question

Afghan War

answer

Failed attempt by USSR to take over Afghanistan - expense/negative public reaction hurt USSR communists - US supported Afghan guerillas

question

Arab Nationalism

answer

Belief that all Arabs should ban together and form one large Arab country. Nasser (leader of Egypt at the time) was major component and leader of this new Arab country. power struggles soon began between countries.

question

Arab-Israeli Conflict

answer

Israel is established as a Jewish state, enraging and uniting Arabs; Israel defeats Arabs in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 - as well as repeated uprisings; gives rives to PLO, Hamas, and Hizbullah (Palestinian terrorist organizations)

question

August 1991 Coup

answer

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Putsch or August Coup, was a coup d'état attempt by a group of members of the Soviet Union's government to take control of the country from Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

question

Balfour Declaration

answer

British document that promised land in Palestine as homeland for Jews in exchange for Jews help in WWI

question

Baltic Republics

answer

The countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.

question

Berlin Airlift

answer

Successful effort by the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city.

question

Berlin Blockade

answer

April 1, 1948 - Russia under Stalin blockaded Berlin completely in the hopes that the West would give the entire city to the Soviets to administer. To bring in food and supplies, the U.S. and Great Britain mounted air lifts which became so intense that, at their height, an airplane was landing in West Berlin every few minutes. West Germany was a republic under Franc, the U.S. and Great Britain. Berlin was located entirely within Soviet-controlled East Germany.

question

Berlin Wall

answer

In 1961, the Soviet Union built a high barrier to seal off their sector of Berlin in order to stop the flow of refugees out of the Communist Soviet zone of Germany. The wall was torn down in 1989.

question

Brezhnev Doctrine

answer

Policy proclaimed in 1968 and declaring that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any Socialist country whenever it determined there was a need.

question

British Balfour Declaration

answer

British document that promised land in Palestine as homeland for Jews in exchange for Jews help in WWI

question

Central Committee

answer

Supposedly the most important body in a communist party; its influence declined as it grew in size and the party needed daily leadership.

question

Centralized planning

answer

An economic system in which the state sets production targets and controls the means of production.

question

Charles de Gaulle

answer

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general, resistant, writer and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

question

Christian Democratic

answer

Consists of the Christian Democratic union (CDU) and the Christian social Union (CSU). Allied parties on the center right. One of Germany's two main political party groupings since 1949. An advocate for Capitalism and of the US.

question

Cold War

answer

The ideological struggle between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States) for world influence. The Soviet Union and the United States came to the brink of actual war during the Cuban missile crisis but never attacked one another.

question

Collapse of the Soviet Union

answer

Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during 1989 - 1991; the Cold War also ended during

question

Collapse of Yugoslavia/Civil War

answer

Ethnic conflicts fought from 1991 to 2001 inside the territory of the former Yugoslavia. These wars accompanied and/or facilitated the breakup of the country, when its constituent republics declared independence, but the issues of ethnic minorities in the new countries (chiefly Serbs in central parts and Albanians in the southeast) were still unresolved at the time the republics were recognized internationally. The wars are generally considered to be a series of separate but related military conflicts which occurred in, and affected, most of the former Yugoslav republics

question

COMECON

answer

An economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world.

question

Cominform

answer

The Communist Information Bureau was an organization, usually known as the Cominform, created by Stalin in 1947 ostensibly for the purpose of exchanging information among the communist parties of Europe.

question

Containment

answer

American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world

question

Cuban Missile Crisis

answer

an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

question

Dayton Accords

answer

The peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the 3 1⁄2-year-long Bosnian War, one of the Yugoslav Wars.

question

Decolonization

answer

The collapse of colonial empires. Between 1947 and 1962, practically all former colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence.

question

Detente

answer

Relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China

question

Devolve

answer

Transfer or delegate (power) to a lower level, especially from central government to local or regional administration/degenerate.

question

East Germany/West Germany

answer

West Germany- Western powers, uk, britain, america East Germany- Soviet powers

question

Ethnic Cleansing

answer

Process in which more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region

question

Euro

answer

The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet strict criteria, such as a budget deficit of less than three per cent of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than sixty per cent of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and interest rates close to the EU average. In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which would result in the introduction of the euro.

question

European Coal and Steel

answer

The European Coal and Steel Community was used as a common market by 6 member countries for steel and coal products by eliminating tarriffs and other trade barriers

question

European Commission

answer

Executive body of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU

question

European Economic

answer

A regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration between its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957.

