Unit 8 Flashcards
Cold War and Decolonization (1900-Present)
Drill the core vocabulary before moving into practice questions.
51
Total cards
8
Recommended in one sitting
12-15 min
Estimated time
Flashcard drill
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Spaced repetition
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Card list
Use these as quick recall prompts. Add definitions after your first pass.
Cold War
Ideological and geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and USSR after WWII.
Containment
U.S. policy to prevent the spread of communism.
Truman Doctrine
U.S. commitment to support nations resisting communism.
Marshall Plan
U.S. economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII.
NATO
Western military alliance formed in 1949.
Warsaw Pact
Soviet-led military alliance formed in 1955.
Proxy wars
Cold War conflicts fought indirectly (e.g., Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan).
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 confrontation over Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Non-Aligned Movement
Group of states seeking independence from Cold War blocs.
Decolonization
Post-1945 wave of independence movements in Asia and Africa.
Gandhi
Leader of India's independence movement using nonviolent resistance.
Partition of India
1947 division into India and Pakistan, leading to mass migrations.
Pan-Africanism
Movement promoting African unity and independence.
Apartheid
South African system of racial segregation and minority rule.
Algerian War
Anti-colonial struggle that ended French rule in Algeria.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Post-1948 regional conflict influenced by Cold War politics.
Cultural Revolution
Mao's campaign to enforce communist ideology in China.
Detente
Period of eased Cold War tensions in the 1970s.
Berlin Wall
Symbol of Cold War division, built in 1961 and fell in 1989.
OPEC and oil shocks
Oil embargoes that reshaped global politics and economies in the 1970s.
Korean War
Cold War conflict that ended in a divided Korea and showcased U.S.-Soviet rivalry.
Vietnam War
Proxy war in Southeast Asia that intensified anti-communist containment and global protest movements.
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba that heightened Cold War tensions.
Iron Curtain
Metaphor for the division between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the West.
Berlin Blockade/Airlift
Soviet blockade of West Berlin (1948-49) and Western airlift response.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
Nuclear deterrence doctrine based on the threat of total retaliation.
Arms race
Competition to build nuclear and conventional weapons during the Cold War.
Sputnik
First artificial satellite, launched by the USSR in 1957.
Space Race
U.S.-Soviet competition in space exploration and technology.
Domino theory
U.S. belief that communism would spread from one country to neighbors.
Khrushchev
Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis and de-Stalinization.
Brezhnev Doctrine
Policy justifying Soviet intervention in Eastern Europe to preserve communism.
Prague Spring
1968 reform movement in Czechoslovakia crushed by the USSR.
Solidarity movement
Polish labor union that challenged communist rule in the 1980s.
Gorbachev
Soviet leader who introduced glasnost and perestroika reforms.
Glasnost
Policy of political openness in the late Soviet Union.
Perestroika
Economic restructuring reforms under Gorbachev.
Soviet-Afghan War
1979-1989 conflict that strained the USSR and fueled global tensions.
Chinese Communist Revolution (1949)
Mao Zedong's victory establishing the People's Republic of China.
Mao Zedong
Communist leader of China who launched the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.
Great Leap Forward
Mao's program to rapidly industrialize China, leading to famine.
Bandung Conference
1955 meeting that promoted Afro-Asian solidarity and nonalignment.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Indian leader who championed nonalignment during the Cold War.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Egyptian leader who promoted Pan-Arabism and nonalignment.
Josip Broz Tito
Yugoslav leader who broke with Stalin and led a nonaligned path.
African National Congress (ANC)
South African organization that led the anti-apartheid struggle.
Nelson Mandela
Anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first Black president.
Suez Crisis (1956)
Conflict over the Suez Canal that exposed European decline.
Decolonization in Southeast Asia
Independence movements in Vietnam, Indonesia, and surrounding regions after WWII.
Third World
Term for developing nations outside the U.S.-Soviet blocs.
Proxy conflict
War in which major powers supported opposing sides indirectly.
Study flow
- Preview each term and write a quick definition in your own words.
- Use three terms in a single sentence to connect concepts.
- Return tomorrow and test yourself with the same list.