What is the name of the satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957 that ignited what is known as the Space Race?
Sputnik
Who was the leader of the Communist Party in China?
Mao Zedong
What is the name of the millitary alliance formed by the US, Canada and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union and the threat of communism?
NATO
Nickname given to the communist guerilla Viet Minh sympathizers in South Vietnam.
Viet Cong
Who was the president during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
John F Kennedy
What is the name of the Truman Doctrine designed to prevent the further spread of communism?
Containment
Who were the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union when the Cold War ended?
Where was the geographical line where Korea was divided after WW2?
The 38th parallel
A post WW2 peace keeping organization.
The UN (United Nations)
True or False: The Vietnam War resulted in a communist ruled, unified Vietnam.
True. The war ended in a ceasefire, and the north and south united under communist leadership.
Which three countries were involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
What was the Space Race and who did it involve?
The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It originated in the missile-based nuclear race between the two nations.
What is the name of the collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern European allies?
The Warsaw Pact
Who were the radical youth of the Cultural Revolution in China which began in 1966? Their targets were anti - communists and intellectuals.
The Red Guards
Which war is said to have been narrowly averted during the intense diplomatic struggle of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
WW3
Which president lost his credibility with the American public during the Vietnam War? His presidency is frequently labeled as having a "credibility gap" (difference between the president’s claims and the actual facts.)
Lyndon Johnson
Which peace-keeping, military doctrine suggests that the idea of a country using their nuclear weapons in retaliation, is enough to deter an enemy from attacking in the first place.
Nuclear Deterrence Theory
What was the name of the barrier built between West Berlin and Soviet controlled East Berlin, designed to prevent the Eastern population from escaping to the Western side?
The Berlin Wall.
What is the name of the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to isolate itself and its eastern allies from open contact with the West and noncommunist areas?
The Iron Curtain
The 3 year war between North and South Korea ended in a __________.
stalemate
Which US government program was inspired by the Space Race?
NASA
What was the name of the military supply route running from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia to South Vietnam? (Hint: it shares a name with the Communist leader in Vietnam during this time.)
The Ho Chi Minh Trail.
What was the main cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The Soviet Union placed missiles in Cuba to threaten the United States.
Which popular Cold War ideology does the above cartoon represent?
The Domino Theory
Explain the revolutionary policies of Gorbechev which led to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.
The policies of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring") led to the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union.
Perestroika aimed to restructure the government and economy by reducing the power of the Communist party in industry and encouraging local government.
Glasnost increased openness and transparency in government institutions allowing Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of their system.
As the people of Eastern Europe became more aware of what was really happening within their government, they rebelled, and eventually broke away from the USSR and formed their own countries.
After South Korea (with the help of the UN and the US) pushed back into the North over the 38th parallel, which country sent in 300,000 troops to help North Korea?
What was the result of their involvement?
China
The North was able to push the South back to the 38th parallel, where the conflict originally began. The divide remains in the same place today.
Explain the meaning behind the following acronym: M.A.D.?
M.A.D. stands for Mutually Assured Destruction, a military strategy in which the use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.
Explain the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam.
How did the United States respond to Soviet nuclear activity in Cuba?
JFK decided to place a naval blockade around Cuba.
What is the name given to the period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning around 1971?
Détente