The contemporary world Flashcards
Soviet leader at the start of the Cold War
Joseph Stalin
What kind of leader is Mao Zedong
Chinese Communist leader
What kind of leader is Fidel Castro
Cuban Communist leader
What kind of leader is Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese Communist leader
leader of Solidarity
Lech Walesa
Where did American- trained Cuban exiles tried to invade Cuba?
Bay of Pigs
The Soviets launched the first artificial satellite into Earth’s orbit in 1957. What was the name of the satellite?
Sputnik I
Allied leaders made agreements about how to divide Berlin after World War II during which conference?
Yalta
What was the Cold War “thaw” of the 1970s called?
détente
What was the name of the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in Eastern Europe?
Warsaw Pact
What body of the United Nations seeks to keep peace in the world and has five permanent members who have veto power over some decisions?
Security Council
What gave President Lyndon Johnson extensive authority to increase American involvement in the Vietnam War?
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
What was the name of the first free trade union in a Communist country?
Solidarity
The initial invasion of South Korea by the North Koreans in June of 1950 drove the Allied troops back to what location?
the Pusan Perimeter
What was the name of the series of talks between the United States and the Soviet Union to reduce the number of nuclear weapons each held?
SALT
What plan allowed the United States to give billions of dollars in aid to rebuild post-World War II Europe to prevent the growth of Communism?
Marshall Plan
During which event did the United States blockade Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from reaching the island?
Cuban Missile Crisis
When the Soviets cut off access to West Berlin by land, the city was supplied by air for almost a year thanks to what event?
Berlin Airlift
What group was formed by the Western Allies and their partners in 1949 to face the growing Soviet threat?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
the Communists defeated the Nationalists, who took refuge on the island of Taiwan
China
the Prague Spring of 1968 was crushed by the Soviet Union and four Warsaw Pact nations
Czechoslovakia
Who shot the American U-2 spy plane in 1960
Soviet Union
the Soviets were never able to take full control of the country due to American-backed Islamic rebels
Afghanistan
Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church gave strength to the people of what nation
Poland
the last president of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev
the American military commander in the Korean War
Douglas MacArthur
the president of Egypt during the Suez crisis
Gamal Abdel Nasser
the American president during the Cuban Missile Crisis
John F. Kennedy
the American president who first adopted the policy of containment
Harry Truman
The Amazon River can be found on which continent?
South America
The Great Lakes can be found on which continent?
North America
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago are off the coast of which country?
Venezuela
Angel Falls can be found on what continent?
South America
Where can Andes mountains be found
West side of South America
the largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of surface area
Lake Superior
What nation is Honduras
South American nation
What nation is Suriname
Central American nation
What nation is Greenland
North American nation
Where do North and South America meet?
Isthmus of Panama
Voodoo is a folk religion practiced by many people in the Caribbean, especially in which nation?
Haiti
Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Jamaica are part
Caribbean Island
Which country’s name means “The Savior”?
El Salvador
What is the official language of Brazil?
Portuguese
In addition to Aymara, what are the official languages of Peru? Select all that apply.
Quechua
Spanish
joined Mexico and the United States to form NAFTA
Canada
the region that includes Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador
Central America
a founding member of OPEC
Venezuela
the government fought the British over the Falkland Islands in 1982
Argentina
The Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean are a part of what country?
Ecuador
What is the official language of Suriname?
Dutch
The island of Hispaniola is shared between Haiti and which other nation?
the Dominican Republic
Colonists in Latin America relied on which of the following to keep sugar plantations running?
enslaved Africans
The Gobi Desert can be found on which continent?
Asia
Which Latin American island was the only nation to gain independence from a successful slave uprising?
Haiti
The Great Rift System can be found on which continent?
Africa
The Great Barrier Reef can be found on which continent?
Australia
The Danube River can be found on which continent?
Europe
the longest river in Europe
Volga River
the tallest mountain in Africa
Mount Kilimanjaro
the longest lake in the world
Lake Tanganyika
the longest river in the world
Nile River
What continent is Morocco
Africa
What is the name of the location where Europe and Africa nearly touch between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea?
Strait of Gibraltar
Asia and Africa touch at which location?
Isthmus of Suez
What ocean is Australia located
Indian Ocean
officially took over from the European Community when the Maastricht Treaty took effect
European Union
Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution
China
one of the Baltic Republics, formerly part of the U.S.S.R.
Latvia
apartheid was abolished there in the 1990s
South Africa
its members are the nations of Southeast Asia
ASEAN
Islam is the predominant religion of the nations of this region
Middle East
Some European nations what type of monarchy
constitutional monarchies
Which African nation is the world’s newest nation?
South Sudan
Who was an incredibly brutal Communist regime in Cambodia.
Khmer Rouge
the tallest mountain in the world
Everest
located in Africa, near the equator
Congo River Basin
forms part of the boundary the between Europe and Asia
Ural Mountains
the largest desert in the world
Sahara
What is the name of the Pacific region that stretches from Hawaii, to New Zealand, to Easter Island?
the Polynesian Triangle
During which Chinese dynasty was the Forbidden City built?
Ming
Timbuktu was a major center of trade, learning and art for which African Kingdom?
Mali
