Vocabulary
This policy aimed to prevent the spread of communism to other countries, often through economic and military aid
Containment
This U.S. president is credited with increasing Cold War tensions early in his term but later worked with Gorbachev to ease nuclear arms through summits and treaties
Ronald Reagan
This 1962 event brought the world to the brink of nuclear war when the Soviet Union placed missiles in this Caribbean country.
Cuban Missile Crisis
This term describes the intense competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to build more and better nuclear weapons during the Cold War
Arms Race
This term refers to the division of Europe into Communist East and Capitalist West
The Iron Curtain
He was the U.S. president during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
John F. Kennedy
This conflict in Southeast Asia saw heavy U.S. involvement and ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975
The Vietnam War
This term describes the spread of nuclear weapons technology and capabilities to nations beyond the original nuclear powers
Nuclear proliferation
The end of the Cold War led to the expansion of this military alliance originally formed to counter Soviet power
NATO
This term describes countries that chose not to formally align with either the U.S. or the Soviet Union during the Cold War
Non-alignment
He was the leader of the Cuban Revolution and ruled Cuba for nearly five decades during the Cold War
Fidel Castro
This war from 1950 to 1953 ended in an armistice and involved North and South Korea backed by China and the United Nations
The Korean War
This term, popularized by President Eisenhower, warns of the powerful relationship between the government, military, and defense contractors
Military Industrial Complex
After the Cold War, this European country was reunited in 1990 after decades of division
This term describes a military alliance of Communist countries led by the Soviet Union, formed in 1955 in response to NATO
Warsaw Pact
The communist revolutionary leader who declared Vietnam’s independence from France in 1945 and led North Vietnam during the Cold War
Ho Chi Min
This 1948–1949 crisis involved a Soviet blockade of a major European city, leading the U.S. and its allies to supply it by air
The Berlin Blockade (airlift)
This term describes the strategy of preventing nuclear war by promising massive retaliation if attacked
Mutually assured destruction (MAD)
This 1991 event marked the official end of the Cold War
The dissolution of the Soviet Union
This theory suggested that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would likely follow
Domino Theory
This Soviet leader initiated the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the 1980s
Mikhail Gorbachev
This conflict from 1979 to 1989 involved Soviet troops fighting to support a communist government against Mujahideen rebels in this Asian country
The Soviet-Afghan War
This 1972 agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was the first to place limits on nuclear arms, especially missile systems
SALT
This policy, initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, aimed at restructuring the USSR’s political and economic system
Perestroika