question

European Union

answer

an international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members

question

Evil empire

answer

The phrase evil empire was first applied to the Soviet Union in 1983 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who took an aggressive, hard-line stance that favored matching and exceeding the Soviet Union's strategic and global military capabilities, in calling for a rollback strategy.

question

Fifth republic

answer

The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system. It is France's third-longest-enduring political regime, after the pre-revolutionary Ancien Régime and the Third Republic.

question

Formation of Israel

answer

Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) served as head of the pre-state government. The British mandate over Palestine officially terminated at midnight, May 14, 1948. Earlier in the day, at 4:00 p.m., David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the creation of the State of Israel and became its first prime minister.

question

France/Algeria Conflict

answer

A war between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France. An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, and the use of torture by both sides.

question

France/Vietnam Conflict

answer

The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam. They viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against forces from France and then America, and later against South Vietnam.

question

Gdansk strike

answer

Protest strikes in Poland in response to high meat prices. Ended in the workers' right to unionize

question

German Democratic

answer

In response to the formation of a united West Germany, the Soviets created this territory, also known as East Germany

question

German Federal Republic

answer

When Germany was divided, the United States, France, and Great Britain combined their territories to form West Germany

question

Glasnost

answer

Policy of openness initiated by Gorbachev in the 1980s that provided increased opportunities for freedom of speech, association and the press in the Soviet Union.

question

Helsinki Accords

answer

The Final Act of the Helsinki conference in 1975 in which the thirty-five nations participating agreed that Europe's existing political frontiers could not be changed by force. They also solemnly accepted numerous provisions guaranteeing the human rights and political freedoms of their citizens.

question

Indian National Congress

answer

One of two major political parties in India; the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party.

question

Invasion of Afghanistan

answer

The Soviet-Afghan War lasted over nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. Insurgent groups ("the Mujahideen"), who received aid from both Christian and Muslim countries, fought against the Soviet Army and allied Afghan forces.

question

Invasion of Hungary

answer

The Soviet occupation of Hungary, following its defeat in World War II, lasted for 45 years, the length of the Cold War. Starting March 1990 the Red Army was leaving Hungary, with the last troops withdrawn from Hungary on June 19, 1991

question

Iron Curtain

answer

Imaginary line dividing USSR-Soviet block from the West

question

Jihad

answer

A holy struggle or striving by a Muslim for a moral or spiritual or political goal

question

Korean War

answer

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

question

Marshall Plan

answer

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

question

NATO

answer

An international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security

question

Open Door policy

answer

The Open Door Policy is a term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note, dated September 6, 1899 and dispatched to the major European powers. The policy proposed to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, keeping any one power from total control of the country, and calling upon all powers, within their spheres of influence, to refrain from interfering with any treaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals in the matter of harbour dues or railroad charges.

question

Pan-African Congress

answer

The Pan-African Congress gained the reputation as a peace maker for decolonization in Africa and in the West Indies. It made significant advance for the Pan-African cause. One of the demands was to end colonial rule and end racial discrimination, against imperialism and it demanded human rights and equality of economic opportunity.

question

Paris Summit

answer

The 1957 Paris summit was the first NATO summit bringing the leaders of member nations together at the same time. The formal sessions and informal meetings in Paris, France took place on December 16-19, 1957.

question

Party Secretary

answer

In politics, a party secretary is a senior official within a political party with responsibility for the organizational and daily political work. In most parties, the party secretary is second in rank to the party leader.

question

Peaceful coexistence

answer

Term used by Khrushchev in 1963 to describe a situation in which the United States and Soviet Union would continue to compete economically and politically without launching a thermonuclear war.

question

Perestroika

answer

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

question

Politburo

answer

The executive committee for a number of communist political parties

question

Prague Spring

answer

Was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union

question

Radical Islam/Wahhabism

answer

The perspective often associated with those seeking to purge "degenerate" foreign elements from Muslim society and establish a "pure" Islamic state based strictly on the sharia (islamic law) and added to politics

question

Referendums

answer

A general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.

question

Revolutions of 1989

answer

The Revolutions of 1989 were part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of Communist rule in the Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term "Springtime of Nations" sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848.

question

Secret Speech of 1956

answer

Speech before the 20th Communist Party Congress, in which Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his crimes against the Soviet Union. Hardliners feared a purge of old -Stalinists (much like earlier ones under Stalin). Purges never occurred under Khrushchev. Whew. 2 unintended consequences: 1) Eastern Europeans got the impression that they could "leave the team" 2) Lefties began re-writing the history of communism: Now Stalin was a perversion of the early Leninist revolution.

question

September 11 2001 & related attacks

answer

Series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States, the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in U.S. history.

question

Solidarity

answer

Polish trade union created in 1980 to protest working conditions and political repression. It began the nationalist opposition to communist rule that led in 1989 to the fall of communism in eastern Europe.

question

Southeast Asia Treaty

answer

an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia. Primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military.

question

Sputnik

answer

The world's first space satellite. This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US.

question

Strategic Arms Limitation

answer

Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union to limit the number of nuclear warheads and missiles.

question

Suez Canal Incident 1956

answer

An invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power. After the fighting had started, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations forced the three invaders to withdraw. The episode humiliated Great Britain and France

question

Summit Meeting

answer

A meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security, and a prearranged agenda.

question

Superpowers

answer

A very powerful and influential nation (used especially with reference to the US and the former Soviet Union when these were perceived as the two most powerful nations in the world)

question

Supreme Soviet

answer

Parliament of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; elected by universal suffrage; actually controlled by Communist party; served to ratify party decisions.

question

Taliban/Al Qaeda

answer

Fundamentalist Muslim group, gained power, restored order, but imposed an extreme form of Islam on Afghanistan, supported al-Qaeda

question

Tass

answer

The central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It had a monopoly on official state information which was delivered in the form of TASS Report.

question

Third World

answer

Term applied to a group of developing countries who professed nonalignment during the Cold War.

question

Three Crises of 1956

answer

Three crises in 1956 revealed to both superpowers, and to their allies, the extent and limits of actions they would take to protect their perceived interests. Egyptian president Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal resulted in a war in which neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were involved, yet both superpowers acted after the fact to change the terms of the peace. The United States demonstrated complete intolerance for intervention by the western European powers in affairs beyond Europe. In Poland, the USSR permitted a modestly reformist communist leadership, as long as Poland remained a member of the Warsaw Pact and cooperated with Moscow. In Hungary, by contrast, the USSR toppled an overly independent communist government; the US failed to back up its promises of assistance to Eastern Europeans seeking liberation from Moscow.

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 many deaths.

question

Treaty of Brussels

answer

The Treaty of Brussels was signed on 17 March 1948 between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as an expansion to the preceding year's defence pledge, the Dunkirk Treaty signed between Britain and France. As the Treaty of Brussels contained a mutual defence clause, it provided a basis upon which the 1954 Paris Conference established the Western European Union.

question

Treaty of Maastricht

answer

The Maastricht Treaty undertaken to integrate Europe was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9-10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty. Upon its entry into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission, it created the European Union and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro.

question

Treaty of Rome

answer

In 1957 the six nations of the Coal and Steel Community signed the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community, generally known as the Common Market

question

Truman Doctrine

answer

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology

question

UN police action

answer

The United Nations starting a military action without declaration of war; against violators of international peace and order

question

Vietnam War

answer

A Cold War-era proxy war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War (1946-54) and was fought between North Vietnam—supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies—and the government of South Vietnam—supported by the United States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North, fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region.

question

Vietnamization

answer

President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawl of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces

question

Warsaw Pact

answer

Treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania

question

Alexander Dubcek

answer

-In January 1968, the reform elements in the Czechoslovak Communist Party gained a majority and voted out the long-time Stalinist leader in favor of Alexander Dubcek, whose new government launched dramatic reforms -He and his allies believed that they could reconcile genuine socialism with personal freedom and internal party democracy -Local decision making by trade unions, managers, and consumers replaced rigid bureaucratic planning, and censorship was relaxed -Although Dubcek remembered the lesson of the Hungarian revolution and constantly proclaimed his loyalty to the Warsaw Pact, the determination of the Czechoslovak reformers to build what they called "socialism with a human face" frightened the hard-line Communists -The Eastern bloc countries launched a concerted campaign of intimidation against the Czechoslovak leaders, and in August 1968, 500,000 Russian and allied eastern European troops suddenly occupied Czechoslovakia

question

Boris Yeltsin

answer

First leader of the Russian Republic. HIs pro-democracy reaction when Gorbachev's push for reform was held off by the Communist establishment was a rallying point for Russian democratic supporters.

question

Constantin Chernenko

answer

A Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985. Chernenko was also Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 11 April 1984 until his death.

question

David Ben Gurinon

answer

The primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel.

