Download The Cold War (Part I, 1945

The Cold War
(Part I, 1945-1960)
Vocabulary
Cold War
Definition:
• A conflict or dispute
between two groups that
does not involve actual
fighting.
Communism
Definition:
• An economic and political
system in which a country's
trade and industry are
controlled by the state.
Capitalism
Definition:
• An economic and political
system in which a country's
trade and industry are
controlled by private
owners for profit, rather
than by the state.
Containment
Definition:
• A principle of US foreign
policy that sought to
prevent the expansion of
communist power.
Truman Doctrine
Definition:
• President Truman's policy
of providing economic and
military aid to any country
threatened by communism
or totalitarian ideology
The Marshall Plan
Definition:
• An American policy to aid
Europe.
• The United States gave
economic support to help
rebuild European
economies after the end of
World War II in order to
prevent the spread of
communism.
NATO
Definition:
• North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, an
international organization
composed of the US,
Canada, Britain, and a
number of European
countries: established by the
North Atlantic Treaty
(1949) for the purposes of
collective security.
The Warsaw Pact
Definition:
• A military treaty and
association of Eastern
European countries.
Formed in 1955 by the
Soviet Union, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Hungary, Poland,
and Romania.
The Berlin Blockade
Definition:
• June 24, 1948 – May 12,
1949
• For eleven months, the
Soviet Union blockaded all
roads from West Germany
to West Berlin. The Soviet
Union wanted to starve
West Berlin into
submission, and make
Berlin a unified communist
city.
The Berlin Airlift
Definition:
• A United States effort to
deliver supplies including 2
million tons of food and
coal by air to West Berlin in
1948-1949 in response to
the Soviet blockade of the
city.
NSC-68
Definition:
• A secret policy statement,
proposed by the National
Security Council in 1950,
calling for a large, ongoing
military commitment to
contain the spread of
communism.
Armistice
Definition:
• An agreement made by
opposing sides in a war to
stop fighting for a certain
time; a truce.
Espionage
Definition:
• The practice of spying or of
using spies, typically by
governments to obtain
political and military
information.
Massive Retaliation
Definition:
• The military policy of
President Eisenhower and
Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles relying on
nuclear weapons to inhibit
communist aggression
during the 1950s.
Sputnik
Definition:
• The name of the first
satellite launched into
earth’s orbit.
• The satellite was launched
by the Soviet Union on
October 4, 1957.
The National Interstate and
Defense Highway Act (1956)
Definition:
• A law passed by the United
States Congress to create an
interstate highway system
that could help Americans
evacuate in the event of an
emergency, and allow the
United States to mobilize its
military in the event of a
war.
The National Defense
Education Act (1958)
Definition:
• A law passed by the United
States Congress to grant
federal funds to American
high schools to support
mathematical, science, and
foreign language education
programs.