Question 1

Who were the Big Three in WWII?

Accepted Answer

Winston Churchill (Britain), FDR (US), and Joseph Stalin, who held meetings to plan for the world after the war

Question 2

What was the Tehran Conference?

Accepted Answer

A conference in Iran during WWII

Allies agreed the Soviet Union would focus on freeing Eastern Europe, and Britain and the US would focus on Western Europe

(November 1943)

Question 3

What was the Yalta Conference?

Accepted Answer

A conference during WWII, where the Big Three met to decide what would happen after Germany's surrender

Resulted in a disagreement and divide between FDR and Stalin

(February 1945)

Question 4

What was the disagreement at the Yalta Conference?

Accepted Answer

FDR wanted free, democratic elections in Eastern Europe

Stalin wanted influence over Eastern Europe so that it would be a buffer to protect from invasions

Question 5

What was the Potsdam Conference?

Accepted Answer

A final meeting among the Big Three at the end of WWII, furthering the divide between the US and Soviet Union

Truman (replaced FDR) demanded free elections in Eastern Europe, but Stalin already took control

Question 6

Why did the US and Soviet Union become more powerful than Europe after WWII?

Accepted Answer

Eastern and Central Europe suffered huge losses during WWII, while the US and Soviet Union became more powerful

(Western Europe was also significantly damaged, but not as much)

Question 7

Why did the US become so powerful after WWII?

Accepted Answer

It suffered the least from WWII since the mainland was untouched by attacks

The industrial base and infrastructure grew even stronger because of government contracts

(this allowed the US to provide financial aid through the Marshall Plan)

Question 8

What is a cold war?

Accepted Answer

A conflict that doesn't involve military confrontation, but rather propaganda, secret operations, and an arms race

(opposite of a hot war, which has active military)

Question 9

What is a hydrogen bomb?

Accepted Answer

A bomb much more powerful than atomic bombs, developed in the 1950s by both the US and Soviet Union

Question 10

How did President Eisenhower react to the nuclear arms race?

Accepted Answer

He warned against both competing for nuclear supremacy and the military-industrial complex gaining too much power

Question 11

How did the public react to the nuclear arms race?

Accepted Answer

Public protests erupted against stockpiling nuclear weapons

Question 12

What is the military-industrial complex?

Accepted Answer

The informal alliance between the government and defense contractors

(Eisenhower warned about this getting too large)

Question 13

Why did the League of Nations fail?

Accepted Answer

Lacked support from the world's most powerful countries (particularly the US)

Lacked a mechanism to stop small conflicts from turning into large ones

Question 14

How was the United Nations (UN) founded?

Accepted Answer

In 1943, the US, Britain, Soviet Union, and China discussed the idea of the UN

It was later established in 1945

Question 15

What is the United Nations (UN)?

Accepted Answer

An intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security

Question 16

What was the Iron Curtain?

Accepted Answer

The metaphorical split between Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War

Question 17

What was the economic difference between the US and the Soviet Union?

Accepted Answer

The US was capitalist, so most economic assets were owned privately

The Soviet Union was communist, so economic assets were owned by the government

Question 18

What was the cultural difference between the US and Soviet Union?

Accepted Answer

The US valued private interests, freedom of speech, and individuality

The Soviet Union valued equality, fairness, and community

Question 19

What was the political difference between the US and Soviet Union?

Accepted Answer

The US is democratic, so the people could choose their leaders through free elections

The Soviet Union was authoritarian, and elections had little control over the government

Question 20

How did the US and Soviet Union criticize each other?

Accepted Answer

The US claimed the Soviet Union limited freedom of speech, religion, democracy, and business

The Soviet Union claimed the US gave the poor "freedom to starve" and discriminated against minorities

Question 21

What are the similarities between the US and Soviet Union?

Accepted Answer

Big economic decisions were both in the hands of groups (US=corporate shareholders; Soviets=government)

Both acted out of fear of the other, making the military powerful

Question 22

What are satellite countries?

