Cold War History Quiz

People's Republic of Korea

The communists formed this democratic gov't in the North. Pyongyang was the capital.

Problem With Germany

USSR wanted it to be communist, U.S. wanted it to be democratic capitalist. Wanted to divide Germany into 4 zones. US, GB, FR, and USSR. Each country would administer or govern their zone until they needed to have an agreement about how to unify Germany as 1 country again. They wont all agree. Adding to this problem Berlin was divided into 4 zones and Berlin was in the soviet zone.

Harry Truman

Was the son of a Missouri livestock trader. He drifted from job to job. After wwI he invested in a clothing business but it failed. It discouraged him, but he decided to become a politician. He won over friends and enemies with his outspoken style. His willingness to accept his decisions earned him much respect in later years.

38th Parallel

When WWII had ended, Japanese troops from the 38th parallel, (which was 38 degrees North in latitude), would flee to the Soviets. The southern Japanese troops would surrender to the Americans. In June of 1950, North Korea would sweep across this parallel, and surprise attack South Korea.

Margaret Chase Smith

A senator from Maine who was a major contributor to bringing down McCarthy

Paul Robeson

African American actor and singer who promoted African American rights and left-wing causes. Was a suspected communist.

United Nations

Also known as the UN. The UN was a sign or a symbol of hope for world peace. April 25,1945, 50 peacekeeping national representatives would meet in San Francisco to establish this. It was signed on June 26, of 1945 after a couple months of debate. This was an ironic peacetime charter because instead of promoting peace, it created two debating sides. The United States and the Soviet Union would use the UN as a way to promote their ideas to others. There were two main groups General assembly and security council. Council has 5 perminant members. The council job is if there are major sanctions or military actions to be taken it had to be aprroved by them. 5 perm. members had the right to veto.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

American General who began in North Africa and became the Commander of Allied forces in Europe.

Berlin Airlift

American and Britain planes would fly over West Berlin, and fly food and other supplies there. With in this year, 277,000 flights would bring in an estimated 2.3 million tons of supplies from food to fuel, medicine to Christmas presents, which were all purchased by the plane crews own money. West Berlin only survived because of this airlift. This mission aid boosted American prestige around the world. It also made Soviet Union realize in May of 1949, that it had been beaten, and they decided to lift the blockade. It required 5,000 tons a day to be flown to east berlin. Supplies: Coal, wood, gas, food, water, salt, and clothing. By the end of the lift they averaged 8,000 tons a day. Important because this is what made Stalin stop the airlift and he looked terrible to the world because everyone thought he was starving people during the winter.

Stage 1

An initial push by North Koreans resulted in them capturing almost the entire korean peninsula apart from a small pocket of land in South-East around the city of Pusan.

Yalta

At Yalta, Stalin promised Roosevelt that he would allow free elections that is, a vote by secret ballot in a multiparty system.

Chinese Civil War

China becomes all communist because nationalists were kicked out to Taiwan. U.S. played peacemaker but supported nationalists all together. We gave china $2 billion worth of military supplies.

Doctorine

Communism

George Marshall

Creator of the Marshall Plan. Secratary of State.

Stage 3 Chinese Counter-attack

Despite warnings from the Chinese, MacArthur pushed onto the border with China at the Yalu River. On 27th November 1950, over 200,000 Chinese and 150,000 North Korean troops counterattacked, pushing UN forces into retreat. By December 1950, Pyongyang and all of North Korea was recaptured. UN suffered heavy casualties.

Loyalty Review Board

Established by Truman, investigated alleged communists holding government jobs

Joseph Stalin

He took the name Stalin which translates to "man of steel". His father was an alcoholic and failed at being a shoemaker. His mother took on a strong role of supporting the family by being a washerwoman. Stalin turned the Soviet Union into world power but with a cost of his citizens. He saw enemies everywhere even his own friends. He is responsible for the murder of millions of Soviets.

Alger Hiss

Hiss, in 1948, was accused of spying on the United States being a Soviet citizen. Whittaker Chambers spied on him. Chambers would produce a microfilm of government documents to further support his case because he claimed that it was written on Hiss's typewriter. The government was unable to charge Hiss with espionage because of the many years that had passed, so they accused him of lying about the documents and later sent him to jail. Richard Nixon became famous for testifying against Hiss. Nixon was then elected for vice presidential election for the United States.

Differences between the U.S. and the USSR

In the USSR the gov controls and owns all property and runs the economy and businesses which is called a command economy. The U.S. buisnesses and economy was controlled by the citizens. People can take a chance on investments if they lose money, the gov would not help them, but if they became rich they could be rich. This is called Capitalism. In communism, there is a 1 party government. In elections you get to vote for communism and you don get another choice. In U.S. you have a choice of leadership. in the USSR there's a lot of censorship few civil rights if any, and the gov't control over citizens. Censorship is that things can't be critical of the gov't. You didn't have the right of speech, religion, or gathering. Two opposite idealogies oppose eachother till 1991. which is the war in a nutshell.

Containment

It was February of 1946 when American officials decided that, as Truman said, should stop "babying the soviets."In February 1946 George F. Kennean who was an American diplomat in Moscow, decided to create the containment policy. This policy was to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries. This would guide Truman's foreign policy. This was important because it would be responsible for dividing Europe into two political regions, which would be a democratic Western Europe and a communist Eastern Europe. Also, this policy was important because it would prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries.

Potsdam conference

Known for being unfriendly, Truman is going to call Stalin out on everything he is supposed to be doing. Where Truman stood up to him. Stalin would think he'd run the whole conference because Truman was so inexperienced.

Douglas MacArthur

Leader of the entire UN.

Stage 2- UN Counter attack

MacArthur led UN forces in a daring amphibious assault on Inchon, hoping to split North Korean forces in half. Within a month he had recaptured Seoul and driven the North Koreans back past the 38th Parallel. U.S. decided on policy of rollback-to cross into North Korean territory and reunite Korea. Pyongyang was captured by October.

Joseph McCarthy

Republican and senator McCarthy from Wisconsin was one of the most anti-Communist activists. In his first three years, people believed that he was an ineffective legislator. When January of 1950 rolled around, he realized that he needed a plan in order to be re elected in 1952. He decided to go with the idea that Communists were taking over the government.

Communists

Ruled by Mao. Ruled in Northern China. Relied heavily on financial aid from Soviet Union. Attracted peasents with promises of land reform. Benefited from expierienced guerrilla army and high motivated leader.

Nationalists

Ruled in Southern and eastern China. Relied heavily on aid from U.S. Struggled with inflation and a failing economy. suffered from weak leadership and poor morale. Ruled by Shek.

McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy created a plan in order for him to be re-elected in 1952. His idea was to attack communists throughout the nation. He made so many unsupported accusations by the beginning of the 1950s. He claimed that he had a list of multiple names of people who were "Communists" in the State Department. He demanded that the Democratic party be sentenced 20 years for treason for allowing Communist infiltration into the government. He was sneaky and made his calls in the Senate, where he had immunity and would not be charged with slander.

How did Joseph McCarthy contribute to the Red Scare in the 1950's?

Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing "loyalty risks" in the U.S. government. In the hyper-suspicious atmosphere of the Cold War, insinuations of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy's accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate.

Chiang Kai-shek

Shek was the leader of a nationalist government. This government would struggle with inflation and a failing economy and suffer from weak leadership and poor morale. China, for about two decades, had struggled against the nationalists. The United States would support and aid this government. The American government would send about $3 billion in aid to this nationalist government for four years. He fought communists and lost in Civil War.

Republic of Korea

South Korea was established in 1948, was the zone occupied by U.S. Its capital is Seoul.

Country

Soviet

Cold War

The Cold War was a conflict between the U.S. and the USSR. This was called the Cold War because it was more of a conflict than a war of violence. So, neither nation confronted each other on the battlefield. The Cold War would dominate global affairs until the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

"Loss of China"

The Communists win the Chinese revolution. Became a phrase that is a tribute ro Truman for the loss of china.

Hollywood Ten

The Hollywood Ten was made up of ten accused witnesses who were called to testify and refused. They argued that this was unconstitutional. They decided to keep their mouths shut, and were later sent to jail. In response to this executives would create a blacklist, which was a list made up of anyone with a communist background.

Korean War Stages

The Korean War started as a war of movement with dramatic changes in its first year however this was followed by a stalemate that lasted until its end in 1953.

Korean War

The Korean war started on June 25,1950 when North Korean forces swept the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea. After about a few days, North Korean troops would be deep into South Korean territory which caused South Korea to call the UN for support. Finally after a long conflict, in July 1953, both sides would sign an armistice, and agree to end the war. This led people to hope that one day Korea could be a single nation again.

Satellite Nation

The Satellite Nation was made up of countries that were dominated by the Soviet Union. These nations included, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland. In each one of these countries, Stalin would set up communist governments. He would make a speech in 1946 announcing that communism and capitalism were incompatible and that another war was inevitable. In soviets orbit, and can't escape. Also became known as buffer nations. Also known as the eastern states.

Taiwan

The fall of the nationalists, due to a lack of aid, led to them fleeing to the island called Taiwan. The Westerners would refer to this island as Formosa. This island would lie about 100 miles off of southeast China. The U.S. would give Taiwan millions of dollars to support the economy. Communists would now rule all of China after a 20 year struggle. The United States would refuse to accept the People's Republic of China as a real government. The U.S. would sell weapons to Taiwan in 2001.

