Chapter 15 The Cold War

Nuremberg Trials
Click the card to flip 👆
1 / 32
Terms in this set (32)
Nuremberg Trials
(1945-1949) trials in which an Allied military tribunal tried 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
1947) U.S. president Truman's pledge to provide economic and military aid to countries threatened by communism
Marshall Plan
(1947) 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
(1948-1949) 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
Hydrogen Bomb
a nuclear weapon that gets its power from the fusing together of hydrogen atoms
deterrancethe development of or maintenance of military power to deter, or prevent, an attackArms Racecompetition between nations to gain an advantage in weaponsSputnik(1957) the first artificial satellite; launched by the Soviet UnionBay of Pigs invasion(1961) the failed attempt of Cuban exiles backed by the U.S. to overthrow the Cuban socialist government of Fidel CastroCuban missile Crisis(1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in CubaNonaligned Nationsnations who refused to ally with either side in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet UnionDetenteefforts taken by U.S. president Nixon in the late 1960s and early 1970s to lower Cold War tensionsMartin Luther King Jr.(1929-1968) American civil rights leader; he was a celebrated and charismatic advocate of civil rights for African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. He was assassinated in 1968.Counterculturea rebellion of teens and young adults against mainstream American culture in the 1960sSolidarityan independent labor union founded in Soviet-controlled Poland in 1980Mikhail Gorbachev(1931-) Russian politician; he was the last president of the Soviet Union before the country's collapse in 1991.Glasnost"openness"; refers to a new era of media freedom in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980sPerestroika"restructuring"; restructuring of the corrupt government bureaucracy in the Soviet Union begun by Mikhail GorbachevVelvet Revolution(1989) a quick, peaceful revolution that swept the Communists from power in CzechoslovakiaBoris Yeltsin(1931-) Russian politician and president of Russia in the 1990s; he was the first popularly elected leader of the countryEthnic Cleansingthe elimination of an ethnic group from society through killing or forced migrationInternetan electronic system that allows the linking of millions of individual computers around the worldSaddam Hussein(1937-2006) President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003; he established a brutal dictatorship, suppressed all dissent, and led Iraq into wars with Iran (1980-1990) and Kuwait (1991). He was removed from power in 2003 by U. S.-led forces.Persian Gulf War(1990-1991) war in which U.S.-led forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqal Qaeda"the base"; Islamist terrorist organization responsible for the September 11 attacksOsama Bin Laden(1957-) Founder of al Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001, and other attacks.TalibanIslamist group that took control over much of Afghanistan in the late 1990s; were ousted by the United States invasion of 2001