prestige of the Soviet Union, generated serious friction in the international communist movement, and contributed to uprisings in 1956 in Poland and Hungary.
Détente
Generally, it was the relaxation of strained relations, especially political, by verbal communication.
Specifically, it was a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I. Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972.
Deterrence
The deterrence theory holds that nuclear weapons are intended to deter other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons, through the promise of retaliation and possibly mutually assured destruction.
DEW
(1957) The Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada.
It was set up to detect incoming bombers of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and provide early warning of any sea-and-land invasion.
Domino Theory
The domino theory is a geopolitical theory that was prominent in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s which posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect.
Embargo
A government order that restricts commerce with a specified country or the exchange of specific goods.
An embargo is usually created as a result of unfavorable political or economic circumstances between nations.
Espionage
This describes the intelligence gathering activities during the Cold War between the Western allies (primarily the US, UK and NATO) and the Eastern Bloc (primarily the Soviet Union and allied countries of the Warsaw Pact).
Expansionism
The process of expanding to other countries and increasing a country’s sphere of influence.
As the Soviet Union expanded, the United States began fearful of unlimited expansionism. This conflict resulted in increasing tensions between the two super powers and development of Cold War.
Fallout Shelter
An enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion.
Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War.
Glasnost
It was a Soviet policy of open discussion of political and social issues. It was instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s.
Glasnost reflected a commitment of the Gorbachev administration to allowing Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of their system and potential solutions.
The Great Society
A set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65.
The main goals were ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam.
Hot War
Actual fighting between the warring parties. war, warfare - the waging of armed conflict against an enemy; “thousands of people were killed in the war”
Opposite of Cold War (more ideological warfare)
House Un-American Activities Committee
As the Cold War intensified, the frenzy over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare.
HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and rebel activities on the part of private citizens, public employees and organizations suspected of having Communist ties.
Iron Curtain
A political/ideological boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and its allied states.
Jim Crow Laws
They were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation.
They were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws often faced arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death.
Marshall Plan
It was an American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe.
The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of communism.
McCarthyism
It was the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason, especially when related to communism.
The term refers to U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s.
