The Cold War Flashcards
What was the Cold War?
A period of conflict between the Soviet Union and the US that did not ever break into full scale war
What is the difference between cold and hot wars?
Cold wars use only words, hot wars use weapons
What caused the Cold War?
The USSR wanted to turn other countries Communists as a way to protect themselves from future wars, and the US wanted to stop communism from spreading.
What is containment?
This is how the US was going to stop the spread of communism.
What was US plan for containment?
We would use either money or fighting to stop communism anywhere it sprang up throughout the world.
What was USSR plan for containment?
They would try to get countries to become communist
What was NATO?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This was a group of friendly countries who promised to protect each other from the spread of communism and the Soviet Union
What was Warsaw Pact?
This was the alliance of communist countries and was controlled by the Soviet Union.
How was the following events part of containment?
-Cuban missile crisis
The Soviets tried to ship nuclear weapons to communist Cuba, and we refused to let the ships in
How was the following events part of containment?
-Vietnam war
The communist North Vietnamese and Vietcong, backed by the Soviet Union, were fighting to control the capitalist South Vietnam. The US backed the South to stop the whole country from becoming communist.
How was the following events part of containment?
-Korean war
The communist North, backed by communist China, were fighting to control the capitalist South Korea. The US backed the South to stop the whole country from becoming communist.
How was the following events part of containment?
-Marshall plan
When countries in Europe began to seeing a rise in communism in their own countries, the US gave them billions of dollars to improve their country so communism would seem less appealing.
How was the following events part of containment?
-Berlin airlift
The Soviet Union cut off water, electric, and trade to West Berlin, and dared the US to do something about it. Instead of fighting, we flew in all the supplies the country would need for an entire year.
What was the Arms Race?
Both the Soviets and the Americans were both worried the other would build superior weapons which could destroy whole countries
The United States and the Soviet Union began building more nuclear weapons and ways to deliver them
What is Mutually Assured Destruction?
If one country attacks the other, the response would ensure both sides are destroyed
Neither side wanted to attack because of this