8.1-8.2
Who were the "Big Three"? (Country and person!)
Who was...
Joseph Stalin from the Soviet Union, US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The Western allies did not want to risk a military confrontation with the Soviets and ultimately began the Berlin Airlift. Through this operation, the allies flew supplies into Western zones between February 1948 til May 1949 when the Soviets lifted the blockade.
Who was Mao Zedong?
Who is...
The communist leader of China who won popular support because he redistributed land to peasants, opened schools and hospitals, and punished soldiers who mistreated civilians. Mao ordered the nationalization of Chinese industries and also created five year plans based on the Soviet Model.
Name the nonviolent resistance leaders of the US, South Africa and India, and tell how they made a change into their respective countries.
Who was...
India, Mohandas Gandhi- His nonviolent resistance helped end British rule in India and has influenced Modern Civil disobedience movements across the globe.
South Africa, Nelson Madela- He brought an end to Apartheid in South Africa, bringing peace to a racially divided country and leading the fight for human rights around the world.
US, Martin Luther King Jr.- His efforts provided the foundation for a long road to racial justice and had many big successes towards an equal society including the Civil Rights Acts of 1965.
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
Who is...
A Soviet and Russian politician. He was the eighth and final leader of the USSR. Two years after the fall of the Berlin wall, a coup ousted Gorbachev from power, the USSR collapsed and the Cold War was officially over.
What is self-determination and its significance in relation to the Cold War?
What is...
The idea that each country should choose its own form of government and leaders. The Austro-Hungary Empire and the Ottoman empire crumpled, fracturing into multiple new countries. Europeans generally maintained their power, even expanding it over territories that were a part of the Ottoman Empire. With all of the competition for land, self-determination played a large role in the harsh tensions that contributed to the Cold War.
What was the Berlin Wall and what did it represent?
What was...
The Soviets first set up barbed wired fences patrolled by guards along the Perimeter of East Germany and between East and West Berlin. In August 1961, they began replacing the fences in Berlin with a wall, which became known as the Berlin Wall. The wall was created with no regard to how the existing civilians lived, and between 1961 and 1989, when the Berlin wall fell soldiers killed about 150 people as they tried to escape over it and return to family and friends on the other side.
What was the Great Leap Forward and it's results?
What is...
The Great Leap Forward was a time period of total political, social and ideological reform in China led by Mao Zedong and the CCP. The results of the Great Leap Forward was, that despite failing harvests causing severe food shortages, China continued to export grain to Africa, as well as Cuba. Mao sought to convince the outside world of the success of the economic success of the economic plans that he had. Some 20 million Chinese died from starvation. By 1960, the Great Leap Forward failed and was abandoned.
What was the Zionist Movement and how did it contribute to the birth of Isreal?
What was...
The Zionist Movement originated in the 1890's from reaction to the Dreyfus Affair. Theodore Herzel, a Hungarian Jewish intellectual and journalist, used the affair as evidence that assimilation of Jews into European Society was failing to provide safety and equal opportunity. At the first Zionist congress in 1897, he urged the creation of a separate Jewish state. That state eventually became Isreal.
What is a glasnost and what is perestroika?
What are...
Glasnost was the policy of opening up Soviet Society and the political process by granting greater freedom. Glasnost reflected a commitment of the Gorbachev administration to allowing Soviet citizens to discuss publicly the problems of the system and political solutions to said problems.
Perestroika were attempts to restructure the Soviet Economy to allow elements of free Enterprise. It originally referred to increased automation and labor efficiency, but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets.
What did the "Iron Curtain" represent?
What was...
The existence of the United Nations did not prevent tensions from the growing unrest between the Soviet Union and the West. Winston Churchill's March 1946 speech symbolized the Cold War. Churchill said that "an iron curtain has descended across the continent" (of Europe). The metaphor of the iron curtain described the split between Eastern and Western Europe. They were divided because the West supported Democracy while the East supported communism.
What is a proxy war and what is an example of how a proxy war furthered tensions during the Cold war?
A proxy war is when a major power helps bring about a conflict between other nations but does not always fight directly. These conflicts underlined the political and philosophical divide between the superpowers. An example of this would be the wars in Korea and Vietnam which were essentially Communism vs Capitalism as they were sponsored by the USSR and USA.
Explain the Suez Crisis
What is...
