1.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Russian author critical of the Soviet regime but also of Western materialism; published trilogy on the Siberian prison camps. The Gulag Archipelago.
2.
Berlin Wall: Built in 1961 to halt the flow of immigration from East Berlin to West Berlin; immigration was in response to lack of consumer goods and close Soviet control of economy and politics; torn down at end of cold war in 1991.
3.
Cold War: The state of relations between the U.S. and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies between the end of WW2 and 1990; based on creation of political spheres of influence and a nuclear arms race rather than actual warfare.
4.
eastern bloc: Nations favorable to the Soviet union in eastern Europe during the cold war- particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and East Germany.
5.
European Union: Began as European Economic community (or common Market), an alliance of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, to create a single economic entity across national boundaries in 1958; later joined by Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Finland, and other nations for further European economic integration.
6.
Green movement: Political parties especially in Europe, focusing on environmental issues and control over economic growth.
7.
Harry Truman: American president from 1945 to 1952; less eager for smooth relations with the Soviet Union than Franklin Roosevelt; authorized use of atomic bomb during WW2; architect of American diplomacy that initiated the cold war.
8.
iron curtain: Phrase coined by Winston Churchill to describe the division between free and communist societies talking shape in Europe after 1946.
9.
Marshall Plan: Program of substantial loans initiated by the U.S. in 1947; designed to aid Western nations in rebuilding from the war's devastation; vehicle for American economic dominance.
10.
Nikita Khrushchev: Stalin's successor as head of U.S.S.R. from 1953 to 1964; attacked Stalinism in 1956 for concentration of power and arbitrary dictatorship; failure of Siberian development program and antagonism of Stalinist led to downfall.
11.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): created in 1949 under U.S. leadership to group most of the western European powers plus Canada in a defensive alliance against possible soviet aggression.
12.
Solidarity: Polish labor movement formed in 1970s under Lech Walesa; challenged U.S.S.R. dominated government of Poland.
13.
technocrat: New type of bureaucrat; intensely trained in engineering or economics and developed to the power of national planning; came to fore in offices of governments following WW2.
14.
Warsaw Pact: Alliance organized by Soviet Union with is eastern European satellites to balance formation of NATO by Western powers in 1949.
15.
welfare state: New activism of the western European state in economic policy and welfare issues after WW2; introduced programs to reduce the impact of economic inequitably; typically included medical programs and economic planning.
