Cold War Era (CH 28)
Terms
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- Berlin Airlift
- American and British relief effort to airlift supplies to West Berliners from 1948 to 1949.
- Domino theory
- belief that if South Vietnam fell to communism, other countries in the region would also fall to communism
- Guerrilla
- fighter who uses hit-and-run attacks.
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- alliance formed in 1949 by the United States and Western European nations to fight Soviet aggression.
- Warsaw Pact
- military alliance, established in 1955, of the Soviet Union and other communist states in Europe.
- Marshall Plan
- American plan to help European nations rebuild their economies after World War II
- Satellite nation
- nation that is dominated politically and economically by a more powerful nation.
- Martial law
- rule by the army instead of the elected government.
- Star Wars
- President Reagan's proposed weapons system to destroy Soviet missiles from space.
- Détente
- policy to reduce tensions between two countries.
- Berlin Wall
- wall built by the communist East German government in 1961 to seal off East Berlin from West Berlin.
- Solidarity
- independent labor union that challenged Poland's communist government.
- SALT Agreement (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)
- treaty between the US and the Soviet Union to limit the number of nuclear warheads and missiles.
- Draft
- law that requires people of a certain age to enlist in the military.
- United Nations
- world organization established in 1945 to provide peaceful resolutions to international conflicts.
- Boat people
- after the Vietnam War, refugees who escaped from Vietnam in small boats.
- Peace Corps
- government organization that sends American volunteers to developing countries to teach or give technical advice.
- Khmer Rouge
- communist party in Cambodia that imposed a reign of terror on Cambodian citizens.
- Escalate
- to expand
- Glasnot
- policy in the Soviet Union of speaking openly about problems.
- Censure
- to officially condemn.
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- international organization that promotes peace and economic progress in the Americas
- Alliance for Progress
- economic aid program for Latin America developed by President Kennedy.
- Demilitarized zone (DMZ)
- area from which military forces are prohibited.
- Truman Doctrine
- President Truman's policy of giving American aid to nations threatened by communist expansion.
- Exile
- person who has been forced to leave his or her own country.
- Perjury
- to lie under oath.
- Cold War
- after World War II, long period of intense rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- government agency that directs the American space program.
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- major Cold War confrontation in 1962.
- 38th parallel
- dividing line between South Korea and North Korea.
- Tet Offensive
- North Vietnamese and Vietcong surprise attack on American forces in Vietnam on the Vietnamese New Year's holiday in 1968.
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- failed invasion of Cuba in 1961 when a force of 1,200 Cuban exiles, backed by the United States, landed at the Bay of Pigs.
- Vietcong
- Vietnamese guerrillas who opposed the noncommunist government of South Vietnam.
- Superpower
- nation with the military, political, and economic strength to influence events worldwide.
- Containment
- the policy of trying to prevent the spread of Soviet influence beyond where it already existed.
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- congressional resolution passed in 1964 that authorized military action in Vietnam
- Summit meeting
- conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations.