basics
This global conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union lasted roughly from 1947 to 1991.
What is the Cold War?
This U.S. president helped lead the country at the start of the Cold War after WWII.
Who is Harry S. Truman?
This 1948–49 effort delivered supplies to West Berlin by plane.
What is the Berlin Airlift?
The political and economic system used by the Soviet Union.
What is communism?
This European country was divided into East and West during the Cold War.
What is Germany?
These two superpowers were the main rivals during the Cold War.
Who were the United States and the Soviet Union?
This Soviet leader ruled during World War II and the early Cold War years.
Who is Joseph Stalin?
This 1962 crisis happened when the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The U.S. policy of stopping the spread of communism.
What is containment?
This island nation near the U.S. became communist under Fidel Castro.
What is Cuba?
The Cold War was called “cold” because the two sides never fought each other directly in this type of war.
What is a direct military war (or direct fighting)?
This U.S. president was in office during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Who is John F. Kennedy?
This war from 1950–1953 divided Korea into North and South.
What is the Korean War?
A competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to explore space.
What is the Space Race?
This Asian country was split at the 38th parallel after the Korean War.
What is Korea?
This wall built in 1961 divided a German city into East and West.
What is the Berlin Wall?
This Soviet leader introduced reforms like glasnost and perestroika in the 1980s.
Who is Mikhail Gorbachev?
This long conflict involved the U.S. trying to stop communism in Southeast Asia.
What is the Vietnam War?
The idea that if one country becomes communist, nearby countries might follow.
What is the domino theory?
This Eastern European capital city was divided by a wall during the Cold War.
What is Berlin?
This event in 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union and helped end the Cold War.
What is the collapse of the Soviet Union?
This U.S. president famously said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Who is Ronald Reagan?
This space achievement by the Soviet Union in 1957 shocked the U.S. and started the Space Race.
What is the launch of Sputnik 1?
The military alliance formed by Western countries in 1949.
What is NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)?
This large communist country was the main rival of the United States during the Cold War.
What is the Soviet Union?