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Stalin
Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920 until his death in 1953. He transformed the concept of socialism in one country to make it a central aspect of Soviet society.
H/S: Made the Soviet Union and industrial power, imprisoned many in labour camps, contributed to the Soviet famine of 32-33, led until the end of WWII for the Allies while emerging as one of two world superpowers, created close relations with China and North Korea, and contributed to the start of the Cold War. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain symbolized the idealogical conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of WWII until the end of the Cold War, the West being democratic and the East being communist. The term symbolized efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its dependent and central European allies off from open contact with the west and non-communist areas.
H/S: Same as definition. -
United Nations
The United Nations is the world's largest, foremost, and most prominent international organization. The UN was founded after WWII to replace the League of Nations, to stop war between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue.
H/S: Same as definition. -
European League for Economic Cooperation
The European League for Economic Cooperation is a network of European entrepreneurs of goodwill, aimed at furthering the European economy.
H/S: In 1948, ELEC was one of the founding members of the European Movement, and still exists today to support Europe. -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho was a nationalist and communist who had fought the Japanese, and later the Vietnamese. Even later, he controlled North Vietnam.
H/S: He was a victor at the battle of Dienbienphu, which convinced the French to leave Vietnam. This led up to Vietnam joining the Cold War, as well as its division. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an international relations policy that stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere.
H/S: It is often considered as the start of the Cold War, and the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the American program to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of WWII in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.
H/S: The Marshall Plan was one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a continental level. It stimulated the total political reconstruction of western Europe. -
Berlin Airlift
The Western Allies response to the Soviet Union's Berlin Blockade, in which all supplies to and from the Allies' areas of Berlin were blocked. The Allies sent in supplies via aircraft everyday for almost a year.
H/S: The Berlin Airlift influenced the lifting of the Berlin Blockade, and split Germany into East and West Germany. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organzation
NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
H/S: The organization sought better relations with former Cold War rivals, and continues to operate in a range of roles. -
Peoples Republic of China
The PRC is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party. It was created in 1912, but was later fought by the Republic of China, and had to be proclaimed in 1949 after a Civil War.
H/S: As a result of this new government, in accordance with economic reforms, China has become the world's fastest-growing major economy. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, at one time supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The war was primarily a result of the division of Korea earlier.
H/S: Established the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and ended most major physical conflict, with minor incidents still occurring. -
Explosion of the first hydrogen bomb
The first test of the H-bomb was the "Ivy Mike" nuclear test, conducted by the United States. The design for the bomb is known as the Teller-Ulam design, named from its two chieft contributors.
H/S: Today almost all the nuclear weapons deployed by the five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT are hydrogen bombs using the Teller-Ulam design. -
Khrushchev
Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War, in addition to holding many other positions in the Soviet Union.
H/S: He was responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the early Soviet space program, and for several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. -
KGB (Committee for State Security)
KGB was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1945 until its collapse in 1991. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence, and secret police. The KGB has also been considered a military service, governed by laws and army regulations.
H/S: Many other of these "KGBs" were developed elsewhere, similar to that of the Soviet's. -
Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords separated Vietnam into two zones, a northern zone to be governed by the Viet Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by the State of Vietnam. This document was not accepted by the delegates of either South Vietnam or the United States.
H/S: Created what we know today as Northern and Southern Vietnam. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense treaty between eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was founded under the Soviet Union.
H/S: Eager to avoid another casualty count like that as in WWII, the Soviet Union used the Warsaw Pact to establish other states as a political and military barrier from potential enemies in the Western Bloc. -
Vietnam
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries.
H/S: Resulted in the deaths of millions of civilians and soldiers, in addition to the reuinification of North and South Vietnam as one communist nation. -
Suez Canal / Nasser
The Suez Crisis was a diplomatic and military confrontation between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France, and Israel on the other, while the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations were trying to force Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw. The attack occurred because President of Egypt Nasser decided to nationalize the Suez Canal.
H/S: As a result of the conflict, the UNEF would police the Egyptian-Israeli border to prevent both sides from recommencing hostilities. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit.
H/S: The launch and surprise success began the Space Age and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. It ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. -
Berlin Wall is erected
Built by the East Germans, this wall was constructed because East Germany claimed that West Germany had not been fully "de-Nazified."
