Cold War

Question 1

What is N.A.T.O.?

Answer 1

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (aka the North Atlantic Alliance - an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states (28 European/2 North American)

Question 2

What was the Warsaw Pact?

Answer 2

A collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War. It provided for a unified military command and the systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other participating countries.

Question 3

What was S.E.A.T.O.?

Answer 3

An international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, of Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines

Question 4

What is Domino Theory?

Answer 4

The theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall

Question 5

What is Truman Doctrine?

Answer 5

The principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or Communist insurrection. First expressed in 1947 by US President Truman in a speech to Congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey, the doctrine was seen by the Communists as an open declaration of the Cold War

Question 6

What is Iron Curtain?

Answer 6

A notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989

Question 7

What is the United Nations?

Answer 7

An intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international coopertion, etc

Question 8

What is McCarthyism?

Answer 8

The practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism, and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner

Question 9

What was JFK’s Frontier?

Answer 9

A domestic and social reform lead by JFK

Question 10

What was Ronald Reagan’s West Berlin Speech about?

Answer 10

Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had encircled West Berlin since 1961 (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”)

Question 11

What did JFK write to Nikita Kruschev in October 1962?

Answer 11

He wrote about resolving the Cuban missile crisis

Question 12

What was the Korean War?

Answer 12

A war fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea

Question 13

What is Civil Defense System?

Answer 13

All nonmilitary actions taken to reduce loss of life and property resulting from enemy action. It includes defense against attack from conventional bombs or rockets, nuclear weapons, and chemical or biological agents

Question 14

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 14

A plan formed by Secretary of State George Marshall stipulating that the US provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe

Question 15

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 15

A confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union that brought the two powers close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba

Question 16

What was Nixon’s detente?

Answer 16

A period in which Cold War tensions eased between the Soviet Union and the US from the late 60s to 1979. Detente was characterized by warm personal relationships between US president Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev

Question 17

What was S.A.L.T.?

Answer 17

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks; a series of bilateral conferences and international treaties signed between the US and Soviet Union. These treaties had the goal of reducing the number of long-range ballistic missiles (strategic arms) that each side could possess and manufacture

Question 18

What was the Yalta Conference?

Answer 18

The WW2 meeting of the heads of government of the US, the UK and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. It was decided that Germany would be divided into four post-war occupation zones, controlled by US, British, French, and Soviet military forces. Berlin would also be divided into similar occupation zones

Question 19

What was the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 19

A conference held in Soviet occupation zone to allow the three leading Allies to plan the post-war peace while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Peace conference of 1919. The participants were the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US. Discussions of German reunification were deferred to a later date

Question 20

What was the Second Red Scare?

Answer 20

A fear-driven phenomenon brought on by the growing power of communist countries in the wake of WW2, particularly the Soviet Union. Many in the U.S. feared that the SU and its allies were planning to forcefully spread communism around the globe, overthrowing both democratic and capitalistic institutions as it went. With the SU occupying much of Eastern and Central Europe, many in the U.S. perceived their fears of communist expansionism as confirmed. The US also feared that communist agents had infiltrated the the federal government and Hollywood

Question 21

What was the Vietnam War?

Answer 21

A conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The US got involved in fear that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia.

Question 22

What was JFK’s involvement in the Vietnam war?

Answer 22

JFK authorized sending an additional 500 Special Forces troops and military advisors to assist the pro-Western government of South Vietnam

Question 23

What was LBJ’s involvement in Vietnam?

Answer 23

After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, LBJ obtained congressional approval to use military force to repel future attacks by North Vietnam

Question 24

What was Nixon’s involvement in the Vietnam war?

Answer 24

Nixon arguably attempted to prolong the Vietnam War during the 1968 presidential campaign in an effort to win the presidency. Once he became president, he sought to establish enough stability in the region for the South Vietnamese government to take over

Question 25

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 25

A 1940’s military operation that supplied West Berlin with food and other vital goods by air after the Soviet Union blockaded the city

Question 26

Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?

Answer 26

An American couple who spied for the Soviet Union. They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapons designs

Question 27

What is 38th parallel?

Answer 27

Roughly demarcates North and South Korea. The line was chosen by US military planners at the Potsdam Conference near the end of WW2 as an army boundry, north of which the USSR

Question 28

What was the Battle of Inchon?

Answer 28

An amphibious invasion and a battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations command

Question 29

What is brinkmanship?

Answer 29

The practice of trying to achieve an advantageous outcome by pushing dangerous events to the brink of active conflict

Question 30

What is peaceful coexistence?

Answer 30

A theory developed and applied by the Soviet Union at various points during the Cold War in the context of primarily Marxist-Leninist foreign policy and adopted by Soviet-allied socialist states, according to which the socialistic bloc could peacefully coexist with the capitalistic bloc

Question 31

What is civil defense?

Answer 31

The organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack and similarly disastrous events

Question 32

What is a fallout shelter?

Answer 32

A building or other structure designed to protect people from radioactive fallout after a nuclear explosion

Question 33

What was the impact of Sputnik?

Answer 33

Sputnik caused fear in the U.S. that they had fallen behind the Soviets so policymakers accelerated space and weapons programs

Question 34

What is mutual assured destruction?

Answer 34

A doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the complete destruction of one another

Question 35

What was the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 35

A failed attack launched by the CIA during the Kennedy administration to push Cuban leader Fidel Castro from power

Question 36

What were the Geneva Accords?

Answer 36

A conference intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the first Indochina War and involved several nations. As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would temporarily be divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country.

Question 37

What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

Answer 37

North Vietnamese warships attacked the U.S.S. Maddox while the destroyer was in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. This led to the US engaging more directly in the Vietnam War

Question 38

What was the Gulf of Tonkin resolution?

Answer 38

A resolution passed by Congress which authorized President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia

Question 39

What was the Tet Offensive?

Answer 39

A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the US to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War

Question 40

What was Vietnamization?

Answer 40

The US policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam

Question 41

Who was Ho Chi Minh?

Answer 41

The president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. Led a long and ultimately successful campaign to make Vietnam independent. He was one of the most influential communist leaders of the 21st century.

Question 42

What was the bombing of Cambodia?

Answer 42

In March 1969 Richard Nixon authorized secret bombing raids in Cambodia under the belief that North Vietnam was transporting troops and supplies through neighboring Cambodia into South Vietnam. He hope that bombing supply routes in Cambodia would weaken the US enemies.

Question 43

What new technology did the US weaponize during Vietnam?

Answer 43

Napalm and Agent Orange