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Truman
Harry S. Truman served as the 33rd president of the United States from April 12, 1945, to January 20, 1953. -
Iron Curtain
On one side of the iron curtain were the democracies of western Europe. The other side was the totalitarian countries of central and eastern European that were dominated by the Soviet Union. -
Truman Doctrine
The immediate cause for the speech was a recent announcement by the British Government that, as of March 31, it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party. -
Berlin Airlift
The Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. The United States and United Kingdom responded by airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. -
Marshall Plan
On December 19, 1947, President Harry Truman sent Congress a message that followed Marshall's ideas to provide economic aid to Europe. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, and on April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the act that became known as the Marshall Plan. -
NATO
Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security alliance of 30 countries from North America and Europe. NATO's fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies' freedom and security by political and military means. -
North Korean invasion
After five years of simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula, the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the Northern Korean People's Army invaded South Korea in a coordinated general attack at several strategic points along the 38th parallel, the line dividing communist North Korea from the non-communist Republic -
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Korean War
the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the Northern Korean People's Army invaded South Korea in a coordinated general attack at several strategic points along the 38th parallel, the line dividing communist North Korea from the non-communist Republic -
Brinkmanship
An approach in which a country pushes a situation extremely close to a dangerous point. Many considered the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia an example of brinkmanship; the accumulation of so many deadly weapons could have led to disaster. -
Ngo Dihn Diem
Vietnamese political leader who served as president, with dictatorial powers, of what was then South Vietnam, from 1955 until his assassination -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective security alliance concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949. The Warsaw Pact supplemented existing agreements -
Space Race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II -
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Vietnam War
After North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the U.S.S. Maddox and U.S.S. Turner Joy in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson broad war-making powers. -
Sputnik Launch
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries ran out -
Vietcong
The movement's principal objectives were the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government and the reunification of Vietnam. The early insurgent activity in South Vietnam against Diem's government was initially conducted by elements of the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai religious sects. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic. During the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. -
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. -
Iranian Revolution
The major cause of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was the government's inability to satisfy the rising expectations of the Iranian people—especially following the sudden enormous increase in the price of oil in 1973. -
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Soviet-Afghan War
The war began after the Soviets, under the command of Leonid Brezhnev, had militarily intervened in, or launched an invasion of, Afghanistan to support the local pro-Soviet government that had been installed during Operation Storm-333. Combat took place throughout the 1980s. -
Grobachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. -
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization focused on cooperation on political, economic, environmental, humanitarian, cultural and other issues between a number of former Soviet Republics.