Word Wall

Cold War

Cold War Period of conflict, tension

and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s.

NATO North Atlantic Treaty

Organization; military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. System of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Containment Foreign policy strategy of the

United States in the early years of the Cold War. Its aim was to stop what is called the ‘domino effect’ of nations moving politically towards Soviet Union-based communism, rather than European-American-based capitalism.

Truman Doctrine Proclamation by U.S.

President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947. It stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey economically and militarily to prevent their falling under Soviet control.

Marshall Plan Primary plan of the United States

for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the allied countries of Europe, and repelling communism after World War II. The initiative was named for Secretary of State George Marshall.

United Nations International organization whose

stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. The UN was founded in 1945 to replace the League of Nations.

Berlin Blockade and Airlift First major crises of the new Cold War.

Soviets blocked railroad and street access by the three Western powers to the Western-occupied sectors of Berlin. The crisis abated after the Western powers bypassed the blockade by establishing the Berlin Airlift, demonstrating both their dedication to the cause of supplying their zones, as well as the industrial might of the West and its air force's capabilities.

Bay of Pigs Invasion Unsuccessful attempted invasion

by armed Cuban exiles in southwest Cuba, planned and funded by the United States, in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro, shortly after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the U.S.

Iron Curtain Symbolic, ideological, and

physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas (Communist and non-Communist) from the end of World War II, until the end of the Cold War, roughly 1945 to 1991.

Berlin Wall Barrier separating West Berlin

from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. The longer 'inner German border' demarcated the remainder of the East-West German border between the two states. Both borders were part of the Iron Curtain.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War (1962). Regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to escalating into a nuclear war.

Limited War A war whose objective is less than the

unconditional defeat of the enemy. Descriptive of proxy wars (wars in which powerful countries fight each other through weaker, third-party countries), guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency campaigns. A primary method of armed struggle employed by the super-power nations of the Cold War.

Space Race Competition of space exploration

between Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the efforts to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the Moon.

SALT I

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties refers to two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties between the Soviet Union and the United States—the Cold War superpowers—on the issue of armament control.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Military strategy in which full-scale use of nuclear weapons by opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and defender. Theory of deterrence, in which both sides attempt to avoid the worst possible outcome of fighting each other — nuclear annihilation.