World War II

Question 1

Containment

Answer 1

the action of keeping something harmful under control or within limits.

Question 2

Cold-war

Answer 2

a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular.

Question 3

Truman Doctrine

Answer 3

the principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or communist insurrection.

Question 4

NATO

Answer 4

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of European and North American democracies founded after World War II to strengthen international ties between member states—especially the United States and Europe—and to serve as a counter-balance to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

Question 5

Marshall Plan

Answer 5

A program by which the United States gave large amounts of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II.

Question 6

Warsaw Pact

Answer 6

A military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe. Organized in 1955 in answer to NATO, the Warsaw Pact included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.

Question 7

Cuneiform

Answer 7

denoting or relating to the wedge-shaped characters used in the ancient writing systems of Mesopotamia, Persia, and Ugarit, surviving mainly impressed on clay tablets.

Question 8

Berlin Wall

Answer 8

Fortified concrete and wire barrier that separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

Question 9

Khrushcev

Answer 9

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was a politician who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War.

Question 10

Mau Zedong

Answer 10

Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung, also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary and founding father of the People’s Republic of China.

Question 11

Cuban Missile

Answer 11

A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over the presence of missile sites in Cuba; one of the “hottest” periods of the cold war.

Question 12

Arm race

Answer 12

a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons, especially between the US and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Question 13

Satellite States

Answer 13

a political term that refers to a country that is formally independent, but under heavy influence or control by another country.

Question 14

Domino Theory

Answer 14

the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall.

Question 15

East Germany

Answer 15

Former nation in north-central Europe, officially known as the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990, when East and West Germany were reunited.

Question 16

West Germany

Answer 16

West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990.

Question 17

The People’s Republic of China

Answer 17

a republic consisting mainly of the island of Taiwan off the SE coast of mainland China

Question 18

The Great Leap Forward

Answer 18

an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1958 to 1962.

Question 19

The Cultural Revolution

Answer 19

The Cultural Revolution was a chaotic mass movement in the People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong launched it in 1966, claiming that elitists were undermining the government and Chinese society.

Question 20

The Gang of Four

Answer 20

a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials.

Question 21

The Reed Guards

Answer 21

a group of middle school students in Beijing named themselves “Chairman Mao’s Red Guards.”

Question 22

Bay of Pigs

Answer 22

On April 17, 1961, 1400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.

Question 23

Space race

Answer 23

the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration.

Question 24

The Iron Curtain

Answer 24

the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.

Question 25

Sputnik I

Answer 25

each of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which (launched on October 4, 1957) was the first satellite to be placed in orbit.

Question 26

PRI party

Answer 26

a Mexican political party founded in 1929, that held power uninterruptedly in the country for 71 years from 1929 to 2000, first as the National Revolutionary Party, then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution.

Question 27

Samosa

Answer 27

a triangular savory pastry fried in ghee or oil, containing spiced vegetables or meat.

Question 28

Sandinsta

Answer 28

a member of a left-wing Nicaraguan political organization, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza.

Question 29

Guerilla

Answer 29

a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces.

Question 30

Pinochet

Answer 30

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean general, politician and the military ruler of Chile between 1973 and 1990; he remained the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 1998.

Question 31

Fidel Castro

Answer 31

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008.

Question 32

Batista

Answer 32

Batista is a Spanish or Portuguese surname (although in Portuguese more common in the spelling Baptista), literally meaning “batiste”. It is also used as a middle name.

Question 33

Juan Peron

Answer 33

Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine lieutenant general and politician.

Question 34

Eva Peron

Answer 34

María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952.

Question 35

Organization of American States

Answer 35

a continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperatio.

Question 36

Doomsday clock

Answer 36

The Doomsday Clock is a symbol which represents the likelihood of a human-caused global catastrophe.

Question 37

Sphere of influence

Answer 37

a country or area in which another country has power to affect developments although it has no formal authority.

Question 38

Cooperatives

Answer 38

a farm, business, or other organization that is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits or benefits.

Question 39

Richard Nixon

Answer 39

Richard Milhous Nixon was an American politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974, when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office.

Question 40

Henry Kissinger

Answer 40

Henry Alfred Kissinger is an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Question 41

Operation Bootstap

Answer 41

the name given to a series of projects which transformed the economy of Puerto Rico into an industrial and developed one.

Question 42

Prague Spring

Answer 42

a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Question 43

Duvalier

Answer 43

Haitian physician and dictaton.

Question 44

Salvador Allende

Answer 44

Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician, known as the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections.

Question 45

Detente

Answer 45

the easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries.

Question 46

Dissidence

Answer 46

protest against official policy; dissent.

Question 47

Helsinki Accords

Answer 47

The Helsinki Final Act was an agreement signed by 35 nations that concluded the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki, Finland. The multifaceted Act addressed a range of prominent global issues and in so doing had a far-reaching effect on the Cold War and U.S.-Soviet relations.