The Cold War Flashcards
During WWII what describes the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union?
Uneasy allies
Who was part of the Yalta conference?
Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt
What two things happened at the Yalta Conference?
- Agreed to divide Germany into 4 zones occupied by the French, British, USA, and the Soviet Union.
- Stalin promised to give Eastern European countries free elections after the war.
In June of 1945 the United Nations was established, what was it?
International peace keeping organizations that replaced the League of Nations. New York City
What did the USA and Soviet Union have different views on?
Post war goals
What was the major goal of the Soviet Union?
To shield itself from another invasion from the west and to spread communism.
What did the Soviet Union want to use as a buffer?
Eastern Europe—a wall of protection
What was the major goal of the USA?
To spread democracy in the world
What two things happened at the Potsdam Conference?
- Stalin said he was not going to allow free elections in Eastern Europe.
- He declared that communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world!
What signified the beginning of the Cold War?
When Stalin declared that communism and capitalism couldn’t exist in the same world at the Potsdam conference
Out of the 4 countries who didn’t give back their zone to Germany by 1948?
The Soviet Union
What were the 2 German states?
Federal Republic of Germany- west Germany
German Democratic Republic- east Germany
Cold War meaning?
A struggle over political differences carried on by means short of military action or war. Struggle to see if the political ideas of democracy or communism would rule the world!
Us foreign policy?
Containment- blocking and stopping the spread of communism and spreading democracy
Truman Doctrine?
Gave US aid and support to any country that resisted and rejected communism— Turkey and Greece
Marshall Plan?
Assistance program to rebuild Western Europe after the war, the only requirement was to stay away from communism!
Who was the Marshall Plan named after?
Secretary of State George Marshall
Berlin Airlift—what did the SU demand?
They demanded Berlin. Because it was in the Soviet sector so they set up a blockade around West Berlin
What was West Berlin known as?
The Island of Democracy
What did the US and British so during the Berlin airlift?
They airlifted food and supplies in to the people of West Berlin— soviets gave up and lifted the blockade
What was the significance of the Berlin Airlift?
The first conflict of the war?
Who were the two rival allies during the Cold War?
- NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)- led by the USA, Canada, and Western Europe
- Warsaw Pact- led by the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Not every country joined the alliances some like India and China remained neutral
What was the threat during the Cold War?
Nuclear War
What was developed?
Hydrogen bombs that were thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bombs
Brinkmanship?
The willingness to go to the brink or edge of war created huge tension between the two superpowers
Over the next 40 years what was there?
A build up of nuclear weapons—an arms race
During the space race the Soviets created the first…
ICBM—Intercontinental ballistic missile
During the space race the soviets launched the first…
Unmanned satellite in space—Sputnik
During the space race the USA launched the first…
Spy planes (U-2s)
U-2 Incident?
Shot down over the USSR (Frances Gary Powers)
During the space race the USA was the first to..
Put a man on the moon
In 1959 what happened that concerned the USA?
The communists took over Cuba. Fidel Castro was the leader
Living condition is East Berlin?
Was horrible
Why did they build the Berlin Wall?
Because hundreds of thousands of East Berliners fled to the west to escape communism. So the Soviet Union build a wall up overnight to keep the people in.
What did the Berlin Wall do? And how long was it?
It divided East and West Berlin and was 87 miles long
What did Winston Churchill call the Berlin Wall?
Iron Curtain—separated freedom from tyranny
Bay of Pigs Invasion
JFK gave approval to an overthrow of the communist government
What did the CIA do?
They trained Cubans to invade Cuba
When it failed (training to invade Cuba) what did the Cubans do?
Turned to Soviet Union for protection
Who was the leader of the Soviet Union?
Nikita Khrushchev
Cuban Missile Crisis?
Placed several nuclear missiles in Cuba all pointed at the USA
US reconnaissance plane shot down? Casualties?
Rudolph Anderson—pilot only casualty
Us set up what on Cuba?
Set up a blockade
How long was the blockade?
13 days
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the brink of…
Nuclear war
During Imperialism France controlled…
All of Indochina, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
What was the French Indo China war?
In the 1930’s the communists led by Ho Chi Minh revolted against the French however the revolt was crushed and he had to flee into exile.
In 1941 Japan seized and took over
Vietnam
After the war what did Ho Chi Minh form?
The Vietnam Independence league
What was the goal of the Vietnam Independence league?
To get independence from France
During the war what tactics did the Vietminh use?
They use guerrilla warfare hit and run tactics
Who did the Us support
France democracy
Who did the Soviet Union support?
The communists
Who won the Vietnam war?
The communists
The Usa was greatly concerned under Pres Dwight Eisenhower. Why?
Because of the dominó theory they feared the rest of SE Asia would fall like dominoes to the communists
What did the usa convince the un to do?
To divide Vietnam into 2 parts
South Vietnam did what?
With the help of the usa set up a democratic government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
Vietcong
The communists guerilla led opposition to diem backed by the peasants the looked to take over south Vietnam’s
Two major problems the us army faced in the Vietnam war?
Fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar territory
The south Vietnamese government was very unpopular
US tactics to win war?
Search and Destroy
What was the problem with search and destroy?
They couldn’t find the enemy because of underground tunnels
What did the Us turn to when stymied on the ground?
Air power—bombing known as operation thunder
What was the result of the operation rolling thunder?
It created more peasant opposition
What kind of culture sprung up in the us?
A youth driven counterculture—hippies
Anti war and antigovernment protests mostly college students
Draft dodgers
Those who escaped to Canada
Nicknames for anti war and pro war
Doves vs Hawks
What was President Nixon’s new plan?
Vietnamization the gradual pull f us troops replaced by south Vietnamese
What happened in the Kent state protests
4 college students were killed
Paris Accords?
All us troops pulled out south Vietnam kept independence
What happened in 1975
North reneged and south Vietnam fell to communists
Results of Vietnamwar?
58000 troops died
2 million Vietnamese died
Only was in us history that we lost
What happened to Cambodia
It was taken over by communists
Who was Cambodia led by?
Khmer Rouge Pol pot
Killed over 1.5 m people
