world history Flashcards
Nuremberg Trials
Trials in which an Allied military tribunal tired several dozen top Nazi and military officials; many were executed for war crimes
Cold War
An era of high tension and bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the decades following World War II.
Iron Curtain
term coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line dividing Communist countries in the Soviet Bloc from countries in Western Europe during the Cold War
Truman Doctrine
U.S. President Truman’s pledge to provide economic and military aid to countries threatened by communism
Marshall Plan
Plan for the economic reconstruction of Europe after World War II
Containment
the United States policy adopted in the 1940s to stop the spread of communism by providing economic and military aid to countries opposing the Soviets.
Berlin Airlift
- A program in which the United States and Britain shipped supplies by air to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of all routes to the city.
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization; a defensive military alliance of twelve Western nations formed in 1949
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance of the Soviet-dominated countries of Eastern Europe, established in 1955
Arms Race
Competition between nations to gain an advantage in weapons
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The failed attempt of Cuban exiles backed by the U.S. to overthrow the Cuban socialist government of Fidel Castro.
Deterrence
The development of or maintenance of military power to deter, or prevent, an attack
Detente
Efforts taken by the U.S. President, Richard Nixon, in the late 1960s and early 1970s to lower Cold War tensions
Glasnost
“Openness”; refers to a new era of media freedom in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s.
Perestroika
“Restructuring”; restructuring of the corrupt government bureaucracy in the Soviet Union begun by Mikhail Gorbachev
