unit 8 Flashcards
Big Three
Stalin Churchill and Roosevelt (leaders of the Allied Powers of World War II)
Tehran Conference
Meeting among leaders of the United States Britain and the Soviet Union in 1943; agreed to the opening of a new front in France
Yalta Conference
Meeting of Roosevelt Churchill and Stalin; Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War
Potsdam Conference
The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States Britain and the Soviet Union was held outside Berlin in July 1945; Truman Churchill and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements (including the division of Germany) soon led to the onset of the Cold War
Harry Truman
Became president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan
Cold War
A conflict between the US and the Soviet Union; never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years
Dwight Eisenhower
United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany; as president warned about nuclear build-up of US and Soviet Union
Self-determination
Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves
Hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear bomb which uses the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen; far more powerful than an atomic bomb
Military-industrial complex
Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union address; he feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending
United Nations
An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace security and cooperation
Iron Curtain
A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII restricting their ability to travel outside the region
Satellite countries
Eastern European countries that remained under the control of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era; most were drawn together militarily by the Warsaw Pact; later attempted political or cultural rebellion such as Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968 faced invasion by Soviet forces
World revolution
Extreme leftist belief that communist values should be spread to all countries of the world to free the workers and poor from control by the capitalist systems and must be overthrown; unfair traditional governments should be replaced by unions and workers cooperatives
Containment
American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world
Truman Doctrine
A policy that stated the U.S. would support any nation threatened by Communism
Non-Aligned Movement
The group of nations that didn’t side with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War
Mutual assured destruction
Idea that both the US and the Soviet would face certain destruction in a nuclear war
Sputnik
First artificial satellite; launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space; led to the creation of NASA and the Space Race
Marshall Plan
A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe; had stipulation of anti-communist pledge for nations who used the loans
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)
An economic organization of Communist states meant to help rebuild Eastern Bloc countries from World War II destruction under Soviet auspices
Proxy War
A conflict in which the feuding powers use third parties as substitutes instead of fighting each other directly
Berlin Airlift
Joint effort by the US and Britain to fly food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city
Berlin Wall
Barrier set up in 1961 to separate East and West Berlin; the physical separation of capitalist and communist ideologies in Germany
Korean War
Conflict that began with North Korea’s invasion of South Korea and came to involve the United Nations (primarily the United States) allying with South Korea and the People’s Republic of China allying with North Korea
Vietnam War
A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States
Domino Theory
A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control
Bay of Pigs
An unsuccessful invasion of Cuba in 1961 sponsored by the United States; its purpose was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 crisis that arose between the United States and the Soviet Union over a Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba
Angola
A former colony of Portugal; at independence ethnic fighting resulted in the US and the Soviet Union throwing their support behind different forces and fighting a proxy war.
Contra War
Covert (secret) military operation against anti-Western Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua; the stated goal was to stop flow of arms through El Salvador; the US heavily backed the Contras while the Soviets backed the Sandinistas
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
A group of 28 countries that has agreed to protect each other in case of attack by communist forces; founded in 1949
Warsaw Pact
An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations in response to the NATO
Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO)
An alliance of the U.S. and other countries similar to NATO but in Southeast Asia; felt obligated to protect South Vietnam from communist aggression
Central Treaty Organization (CENTO)
Members were the U.S. Great Britain Turkey Iran and West Pakistan; treaty to improve U.S. relations and cooperation with Latin and South America
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1963 nuclear-weapons agreement which banned aboveground nuclear tests
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
An international treaty signed in 1968 that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons
Hot Line
Direct telephone line between the White House and the Kremlin set up after the Cuban Missile Crisis
Antinuclear Weapons Movement
Consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups that oppose nuclear power nuclear weapons and/or uranium mining
Douglas MacArthur
American general who commanded allied troops in the Pacific during World War II; led the US and UN-backed South Korean troops in the Korean War
Lyndon B. Johnson
US President during Vietnam who extended troops into Vietnam; believed in the domino theory
John F. Kennedy
President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Nikita Khrushchev
A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis; famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia
Land reform
Breakup of large agricultural holdings for redistribution among peasants
Commune
A collective farming community; in the context of communism peasants are assigned to work on large government-owned farms
Theocracy
A government controlled by religious leaders; Iran after the 1979 Revolution is a prime example
Mao Zedong
Chinese Communist leader from 1949 to 1976
Great Leap Forward
Started by Mao Zedong; combined collective farms into People’s Communes failed because there was no incentive to work harder ended after 2 years; disastrous famines followed
Red Guards
Radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966; often wore red armbands and carried Mao’s Little Red Book
White Revolution
The term used by the Shah to describe reforms in Iran between the end of World War II and the downfall of his regime in 1979
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi
Dictator-ruler of Iran from 1941 to 1979; was supported by the United States throughout most of the Cold War due to his anti-communist stance; overthrown during the Iranian Revolution in 1979
Mohammed Mossadegh
Prime Minister of Iran before being overthrown in CIA coup accused of treason and convicted as a Communist
Haile Selassie
Emperor of Ethiopia and symbol of African independence; fought the Italian invasion of his country in 1935; aligned with Western powers during the Cold War; later his people distrusted his close relationship with the US
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Member of a military and civilian group who opposed Selassie in 1974 and overthrew him in Ethiopia; declaring the country socialist and began to align with the Soviet Union; resigned and fled to Zimbabwe in 1991
Kwame Nkrumah
