Turning Points
Key Figures
US vs USSR
Geopolitics
Key Terms
100

These 2 policies were championed by Gorbachev, and meant openness and reform in English

Perestroika and Glasnost

100

The last leader of the USSR, this person's reforms were ambitious, but ultimately were failures

Mikhail Gorbachev

100

This economic and political system, championed by the USSR, called for collective ownership of the means of production and was built on the principle of equality 

Communism
100

This alliance was created in 1949 by the US, Canada and other European nations to limit the influence of the USSR

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

100

This term describes the study of how geography influences politics, power, and international relations.

Geopolitics

200

This environmental disaster in 1986 happened in Ukraine, and significantly undermined the legitimacy of the USSR

the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

200

Succeeding Stalin, this Soviet leader was known for his reforms called 'Destalinization'

Nikita Khruschev

200

This economic and political system, championed by the US, is based on private ownership

Capitalism

200

This 1955 alliance bound the USSR and its Eastern European satellite states together to form a united front against the West

Warsaw Fact
200

This term describes a region where one major power has significant political, economic, or military influence over other nations.

Sphere of Influence

300

The Americans joined this Southeast Asian war in 1965, leading to a devastating defeat 10 years later

the Vietnam War

300

40th president of the US, this person was known for eating jelly beans

Ronald Reagan

300

Name 3 problems that faced the USSR near its collapse

1: Corruption

2: Slow Bureaucracy

3: Economic stagnation

4: Chernobyl Disaster

5: Lack of innovation

300

This term, coined by Churchill, described the divide between Soviet Europe and Western Europe

The Iron Curtain

300

This acronym describes the deterrence offered by nuclear annhilation

Mutually Assured Destruction
400

This incident in the 1960s happened in the Carribbean, and almost led to nuclear war

the Cuban Missile Crisis

400

This person was rivals with Mikhail Gorbachev, and ultimately destroyed the USSR

Boris Yeltsin

400

What is the Russian word for a Soviet bureaucrat

Apparatchik

400

Name 3 European member states of NATO at its founding

Britain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Iceland

400

This term describes a conflict in which two rival powers support opposing sides without directly fighting each other.

Proxy war

500

The Soviets launched this Central Asian war in 1979, leading to a devastating defeat 10 years later

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

500

This person attempted to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989, trying to save the USSR

Gennedy Yanayev

500

The USSR's economy was centrally planned by the state; the US economy, by contrast, was largely driven by this.

The Free Market

500

Name 5 members of the Warsaw Pact that does not include the USSR

East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Czechoslovakia

500

This term describes the intense competition between the US and USSR to build up ever-larger and more advanced military arsenals.

Arms race