Origins
This 1941 agreement between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill outlined democratic ideals but left postwar enforcement unclear.
What is the Atlantic Charter?
This 1945 conference revealed growing distrust between Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin over Eastern Europe.
What is the Potsdam Conference?
This economic aid program helped rebuild Western Europe and prevent the spread of communism.
What is the Marshall Plan?
After WWII, Korea was divided along this line.
What is the 38th parallel?
This policy threatened overwhelming nuclear response to deter Soviet aggression.
What is Massive Retaliation?
At this conference, Allied leaders agreed to demand “unconditional surrender” from Axis powers.
What is the Casablanca Conference?
This 1947 policy pledged U.S. support to nations resisting communism, especially Greece and Turkey.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
This event (1948–49) involved the U.S. supplying a city entirely by air after a Soviet blockade.
What is the Berlin Airlift?
This general led UN forces and pushed North Korean troops back toward China.
Who is Douglas MacArthur?
This 1960 incident, involving Francis Gary Powers, heightened tensions between the U.S. and USSR.
What is the U-2 incident?
At the Tehran Conference, Stalin pushed for this military action to relieve Soviet pressure.
What is opening a second front (D-Day invasion)?
After WWII, the U.S. helped rebuild this former enemy nation as a democratic ally in Asia.
What is Japan?
This 1947 law reorganized the military and created the Department of Defense and CIA.
What is the National Security Act?
This country responded to U.N. actions by also invading North Korea, further expanding the conflict.
What is China?
The U.S. supported this Middle Eastern nation, formally recognized in 1948, during early Cold War tensions.
What is Israel?
This country became a major point of tension because the Soviets installed a pro-communist government despite earlier agreements.
What is Poland?
This strategy, first articulated by George F. Kennan, aimed to stop the spread of communism.
What is containment?
This secret 1950 document called for a major U.S. military buildup to confront communism.
What is NSC-68?
This strategy was at the heart of the Truman-MacArthur controversy.
What is Limited War?
During this 1956 crisis, Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to support Britain, France, and Israel’s invasion of Egypt.
What is the Suez Crisis?
At this 1945 conference, Allied leaders agreed to divide Germany and establish the United Nations.
What is the Yalta Conference?
The “China Problem” ultimately led to this political outcome in China.
What is the communist victory?
This 1955 alliance united the Soviet Union and Eastern European nations in response to NATO.
What is the Warsaw Pact?
The Korean War ended in this type of agreement, leaving the peninsula still divided.
What is an armistice (or, "cease fire")?
Under John Foster Dulles, U.S. foreign policy sought this which emphasized tension in confrontations to achieve concessions.
What is brinkmanship?