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Balkan Wars
Military conflicts that deprived the Ottoman Empire of all its remaining territory in Europe except part of Thrace and the city of Adrianople. The First Balkan War was fought between the members of the Balkan League (Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro) and the Ottoman Empire. It started when the Balkan League wanted to take Italy. -
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian genocide refers to the physical of Armenian Christian people living in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 through 1916. Approximately 664,000 up to possibly 1.2 million died during this genocide either in massacres and individual killings, or from ill treatment, exposure, and starvation. It was a campaign of deportation and mass killings conducted against the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I. -
Chinese Civil War
Fought between the Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party (Mao Zedong vs. Chiang Kai-Shek). Armed conflict continued intermittently from 1 August 1927 until Communist victory resulted in their total control over mainland China on 7 December 1949. The war was divided into two separate phases: the First United Front and the Second United Front. -
Truman Doctrine
Established by Harry S. Truman in 1947, this was a policy that declared the US would help in providing military, political, and economic assistance to democratic nations who are being threatened by authoritarian forces. It pledged to support "free peoples" and marked a significant shift if U.S policy. This marked a point where the U.S actively engaged in the resistance against communism. -
Marshall Plan
Previously known as the Economic Recovery act of 1948, but eventually named after the Secretary of State George Marshall. This plan proposed that the U.S should provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. It's four goals were to prevent the spread of communism, rebuild war-torn regions, improve European prosperity, and encourage international trade. -
Arms Race
The Arms Race helped shape the course of the Civil War. This is where rivals of the war would focus on over producing nuclear weapons in a strategy called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).he theory was, if two countries each possessed the ability to obliterate the other, neither would risk an attack.The arms race during the Cold War devastated the Soviet economy by draining its resources, increasing its budget deficit, and lowering living standards. -
Korean War
Conflict fought between North and South Korea. North Korea was backed by the Soviet Union and South Korea was backed by the U.S. The fighting ended in 1953, with no peace treaty but with an armistice, leading to ongoing conflict between North and South Korea. The whole thing started when the two countries wanted to split into independent nations. -
Khrushchev
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. He was known for being the leader of the Soviet Union and successfully launching Sputnik and turning out victorious during the Suez Crisis,the Syrian Crisis of 1957, and the 1960 U-2 incident. -
Berlin Wall
A guarded concrete wall that encircled west Berlin, separating it from east Berlin. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West. The Soviets viewed the wall as a way to protect the fascist community from turning into a communist state. -
Glasnost Rally
Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel were arrested and accused of having published anti-Soviet material in foreign editorials. The prosecution argued that the writings amounted to the criminal offense anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. Expressed by Mikhail Gorbachev, as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union within the framework of perestroika. It took place in Moscow, and is considered to be a key event in the emergence of the Soviet civil rights movement. -
Cambodian Genocide
The Cambodian Genocide was an explosion of mass violence that saw between 1.5 and 3 million people killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a communist political group. During their brutal four-year rule, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of nearly a quarter of Cambodians. The Cambodian Genocide was the result of a social engineering project by the Khmer Rouge, attempting to create a classless agrarian society. -
Gorbachev
Was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He helped the Soviet Union by reforming it after the end of the Cold War and introducing new political freedoms. It is said he was known for ending the Cold War. -
Perestroika
It is associated with CPSUs general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost reform. This reform was made to end the Era of Stagnation. It allowed more independent actions with various ministries and market reforms. The goal was to make socialism work for Soviet citizens by adopting liberal economics. It is often blamed for the political ascent of nationalism and nationalist political parties in the constituent republics. -
Slobadon Milosevic
Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989–1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 until he was оverthrown in 2000. He was known for playing a major role in the Yugoslav Wars and charged with war crimes from this time. He contributed to the breakup of the Yugoslav federation and emerged as a leading defender of the socialist tradition of state economic intervention, attacking economic reform for its social costs. -
Rwandan Genocide
Occurred from April 7th to July 19th 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. The Rwandan Genocide was a mass murder against the ethnic group, Tutsi. A rough estimate of 1 million people were murdered during the genocide and the ignitor of this event was the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana on as Hutu extremists used the power vacuum to target Tutsi and moderate Hutu leaders. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
After peaceful protests against the wall, the government of East Germany allowed its citizens to cross the barrier into west Berlin. This was the beginning of the fall of the whole Berlin Wall. The formal fall was enacted on October 3rd, 1990. The fall paved the way for German reunification in the future. -
Fall of the USSR
The Soviet hammer and sickle flag lowered for the last time over the Kremlin in 1991, soon after it was replaced by the Russian tricolor. Earlier in the day, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his post as president of the Soviet Union, leaving Boris Yeltsin as president of the newly independent Russian state. This change was a peaceful transition from a former Communist structure into multiple separate nations. -
War in Bosnia
Took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Life in Bosnia and Herzegovina underwent all social, economic, and political changes that were imposed on the whole of Yugoslavia by its new communist government. That attitude, together with the manipulation of nationalist feelings by politicians, destabilized Yugoslav politics. Bosnia won independence in U.S eyes but Serbs were not happy with this and started using bombs to have Bosnia under their rule again. -
The Warsaw Pact
Also known as the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. It was a political and military alliance between the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. It was supposed to be a counterbalance to NATO, which is an alliance between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949. -
Uyghur Genocide
Genocide pinned on China for committing mass murders and deportations of the Uyghur people. This mostly-Muslim ethnic group were sent to "re-education" camps where they sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms. China denies all allegations of killing and moving this ethnic group.The Uyghurs speak their own language, which is similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations. They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.