question

Helmut Kohl

answer

a West German chancellor Helmut Kohl skillfully exploited the historic opportunity on their doorstep. He represented a ten-point plan for a step by stem unification in cooperation with both East Germany and the international community. He then promised the ordinary citizens of a struggling, bankrupt East Germany an immediate economic bonanza. (1044)

question

Ho Chi Minh

answer

A Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

question

Imre Nagy

answer

Hungarian Communist Party leader who attempted to end association with the USSR which lead to the 1956 Hungarian revolt.

question

Lech Walesa

answer

A Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. He co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.

question

Leonid Brezhnev

answer

Replaced Khrushchev

question

Marshal Tito

answer

Yugoslav statesman who led the resistance to German occupation during World War II and established a communist state after the war (1892-1980)

question

Mikhail Gorbachev

answer

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. Wanting reform, he renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine, pulled troops out of Afghanastan, supported Glasnost, and urged perestroika; but all this failed.

question

Mohandas Gandhi

answer

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.

question

Nicolae Ceacescu

answer

Communist dictator in Romania

question

Nikita Khrushchev

answer

ruled the USSR from 1958-1964; lessened government control of soviet citizens; seeked peaceful coexistence with the West instead of confrontation

question

Ronald Reagan

answer

President, 1981-1989, who led a conservative movement against détente with the Soviet Union and the growth of the federal government; some people credit him with America's victory in the Cold War while others fault his insensitive social agenda and irresponsible fiscal policies.

question

Vaclav Havel

answer

Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936)

question

Vladimir Putin

answer

Russian statesman 'chosen' as president of the Russian Federation in 2000

question

Wojciech Jarulzelski

answer

In December 1981, Communist leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski suddenly struck, proclaiming martial law, arresting Solidarity's leaders, and "saving" the nation

question

Yuri Andropov

answer

Brezhnev's successor, long time chief of secret police, tried to invigorate the communist system.

question

How did the United States and the Soviet Union come to dominate Europe after 1945?

answer

The US and USSR dominated Europe because the traditional powers of Europe, UK, France, and Germany had all been destroyed by WW2. Germany was divided and occupied. France was recovering from the German occupation of 40-44, and the war bankrupted the British Empire. None of these states were in a position to assume a leadership role in Europe.

question

How would you define the policy of containment?

answer

The policy of containment began with Harry Truman as he watched the Soviets begin to force the states of Eastern Europe to become Communist puppet states of the Soviet Union. He did it by backing anti-Communist forces around the globe to try and prevent Communism from spreading. He supported anti-Communist forces in Greece, Turkey, Italy, and South Korea.

question

In what areas of the world did the United States specifically try to contain Soviet power from 1945 to 1982? Why were 1956 and 1962 crucial years in the Cold War?

answer

Greece, Turkey, Italy, and South Korea. In Poland demonstrations by workers demanding better conditions began on June 28 1956. The Berlin Crisis ended in the summer of 1962.

question

Why was Khrushchev's Secret Speech of 1956 so important?

answer

The speech was the nucleus of a far-reaching de-Stalinization campaign intended to destroy the image of the late dictator as an infallible leader and to revert official policy to an idealized Leninist model.

question

How did Khrushchev's policies and reforms change the Soviet state after the repression of Stalin?

answer

Khrushchev believed that many of Stalin's policies, such as the Purges and Collectivisation, had been genuinely unacceptable and that there had to be a break with the Stalinist past. Khrushchev was well aware that the Soviet economy had stagnated under Stalin. He wanted to get rid of the command economy that Stalin had created. He also wanted to reduce Stalinist central planning and replace it with more freedom of expression and local initiative while concentrating more on production of consumer goods.

question

Why did many people consider Khrushchev reckless?

answer

He alienated much of the party elite by moving ministries to the regions; he alienated the military with the Cuban Missile Crisis (they were mostly against sending the missiles to Cuba); and he alienated ordinary Soviet citizens by appearing boorish and uncultured on the World stage.

question

Why did the nations of Europe give up their empires?

answer

Their claim to be the messengers of democracy did not go well with their policies towards the colonies. Western education gave an opportunity to the natives the importance the mother countries had attached to representative institutions and peoples' role in government. It was the growth of political consciousness that made the people of the colonies to clamour for self rule and freedom.

question

Why did world war ii affect the movement toward decolonization

answer

It diverted the attention of the colonized countries, which gave the colonized people a chance to revolt and fight for their independence.

question

How did Gandhi lead india toward independence

answer

Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet against British rule in India. Britain's Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet.

question

How did French decolonization policies differ from Britain's?

answer

The British made more peaceable withdrawals, whereas the French tried to hang on to the colonies which resulted in some fairly bitter conflicts - such as Algeria & Indochina.