H/S: Too many skilled people were leaving East Germany for West Germany, which had damaged their political credibility and economical viability. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other. The Soviet Union wanted missiles on Cuba, and the U.S. told them they can't arm Cuba. The Soviets agreed only if the United States would not attack Cuba, which ended the crisis.
H/S: The closest the Cold War got to turning into a nuclear conflict, and the first ever threat of mutually assured destruction, in which both sides would use weapons of mass destruction. -
Brezhnev
Brezhnenv was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which he ruled as from 1964 until his death in 1982. While leading the USSR, Brezhnev pushed for negotations to calm tensions between the Eastern and Western countries.
H/S: During his rule the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, but he has also been criticised for beginning an era of economic stagnation, eventually leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that was launched by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
H/S: Although the offensive was a military defeat for the communists, it had a profound effect on the U.S. government and shocked the U.S. public, which had been led to believe by its political and military leaders that the communists were incapable of launching such a massive effort. -
Helsinki Accords
The Helsinki Accords guaranteed such rights as freedom of speech, religion, and the press as well as the rights to a fair trial, to earn a living, and to live in safety.
H/S: Despite such agreements, human rights abuses - ranging from arbitrary arrest to torture and slavery - occur daily around the world, rendering them useless. -
Iranian hostage crisis
The Iranian hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States, in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days after a group of Islamist students and militants supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the American Embassy in Tehran.
H/S: The crisis impacted Jimmy Carter's presidency and run for the reelection in 1980. The crisis also marked the beginning of U.S. legal action, or economic sanctions against Iran, that further weakened their ties. -
Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national insurgent groups called the Mujahideen.
H/S: The decade-long war resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing their country. Hundrends of thousands of Afghan civilians were killed in addition to the participants in the war. -
Moscow Olympics
Led by the United States, 65 countries boycotted the games because of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.
H/S: This boycott prompted the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics. -
Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in Poland
Lech Walesa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. 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.
H/S: He was prominent in the establishment of the 1989 Round Table Agreement that led to semi-free parliamentary elections in June 1989 and to a Solidarity-led government. -
Los Angeles Movement
In response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the Games. The USSR announced its intention to not participate, citing security concerns and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States.
H/S: Despite the absences, many other nations showed up, and the 1984 Summer Olympics are often considered the most financially successful modern Olympics. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev was eager to bring about reforms: he sought to avoid Cold War confrontations, called for glasnost, or openness, and urged perestroika, or restructuring of the government and economy. His reforms brought about economic turmoil and fed unrest.
H/S: His failed reforms helped to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the separation of the Soviet republics. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
Perestroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, associated with Soviet leader Gorbachev and his glasnost policy reform, calling for openness.
H/S: Perestroika is often argued to be the cause of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred in Ukraine when it was ruled by the Soviet Union. A power plant explosion released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.
H/S: Involved over 500,000 workers trying to contain it, costed a very large amount of money, and, although the death count is low, there are still cancer cases and deformities being accounted for today. -
Tiananmen Square
The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led popular demonstrations in Beijing that received broad support from city residents and exposed deep splits within China's political leadership but were forcibly suppressed by hardline leaders who ordered the military to enforce martial law in the country's capital.
H/S: Political reforms were largely halted and economic reforms did not resume until 1992. The Chinese government was widely condemned for the use of force against the protesters. -
Berlin Wall torn down
Mass demonstrations against the government in East Germany eventually led to the creation of a new government, which prepared a law to lift the travel restrictions on East Germany. This law put the Berlin Wall to an end, and the slow process of tearing it down had begun
H/S: Symbolized the freedom that represented the end of Communism in the area after almost three decades of dispute. -
Yeltsin
Yeltsin was a Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation. He vowed to transform Russia's socialist command economy into a free market economy and implemented economic shock therapy, price liberalization and privatization programs.
H/S: Due to the method of privatization, a good deal of the national wealth fell into the hands of a small group of oligarchs, and much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, inflation, economic collapse and enormous problems. -
End of the USSR
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was put in order by the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, which recognized the independence of the twelve republics of the Soviet Union, making them all independent.
H/S: Ended the Cold War, as well as the world's first Communist state. This represented failure in Communism. -
Putin
Putin is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since May 7, 2012, and who previously served from 2000 to 2008. He also served as Prime Minister of Russia for one year.
H/S: Putin has been credited for overseeing a return of political stability and economic progress to Russia, ending the crisis of 1990s.