Built by Egyptian laborers with money from French investment between 1854 and 1869, the Suez Canal had been under lease to the French for 44 years. To the Egyptians, this lease symbolizes colonial exploitation, which Nasser pledged to fight. This then led to fighting of the lands around the canal and was settled by the United Nations.
Describe the Kashmir Conflict.
What was..
One persistent tension between India and Pakistan was over Kashmir, a border region in the mountainous North. At the time of the partition, most people in Kashmir were Muslims, but its leader was Hindu. Therefore, both Pakistan and India claimed Kashmir. At times the rivalry there broke out into armed conflict. The tension between the two countries become more significant after each began developing nuclear weapons. Eventually India controlled about 45% of the Kashmir region, while Pakistan controlled about 35% and China the other 20%.
What was the Strategic Defense Initiative and what was its purpose.
What is..
Reagan declared that the USA would create a missile defense program called the Strategic Defense Initiative in light of the growing nuclear tensions. The system would supposedly destroy any Soviet nuclear missiles that targeted that United States or their allies.
Explain the key differences between the USA's capitalism and the USSR's communism.
What is...
Capitalism- In the United States, Western Europe, and other capitalist countries, economic assets, such as farms and factories, were mostly owned privately. Hence, private interests determines economic decisions. People had the freedom to act in their self interest. There is also class distinctions, so there are some people that are extremely wealthy, some that are extremely poor, along with an average middle class.
Communism- In the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and other communist countries, economic assets were owned by the government. The system emphasized equality and fairness. Each Person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. There is not an open market so profits that are made are are shared between everyone. There is no class distinctions, Everyone is on the same level.
Name 4 different Alliances/Pacts made during the Cold War.
What are...
NATO: North Atlantic Trade Organization
Warsaw Pact: USSR, Satellite Nations
SEATO: Southeast Asian Trade Organization
CENTO: Central Treaty Organization
What was the Biafran Civil War?
What is...
The Western African country of Nigeria, the most populous state on the continent, gained independence from Britain in 1960. The Biafran Civil War began in 1967 when the Igbos, a Westernized predominately Christian tribe in the Southeastern oil-rich Niger River Delta area, tried to secede from the Northern dominated government.
Describe a military-industrial complex.
What was...
As the defense industries expanded, so did the number of people who replied on them for jobs, cutting back on defense spending, then became very difficult. In 1961, US president Dwight Eisenhower, a highly decorated general in WW2, called this combination of government defense departments and private business supplying their demands the military industrial complex. He warned that it could grow powerful enough to threaten the country's democracy.
What is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty?
What is...
In 1987, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed on a new nuclear arms treaty. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty restricted intermediate-range nuclear weapons. Around the world, people could breath a cautious sigh of relief as the worlds two superpowers reduced the risk of nuclear war.
What was the Non-Aligned Movement? What did it mean?
What was...
Many new African and Asian countries wanted to stay out of the US and Soviet Cold war. This was because these countries wanted to protect their independence and sovereignty from the harsh complex conflict. These countries wanted an alternative framework for international economic, political, and social order- not dominated by the two superpowers.
What was the Bay of Pigs invasion and what events lead up to the incident?
What is...
The Cuban missile Crisis, where Cuba obtained missiles from the USSR and set them up pointed to the US in response to American missiles in Turkey lead to the Bay of Pigs invasion. Newly elected John F. Kennedy was very concerned about the presence of missiles only 90 miles from American land and supported a group of Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro.
What was the Quiet Revolution and its results?
What is...
The Quiet Revolution of the 1960's involved much political and social change in Quebec, with the Liberal Party gaining power and reforming economic policies that led to further desires for separation from the rest of British-controlled Canada. French Canadian nationalism expanded, and splinter groups adopted extreme tactics, including terrorist bombings that began in 1963. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, a native of Quebec, was able to preserve the country's unity. Later in 1995, a referendum to make Quebec an independent nation failed by a narrow margin.
Who was Francisco Franco and why did the United States support him?
Who/What is...
Franco was a Spanish dictator who ruled Spain from 1939-1975. His rise to power was not exactly smooth and he had come to power by overthrowing the previously popularly elected government that was run by many leftists. Despite his human rights violations, he was against communism which earned him American support.
What did Lithuania, Georgia, and other Soviet republics do as a result of the democratic reforms sweeping through Eastern Europe?
What is...
With most of the Eastern European nations caught up in democratic reforms, it was not long before the Soviet Union was also swept into the movement. Lithuania, Georgia, and other Soviet republics began to overthrow their rulers and gain independence.