Unit 8

Marshall Plan

A U.S program of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after World War Two.

Ho Chi Minh

A Vietnamese Nationalist; turned to the Communists for help in his struggle against France; his Indochinese Communist party led revolts and strikes against the French.

Containment

A foreign U.S policy adopted by President Truman in the late 1940's, in which The United States tried to stop the spread of Communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances.

Vietcong

A group of Communist Guerillas who, with the help of North Vietnam, fought against the South Vietnamese Government in the Vietnam War.

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

38th Parrallel

A line that crosses Korea at 38 degrees North Latitude.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and seven Eastern European countries.

détente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions, that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Brinkmanship

A policy of threatening to go to war in response to any enemy aggression.

Ngo Dinh Diem

A revolutionary leader in Cuba who overthrew the Bautista Government in 1959; has ruled Cuba as a dictator since then.

How did the U.S and Britain respond to Stalin's blockade of West Berlin?

American and British officials flew food and supplies into west Berlin for 11 months. In 1949, The Soviet Union declared defeat and lifted the blockade.

United Nations

An international peacekeeping organization founded in 1945 to provide security to the nations of the world.

Truman Doctrine

Announced by President Harry Truman in 1947, a U.S policy of giving economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents.

Lyndon Johnson

Assumed the U.S presidency in 1963; was committed to stopping the spread of Communism; escalated U.S involvement in the war in Vietnam.

Leonid Brezhnev

Became the Soviet leader in 1964; quickly adopted repressive domestic policies, enforcing laws limiting such basic human rights as freedom of speech and worship.

Third World

Consists of developing nations, who were not aligned with either superpower.

Iron Curtain

During the cold war, the boundary separating the Communist nations of Eastern Europe from the mostly Democratic nations in Western Europe.

What incident in 1960 heightened Cold War tensions between the U.S and the Soviet Union?

Eisenhower proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union be able to fly above each others territory, and prevent surprise attacks. Soviet Union said no, and shot down a U-2 plane, capturing its pilot: Francis Gary.

How did Mao's changes transform industry and business?

Gradually, private companies were nationalized or brought under government ownership. In 1953, Mao launched a five-year plan that set high production goals for industry. By 1957, China's output of coal, cement, steel, and electricity had increased dramatically.

What did President Kennedy do after he discovered Soviet missle sites in Cuba?

He declared that missiles so close to the U.S mainland were a threat. He demanded their removal, and also announced a naval blockade of Cuba to stop the soviets from installing more missiles.

How did Stalin ignore the Yalta Agreement?

He installed or secured Communist governments in Alabama, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

What are some of the examples that Raul Rivero gives that characterizes what it is like living in a Communist country?

He tells that he once fought for an anti-Communist country, but soon realized what he was afraid to admit to himself: the cause he fought for through most of his youth, would create a submissive society with no individual freedom.He quickly came to the conclusion that he had made a mistake. As a poet, he wanted to express his fear and helplessness. He decided instead to hide all of this, and not express the true emotions. He became afraid that if he made his position public, his family would suffer the consequences. He was careful around everyone, as everyone was considered a suspect. He went on trial in 2003, people he knew testified against him, as government agents. He tried to get his family out of the country so that they wouldn't suffer. The government suffocated the financially. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He ended up leaving Cuba in 2005.

What events led to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion?

In 1960, the CIA began to train anti-Castro Cuban exiles. In April 1961, they invaded Cuba, landing at the Bay of the Pigs. However, the United States did not provide the hoped for air support. castro's forces easily defeated the invaders, humiliating the United States.

nonaligned nations

Independent countries that remained neutral in the Cold War competition between the United States, and the Soviet Union.

Why was the policy of Brinkmanship replaced?

It always lead to a crisis.

What kind of problems did oil industry wealth in Iran create?

It caused a clash between traditional Islamic values and modern Western Materialism.

What was the goal of the Cultural Revolution?

Its goal was to establish a society of peasants and workers in which all would be equal.

What did the U.S do to help the El Salvadoran government fight the Sandinistas?

Just as the United States had supported Batista in Cuba, it had funded the Nicaraguan Dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza and his family since 1933.

Anastasio Somoza

Nicaraguan dictator whose government was supported by the United States; Sandinistas toppled his son's regime in 1979.

What was life like on a Chinese Commune?

Peasants worked the land. They ate in communal dining rooms, slept in communal dormitories, and raised children in communal nurseries. And the owned nothing. The peasants had no incentive to work hard when only the state profited from their hard labor.

What were the Helinski Accords?

Political and human rights agreement signed by the Soviet Union and Western countries. It was an attempt to improve relations between the Communists and the West.

Vietnamization

President Nixon's strategy for ending U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, involving a gradual withdrawal of American troops, and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces.

What led Latin American nations to seek aid from both superpowers after World War Two?