Accepted Answer

A country under heavy political, economic, and military control by another

(the Soviet Union had Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany as its satellite countries)

Question 23

How did the Soviet Union attempt to exploit its satellite countries?

Accepted Answer

It directed its satellites to develop five-year economic plans to replace agriculture with industry, at the expense of consumer products

Banned all political parties but the Communists

Question 24

What is World Revolution?

Accepted Answer

A Marxist concept of having organized workers overthrow capitalism in all countries

Supported by the Soviet Union, who supported communist uprisings

Question 25

What was the policy of containment during the Cold War?

Accepted Answer

Containing communism to where it is, and not letting it expand farther

(some supported a more aggressive policy of overthrowing communists to "roll back" the spread of communism)

Question 26

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Accepted Answer

A doctrine during the Cold War that stated the US would do anything to stop the spread of communist influence

(especially in Greece and Turkey)

Question 27

What was the Marshall Plan?

Accepted Answer

A plan to rebuild Europe into a prosperous and stable region, to avoid the spread of communism

(the Soviets developed a competing plan for Eastern Europe called COMECON)

Question 28

What was the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)?

Accepted Answer

A Soviet plan to rebuild Eastern Europe, by creating trade and credit agreements

(less effective than its counterpart, the Marshall Plan)

Question 29

What was the Space Race?

Accepted Answer

A competition between the Soviet Union and US to see who could achieve superior space-flight ability

Question 30

What was Sputnik?

Accepted Answer

The first artificial satellite ever launched into space, by the Soviet Union

(the US would launch its first satellite year later)

Question 31

What is mutual assured destruction (MAD)?

Accepted Answer

A strategy where two opposing sides (US and Soviet Union) are both so powerful that war would mean that both countries are assured to be destroyed

Question 32

What was the Non-Aligned Movement?

Accepted Answer

A group of countries that didn't want to be dominated by either the US or Soviet Union

Supported a framework of international economic, political, and social order

Question 33

What challenges did non-aligned countries face?

Accepted Answer

States wanted to advance their own interests (Nehru wanted a stronger UN, but not for it to interfere with India and Pakistan)

States often became more allied with either the US or Soviet Union (Soviet Union aided Ethiopia; US aided Somalia)

Question 34

Who was Jawaharlal Nehru?

Accepted Answer

An Indian non-aligned leader, who was important at the Bandung Conference

(had conflicts with Pakistan over Kashmir)

Question 35

Who was Kwame Nkrumah?

Accepted Answer

A Ghanian non-aligned leader who helped free Ghana from Britain and advocated unity across Africa

Question 36

Who was Gamal Abdel Nasser?

Accepted Answer

An Egyptian non-aligned leader who helped negotiate compromise at the Bandung Conference and supported Pan-Arabism

Question 37

Who was Sukarno?

Accepted Answer

An Indonesian non-aligned leader who organized the Bandung Conference

(criticized the US and Soviet Union, but accepted aid from both)

Question 38

What was the Bandung Conference?

Accepted Answer

A large Afro-Asian conference where formerly colonized states organized the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961

Question 39

What are proxy wars?

Accepted Answer

A conflict between two smaller states that represent the interests of bigger states

(Vietnam and Korea)

Question 40

What was the Berlin Blockade?

Accepted Answer

A blockade created by the Soviets that prevented the West from moving supplies into Berlin

(the Soviets wanted to control all of Berlin; the allies began the Berlin Airlift in response)

Question 41

How was Germany partitioned after WWII?

Accepted Answer

It was split into four sections among Britain, France, the US, and the Soviet Union

The three Western Allies combined their zones into a single West-Germany, governed by democratic principles

Question 42

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Accepted Answer

An operation where the Western Allies flew supplies into Western Berlin, to avoid the Berlin Blockade

Question 43

What happened after the Berlin Blockade ended?

Accepted Answer

Germany split into two states, one aligned with the West, the other with the East

Question 44

What is NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)?

