Cold War: Early Years (1945-1965)
This 1947 American policy pledged support to "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Named after the American President at the time.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
This French term describes the period of "easing of tensions" between the U.S. and USSR during the 1970s.
What is Détente?
This conflict from 1950–1953 ended in an armistice that left the peninsula divided at the 38th Parallel.
What was the Korean War?
This 1994 trade agreement eliminated most tariffs between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
What is NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)?
This was the name of the terrorist organization, led by Osama bin Laden, that carried out the September 11 attacks.
What is al-Qaeda?
This massive aid package, also known as the European Recovery Program, pumped $13 billion into Western Europe to prevent the spread of Communism.
What is the Marshall Plan?
Mikhail Gorbachev introduced this policy of "openness," which allowed for greater freedom of speech and transparency in the Soviet government.
What is Glasnost?
This was the name of the theory that if one country fell to Communism, neighboring countries would also fall.
What is the Domino Theory?
This intergovernmental organization, created in 1995, regulates and facilitates international trade.
What is the WTO (World Trade Organization)?
The U.S. invaded this country in late 2001 because its government, the Taliban, was harboring al-Qaeda.
What is Afghanistan?
In 1948, the Western Allies bypassed a Soviet blockade of this city by flying in supplies for nearly a year.
What was the Berlin Airlift?
This physical and symbolic barrier, which had divided Germany since 1961, was finally breached in November 1989.
What was the Berlin Wall?
This 1968 surprise attack by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army turned American public opinion against the Vietnam War.
What was the Tet Offensive?
This common currency was officially launched in 1999, further integrating the economies of many European nations.
What is the Euro?
This 2001 law greatly expanded the U.S. government's power to conduct surveillance and wiretaps to prevent terrorism.
What is the USA PATRIOT Act?
This military alliance was formed in 1949 by Western nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
What is NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)?
This 1979 event, involving the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran, contributed to the end of Détente.
What was the Iran Hostage Crisis?
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded this country to support a communist government against insurgent "Mujahideen" fighters.
What was the Soviet-Afghan War?
Critics of globalization often point to this practice, where companies move their operations to countries with lower labor costs.
What is outsourcing?
In 2003, the U.S. invaded this country under the justification that it possessed "weapons of mass destruction."
What is Iraq?
In 1962, the world came to the brink of nuclear war when the USSR placed ballistic missiles in this Caribbean nation.
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Strategic arms limitation was a key focus of these two rounds of bilateral conferences between the U.S. and USSR.
What were the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) agreements?
This 1961 failed invasion of Cuba was an attempt by CIA-backed exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro.
What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
This "Digital Divide" refers to the gap between those who have access to this modern technology and those who do not.
What is the Internet (or High-Speed Broadband)?
Leader who invaded Kuwait in the 1990s and was later captured, tried, and sentenced to death following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Who is Saddam Hussein?