World History B Unit 3 Cold War

Berlin Blockade

The blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift.

Vietcong

The guerrilla soldiers of the Communist faction in Vietnam, also know as the National Liberation Front

Mujahidin

a military force of Muslim guerrilla warriors engaged in a jihad, who attacked Soviet troops in Afghanistan and eventually took over the country.

North Vietnamese Army

army of communist North Vietnam which supported the Viet Cong in South Vietnam w/ troops and supplies

Singman Rhee

dictator of South Korea Post WW II and into the 1950s Korean War

War Lords

leaders of private armies

John F. Kennedy

president during part of the cold war and especially during the superpower rivalry and the cuban missile crisis. he was the president who went on tv and told the public about hte crisis and allowed the leader of the soviet uinon to withdraw their missiles. other events, which were during his terms was the building of the berlin wall, the space race, and early events of the Vietnamese war.

Afghanistan

"Russia's Vietnam", Bankrupted Russia.

Cold War

(HT) 1946-1988, Churchill said it was a "iron curtain" between eastern and western Europe, A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted eachother on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years, US against Communism (containment)

Harry Truman

1945-1953 Became 33rd president when FDR died; gave the order to drop the atomic bomb

Ho Chi Minh

1950s and 60s; communist leader of North Vietnam; used geurilla warfare to fight anti-comunist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; brilliant strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 crisis that arose between the United States and the Soviet Union over a Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba

Gulf of Tonkin

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952); offering $3 billion to both north and south.

U.N. Security Council

A body of five great powers (which can veto resolutions) and ten rotating member states, which makes decisions about international peace and security including the dispatch of UN peacekeeping forces.

Pakistan

A country that was created after the Independence of India that was composed of all the country's Muslims. This was a move opposed by Gandhi, but was done so as to prevent fighting and segregation within India.

Mutually Assured Destruction

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

Jihad

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

Iron Curtain

A term popularized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Union's policy of isolation during the Cold War. The barrier isolated Eastern Europe from the rest of the world.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Guerrilla Warfare

A type of fighting where a smaller group uses covert tactics such as hit and run to chip away at the power of the larger force

East Germany

After WWII, Germany was divided into two countries, this part was communist in government and had a command economy

Blockade

An action taken to isolate an enemy and cut off its supplies

Hanoi

Capital of North Vietnam

Saigon

Captial of South Vietnam, capture of this city marks the conclusion of the civil war in 1975

Operation Cyclone

Code name of US CIA mission to provide weapons, training, and money to the mujaheddin (Muslims fighting the Soviet Union).

Kim II Sung

Communist leader of North Korea; his attack on South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War. He remained in power until 1994.

Viet Minh

Communist-dominated Nationalist Movement. Ruled Vietnam when Japanese rule ended. Leader was Ho Chi Minh.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

38th Parallel

Dividing line between Communist North Korea and Democratic South Korea

Proxy War

During the Cold War, local or regional wars in which the superpowers armed, trained, and financed the combatants - but did not directly attack the other superpower.

Tonkin Resolution

Gave the president the authority to "take all necessary measures" to repel any attacks and "to prevent further aggression." The resolution became the legal basis for a war that would last for eight more years. Based on the assumption that the US navy had been attacked.

Nikita Khrushchev

He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. He was responsible for the De-Stalinization of the USSR, as well as several liberal reforms ranging from agriculture to foreign policy.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

ICBM

Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, long-range nuclear missiles capable of being fired at targets on the other side of the globe. The reason behind the Cuban Missile Crisis -- Russia was threatening the U.S. by building launch sites for ICBM's in Cuba.

IRBM

Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile

Berlin Airlift

Joint effort by the US and Britian to fly food and supplies into W Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

North half of Korea dominated by U.S.S.R after WWII. Communist dictator under Kim II - Song; attacked South Korea to begin Korean war.

Nguyen

Rival Vietnamese dynasty that arose in southern Vietnam to challenge traditional dynasty of Trinh in north at Hanoi; kingdom centered on Red and Mekong rivers; capital at Hue.

Leonid Brezhnev

Seized power from Nikita Khrushchev and became leader of the Soviet Communist party in 1964. Ordered forces in to Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia.

Republic of Korea

Southern half of Korea sponsored by United States following World War II; headed by nationalist Syngman Rhee; developed parliamentary institutions but maintained authoritarian government; defended by UN forces during Korean War; underwent industrialization and economic emergence after 1950s