Cold War Vocabulary
1. Cold War A struggle over political differences between the United States (Democracy and Capitalism) and the Soviet Union (Communism and Socialism) without actually going to war with each other.
2. Korean Conflict (War) This conflict was fought from 1950 – 1953. The Soviet Union backed North Korea who urged the population to adopt communism. The United States backed South Korea. The struggle ended in a stalemate.
3. Vietnam Conflict (War) The U.S. supported South Vietnam with troops, money, and supplies to prevent it being taken over by communist backed North Vietnam. It ended in a cease-fire agreement.
4. Cuban Missile Crisis U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 14-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear war. *U.S blockaded Cuba and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.
5. Embargo An order, usually proclaimed by a president or the government of a country, to prohibit trade with another country. *After Cuba allowed the Soviet Union to place missiles trained on the U.S., President Kennedy placed an embargo on their country which lasted for several years.
6. Containment Theory (of Communism) The policy or process of preventing the expansion of communism. *The US wanted to stop the Soviet Union’s expansion through limited military and non-military means in areas of the world that were of strategic importance to the US. This policy caused the United States to become involved in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
7. Blockade To cut off an area or country by means of troops or warships to stop supplies or people from coming in or going out; to close off a country’s ports. *In order to enforce the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, for allowing Soviet missiles to be placed in their country, the U.S. created one of these with our navy ships.
8. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) In April 1949, the U.S., Canada, and 10 Western European Nations signed a pact stating an armed attack against one of the member nations shall be considered an attack on all. *To defend against a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe, these countries created a large military force.
9. Warsaw Pact This organization was established in 1955 (mostly in response to the formation of NATO). The Soviet Union controlled a military force under this agreement and pledged to aid communist nations. With the creation of this organization, Europe was divided into two armed “camps.”
10. Berlin Wall Because East Germans were fleeing to Democratic West Berlin through East Berlin, the Soviet Union constructed The Berlin Wall. *The wall stretched over a hundred miles. It not only ran through the center of Berlin, but also wrapped around West Berlin, entirely cutting West Berlin off from the rest of East Germany.
11. Iron Curtain The symbolic metaphor given to describe the political and military barrier that isolated Soviet controlled countries of Eastern Europe from the rest of the world following WWII.
12. Domino Theory A theory that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow.