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Cold War
This period of time following World War II is where the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and faced off in an arms race that lasted nearly 50 years. -
Containment
Thought up by U.S. diplomat George Kennan, it's the American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world. -
Truman Doctrine
First established in1947 by President Truman after Britain could no longer afford to provide anti-communist aid to Greece and Turkey, it pledged to provide U.S. military and economic aid to any nation threatened by communism -
Marshall Plan
Introduced by Secratary of State George G. Marshall in 1947, he proposed a massive and systematic American economic aid to Europe to revitalize the European economies after WWII and help prevent the spread of communism. -
Berlin Airlift
A successful effort byt the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the western controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949 in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city. -
NATO
An international military alliance created in 1949 by the West (led by the U.S.) for purposes of defense, especially against the Soviets and their allies in the Warsaw pact. Stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. -
Mutually Assured Destruction
Military strategy in which full-scale use of nukes by opposing sides would result in the destruction of both. It is based on the theory of deterrence - deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same weapons in the first place. -
Duck and Cover
Schoolchildren practiced crawling under their desks and putting their hands over their heads to protect themselves from an atomic bomb attack. -
Domino Theory
The political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control. -
Warsaw Pact
The 1955 treaty binding the Soviet Union and countries of eastern Europe in an alliance against NATO. -
Bay of Pigs
In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. CIA landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure. -
Berlin Wall
A fortified wall surrounding west Berlin, Germany, built in 1961 to prevent east German citizens from traveling to the west. Its demolition in 1989 symbolized the end of the Cold War. This wall was both a deterrent to individuals trying to escape and a symbol of repression to the free world.
