The Cold War Flashcards

Grade 11 · Social Studies · Flashcards

Key terms and concepts for mastering the Cold War era in U.S. History.

Flashcards

Containment

George Kennan's strategy (1946) of preventing Soviet communism from spreading beyond existing borders; defined US Cold War policy for 40+ years.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

US commitment to support free peoples resisting communist subjugation; first applied to Greece and Turkey.

Marshall Plan (1947)

$13 billion US aid program to rebuild Western Europe; prevented economic desperation from driving nations toward communism.

Iron Curtain

Churchill's 1946 term for the barrier dividing Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe from democratic Western Europe.

MAD

Mutually Assured Destruction — nuclear deterrence based on the certainty that a first strike guarantees total retaliation and mutual annihilation.

Berlin Wall

Barrier built by East Germany in 1961 to stop its citizens from fleeing to West Berlin; fell November 9, 1989.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

13-day nuclear standoff after USSR installed missiles in Cuba; resolved with Soviet withdrawal and US non-invasion pledge.

McCarthyism

Senator McCarthy's 1950–1954 campaign of reckless anti-communist accusations that blacklisted hundreds without real evidence.

Sputnik (1957)

First artificial satellite, launched by the USSR; shocked the US into the Space Race and massive science education investment.

Détente

Nixon's 1970s policy of easing Cold War tensions via SALT I arms treaty, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and opening with China.

Domino Theory

US Cold War belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow — used to justify intervention in Korea and Vietnam.

NATO (1949)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization — military alliance of Western democracies committing mutual defense against Soviet aggression.

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