Key People
Who became president when Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945?
Harry Truman
What economic system is based on private ownership and competition?
Capitalism
What February 1945 conference was held before Germany surrendered to plan the postwar world?
Yalta
What term did Churchill popularize for the division between Communist Eastern Europe and the West?
The Iron Curtain
What line divided Korea into Communist North and anti-Communist South after WWII?
38th parallel
Which Soviet dictator attended both the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and put Communist governments in Eastern Europe?
Joseph Stalin
What political system lets citizens choose their government through elections?
Democracy
What conference took place after Germany surrendered, with Truman now representing the U.S. alongside Stalin?
Potsdam
What 1949 alliance joined the U.S., Canada, and Western European nations against Soviet expansion?
NATO
In what year did Israel declare independence in the former British Mandate of Palestine?
1948
Who declared the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and later launched the Great Leap Forward?
Mao Zedong
How does the economic system of Communism differ from capitalism?
Communism has government control of the economy and promises equality; capitalism has private ownership and competition
How did the Truman Doctrine put containment into practice, and which two countries received aid first?
It promised U.S. help to nations threatened by Communism; Greece and Turkey
The Soviets sealed off land routes to West Berlin in 1948. What was the Western response called, and what did it do?
The Berlin Airlift; it flew in food and supplies so West Berlin could survive
Which 1917 British statement supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine while protecting existing non-Jewish communities?
The Balfour Declaration
Chiang Kai-shek was backed by the U.S. but lost the Chinese Civil War. How did his defeat change American fears about the Cold War?
Communist China made the U.S. fear further Communist expansion, so the Cold War was no longer limited to Europe
Why did Americans see the Soviet Union under Stalin as the opposite of democracy?
It was totalitarian: the government controlled nearly every part of people’s lives and citizens did not choose their leaders
How were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan different, and what goal did they share?
Truman Doctrine: political, military, and economic aid to resist Communism. Marshall Plan: economic recovery of Europe. Shared goal: stop Communism from spreading
Why was the Berlin Airlift a safer response than sending troops to open the roads?
It avoided firing first; the Soviets would have had to start a war by shooting down supply planes
Why is the Korean War sometimes called the “Forgotten War”?
It was very costly with many casualties, ended without a clear victory, and left Korea divided
Two generals are tied to the Korean War era. Which one led UN forces and clashed with Truman, and which one was president when the armistice was signed in 1953?
Douglas MacArthur led UN forces; Dwight Eisenhower was president at the armistice
The 38th Parallel in Korea and the Iron Curtain in Europe both did what?
Both divided Communist and non-Communist areas
Give two reasons Truman supported creating Israel, and name one conflict that followed its creation.
Reasons: sympathy for Holocaust survivors, support for a Jewish homeland, UN partition plan. Followed by the Arab-Israeli War (and Palestinian refugees)
Why did the Marshall Plan help contain Communism without any soldiers?
Rebuilding economies reduced the poverty and instability that made Communism appealing
How was the Korean War an example of containment?
The U.S. and UN forces defended South Korea after the North invaded in 1950 to stop Communism from spreading further in Asia