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Gorbachev
Former Russian statesman. First and last president of the Soviet Union. Was distassified with communist rule. He brought about massive economic, social, and political changes and made friendly alliances with other countries. -
Stalin
Kept the Soviet Union hardcore communist. He did not help the economy much and did not please the people. He also did not keep his treaties with other communist countries. He is not good for the Soviet Union, yet his actions are what caused many of future actions. -
Iron Curtain
Symbolized the conflict and physcial boundary dividing Europe into the communist and the socialist sides. NATO and the Warsaw Pact were created out of these two sides. It showed the start of the Cold War. The Iron Curtain showed how the Soviet Union isolated and repressed countries in the Eastern Bloc -
United Nations
Worldwide organization promoting a lot of things trying to achieve world peace. Founded after WW2 to stop wars between countries. Countries coming together to try to keep peace and everything right within their countries while helping one another out. -
Explosion of the First Hydrogen Bomb
"Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki Japan that killed over 200,000 people. Were meant to cause the Japanese to surrender. First nuclear weapon to be able to be used in war. -
Truman Doctrine
Stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military support so they would not fall to communism. Just showed how America was once again against communism and believed in the domino effect so they were supporting everyone they could. -
The Marshall Plan.
American program to aid Europe after WW2 and also effort to stop communism. Goals were to rebuild war-devestated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous. Efforts in trying to stop the spread of communism. -
European Economic Cooperation
34 countries organization founded to stimulate economic progress and world trade. These countries are committed to democracy and free market. Helped to administer the Marshall Plan. -
Berlin Airlift
Western allies flew over supplies to the people in West Berlin. They flew over 200,000 flights in one year. It provided 4,700 tons of daily necessities to the Berlin people. The Western World was helping the people stuck on the other side of the Berlin wall -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. Includes all of North America and parts of Europe. Supports socialist & democratic governments. First group to be against communism -
Peoples Republic of China
The worlds greatest population. When China was proclaimed communist under the ruler Mao Zedong. Major country to fall to communism -
Korean War
Between the communist North Korea and the democratic republic of South Korea. North Korea wanted to take over South Korea and make them communist, yet South Korea fought back. USSR funded North Korea and U.S. funded South Korea. One of the three "proxy wars" between Soviet Union and United States. -
Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader and also prime minister/president. He led the indepence movement from 1941 on. He tried to stop communism. He saw a way the Vietnamese people could become independent and a socialist republic and he led them to it. -
Krushchev
Denounced Stalin's purges and ushered a less repulsive era in the Soviet Union. More focused on the citizens and their way of life. Good for the most part, yet when he noticed people were not happy he sent missles over to Cuba starting the Cuban Missle Crisis. Succeeded Stalin and undid some of the damage Stalin had created. -
KGB Committee for State Security
Main Security agency for the Soviet Union. Their job to extensivaly moniter public and private opnion, internal subversion, and possible revolutionary plots in the Soviet bloc. Considered a military service. Kept the Russian people from fighting against the communist rule. -
Geneva Accords
Meeting to find a way to unify Vietnam. These were a bunch of agreements that divided Vietnam and keep peace in Indochina and Korea. Vietnam was split up into territories. -
Warsaw Pact
Treaty between 8 communist countries. Main goal was to spread communism and keep it alive. To spread communism -
Suez Canal
Nationalization of the canal. Both sides (NATO & Warsaw-Pact) are fighting to get control of this canal. They end up taking Soviet Unions offer over the Americans. Because of the importance of oil and how easy it is to reach this with the control of the Suez canal is why there was fighting over it. -
Sputnik
First artifical Earth satellite. Created and launched by the Soviet Union. Showed how far Soviet Unions technology had gotten. -
Berlin Wall is erected
Wall cutting off the land between West Berlin and East Berlin. It included guarded towers to make sure people could not move back and forth between the two cities. It was built to keep East Berlin communist It started to show the tension between the communist countries and the countries that weren't -
Cuban Missle Crisis
