Cold War Study Guide – Flashcards
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What is United Nations?
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United Nations was a group of 50 countries that was created to protect against aggression
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What is the iron curtain?
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Iron Curtain was a phrase that Winston Churchill used to describe the division of Europe
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What is containment?
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Containment was a U.S. policy that was made to block the influence of the Soviet Union and stop communism expansion
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What is the Truman Doctrine?
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The Truman Doctrine was a policy of helping nations that were being threatened
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What is the Marshall Plan?
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The Marshall Plan was made by George Marshall to provide the necessary goods to countries that needed help after World War II
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What was the Cold War?
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The Cold War was a period of diplomatic hostility between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
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What was NATO?
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NATO was an alliance between the U.S., Canada, and other Western European countries
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What was the Warsaw Pact?
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Warsaw Pact was an alliance between Soviet Union and 7 of their bordering countries
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What is brinkmanship?
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Brinkmanship was a policy stating that if a country was receiving enemy aggression, they'd go to war
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What was the purpose in forming the UN?
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The purpose of forming the United Nations was to protect themselves against aggression
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What was the goal of the Marshall Plan?
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The goal of the Marshall Plan was to help rebuild countries after their loses from WWII
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What were the goals of NATO and the Warsaw Pact?
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The goal of NATO was to protect themselves from Soviet aggression. The goal of the Warsaw Pact was to protect themselves from U.S. aggression
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What factors help to explain why the United States and the Soviet Union became rivals instead of allies?
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The very first reason why the U.S. and the Soviet Union became enemies was because of the nonaggression pact signed in 1939. The U.S. didn't like the fact that they signed it. After that, they just had different views. The U.S. wanted a democracy rather than communism, while the Soviet Union wanted to expand communism
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What were Stalin's objectives in supporting Communist governments in Eastern Europe?
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Through supporting Communist governments in Eastern Europe, Stalin had 3 main goals. One of the goals was to have all of the workers around the world revolt. Another goal was to keep his borders safe and under communism. By doing this, it provides the Soviet Union with more protection. He also wanted keep Germany a divided country. Western Germany was anti-communist while Eastern Germany was communist. If Germany were to become united again, as the U.S. wants, than there is a possibility that Germany will go after the Soviet Union
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Why might Berlin be a likely spot for trouble to develop during the Cold War?
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Berlin is definitely a likely spot for trouble to develop during the Cold War. Before the Cold War started, the U.S. and Soviet Union were having troubles in Western Berlin. When the U.S. removed their forces from Germany, the Soviets set up a blockade. Of course, the U.S. didn't like this, so that would cause some battles to occur in Berlin
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Who was Mao Zedong?
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Mao Zedong was the Communist leader of Northern China
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Who was Jiang Jieshi?
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Jiang Jieshi was a Nationalist leader of Southern China
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What is a commune?
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Commune is a collective farm
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What are Red Guards?
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Red Guards are military units
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What was the Cultural Revolution?
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Cultural Revolution was a revolution that the Red Guards ruled that occurred to make everyone equal
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How did the Chinese Communists increase their power during World War II?
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Chinese communists increased their power by promising to return land to the peasants. Through that, they gained a lot of support from the public. That then led them to take over all of China
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What actions did the Nationalists take during World War II?
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Chinese nationalists dominated Southwestern China
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What was the goal of the Cultural Revolution?
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The main goal of the Cultural Revolution was to make everyone equal
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Why did the United States support the Nationalists in the civil war in China?
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The U.S. helped the Nationalists because they had the same overall goal. The Chinese Nationalists wanted to defeat the Communists, just like the U.S. By helping them, it would make it easier for the U.S. to fulfill their goal of being a democracy
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What policies or actions enabled the Communists to defeat the Nationalists in their long civil war?
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One big benefit that the Communists had over the Nationalists was public support. By having public support, they had no pressure to stop fighting like the U.S. did in Vietnam. Another thing they had was a strong military
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What circumstances printed Mao's Great Leap Forward from bringing economic prosperity to China?
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Mao's Great Leap Forward ended up failing because the peasants saw no reason to work. Since their work was only benefitting the state, they didn't think there was any reason for them to work for something that isn't beneficial to them
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What was the 38th parallel?
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38th parallel was a line that cuts across Korea at 38 degrees
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Who was Douglas MacArthur?
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Douglas MacArthur was the leader of South Korea
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Who was Ho Chi Minh?
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Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese nationalist
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What was the domino theory?
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Domino theory was used to describe how, when Asia was being threatened, they collapsed like dominos, one country to the next
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Who was Ngo Dinh Diem?
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Ngo Dinh Diem was the ruler of South Vietnam (anti-communists)
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What is Vietcong?
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Vietcong were communist guerrillas
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What is Vietnamization?
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Vietnamization was a plan established by Richard Nixon aimed at having U.S. troops leave the war while Vietnam increased their combat role
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What was Khmer Rouge?
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Khmer Rouge were a group of Communist rebels
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What role did the United Nations play in the Korean War?
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The United Nations helped out the Nationalists in South Korea
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How did Vietnam become divided?
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Vietnam got divided at 17 degrees latitude because of the defeat of France
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What was the Khmer Rouge's plan for Cambodia?
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Khmer Rouge wanted to make Cambodia a Communist society
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What role did the policy of containment play in the involvement of the United States in wars in Korea and Vietnam?
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The policy of containment led the U.S. to help out both Nationalist sides at the same time
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Do you think U.S. involvement in Vietnam was justified? Why or why not?
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No, their involvement wasn't justified. I think this because they didn't end up fulfilling their goal anyway. Therefore, they fought a war for nothing
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What was the Third World?
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Third World was made up of developing nations that weren't allied with the U.S. or the Soviet Union
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What are nonaligned nations?
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Nonaligned nations are the independent countries that remained neutral
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Who was Fidel Castro?
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Fidel Castro was Cuba's dictator
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Who was Anastasio Somoza?
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Anastasio Somoza was leader of Nicaragua
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Who was Daniel Ortega?
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Daniel Ortega was the ruler of the Communist Sandinsta rebels
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Who was Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini?
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Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini was a Muslim religious leader that didn't like Iran's new westernization
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How was the Cuban Missile Crisis resolved?
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The Cuban Missile Crisis was resolves Khrushchev made a compromise to have the missiles removed in return for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba again
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What was significant about the 1990 elections in Nicaragua?
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The 1990 free elections were significant because they were the first ever free elections in Nicaragua
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Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan?
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Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan because, when the Muslims revolted, they threatened to overthrow their communist government
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What advantages and disadvantages might being nonaligned have offered a developing nation during the Cold War?
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One advantage would be that they didn't have to choose sides. For this reason, they didn't have to get involved in the war. Although, if they did decide to choose sides, than they would have to get themselves involved in the war
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What similarities do you see among U.S. actions in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Iran?
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Within Nicaragua, Cuba, and Iran, the U.S. always supported the anti-communists
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What were the reasons that Islamic fundamentalists took control of Iran?
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Islamic fundamentalists took control of Japan because many people in Iran were living in deep poverty, even when Iran was being westernized. They felt like the money could've gone to getting people out of poverty rather than building skyscrapers, foreign banks, and modern factories
