Cold War and European Union Flashcards
Post World War 2 The Welfare State Cold War Crises The Fall of Communism European Union
Potsdam Conference
The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdam, outside of Berlin, in July 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe, but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.
Germany divided, national borders redrawn.
Atomic Bomb
Started the Nuclear Age in 1945. Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
United Nartions
Replaced the League of Nations in 1945. Focused on keeping the peace throughout the world. Permanent members of the Security Council include: USA, England, USSR, France, Taiwan, China (1971)
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization est. 1949
Defended members from attacks by the USSR
US anti-USSR military thing
Warsaw Pact
USSR’s version of NATO est. 1955
Protects its members from the Allied intervention
Nuremberg Trials
1945
the official trial of 24 German officers after world war 2.
10 were convicted and executed
Marshal Plan
US President Truman’s
$13 Billion in financial aid to the Allies to rebuild after World War Two destruction
Konrad Adenauer
The first chancellor of united West (USA side) Germany by free elections
Walter Ulbricht
Became the first Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (Berlin), serving as this position from 1950 until 1971. He also served as the head of the East (USSR side) German State from 1960 until his death in 1973.
Tito
Communist leader of Yugoslavia, refused soviet occupation. US provided him with money
Nikita Khrushchev
Took control of the USSR in 1955
- focused on consumer goods
- denounced Stalin and his crimes in his “Secret Speech”
- a lil more freedom
Welfare State
Base on belief that eliminating poverty and homelessness, providing medical services for all, ensuring dignity for elderly and extending education opportunities for all that wanted them.
-first seen in Germany
Berlin Airlift
July 1948
- Soviets blocked off access to Berlin
- No supplies got to the East Berlin side (USA)
- The Allies flew in supply
- Stalin backed down
Mao Zedong
The Communist leader of North China
1949- took over all of China and established the Peoples Republic of China
The Korean War
North- Communist (USSR) South- Republic (USA!) 1950, North invaded South 1951, US pushed to communist back up north --divided Korea
Sputnik
World’s first satellite, released by the Soviet union. Led to the technology race b/w US and the USSR
Berlin Wall
1961- Built to keep eastern Berliners from leaving to the west side
torn down 1989
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviets sent missiles to Cubs where they could hit any par of US in easter hemisphere. US blockaded Cuba until Soviets took out the weapons, which they did. higest tensions of the cold war
KGB/ CIA
The USSR’s secret police (originally called the Cheka)
Vietnam War
Aprolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States
Leonid Brezhnev
Soviet statesman who became president of the Soviet Union (1906-1982)
- focused on consumer goods
Alexander Dubceck
The new Communist leader in Czechoslovakia, he initiated a program of democratic reforms saying that he wanted to create “socialism with a human face.” Brezhnev, alarmed by Dubcek’s reforms called on the other Warsaw Pact countries to invade Czechoslovakia and remove Dubcek from power.
“Prague Spring”
In what became knows as the Prague Spring, the government of Czechoslovakia, under Dubcek, began to experiment with a more liberal communism. Dubcek expanded the freedom of discussion and other intellectual rights at a time when they were being suppressed in the Soviet Union.
-soviets invaded Prague
“Brezhnev Doctrine”
Assertion that the Soviet Union and it allies had the right to intervene in any society whenever they saw the need. The Brezhnev Doctrine justified the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Lech Walesa
The people of Poland were the first to test Gorbachev’s new policies. Led by Walesa, Polish workers formed a democratic trade union called Solidarity. He refused to negotiate through any of the government controlled unions.
Pope John Paul II
1978- helped organize opposition to wards communism
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail S. Gorbachev attempt to reform the Soviet System, His primary goal was to revive the Russian economy in order to raise the country’s standard of living. Under the policy of perestroika or “restructuring” they proposed major economic and political reforms of the various centralized economic ministries.He also allowed for glasnost or “openness” in public discussion and criticism. Lastly, a third new policy demokratizatsiya, or democratization
glasnost
Communist Party policies Policy initiated by premier Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid 1980s. Glasnost resulted in new openness of speech, reduced censorship, and greater criticism.
Olympic Boycotts
1984- soviets boycotted L.A Olympics
Velvet Revolution
A peaceful protest by the Czech people that led to the smooth end of communism in Czechoslovakia.
Boris Yelstin
He emerged as the strongest leader within the new commonwealth. As president of Russia, he was head of the largest and most powerful of the new states. Russian Parliament opposed Yeltsin personally and his policies of economic and political reform. He suspended Parliament in 1993. However, the military backed Yeltsin and he surrounded the parliament building with tanks and troops.
President of the Russian Republic in 1991. Helped end the USSR and force Gorbachev to resign.
Disintegration of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia was a country created after World War I and it contained several different ethnic and religious groups. The Soviet Union made it a satellite nation after World War II, making the groups get along. When the USSR collapsed in 1989, the rival groups began to fight as the country broke up into several countries (Serbia, Croatia, etc.).
Treaty of Maastricht
Created the European Union, a more formal economic, political, and social alliance. it created the Euro, the common currency of nearly all EU member nations. A first step toward what Winston Churchill called the United States of Europe.
European Union
Single market, free trade zone encompassing 27 European countries
2002- Euro
CAP
Common Agriculture Policy
- gave money to farms
- only European produce in Europe
