cold war vocab Flashcards
Laissez-Faire
a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering.
Communist
An economic system in which all means of production are owned by the people
Democracy
America is a democracy that has a capitalist economic system, free elections, & competing political parties
Truman Doctrine
the United States helped nations that were threatened by communism.
Reparations
the compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state.
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built by the communist government of East Berlin in 1961. The wall separated East Berlin and West Berlin. When it was knocked down this symbolized the end of the Cold War.
Containment
blocking the Soviets from spreading communism
Berlin Airlift
June 24, the Soviet Union made a bid for control of Berlin by blockading all land access to the city. From June 1948 to May 1949
Warsaw Pact
Each nation promised to defend any other member that was attacked. The Soviets and the countries of Eastern Europe made a similar agreement.
NATO
The United States, Canada, and several countries in Western Europe formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Brinkmanship
They produced more and more nuclear weapons and developed new ways to deliver them. Both sides were willing to go to the brink, or edge, of war.
Sputnik
the world’s first human-made satellite.
marshall plan
This plan gave food and other aid to European countries to help them recover from the war.
arms race
the hydrogen bomb. They produced more and more nuclear weapons and developed new ways to deliver them
Domino Theory’
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.
Iron Curtain
Communist governments were in place in these lands: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia. This divided Europe between East and West.
Totalitarianism
Under Stalin, the Soviet Union took control of all aspects of both public and private life
Capitalism
An economic system in which money is invested with the goal of making more money (profit)
Space Race
The United States then began spending huge amounts of money to improve science education.
In 1949 the United States and European countries worked together to form an alliance for protection against Communist aggression called N.A.T.O. What does N.A.T.O stand for?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Who was the dictator that controlled the Soviet Union?
Joseph Stalin
Which event signaled the end of the Cold War?
Berlin wall coming down
A system where the government owns the factories and other natural resources AND controls the production of goods is known as
Communism
The Allied victory in World War II led to the emergence of TWO global superpowers. What were those TWO superpowers?
USA AND Soviet Union