question

How did the US become involved in Vietnam

answer

The USA wanted to prevent areas of the world falling under Communist influence. The Cold War was at its height in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when the French appealed to the USA for aid. The US government saw Vietnam as another Korea.

question

What internal political pressure did the Soviet Union experience in the 1970s and early 1980s

answer

The biggest preessure was the economic/social collapse - the system wasn't working and failing to meet basic needs. In an era of mass communication the people could see the differences between East and West - the genii was out of the bottle and was not going back in.

question

What steps did the Soviet government take to relieve those pressures

answer

Pressure was exerted from outside - the Solidarity campaign in Poland for example gave hope to those within the Union who were disaffected. The reforms of Peretroika and Glasnost was all too little too late - and eventually with border security breaking down in the old buffer states the whole thing came apart.

question

What was the "Brezhnev Doctrine"?

answer

A policy proclaimed in 1968 and declaring that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any Socialist country whenever it determined there was a need.

question

What role did Gorbachev's attempted reforms play in the collapse of the Soviet union

answer

His reforms were just too late, when border security broke down, the whole came away.

question

What were the major events in Eastern Europe-particularly Poland- that contributed to the collapse of communism

answer

The relative overemphasis of military support vs. economic needs, particularly in Russia proper but also endemic to the Warsaw Bloc as a whole. The relative economic collapse of the Soviet collectivist system proper. The military/economic impositions placed on the "Warsaw Pact" nations by the USSR, in contrast to the Marshall Plan and similar policies implemented shortly after WW2. Chronic and systematic central planning in a command economy (economy by plan) contrasted with (economy by the people) where self-interest dominates the economic course of events vs. necessarily state-interests. Lack of infrastructure and economic reinvestment - this is a problem for every major economy but in the old Warsaw bloc states, deteriorating conditions did not allow for the agressive reinvestment over time. The Polish communists dropped efforts to impose Soviet-style collectivization on the peasants and to break the Catholic church.

question

What were the domestic challenges to the new confederation of independent states

answer

The major domestic challenges to the new confederation of independent states were the risks of deterioration of housing markets and household balance sheets.

question

Was the former Yugoslavia a national state?

answer

There was no real sense of national unity, because of the deep religious and ethnic divisions.

question

Why did it break apart and slide into civil war? How did the West respond to the crisis?

answer

It survived WW2 but became a communist country part of the iron curtain separating East and West Europe - but always at a slight remove fron the Soviets - Tito the leader of the partisans who took control kept a tight reign on the country and held it together. After he died the cracks appeared and with the disintegration of communism - coupled with economic failure (widespread strikes etc) the break up seemed inevitable. The west, phobic about communism welcomed it as it had the collapse of the Caucescu regime in Romania. Not so welcome was the violence and ethnic cleansing that brought another holocaust to Europe.

question

How did the American response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, divide the NATO alliance?

answer

Europeans didn't like the US decision to invade Iraq, which was finalized after 9/11. Europeans are more dependent on arab oil and trade, and closer to the arab world hence more likely to feel its effects than the US.

question

Why do some European nations feel able to dissent from the US position in the Middle East when they rarely did so during the Cold War?

answer

Europeans are likely to dissent from US decisions intended to benefit Israel or oppose the arab popular will. Basically the difference is that europeans are more mindful of their real national interests and less dominated by pro-Israel elements who would sacrifice those interests on behalf of Israel.

question

What were the major causes for the rise of radical political Islam?

answer

he West was used to getting its oil for practically nothing - until one day in the 1970's the various states woke up to the fact and realised they could make serious money to develop their countries - which is what they did. As in Asia the Cold War created tension between the East and West and the ME was one area where this was formenting trouble. Britian had the mandate for the area but had its own problems and wanted out. The sloppliy arranged drawing of borders (lines in the sand) left the region rather unstable - and the flash point of the Jewish state in Palestine creted real issues - as Temple Mount in Jerusalem is a holy site of Islam.

question

In what ways is the present US intervention in the Middle East a result of decolonization and in what ways are other factors at work?

answer

America did not colonize the Middle East, of course - although its support for the State of Israel might be seen as amounting to much the same. Its interference in Iran - supporting the Shah - caused the tensions there - resulting in the fiasco of the Carter administration and the hostage crisis,which then prompted the US to side with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War. Having in effect created Saddam Hussein they lost control of him and ended up fighting two Gullf Wars as a result.

Chapter 29 Vocab and Questions – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards