Cold War Vocab Flashcards
The first artificial satellite launched into space. Its launch by the Soviets marked the beginning of the Space Race
Sputnik I 1957
Mutrual defense alliance amoung the nations of Western Europe and North America. Designed to contain the spread of Communism
NATO 1949
The US policy of containing the spread of Communism. Containment was the foundation of US foreign policy from 1940s to the fall of the Soviets in 1990s. This policy was conceived by George Kennen, a state department employee and expert on Soviet.
Containment
Cold War competition between US and Soviet for supremecy in technology and spaceflgiht
spacerace
Term introdued by Churchill to descibe the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe after WWII
Iron Curtain
Soviet leader that denounced Stalin in 1956 and improved the Soviets image abroad. (Lost his power in 1964 after failing to improve the Soviet’s economy)
Nikita Khruschev
Treaty between the US and Soviets to limit the number of strategic nuclear missisles in each country. The US Congress did not approve the treaty because the Soviet invasion of Afganistan
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) 1979
Practice under Eisenhower of trying to win internaitonal disputes through willingness to push dangerous situations to the brink of war
brinkmanship
Military crisis between US and Soviet over a secret Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear misscles in Cuba
Cuban Missle Crisis 1962
The first hydrogen bomb, a thousand times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped in Japan, was tested by the US in south pacific in 1952. The Soviets, after their first A bomb in 1949, tested their first Hydrogen bomb in 1952
Development of Hydrogen bombs 1952
President Kennedy’s strategy of considering a varity of military and nonmilitary options when facing foreign policy decisions
Flexable Response
President Truman’s policy of providing economic and military aid to counties threatened by communism
Truman Doctrine 1947
Program developed to promote economic recovery in Western Europe with massive amounts of US financial help
Marshall Plan
Policy of relaxing tensions between the US and Soviets, introduced by Nixon during the early 1970s
detente
Treaty between the US and Soviet to limit offensive nuclear weapons and defensive antiballistic missile system
Stragetic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) 1972
A war of words and threats between the Soviets and US that was marked primarity by a political and economic, rathter than military, struggle between two nations
Cold War
Treaty signed by US, Soviets, and 100 other nations that banned nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater
Limited Test Ban Treaty 1963
After the Soviet invaded Afganistan in dec 1979, President Carter placed an embargo on wheat shipments to Russia, increased spending on defense, and boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow
Soviet Invasion of Afganistan
Term used by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles that implied the US was willing to use nuclear force in response in Communist agression
massive retaliation
President Nixon’s policy of requiring countires threatened by communism to assume most of the military burden, with the US offering political and economic support
Nixon Doctrine
Response of the US and GB to the Soviet’s blockade of the West Berlin. Supplies were sent to West Berlin with countinuous flights of thousands of US and GB airships
Berlin Airlift 1948
President Eisenhower’s policy of reducing the size of the army, developed tactical nuclear weapons, and building strategic air power to employ nuclear weapons. Came to be known as Bigger Bang for the Buck
New Look 1955
Soviet theory under Khruschev that the Soviets could coexist peacefully with the US. Ended in 1960 when the US was caught flying U-2 spy planes over the Soviets
peaceful coexistance
