Early Cold War Part I

Question 1

A period of competition, tension, and conflict between the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, that spanned from the end of World War II in 1945 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Answer 1

Cold War

Question 2

A 1945 meeting of the Allied powers—the U.S., the U.K., and the Soviet Union—to discuss the postwar reorganization of Europe and Germany. It resulted in agreements to form the United Nations, divide Germany and Berlin into four occupation zones, and allow the Soviets to keep control of Poland in exchange for free elections.

Answer 2

Yalta Conference

Question 3

A 1945 meeting of the Allied powers—the U.S., the U.K., and the Soviet Union—to discuss the implementation of the agreements made at the Yalta Conference, including reparations for Germany, the demilitarization of Germany, and the occupation and reorganization of Germany. It also resulted in the decision to divide Germany into two parts and to keep Berlin in four occupation zones.

Answer 3

Potsdam Conference

Question 4

The working class; those who own no means of production and rely on selling their labor to survive.

Answer 4

Proletariat

Question 5

A philosophical or political approach that emphasizes the collective rather than the individual, and typically advocates the ownership of property and the means of production by the community as a whole.

Answer 5

Collectivism

Question 6

Nations with the greatest economic and military power, especially the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Answer 6

Superpowers

Question 7

A Cold War policy of the United States to prevent the spread of Communism by forming alliances with other countries, providing economic and military aid, and enacting economic sanctions.

Answer 7

Containment

Question 8

Energy released from the splitting of atoms, as from a nuclear reaction.

Answer 8

Atomic Energy

Question 9

An agency of the United Nations that works to promote the peaceful use of atomic energy and to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Answer 9

UN Atomic Energy Commission

Question 10

A term used to describe the physical and ideological barrier between the Soviet Union and the countries of western Europe, employed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a speech in 1946.

Answer 10

Iron Curtain

Question 11

Political, economic, or cultural dominance or control over another group, nation, or people.

Answer 11

Hegemony

Question 12

A Cold War policy of the United States, announced by President Harry Truman in 1947, promising economic and military aid to any nation threatened by Communism.

Answer 12

Truman Doctrine

Question 13

A program created by the United States to provide economic and military aid to European countries in order to prevent the spread of Communism.

Answer 13

Marshall Plan

Question 14

A plan created by the Soviet Union to provide economic and military aid to Communist countries in Eastern Europe in order to prevent the spread of Capitalism.

Answer 14

Molotov Plan

Question 15

A blockade of the city of Berlin by the Soviet Union in 1948 in an attempt to force the western Allied powers out of the city.

Answer 15

Berlin Blockade

Question 16

A sudden and decisive change of government, usually effected by a small group of people.

Answer 16

Coup d’état

Question 17

Countries under the political or military control of a larger, more powerful nation.

Answer 17

Satellite Nations

Question 18

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European countries, created in 1949 to protect Europe from a possible attack by the Soviet Union.

Answer 18

NATO

Question 19

An alliance of Communist countries in Eastern Europe, established in 1955 in response to the formation of NATO.

Answer 19

Warsaw Pact

Question 20

A conflict between North and South Korea, which began in 1950 and lasted until 1953.

Answer 20

Korean War