How did events in Germany from 1945-1949 contribute to early tensions of the Cold War?

The fourway division of Germany and Berlin was one of the contributes. three out of the four areas wanted capitalism while stalin wanted communism. Which made it hard for the idea of making Germany one united country again, because people wanted different things. GB France and US would form their zones into one nation but never agreed that stalin could have free access to Berlin. U,S, and British officials decided to use the Berlin Airlift as a way to keep berlin alive. Soviets realized they were beaten and removed the blockade. Due to the NATO, the US was dragged into the Cold War and ended all isolationsim for good.

Stage 4 - Stalemate

The war quickly descended into stalemate along the 38th parallel. Truman decided to revert to a policy of containment. MacArthur disagreed and even threatened thee use of atomic bombs against China. He was then fired by Truman! Peace talks began in 1951 but war continued until 1953 when an armistice was signed at Panmunjom in July. It's under cease fire today.

Ethel and Julius Rosenburg

These two siblings were accused of being activists in the American Communist Party. They were asked if they were guilty and refused to answer and pleaded the Fifth Amendment. They claimed they were being persecuted for holding religious beliefs and for being jewish. They were both found guilty and were both sentenced to death. They were criminals and Judge Irving Kaufman believed their case was,"worse than murder." Kaufman believed that they were responsible for one of the deadliest clashes of the Cold War. This case was important because, Julius actually testified against his own sister in order to keep his wife safe, and both of these siblings were sentenced to death with very little evidence of their communist accusations.

HUAC

This agency was responsible for hunting down any suspected Communists in or outside of the government. In 1947, HUAC hit headlines during the beginning of its investigations which became influencing to the movie industry. This committee accused the soviets of slipping propaganda into films. They would point out the pro-soviet films made during WWII when they were allies with the United States.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

This is also known as the NATO. Berlin blockade would increase Western European fear of Soviet aggression. A result was that Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal joined with the U.S. and Canada on April 4, 1949, to form a defensive military alliance, or the NATO. These twelve members would pledge military support to one another in case of an attack. For the first time, the U.S. entered into a military alliance with other nations during peacetime. Cold War ended any hopes Americans had about isolationism. In 1952, Greece and Turkey would join, and in 1955, Germany joined. NATO kept a standing military force of more than 500,000 troops as well ads thousands of planes, tanks, and other equipment. This is a defensive alliance, only alliance allowed is defensive. The saying,"an attack on one would be considered an attack on all." Important because after ww11 us thought it was going to withdraw from Europe. Soviet actions changed thier mind. A lot of people didn't understand because the soviets were our friends. So we had to make sure communism didn't spread to Europe. This ends U.S. Isolationism for good.

Blacklist

This list was a result of the protesters in the Hollywood Ten. This list was made up of people accused of having a communist background. This would be responsible for 500 actors, writers, and producers losing their jobs because they were accused. This was important because it would ruin the careers of many such as Paul Robeson, former actor, because they were accused of being a communist.

Klaus Fuchs

This man was found guilty of giving the USSR A-bomb secrets; he received 14 years.

Marshall Plan

This plan would be responsible to for reviving European hopes. With in four years, 16 countries would receive about $13 billion in aid. By 1952, Western Europe was flourishing, and communist party lost much of its appeal to voters. In June 1947 Marshall, the secretary of state proposed the U.S. provide aid to all European Nations.

Yalu River

This was the border between NK and China. MacArthur's plan to enter there and push North Koreans away from South Koreans worked.

Iron Curtain

This was the phrase which represented the division of Europe. Stalin would hear about the Iron Curtain speech, and declared that Churchill's words were a "call to war." This curtain would divide Europe into two political regions, which would be a democratic Western Europe and a communist Eastern Europe.

Truman Doctorine

Truman would ask the congress to grant military aid for Greece and Turkey with $400 million. Congress would agree with him, and realized that the doctrine was important to keeping Soviet influence from spreading, From 1947 to 1950, the U.S. would send $400 million in aid for Turkey and Greece, which was important because it would reduce the possibility of communist takeover in those nations.

Richard Nixon

Vice President under Eisenhower and 37th President of the United States

Pusan

Where South Korea was trapped. Down in the bottom of Korea.

Mao Zedong

Zedong was a communist leader who ruled northern China. They would rely heavily on aid from the Soviet Union, attracted peasants with promises of land reform, and would benefit from the guerrilla army and highly motivated leadership. The communists would be encouraged to read and learn and they helped with food production.

Buffer State

a small neutral state between two rival powers

Non-aligned nations stalemate

neither side can move. India was one of these countries that were on neither side of the Cold War

McCarran Act

required all communist organizations to register with the government and to provide lists of members. 1950s.