Cold War Flashcards

1
Q

New World Powers

A
  • The United States had strong agricultural, financial and industrial industries and became the new World Power
  • The USSR emerged as the second world power
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2
Q

Yalta Conference (February 1945) (4)

A
  • The partition of Germany into zones of occupation
  • War reparations
  • The holding of elections in the liberated countries
  • The annexation of the Baltic States and eastern Poland
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3
Q

Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945) (4)

A
  • Division into four zones
  • Denazification was carried out
  • The Nuremberg Trial began
  • Borders with Poland were determined
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4
Q

Pacific Post WWII (3)

A
  • Japan was occupied by the United States
  • Democratization was promoted
  • Korea was divided in two by the 38th parallel,
    under the tutelage of the USA and the USSR
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5
Q

Paris Conference (2)

A
  • 1947
  • Peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland
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6
Q

San Francisco Conference (2)

A
  • June 1945
  • Foundation of the United Nations- Organization for the “maintenance of international peace and security”
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7
Q

United Nations Goals (3)

A
  • Recognition of the right to self-determination of peoples (decolonized process)
  • Development and encouragement of rights and freedoms
  • Promotion of peaceful cooperation in economic, social, cultural, educational and health matters
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8
Q

Structure of the United Nations (4)

A
  • General Assembly and Security Council
  • All member states with equal voting rights
  • Five permanent members with veto rights (United States, France, USSR, China and United Kingdom)
  • Also: International Court of Justice, Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organization
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9
Q

Ostpolitik

A

1970 German policy created by Chancellor Willy Brandt to help normalize relations between capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany

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10
Q

Red Telephone

A

a direct contact line between them Moscow and Washington D.C. between the leaders of the USA and the USSR

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11
Q

The Spirit of Helsinki

A

Security and Cooperation conference between NATO members to stabilize international situation in 1975

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12
Q

Conference of Bandung (3)

A
  • 1955 meeting between China, India, Indonesia and 23 other nations
  • Agreed to not side as communist or capitalist in the Cold War
  • Rejected colonization, supported national liberation movements and worked together in the UN
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13
Q

Three Crisis’ that raised Cold War tensions

A

2nd Berlin crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War

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14
Q

Western Germany (4)

A
  • Federal German Republic (Unified between US, UK and France)
  • Democratic, capitalist
  • USA, UK and France poured money into modernizing it
  • Greater salaries, more consumer goods and greater personal freedom
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15
Q

Eastern Germany (4)

A
  • German Democratic Republic
  • Communist, controlled by USSR
  • Soviet Union extracted resources from the East as War Reparations
  • 3.5 million people left (20% of the population) to go to Western side before the wall construction
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16
Q

First Berlin Crisis

A

The 1948-1949 “Berlin Blockade” in which Stalin blocked access to Berlin through USSR territory (no access to Western Berlin via road, rail or canal)

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17
Q

Berlin Airlift

A

President Truman, and later all the allies, sent Western Berlin supplies such as food and coal via airplane between 1948-1949

In 1949, Stalin lifted the Berlin Blockade and allowed land travel

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18
Q

Second Berlin Crisis (3)

A
  • In November 1958, USSR issued a six month ultimatum to the west
  • Western Troops to be removed from West Berlin and Berlin to be a declared a free city
  • This later led to construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961
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19
Q

Berlin Wall (3)

A
  • Constructed in 1961 to prevent those from Eastern Side travelling towards the West
  • Arose out of tensions from the 2nd Berlin Crisis
  • It was constructed during the height of the Cold War
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20
Q

Cold War Defintion

A

a system of international relations that existed between 1945 and 1991

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21
Q

Western Block (4)

A
  • A democratic political system
  • A capitalist economy with a free market
  • A liberal ideology
  • Most notable led by the United States
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22
Q

Communist Block

A
  • A totalitarian political system
  • A planned economy
  • A Marxist ideology
  • Most notable led by the Soviet Union
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23
Q

Main Aspects of the Cold War (4)

A
  • Arms race
  • Ideological propaganda
  • Subversion and espionage (secret services)
  • Localized wars
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24
Q

Collaboration of the United States and Soviet Union (4)