Rapid industrialization, population growth, and a lingering gap between rich and poor led Latin American nations to seek help from both superpowers.

what is realpolitik?

Realpolitik is a politics based on the needs of the state. Power was more important than the rule or belief governing one's personal behavior.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who was the 40th President of the United States, from 1981 to 1989.

Daniel Ortega

Sandinista rebel leader who took control of Nicaragua in 1979.

Why did the Truman Doctrine cause great controversy?

Some opponents objected to American interference. In other nations' affairs. Others agreed that The United States could not afford to carry on a global crusade against Communism.

SDI

Strategic Defense Initiative.

What two Chinas emerged after the Civil War?

The Communist Party, and the National Government.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization - A defensive military alliance formed in 1949 by ten Western European nations, The United States, and Canada.

What led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979?

The Soviets expected to prop up the Afghan Communists, and quickly withdraw. Instead, they found themselves stuck.

How did brinkmanship lead to an arms race between the U.S and the Soviet Union?

The U.S strengthened their air force and began producing stockpiles of nuclear weapons. the Soviet Union responded with its own military buildup, beginning an arms race that would go on for decades.

Why did the alliance between the U.S and the Soviet Union begin to unravel?

The United States were upset with the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, signed a non - aggression pact with Germany. Then blamed the Allies for not invading German - occupied Europe. The Allies then began to pursue opposing goals.

Nikita Khrushchev

The dominant Soviet leader after Stalin died in 1953; denounced Stalin for jailing and killing loyal Soviet citizens.

Domino Theory

The idea that if a nation falls under Communist control, nearby nations will also fall under Communist control.

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini

The leader of Iran's Conservative Muslims, he returned to Iran from exile to establish an Islamic state and to export Iran's militant form of government.

Why did Mao put an end to the Cultural Revolution?

The life of the mind-intellectual and the artistic activity - was considered useless and dangerous.

Destalinazation

The purging of Stalin's memory.

Cold War

The state of Diplomatic hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union in the decades following World War Two.

When China's civil war resumed, why did the Nationalists hold an advantage?

Their army outnumbered the Communists' army by as much as three to one. And the United States continued its support by providing more than $2million in aid.

What was agreed upon by the U.S, Britain, and the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference?

They agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the allied military forces.

Why did the United States arm the Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan?

They armed the Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan because they considered the Soviet invasion a threat to Middle Eastern oil supplies.

What activities did the U.S and Soviet intelligence agencies do?

They engaged in various covert, or secret, activities, ranging from spying to assassination attempts. The U.S gave military aid, built schools, set up programs to combat poverty, and sent volunteer workers to developing nations.

How did the Communists, under Mao, win the peasants' loyalty?

They mobilized peasants for Guerilla War against the Japanese in the Northeast.

What did young Islamic revolutionaries do in Iran in 1979?

They rioted in every major city in 1978. Faced with overwhelming opposition, they fled Iran in 1979. A triumphant Khomeini returned to establish an Islamic state and to export Iran's militant from Islam.

How did the U.S and the Soviets react to the split nations of China?

They urged China's young people to "learn revolution by making a revolution." Millions of high-school and college students responded. They left their classrooms and formed militia units called Red Guards.

How did the U.S and the Soviet Union deal with each other during the cold war, instead of using military action?

They used spying, propaganda, diplomacy, and secret operations in their dealings with one another. Much of the world allied with one side or the other.

What was "The Great Leap Forward"?

This plan called for still larger collective farms or communes. By the end of 1958, about 26,000 communes had been created.

What was the role of the United Nations Security Council? Who were the five permanent members?

This provision was intended to prevent any members of the council from voting as a bloc to override others. Five permanent members were; Britain, China, France, The United States, and The Soviet Union.

Why were Third World Nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa economically poor and politically unstable?

This was mostly due to a long history of Colonialism. they also suffered from ethnic conflicts and lack of technology and education. Each needed a political and economic system around which to build its society.

How did Mao's victory fuel anti-Communist feelings in the U.S?

Those feelings only grew after the Chinese and Soviets signed a treaty of friendship in 1950. Many people in the United States viewed the takeover of China as another step in a Communist campaign to conquer the world.

What occurred at the meeting in Potsdam?

Truman pressed Stalin to permit free elections in Eastern Europe. Stalin refused and declared that Communism and Capitalism could not exist in the same world.

John F. Kennedy

U.S president during the early 1960's; during his administration, the Cuban Missile Crisis made the superpowers' use of nuclear weapons a real possibility.

Richard M. Nixon

U.S president who believed in realpolitik visited both China and the Soviet Union.

What were the effects of the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950?

Under the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, Mao seized the holdings of these landlords. His forces killed more than a million landlords who resisted. He then divided the land among peasants. Later, to further Mao's socialist principles, the government forced peasants to join collective farms. Each of these farms was comprised of 200 to 300 households.