THE COLD WAR AND BEYOND

SUPERPOWER

• This is done through the means of both military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers (e.g., as the United States is today). The term first applied to the British Empire, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

UNITED NATIONS

• An international organization formed in 1945 to increase political and economic cooperation among member countries. The organization works on economic and social development programs, improving human rights and reducing global conflicts.

IRON CURTAIN

CONTAINMENT

• Containment was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.

MARSHALL PLAN

• Marshall Plan definition. A program by which the United States gave large amounts of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II. It was proposed by the United States secretary of state, General George C. Marshall.

NATO

• NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of European and North American democracies founded after World War II to strengthen international ties between member states—especially the United States and Europe—and to serve as a counter-balance to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

WARSAW PACT

• was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War, led by the USSR.

ARMS RACE

• A competition to achieve weapons superiority.

CULTURAL REVOLUTION

• A period of revolutionary upheaval and political persecution in China from 1966 to 1976

KOREA WAR

• Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The U.S. and other U.N. countries intervened and forced the communists back. The armistice left Korea as it was before.

VIET CONG

• A communist- led army and guerrilla force in south Vietnam that fought its government and was supported by north Vietnam

VIETNAM WAR

• War between Communist N. Vietnam and U.S. supported S. Vietnam. Began when the Viet Cong launched guerilla warfare against S. Vietnam

DOMINO THEORY

• The belief that if Vietnam fell to the communists, the rest of Asia would fall like a row of dominoes

COVERT ACTION

• A secret political, economic, or military operation sponsored by a government and designed to support a foreign policy objective.

DÉTENTE

• The easing of Cold War tensions and hostility between East and West during the 1970's

DETERRENCE

• The policy of building a weapons Arsenal so deadly that no other nation will dare attack

HOW DID THE COLD WAR CHANGE THE WORLD?

• During and after the cold war, the world's nations decided that it would be smart to have nuclear weapons and also that it was good to be technologically advanced. The world pretty much had a race to see who had the best technology and who had the best weapons. It changed the world because now nations are trying to get other nations not to use them, and also because nations are always thinking if something happens there can be a nuclear war. Also, because we are technologically advanced, we are able to get so far. We have ipods where before we would need records,tapes, cds. And also the most recent thing I can remember the ipad. it's things that made a difference and let us be as technologically advanced as we are