A
  • Yalta Conference
  • Creation of United Nations
  • Peace Treaties
  • Nuremberg Trials
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25
Q

Eastern Europe (2)

A
  • Communist regimes
  • Subordinates to the Soviet Union
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26
Q

Western Europe (2)

A
  • Democratic, capitalist and liberal
  • Faced with the danger that the economic crisis will extend communism, North Americans offer financial help
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27
Q

Truman Doctrine (2)

A

Truman’s 1947 policy of containment that pledged American “support for democracies against authoritarian threats”, directed at Turkey and Greece under threat from the Soviet Union

Containment policy rather than elimination of communism, better just in USSR but not in Mediterranean

28
Q

Zhdanov Doctrine

A

1947 Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine that created the Cominform, made to spread communism

29
Q

Yugoslavia and Albania

A

both were independent of the Soviet Union, but still communist

30
Q

Greek Civil War

A

Broke out in 1946 between Monarchists (financially supported by the United States) and Communists, (financially supported by Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union)

The monarchists won

31
Q

The end of understanding and trust between the USSR and the USA

A

the Greek Civil War

32
Q

The Marshall Plan (2)

A

A 1948 plan to provide economic aid to Western European suffering economies, as they were a fertile ground for communism

Additionally, the US needed these countries to be wealthy enough to purchase American goods

33
Q

Comecon / Mutual Economic Assistance Council (3)

A

1949 Soviet response to the Marshall Plan that made communist governments:
- Renounce the Marshall Plan
- Coordinate economic policies and assistant plans

34
Q

Spain during this time

A

Under the leadership of authoritarian dictator Francisco Franco, but still opposed to communism

35
Q

NATO (2)

A
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization created in 1949
    as a treaty of collective defense among Western Europe and the United States
  • ORIGINALLY CREATED so Western powers organized together to defend against the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin)’s expansionist ambitions and military power
36
Q

Warsaw Pact (2)

A
  • Soviet Union’s 1955 response to NATO treaty
  • A collective defense between USSR and its Eastern partners
37
Q

Communism in China (2)

A
  • in 1948, the CCP was defeated after a long civil war
  • Kuomintang nationalist, led by Mao Zedong, created the People’s Republic of China
38
Q

Korea (6)

A
  • Divided into North and South after WWII
  • North Korea invades the South in 1950
  • United Nations, through the US intervene
  • China intervenes when conflict reaches Chinese border
  • Americans forces stabilize 38º parallel
  • 1953 armistice is signed
39
Q

United States Regional Defence Treaties (to block communism)

A
  • SEATO (South Asia Defense Treaty)
  • Baghdad Pact
  • Bilateral treaties with Taiwan, South Korea and others
40
Q

USA Anti-Communist Domestic Policy

A
  • Senator McCarthy’s Witch Hunt on his Committee on Anti-American Activities
  • Thousands of people, artists and intellectuals, were sent to prison, exile and labor persecution for being communist sympathizers
41
Q

1953 USSR and US relations (3)

A
  • World powers tried for better relations
  • Nikita Khrushchev (USSR) and Eisenhower (USA) were the new leaders
  • Facilitated conversations and new approaches
42
Q

Reasons for better USSR and USA relations in the 1950s

A
  • New leaders (Nikita Khrushchev and Eisenhower)
  • USSR was a nuclear power
  • Third World Countries remained neutral in the face of communist/capitalist blocks
  • Internal conflicts within the communist/capitalist blocks
43
Q

Suez Canal Crisis (4)

A
  • 1956, when Egyptian president Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal
  • MIlitary intervention from France, UK and Israel, as it was commercially profitable
  • US and USSR pressured France, UK and Israel to withdraw troops, which they did
  • Egypt was granted ownership of the Suez Canal
44
Q

Internal Conflicts of the Communist Block (4)

A
  • 1956 Polish and Hungarian revolt
  • 1958, the Prague Spring
  • Both were repressed by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact
  • Yugoslavia, Albania and China broke relations with the USSR because of this suppression
45
Q

Internal Conflicts of the Western Block (2)

A
  • Issues with French foreign policy
  • Instability of Latin America, where the United States intervened
46
Q

Doctrine of Mass Retaliation

A

USA commits to total nuclear response in the event of an attack from the USSR

47
Q

Cuban Missile Crisis (5)