Founder of Ghana’s independence movement and Ghana’s first president
Charles de Gaulle
French general and statesman who became very popular during World War II as the leader of the Free French forces in exile; brought a referendum to the people of France and Algeria to settle the question of Algerian independence
Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese communist statesman who fought the Japanese in World War II and the French until 1954 and South Vietnam’s Western-friendly government during the Vietnam War until 1975
Gamal Abdel Nasser
He led the coup which toppled the monarchy of King Farouk and started a new period of modernization and socialist reform in Egypt; nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956
One-party state
A political system in which one party controls the government and actively seeks to prevent other parties from contesting for power; a prime example is Ghana under Nkrumah
Algerian Civil War
Violence that began in reaction to one-party rule in Algeria that lasted from 1991-2002
Algerian War for Independence
Began in 1954 with Algerians campaigning for independence from France; France initially resisted this movement out of concern for the many French settlers in the colony
Suez Crisis
July 26 1956 Nasser (leader of Egypt) nationalized the Suez Canal Oct. 29 British French and Israeli forces attacked Egypt; UN forced British to withdraw; made it clear Britain was no longer a world power
Biafran Civil War
1967-1970; a movement by the Igbo to fight for their independence from the new country of Nigeria; created more violence and ethnic-based conflict
Quiet Revolution
A period of intense social political and economic change in Quebec; Quebecois began to assert their rights and affirm and promote their language and culture (1960-1966)
Muslim League
An organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India’s Muslims which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations
Organization of African Unity (OAU)
An organization started in 1963 by thirty-two newly independent African states and designed to prevent conflict that would lead to intervention by former colonial powers
Viet Cong
A communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam that fought its government and was supported by North Vietnam
Six Day War
(1967) short conflict between Egypt and Arab allies against Israel; won by Israel; took over the Golan Heights the West Bank of the Jordan River; and the Sinai Peninsula
Yom Kippur War
Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October 1973 (on Yom Kippur); Israel managed to repel the attack
Camp David Accords
A peace treaty between Israel and Egypt where Egypt agreed to recognize the nation state of Israel; in return Egypt got the Sinai Peninsula back
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
This organization formed in 1964 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Palestinians in Israel
Fatah
A Palestinian political and military organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state
Hamas
A militant Islamic fundamentalist political movement that opposes peace with Israel and uses terrorism as a weapon
Khmer Rouge
A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975 under the leadership of Pol Pot
Kashmir
A region of northern India and Pakistan over which several destructive wars have been fought
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sri Lankan leader (and world’s first female Prime Minister); ran for office after her husband was assassinated; continued his socialist economic policies
Indira Gandhi
Daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first Prime Minister); became prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977; moved to strengthen India’s economy and manufacturing; resisted Sikh separatist movements and was assassinated in 1984
Benazir Bhutto
Twice prime minister of Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s; first ran for office to avenge her father’s execution by the military clique then in power; struggled to right Pakistan’s downturned economy; assassinated in 2007
Julius Nyerere
President of Tanzania who advocated an African form of socialism based on cooperative agriculture literacy campaigns and free education
Metropole
A large city of a former colonial ruler that attracts immigrants from all over their former colonies (examples: London Paris many cities of the US)
Wladyslaw Gomulka
Communist leader who attempted to make Poland less dependent on the Soviet Union
Imre Nagy
Hungarian Communist Party leader who attempted to end association with the USSR which lead to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
Prague Spring
In 1968 Czechoslovakia under Alexander Dubcek began a program of reform; promised civil liberties democratic political reforms and a more independent political system; Soviet Union invaded the country and put down the short-lived period of freedom
Alexander Dubcek
Communist Party Secretary of Czechoslovakia; loosened strict rule permitted criticism of government made the government more democratic (Prague Spring)
Brezhnev Doctrine
Soviet Union and its allies had the right to intervene in any socialist country whenever they saw the need
Irish Republican Army (IRA)
A militant organization of Irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerrilla warfare in an effort to drive British forces from Northern Ireland and achieve a united independent Ireland
Ulster Defense Association
A protestant organization in Northern Ireland that fought against the IRA
Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA)
A revolutionary group of northern Spain who used terrorist attacks to force the government to grant territorial independence
Abimael Guzman
Known as “Presidente Gonzalo” Founder of the Shining Path in Peru; was a philosophy professor who spread his ideas to his students; believed in popular justice and rejected human rights
Shining Path
A terrorist group formed in Peru in the late 1960s as a splinter group from the communist party of Peru
Martin Luther King Jr.
U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader; noted orator; opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations; assassinated in Memphis Tennessee; Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964)
Nelson Mandela
ANC leader imprisoned by Afrikaner regime in South Africa for nonviolent antiapartheid movement; released in 1990 and elected as president of South Africa in 1994
Kent State University
An Ohio university where the National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War on May 4 1970 wounding nine and killing four
Ronald Reagan
US President who referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” and caused tensions to flare between the superpowers; created a missile defense program to counter Soviet nuclear missiles attacks
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet statesman who initially fanned tensions with the US before correcting his foreign policy bringing about an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms (glasnost and perestroika)
Détente
A policy of reducing Cold War tensions
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)
A series of meetings in the 70s in which leaders of the US and the Soviet Union agreed to limit their nations’ stocks of nuclear weapons
Perestroika
A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society
Glasnost
A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
Nuclear arms reduction treaty signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Popularly known as “Star Wars” President Reagan’s SDI proposed the construction of an elaborate computer-controlled anti-missile defense system capable of destroying enemy missiles in outer space
Communist Bloc
The group of Eastern European nations that fell under the control of the Soviet Union following World War II.
Cultural Revolution
Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party and China of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.