13 Day confrontation between USSR and Cuba against the US. Moment in which the Cold War almost turned into a nuclear war. US tried to overthrow the Cuba regime but failed. Eventually USSR had to remove their nuclear weapons if we removed ours in Italy and Turkey. Showed how close we were to War World 3, yet both countries knew it would not be right to fight with nuclear weapons. -
Brezhnev
Under him the Soviet Union grew along with an expansion of their military. He passed a stablilisation policy that got rid of Krushchev's liberalising reforms and clamped down on cultural freedom. The standard living and housing quality improved significantly. He got rid of Stalins ideas and put new better ones in place helping the Soviet Union out. -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnam and allies launched this campaign against United States and South Vietnam. Surprising attacks that were launced against military and civilian command and control centers during a period when no attacks were supposed to take place. -
Vietnam War
North vs. South Vietnam.. Communist vs Democratic. Main battle in cold war between two super powers U.S. & Soviet Union. Many Americans died... resulting in a fallback and they left (keeping south vietnam democratic) yet two years later the whole country fell to communism. Shows that we tried to help but sometimes theres nothing we can do to prevent countries from falling to communism. -
Helsinki Accords
Thirty-three countries, except Albania and Andorra, signed a declaration to help improve the relations between the communist bloc and the Western countries. This was not a treaty document though. Helped show that everybody was willing to be alright with each other. Significant step towards reducing the Cold War tensions. -
Tiananmen Square
People disapproved of the removal of display of mourning, so they decided to protest during the Qingming festival. They were protesting the government and ended in military surpression and hundreds of civilain deaths. Shows that they have to mercy for people who try to go against them. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
Fifty two Americans were held hostage for 444 days. It was seen as a blow to the United States. The climax happened when the U.S. sent the USS Nimitz over to rescue the hostages after failed attempts to negotiate a release. It showed President Carter as a weak leader considering the hostages were released when President Reagan took office and used strength as a platform. -
Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
Led against the insurgent groups in Afghanistan. Soviets began to take over and started to change the government. Many people tried to revolt and once a US Ambassador was killed, America helped out the people fighting against the Soviet Union. Main fight in the Cold War with the main world powers. -
Moscow Olympics
Celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. America boycotted this olympics because of the Soviet Union war in afghanistan. Showing thatAmerica is not supporting what the Soviet Union is doing. -
Los Angeles Summer Olympics
In response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 olympics, most of the Eastern bloc countries boycotted this olympics. It shows the tension between the Warsaw-Pact & NATO countries. Just another thing that sparked even more tension between these two countries. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
Watchwords for the rennovation for the Soviet government body, Measures made to promote democratiozation of the Communist party. This plan swept the communist nations putting their leaders out of power and ended the cold war. -
Chernobyl
Catastrophic nuclear accident in Ukraine. Considered worst nuclear power plant accident in history. The battle to conatin the contamination is still happening today. It helped to show the distrust people inside and outside of the USSR had in their leaders. -
Berlin Wall is torn down
The wall was not all torn down at the same time. The Germans soon opened crossings to the other side. People on both side helped tear down the wall, while cheering. This is when the East Berlin adopted the western government and currency. -
Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland
First non-communist controlled trade union in a Warsaw-Pact country. It reached 9.5 members before September 1981. It was headed by Lech Walesa and was what started Poland in moving towards a socialist government. First time people fought against communism in a communist country. -
Yeltsin
First president of the Russian Federation. He vowed to transform Russias socialist government and turn it into a free-market economy. First president of the democratic Russia. -
End Of the USSR
90% of people voted for independence. First major communist country to fall. The end of the cold war. Fall of biggest communist country and one of the world powers. -
Putin
President of the Soviet first in 2000. He is credied for overseeing the return of stability and economic growth in Russia. He is popular among the people and has a considerable populatry rate. Russia has recieved limited state help from the government causing Russia to grow.
