Cold Wars Terms

Cold Wars Terms

Potsdam Conference – a meeting of the world powers after WWII in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16 to August 2, 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The three nations were represented by Communist Party General SecretaryJoseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and later, Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman.

The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of war.

Marshall Plan–also known as the European Recovery Program, ERP was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet communism. It was to be a four year plan beginning in April 1948. The goals of the United States were to rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and allow Europe to get back on its feet.

Berlin Wall– barrier built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) on August 13th, 1961. It completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls. The wall came down November 9th, 1989. This led to the reunification of Germany in October 1990.

Cold War- Period of political and military tension between the powers of the Western world, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite states and allies. Lasted from 1945-1989.

NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed April 4th, 1949. A group of allies that included members of the western countries. Some of the larger members were the US, Canada, Great Britain, and France. The goal was to safeguard World Peaceand at the time stop the spread of communism in war torn-Europe. Western Bloc

Warsaw Pact–The East’s response to NATO.Included the Soviet Union and its satellites. The allies of the Eastern Bloc

Mikhail Gorbachev- Soviet official and last president of the Soviet Union. He was the Soviet General Secretary that was one of the key members in ending the Cold War. Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.Allowed western ideas into the Soviet Union that eventually broke apart the satellite nations, so that they could become their own separate nations away from the Soviet Union.

Ronald Reagan– 40th President of the United States. Was an important figure in ending the Cold War.Negotiated with Soviet General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev for peace. He was a former Governor of California and actor.

Nikita Khrushchev- First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953-1964.Probably the most colorful Soviet leader. He is best remembered for his dramatic, "harebrained schemes" designed to attain maximum propaganda effect, his enthusiastic belief that Communism would triumph over capitalism. He was removed from office by his party because of his handling of the Cuban missile situation. He is the only Soviet leader NOT buried in the Kremlin wall after his death.

John F Kennedy- the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Often referred to as JFK. President of the United States during a stressful time period of the Cold War. He successfully avoided WWIII over the Cuban Missile Crisis/Bay of Pigs.

Fidel Castro– Cuban dictator –Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959-1976 and then President from 1976-2008.Castro is a controversial and highly disruptive world figure. Was in power during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Bay of Pigs Invasion- an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Occurred in April of 1961. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading combatants within three days.

Cuban Missile Crisis- the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. Soviet General Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev had the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. Having missiles in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real warning to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

FYI- Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union.

West Germany–portion of Germany that was previously occupied by the US, France and Great Britain after WWII. Western Germany was free of communism and had a strong market economy and a democratic government.

East Germany–The portion of Germany that was occupied by Russia (Soviet Union) after WWII. East Germany was under communist rule and their citizens were mostly unhappy. Poor economic situation because it was run by the government.

Atomic Bomb- An explosive device that releases nuclear energy . On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated. It produced an intense flash of light, followed by a fireball expanding to a diameter of about 600 meters in two seconds, and then it rose to a height of more than 12 kilometers, forming a huge mushroom shaped cloud.

In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The code-names of these bombs were The Fat-Man (N) and Little Boy (H).

Leo Szilard- German physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933. Started the Manhattan Project , which built the atomic bomb. Never won Nobel Peace Prize, but two of his inventions did.

Albert Einstein-was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation") He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics .

Franklin D Roosevelt- FDR. He was the 32ndPresident of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms. He became the longest serving president in U.S. history. He worked closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in World War II.Died in office before the end of WWII.

Harry S Truman- former Vice-President under FDR.was the 33rdPresident of the United States . Eventful presidency in foreign affairs, with the defeat of Nazi Germany and his decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine to contain communism, the beginning of the Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, the creation of NATO, the Chinese Civil War, and the Korean War. Was in office during MANY important events in history.

Manhattan Project- was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II.

Josef Stalin–Russian leader(1941-53) who turned the Soviet Union from a backward country into a world superpower at unimaginable human cost., Stalin pursued an economic policy of mobilizing the entire country to achieve the goal of rapid industrialization, so that it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Capitalist powers. Very effective, but his people were NOT happy.

Soviet Union- The official name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); Lasted between 1922 and 1991.

The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party .A union that included 15 satellite nations, the Soviet Union had a highly-centralized government and economy.

Solidarity- full name was Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity". It was a Polishtrade unionfederation that emerged in 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non-communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. Solidarity reached 9.5 million members or 1/3 of the total working age population of Poland.

Lech Walesa-a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A popular leader, he co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 1995.

Sputnik- was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. Un-manned spacecraft

John Glenn- was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space in 1962. He was elected to represent Ohio in the United States Senate from 1974 to 1999. In 1998, he became the oldest person to fly in space at age 77.

Neil Armstrong–American Astronaut, commander of Apollo 11, first man to set foot on the moon, July 20,1969, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

McCarthyism/Joseph McCarthy-as an American politician who served as U.S. Senator from 1947 until his death in 1957. McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communistsubversion. He was famous for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere.

The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to public attacks on the character and/or patriotism of political opponents.

The Rosenbergs–Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted as American Communists and executed on June 19, 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. Their charges were related to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. This was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history.

Communism- is a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and statelesssocial orderstructured upon common ownership of the means of production, Government runs the show. Makes all the choices for the country/nation.Very little or NO citizen participation. Due to communism, an intense rivalry between the "socialist world" and the "western world" (countries with market economies) began. This started theCold War between the Eastern bloc and the "Free World”

Richard Nixon-37th President of the United States. Only US President to resign from office. Although Nixon initially escalated the war in Vietnam, he helped to end US involvement in 1973. Visited the People's Republic of China in 1972 and opened diplomatic relations between the two nations. His administration established the EPA-Environmental Protection Agency.

Winston Churchill- Churchill is widely regarded as being among the most influential persons in British history. He was the British Prime Minister known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century, he served as Prime Minister twice . He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.

Apollo I- was scheduled to be the first manned mission to the moon. The target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the Command Module.