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
Under the Truman Doctrine, the United States helped nations that were threatened by communism.
Reparations
Stalin wanted huge reparations from Germany, and a ‘buffer’ of friendly states to protect the USSR from being invaded again.
Marshall plan
The United States also adopted the Marshall Plan in 1947. This plan gave food and other aid to European countries to help them recover from the war.
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
Truman began a policy of containment—blocking the Soviets from spreading communism.
Berlin Airlift
The United States and Britain responded with the Berlin airlift. On 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, U.S. and British planes airlift 1.5 million tons of supplies to the residents of West Berlin. After 200,000 flights, flying food and supplies into the city for 11 months. Finally, the Soviets lifted the blockade.
Warsaw Pact
The Soviets and the countries of Eastern Europe made a similar agreement. It was called the Warsaw Pact.
Nato
The United States, Canada, and several countries in Western Europe formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was a military alliance. Each nation promised to defend any other member that was attacked.
Brinkmanship
Both sides were willing to go to the brink, or edge, of war. This became known as brinkmanship.
Sputnik
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first human-made satellite.
Arms Race
Three years later, both superpowers had an even more deadly weapon—the hydrogen bomb. Soon both nations were involved in an arms race. They produced more and more nuclear weapons and developed new ways to deliver them
Domino Theory
The domino theory was a Cold War policy that suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states, each falling like a perfectly aligned row of dominos With the exception of Laos and Cambodia, communism failed to spread throughout Southeast Asia.
