Unit 11: Cold WarI
Study Guide – KEY
What happened to Japan
after the war?
What happened to
Germany?
United Nations
Cold War
What were the major
differences between the
USSR and the US? (type
of govt and economy)
Containment
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
NATO
Warsaw Pact
Name: ______________________
Block ______________
Date: ________________
Occupied by the United States for awhile, became democratic
Divided into 2 countries: communist East Germany (controlled by the
USSR) and democratic West Germany (allied with the US). Berlin, the
capital, was also split into two parts: East Berlin (communist) and West
Berlin (democratic – the “donut hole of democracy”). In 1961, the Soviets
built a wall around West Berlin to keep East Germans from escaping to the
West.
Created after WWII as a way for all the nations of the world to solve issues
peacefully. Sort of like the League of Nations after WWI, but the US played
a strong leadership role in the UN.
It was a “battle” between the Soviet Union and the United States for “control”.
The Cold War lasted from the end of World War II until the collapse of the
Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union represented starkly
different fundamental values.
The United States represented democratic political institutions and a
generally free market economic system. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian
government with a communist (socialist) economic system.
Do not let communism spread anywhere else. Not an attempt to destroy
Communism – just didn’t want it to spread. This goes along with the
“Domino Theory” – that if one country falls to Communism, then all the
neighboring countries would fall to Communism as well.
The Truman Doctrine of ―containment of communism‖ was a guiding
principle of American foreign policy throughout the Cold War, not to roll it
back, but to keep it from spreading and to resist communist aggression into
other countries.
Europe lay in ruins, and the United States launched the Marshall Plan, which
provided massive financial aid to rebuild European economies and prevent
the spread of communism
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a defensive
alliance among the United States and western European countries to prevent
a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.
Soviet allies in Eastern Europe formed the Warsaw Pact as a response to
NATO, and for nearly 50 years, both sides maintained large military forces
facing each other in Europe.
Berlin Airlift
In 1948, Stalin blockaded (closed off) access to West Berlin, and cut off
their food supplies, transportation, electricity, etc. Stalin wanted to force
the Western allies to leave West Berlin, so the USSR could control all of
East Germany. Under President Truman, the US and allies flew in supplies
to West Berlin by airplane for over a year. Stalin eventually gave up and
opened access to West Berlin.
McCarthyism/Red Scare
Senator Joseph McCarthy played on American fears of communism by
recklessly accusing many American governmental officials and other citizens
of being communists, based on flimsy or no evidence. This led to the coining
of the term McCarthyism—the making of false accusations based on rumor or
guilt by association.
The Rosenbergs & Alger
Hiss
Fall of China – 1949
US citizens who were put on trial for being communist spies and giving
nuclear secrets to the USSR during the “Red Scare” of the early 1950s.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death. Hiss was put in prison.
Communist leader Mao Zedong won a civil war in China, defeating the proUS nationalists. This “fall” of China to communism frightened the US.
Korean War
After communist North Korea invaded South Korea, American military forces
led a United Nations counterattack that drove deep into North Korea itself.
Communist Chinese forces came into the war on the side of North Korea, and
although the war threatened to widen, it eventually ended in a stalemate with
South Korea free of communist occupation.
38th Parallel
The dividing line between North and South Korea, both before and after
the Korean War. It is still the dividing line today.
Massive Retaliation
The policy of the US (and USSR) in the Cold War of building so many nuclear
weapons, that neither side could win a nuclear war. Even if one side
started the war, the other side would still be able to strike back (retaliate,
or counter-attack) and destroy the other side. This made everyone too
afraid to start a war. Also called Mutual Assured Destruction.
The policy of aggressively pushing the other side to the brink (or edge) of
war, because you think they will back down first.
Communist leader who takes over Cuba in 1959. After this communist
revolution in Cuba, the US tries to overthrow Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs
invasion. Castro becomes an ally of the USSR, which leads to the Cuban
Missile Crisis.
Brinksmanship
Fidel Castro
Bay of Pigs
Cuban Missile Crisis
Who was president
during the Cuban Missile
Crisis?
Ho Chi Minh
North Vietnam & Viet
Cong
South Vietnam
Kent State Killings
Vietnam War
Fidel Castro led a communist revolution that took over Cuba in the late 1950s.
Many Cubans fled to Florida and later attempted to invade Cuba and
overthrow Castro. The Bay of Pigs invasion failed
In 1962, the Soviet Union stationed missiles in Cuba, instigating the Cuban
Missile Crisis. President Kennedy ordered the Soviets to remove their
missiles, and for several days the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
Eventually, the Soviet leadership ―blinked‖ and removed their missiles.
John F. Kennedy
Communist leader of North Vietnam
North Vietnam was Communist (led by Ho Chi Minh). The Viet Cong were
people in the South who sympathized with the Communists and fought
against the US in the south (guerrillas/rebels, etc)
The pro-western part of Vietnam that the US tried to keep from becoming
Communist. South Vietnamese leaders were very weak.
Site of big anti-war protests in the early 1970s, where college students who
were protesting the Vietnam War were shot and killed by the Ohio National
Guard.
Eisenhower started sending advisors to Vietnam, and then the American
military buildup in Vietnam began under President John Kennedy. After
Vietnamization
Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the buildup was intensified under President
Lyndon Johnson.
Nixon started trying to get out of the war with his policy of “Vietnamization”.
Or pulling out American troops and turning the war back over to the South
Vietnamese. Failed, because the SV army and leaders were not capable of
defeating the North Vietnamese.
Who was President at the Richard Nixon – signed a “peace treaty” with North Vietnam in 1973, but
end of Vietnam war?
then withdrew all US personnel and troops in 1975 when Communist North
Vietnam took over the whole country.
What did Nixon do with
Visited China – the first time a US President had made an official visit to
China in 1972?
China since it became Communist in 1949. This opened relations between
China and the US, and led to a period of “détente” – or easing of tensions.
Watergate
Scandal that forced President Richard Nixon to resign from office. Nixon
participated in a cover up of a political crime committed by his staff, and
lied about it to Congress. He would have been impeached, but he resigned
before that could happen.
What was the impact of
This led the American people to lose trust in their government and their
Watergate on American
leaders.
society?
What was the impact of
Lots of defense industries and military bases, like the Pentagon and
the Cold War on Virginia? Hampton Roads Navy Bases.
How did the US “win” the Pres. Reagan increased military and economic pressure on the Soviet Union
Cold War?
by building new weapons systems. The USSR could not fund military
expenses to compete with the US, in part because their socialist economy
was inefficient. Also, there was growing nationalism in Soviet republics –
they wanted independence from the USSR.
What was one of
President Kennedy pledged in his inaugural address that the United States
President Kennedy’s
would ―” pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
famous quotes, and what friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of
does it mean?
liberty.”‖ In the same address, he also said, “Ask not what your country can
do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Ronald Reagan
President of the US from 1980 – 1988. Lowers taxes, increases military
spending, puts pressure on the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. (“Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!”)
Mikhail Gorbachev
Leader of the USSR at the end of the Cold War. Worked with Ronald
Reagan on arms control, and put into place political reforms (glasnost) and
economic reforms (perestroika) in the Soviet Union.
Glasnost
Political reform in the USSR to make it more “open” (democratic) .
Glasnost means “openness”. Reforms were made by Mikhail Gorbachev
Perestroika
Economic reforms in the USSR to make it more free-market; mmeans
“economic restructuring”. Reforms were made by Mikhail Gorbachev
Fall of the Berlin Wall
1989 – Symbolic end of the Cold War. The communist East German
government opens the gate between East and West Berlin, and the citizens
literally tear down the wall.