Accepted Answer

A treaty between several Western nations, pledging mutual support and cooperation against conflicts and wars

(created due to a desire to be coordinated in case of a conflict with the Soviets)

Question 45

What was the Berlin Wall?

Accepted Answer

A guarded concrete barrier that separated East and West Germany, both physically and ideologically

(established in 1961; fell in 1989 as seen below)

Question 46

What was the Warsaw Pack?

Accepted Answer

A collective defense treaty between the Soviet Union and some of its satellite states

(created to rival NATO)

Question 47

What was the communist bloc (Eastern bloc)?

Accepted Answer

A group of communist states controlled by the Soviet Union

Question 48

What was SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization)?

Accepted Answer

A treaty between non-communist states to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia

Question 49

What was CENTO (Central Treaty Organization)?

Accepted Answer

An anti-Soviet treaty that aimed to stop the spread of Communism in the Middle East

(Britain, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and partially the US)

Question 50

What was the Korean War?

Accepted Answer

A war between North Korea (with the help of the Soviets and Chinese) and South Korea (with the help of the UN)

Question 51

What happened during the Korean War?

Accepted Answer

UN forces initially pushed North Koreans back towards China, but Chinese force were sent in as reinforcements

Ended in a stalemate, with North and South Korea separated

Question 52

What was the Vietnam War?

Accepted Answer

A war in Vietnam between North Vietnam (backed up the communists) and South Vietname (backed by the anti-communists)

Question 53

What happened during the Vietnam War?

Accepted Answer

After being initiated by Eisenhower, JFK greatly increased US presence in Vietnam, and then Lyndon Johnson sent even more

North Vietnamese forces eventually prevailed and the US withdrew after huge losses

Question 54

What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?

Accepted Answer

A failed US operation that attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro's communists

(total failure, cementing the Cuba-Soviet alliance)

Question 55

What was domino theory?

Accepted Answer

A Cold War theory in the US, that believed if one country turned to communism, surrounding countries would be more likely to also turn to communism

Question 56

Who was Nikita Kruschev?

Accepted Answer

First secretary of the Soviet Union, who came to power after Stalin

(against Stalin; sponsored space program; approved construction of Berlin Wall; placed nuclear missiles in Cuba)

Question 57

Why did Kruschev ship nuclear missiles to Cuba?

Accepted Answer

The US positioned nuclear missiles in Turkey, which was right next to the Soviet Union

Kruschev felt justified in shipping nuclear missiles to Cuba, since it is right next to the US

Question 58

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Accepted Answer

A confrontation between the US and Soviet Union, where the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba in response to the US putting nuclear missiles in Turkey

Closest the world has ever come to a full-scale nuclear war

Question 59

What was Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty?

Accepted Answer

An agreement that banned the testing of nuclear weapons

Aimed to cut down the amount of radiation and environmental harm civilians were exposed to

Question 60

What was the Hot Line (Moscow-Washington hotline)?

Accepted Answer

A direct telegraph link between JFK and Kruschev, where the leaders talked through the Cuban Missile Crisis

Eventually de-escalated the crisis peacefully

Question 61

What happened to Angola after it won independence from Portugal?

Accepted Answer

Angola was composed of rival ethnic groups that all wanted to control the country's diamond mines

The Soviet Union and Cuba backed the Mbundu tribe

South Africa backed the Ovimbundu tribe

The US backed the Bankongo tribe

Question 62

What was the Nicaraguan Revolution (Contra War)?

Accepted Answer

A bloody rebellion in Nicaragua, where the conservative Contras (backed by the US) attempted to overthrow the socialist Sandinistas

(the Sandinistas came to power two years earlier after overthrowing a dictatorship)

Question 63

What was the antinuclear weapons movement?

Accepted Answer

A social movement to oppose the creation and buildup of nuclear weapons

(started in Japan, but spread to other countries)

Question 64

What is land reform?

Accepted Answer

Dividing up agricultural land, and reallocating some of it to people who previously had no land

(vital issue in many Cold War-era countries, including China, Iran, Vietnam, etc.)

Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization, AP World History: Modern Flashcards