A
  • Occured in 1959 because of a Cuban Communist Revolution, helped by Soviets
  • In 1961, USA invaded but lost severely (the Failure of the Bay of Pigs)
  • USSR sent military aid, starting the installation of nuclear weapons
  • USA was worried about a communist country near them having nuclear weapons
  • In 1962, Soviets removed their bombs from Cuba as long as the US never invaded Cuba again, crisis averted!
48
Q

Vietnam War French Stage (3)

A
  • A war over colonization between Vietnam and France
  • Started in 1945, as France was weak after WWII
  • France is defeated by the Vietminh (communist and anti-colonial movement of Ho Chi Minh in 1965
49
Q

Geneva Agreements (3)

A
  • Divided Vietnam by the 17º parallel
  • North Vietnam (communist under Ho Chi Minh)
  • South Vietnam (capitalist dictator Ngo Dinh Diem)
50
Q

Vietnam War North American Stage (4)

A
  • Lasted from 1964-1975 with the goal of stopping communist advance in Asia
  • USA helped the South Vietnam militarily, who were against North Vietnam Communist Guerilla (Vietcong)
  • USA used Napalm/Agent Orange on civil population
  • USA defeated, after losing 50,000 men, in 1973 and withdrew
51
Q

Vietnam post-War (2)

A

Unified in 1975 and became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The war spread to Cambodia and Laos

52
Q

New Distention Factors (3)

A
  • The expenses of nuclear arms
  • Pressure of pacifist movements
  • Conversations between the Superpowers
53
Q

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

A

Created and signed by UK, USSR, and USA in 1968 for prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and tech and for peace

54
Q

First SALT Agreement

A

Created in 1972 to reduce atomic arsenal and limit strategic weapons

55
Q

Second SALT Agreement

A

Created in 1979 to reduce atomic arsenal and limit strategic weapons

56
Q

War Diffusion in the 1970s

A

End of Arab-Israeli Wars with Yom Kippur War 1973 and end of Vietnam war led to a period of relaxation and stabilization of the international situation

57
Q

Economic Success of the 1970s (2)

A
  • European Economic community with political and economic power
  • China had growing in the Third World (breaking the unanimity of the blocks)
58
Q

1970s Weakness of the United States (4)

A
  • Poor leadership of President Jimmy Carter
  • Loss of Vietnam War
  • 1973 Oil Crisis (from Arab-Israeli War)
  • Increase in External Debt
59
Q

USSR takes advantages of the the USA in a weakened state (2)

A
  • Deploys intermediate nuclear missiles in Europe
  • Increases aid to revolutionary movements, such as Nicaragua and Angola
60
Q

Sandinista Revolution

A

In Nicaragua in 1979, when Daniel Ortega defeated the Somoza dictatorship and established a socialist regime

61
Q

Islamic Revolution in Iran

A

In 1979, when the Shia clergy (led by Ruhollah Khomeini) expelled the Persian monarchy, which was pro-Western and established an Islamic fundamentalist conservative republic

62
Q

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

A

In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to help prom up the failing communist government they had helped install against the anti communist Muslim guerrillas

63
Q

Effect of Nicaragua, Iran and Afghanistan on USA (5)

A
  • Conservative Reagan Era
  • Aimed to regain world leadership
  • Opt for toughness and aggression
  • Deploying missiles in Europe
  • Higher military spending, such as Defense Initiative “Star Wars”
  • Military intervention in Latin America and Afghanistan
64
Q

Economic and Political Crisis in a the USSR

A
  • Caused by War in Afghanistan and Arms race
  • Soviet and Eastern European population discontent and rejecting communism
65
Q

Government of M. Gorbachev (6)

A
  • A radical change
  • Reduced military spending
  • End of arms race
  • Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe
  • Political reform (Perestroika)
  • Information transparency (Glasnost)
66
Q

M. Gorbachev’s Political Openness (4)

A
  • Democratized Eastern Europe
  • Fall of Berlin Wall (1989)
  • Unification of Germany (1990)
  • Peace agreements and dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991
67
Q

End of the Cold War (2)

A
  • Officially over in 1989 with the Malta Summit
  • Democratic movement throughout the communist world