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United Nations
An organization of independent states formed in 1945 to promote international peace and security -
Yalta Conference
FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War -
Potsdam Conference
The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held at Potsdamn, outside Berlin, in July, 1945. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War. -
UN Atomic Energy Commission
Established in 1946, it became the supervisory body charged with overseeing all nuclear research, civilian and military alike. In 1950, Truman approved the development of the Hydrogen Bomb, a bomb far more powerful than any previous bomb used by the U.S. -
The Iron Curtain
A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eatern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region; given the name by Winston Churchill -
Containment Policy
American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world -
Truman Doctrine
First established in 1947 after Britain no longer could afford to provide anti-communist aid to Greece and Turkey, it pledged to provide U.S. military and economic aid to any nation threatened by communism. -
Marshall Plan
Introduced by Secretary of State George G. Marshall in 1947, he proposed massive and systematic American economic aid to Europe to revitalize the European economies after WWII and help prevent the spread of Communism. -
Berlin Airlift
Successful effort by the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city. -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin prevented resources and supplies from reaching West Berlin, hoping to starve the W.Berliners into accepting Soviet leadership. -
NATO
Organization formed in 1949 as a military alliance of western European and North American states against the Soviet Union and its east European allies; stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization -
NSC-68
A document that pushed for a large build up of the U.S military. It allowed the U.S to quickly build up its military for the Korean conflict. National Securtiy Council memo #68 U.S. "strive for victory" in cold war, pressed for offensive and a gross increase ($37 bil) in defense spending, determined US foreign policy for the next 20-30 years -
The Korean War
The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea in 1950-1953. -
Warsaw Pact
The 1955 treaty binding the Soviet Union and countries of eastern Europe in an alliance against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. -
U2 Spy Plane
The incident when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S. denied the true purpose of the plane at first, but was forced to when the U.S.S.R. produced the living pilot and the largely intact plane to validate their claim of being spied on aerially. The incident worsened East-West relations during the Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the United States. -
Brinkmanship
The willingness to go to war in order to force an opponent to back down -
Mutual Assured Destruction
Military deterrence strategy in which each side possesses enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other side, causing neither side to attack because of the threat of nuclear annihilation. -
Long Telegram
Argued that the US should follow a policy of "containment" to stop Russian expansion.
Sent by George Kennan from the United States Embassy in Moscow to Washington
