Learn about a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1947 to 1991. These were the wars and conflicts that took place after WWII.
What was the name of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
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The Cold War ended weeks after the end of WWI.
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Winston Churchill’s “________” speech influenced President Truman’s containment policies.
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Cold War Flashcards
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Cold War Vocabulary
QUESTION
Bay of Pigs Invasion
ANSWER
This failed invasion of Cuba by JFK in 1961 was a force of 1,200 Cuban exiles, backed by the United States, landed at the Bay of Pigs.
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QUESTION
Berlin Airlift
ANSWER
Hundreds of American and British planes carried tons of food, oil, and supplies to the 2 million West Berliners everyday (lasted for a year until Stalin decided to lift the blockade because it wasn't working)
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QUESTION
Brezhnev Doctrine
ANSWER
The Brezhnev Doctrine severely limited reforms by Soviet-bloc countries in the ensuing decades. It was used to justify the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The Soviets sought to prop up the country's communist government in its battle with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas.
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QUESTION
CIA
ANSWER
The Central Intelligence Agency, known informally as “The Agency” and “The Company”, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States.
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QUESTION
Communism
ANSWER
A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.
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QUESTION
Containment Policy
ANSWER
Established by the Truman administration in 1947 to contain Soviet influence.
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QUESTION
Cuban Missile Crisis
ANSWER
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 1 month, 4 days confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union which escalated into an international crisis when American deployments of missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of similar ballistic missiles in Cuba.
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QUESTION
Détente
ANSWER
The relaxation of tension between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China.
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QUESTION
DMZ
ANSWER
Demilitarized zone is an area with no military forces.
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QUESTION
Domino Theory
ANSWER
The political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.
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QUESTION
Enola Gay
ANSWER
The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb.
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QUESTION
Glasnost
ANSWER
A Soviet policy allowing more open discussion of political and social issues, as well as more widespread news and information.
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QUESTION
Gorbachev's Actions
ANSWER
1 Allowed glasnost.
2 Cut military spending.
3 Attended summit meetings.
4 Got rid of Soviet stockpiles of missiles.
5 Pulled troops out of Afghanistan.
6 Allowed other parties to form.
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QUESTION
Guerillas
ANSWER
Fighters who used hit and run attacks.
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QUESTION
Ho Chi Minh Trail
ANSWER
A system of supply routes from the North, which ran through southern North Vietnam, through Cambodia, and into southern South Vietnam.
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QUESTION
INF
ANSWER
Intermediate Nuclear Force; both superpowers agreed to get rid of their stockpiles of missiles and allowed each other to inspect the other side to prevent cheating.
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QUESTION
Iron Curtain
ANSWER
A term popularized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Union's policy of isolation during the Cold War. The barrier isolated Eastern Europe from the rest of the world.
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QUESTION
KGB
ANSWER
The KGB, translated in English as the Committee for State Security, was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 13 March 1954 until 6 November 1991, when it split into the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.
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QUESTION
Khmer Rouge
ANSWER
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
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QUESTION
Marshall Plan
ANSWER
A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe from 1948-1952.
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QUESTION
McCarthy Era
ANSWER
Joseph McCarthy (a senator) started a scare that there were 205 State Department employees who were communist members; got a lot of people in businesses questioned and fired.
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QUESTION
McCarthyism
ANSWER
This is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason, especially when related to communism, without any proper regard for evidence.
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QUESTION
NASA
ANSWER
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is a government agency that directs the American space program.
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QUESTION
NATO Alliance
ANSWER
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
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QUESTION
Non-Aligned Movement
ANSWER
In 1955, as decolonization swept the globe following World War II, delegates from 29 countries met in Bandung, Indonesia, and argued that developing countries should embrace neutralism, abstain from allying with either the U.S or the U.S.S.R, and join together in support of national self-determination against colonialism and imperialism. In 1961 the resulting Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was founded.
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QUESTION
OAS
ANSWER
Organization of American States; promoted economic progress in the Americas by investing in transportation and industry.
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QUESTION
Perestroika
ANSWER
Reconstructing of the Soviet Government and the economy in the 1980's.
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QUESTION
Proxy Wars
ANSWER
A proxy war is an armed conflict between two states or non-state actors which act on the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities.
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QUESTION
Red Scare
ANSWER
A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state.
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QUESTION
SALT
ANSWER
Strategic Arms Limitations Talks, In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union culminated four years of SALT by signing a treaty limiting the deployment of antiballistic missiles (ABM) and an agreement to freeze the number of offensive missiles for five years.
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QUESTION
Space Race
ANSWER
The Space Race was an informal 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union and the United States, to achieve firsts in spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II.
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QUESTION
Sputnik
ANSWER
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.
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QUESTION
Star Wars
ANSWER
President Reagan's proposed weapons system to destroy Soviet missiles from space.
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QUESTION
Summit Meeting
ANSWER
The conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations.
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QUESTION
The 38th Parallel
ANSWER
This was the dividing line between South and North Korea that was established in 1945.
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QUESTION
The Berlin Blockade
ANSWER
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.
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QUESTION
The Berlin Wall
ANSWER
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic on 13 August 1961.
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QUESTION
The Warsaw Pact
ANSWER
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.
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QUESTION
Tiananmen Square
ANSWER
Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with great loss of life.
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QUESTION
Truman Doctrine
ANSWER
The principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or Communist insurrection. First expressed in 1947 by US President Truman in a speech to Congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey, the doctrine was seen by the Communists as an open declaration of the Cold War.
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QUESTION
Tyrant
ANSWER
A cruel and oppressive ruler.
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QUESTION
Vietcong
ANSWER
Vietnamese Guerrillas who opposed the noncommunist government of South Vietnam.
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QUESTION
WMD
ANSWER
Weapons of Mass Destruction is a nuclear, chemical, and biological weapon that can kill tens of thousands of people all at once.
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QUESTION
Yalta Conference
ANSWER
In 1945 Meeting with US president FDR, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and and Soviet Leader Stalin during WWII to plan for post-war.
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Cold War Review Questions
QUESTION
Which Eastern European country was not a satellite nation?
ANSWER
Yugoslavia
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QUESTION
What promise did the Soviet Union break following WWII?
ANSWER
The promise to hold free elections in Eastern European nations
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QUESTION
Which locations did the Iron Curtain start and end at?
ANSWER
Stettin (Baltic) to Trieste (Adriatic)
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QUESTION
Who coined the term Iron Curtain?
ANSWER
Winston Churchill
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QUESTION
What was Truman's policy known as?
ANSWER
Containment
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QUESTION
Which two specific countries were helped by the Truman Doctrine?
ANSWER
Greece and Turkey
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QUESTION
What was the reasoning behind the Truman Doctrine?
ANSWER
Nations looked up towards the U.S. for support in fighting for freedom and if the U.S. failed to provide help and democratic encouragement, the nations would continue with communism and endanger the world.
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QUESTION
What did the Soviet Union do about the Berlin crisis?
ANSWER
They blocked West Berlin from the rest of the world.
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QUESTION
What did Truman do about helping out West Berlin?
ANSWER
He started the Berlin Airlift. By doing this he did not trigger war but would provide aid and supplies to West Berliners.
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