World War II And Cold War 7th Period
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World War II and Cold War Key Terms

Adenauer, KonradKonrad Adenauer was the head of the Christian Democrat party in West Germany and served as chancellor of West Germany for fourteen years (1949-1963). He helped revive industrial production and worked to make peace with the Allies. Under his rule, West Germany became a model of economic stability in Europe. -Grace

Atlantic Charter - This was a charter that set Allied goals for the postwar world (after WWII). It was drafted by Britain and the United States and later agreed to by all of the Allies. Some goals included no territorial changes or seizures, right to self-government for the areas deprived of this, and international cooperation to ensure improvements in economic and social conditions for all. ~Ashley

Battle of Britain This was a battle between the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe (July-October 1940). Though the Luftwaffe had more planes, the RAF had several advantages, including a sophisticated radar system, ENIGMA (a machine that broke German codes), better trained pilots, and a high rate of replacing aircraft. By September and October, the Germans realized they could not beat the RAF, and the battle degenerated into "The Blitz", in which the Germans indiscriminately bombed civilians in an attempt to weaken civilian morale, a plan that largely backfired. Ultimately, the Battle of Britain was a failure for the Germans, though the level of damage dealt to the British makes the term "victory" a little questionable. —Connie

-RAF
Battle of Midway - Midway was an American base halfway across the pacific. A japanese naval force attempted to further eradicate American air and naval power from the area. However, the americans responded with a decisive victory. They sunk 6 japanese carriers, the most at one time in history, and only lost one of their own. Midway was the turning point in the pacific war after a series of American losses. - Hayes

Battle of Stalingrad - In November 1942, the german army stretched all the way east to Stalingrad, very industrial city important to the soviet morale. The germans took the city, but were surrounded by a soviet army. The battle dragged on until the spring, when General paulus surrendered. The battle struck a critical blow to the german army in Russia, and operation Barbarossa failed. More than a million men were killed, and the tide of the war in Europe turned for the allies. - Hayes

de Beauvoir, Simone
The Second Sex
- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir- This counts as two (please?). This book by Simone de Beauvoir is perhaps the greatest work of feminist philosophy as it recounts the history of women and their place in society along with attitudes towards women. This book and the second wave of feminism that surrounds it is characterized by more of a change in thinking as opposed to political reform. De Beauvoir argued for a place for women outside the home and explores the imbalanced gender roles of the early 20th century but in general all of history. -Becca

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Airlift was the best example of the containment policy during the Cold War. In June of 1948, Stalin implemented the Berlin Blockade, which shut off the Western Allies’ access to West Berlin. Desperate to help the citizens in West Berlin but unwilling to start another war over the issue, the U.S. and its allies instead flew supplies into West Berlin, and by May of 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade. The airlift proved that the containment policy could work and embarrassed Stalin. -Grace

Berlin Wall-built on August 17, 1961, the Berlin Wall was a huge embarrassment to the Soviets, as it proved that communism was failing because no government had ever had to lock its people in before. Kristen.

Beveridge Report
Brandt, Willy
Ostpolitik

Brinksmanship- was the term coined by John Foster Dulles, the US Secretary of State during the Cold War, which referred to the “game of international chicken,” (-Mr. Edwards) being played by the USSR and the US. Essentially, this was the foreign policy strategy of pushing another country to the brink of war in order to make them comply with your country’s demands. -Alexis

Budapest, 1956 In 1956, Imre Nagy became Prime Minister of Hungary, and he was a reformer who ended one-party rule in Hungary and tried to leave the Warsaw Pact. Though this was super-popular in Hungary, this angered the Soviet Union, which sent in tanks. Contrary to predictions, the US did not come to Hungary's aid, and the Soviet Union crushed it, installing Janos Kadar as Nagy's successor. —Connie
- Imre Nagy

Containment Containment was the U.S.’s policy toward communism and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. It was articulated by George Kennan (‘the father of containment’) in his “Long Telegram,” which said that the U.S. should counter any Soviet acts of aggression with equal force and minimize communist influence as much as possible. The containment policy was adopted, in part because the U.S. felt it could not trust the Soviet Union, and therefore diplomacy would not be helpful, and also because of the failure of appeasement before World War II. –Grace

George Kennan- Wrote the "Long Telegram" in 1946 articulating containment policies. He argued that since Russia was insecure because of the possibility of invasion through its borders and the intimidating military and technological superiority of the West, they would not respond to diplomacy so instead the US should act as a counter to Russian force. Kristen.

Cuban Missile Crisis - Shortly after the failure of America's Bay of Pigs Invasion (an attempt to overthrow Castro), the Soviet Union armed Cuba with nuclear weapons. The USA saw this as a direct security threat whereas Soviets saw the act as evening the playing field considering America had nuclear weapons in Turkey. This crisis is a perfect example of brinksmanship in which both sides push the other to see how far they'll go before surrender. Eventually the USSR backs down and takes its weapons out of Cuba. The USA removes theirs from Turkey later. ~Ashley

Fidel Castro - Castro overthrew General Batista in 1959 making him a Communist dictator over the country. He turned the nation into a one party nation founded on Marxist-Leninist beliefs. Castro had a very close relationship with Nikita Khrushchev and the Soviet Union during the Cold War (best exemplified during Cuban Missile Crisis), which proved to be a major threat to the United States. ~Ashley

De Gaulle, Charles - Charles de Gaulle was a French military man who was a part of the French resistance against German Nazis during WWII. American and England recognized him as a leader and allowed him to try and run the resistance from London during the Nazi occupation. In 1959 Charles de Gaulle comes again to the forefront of French politics when he does away with the Fourth Republic in favor of a new Fifth Republic of which he is made president. This new government gives more power to the executive branch rather than the legislative sector. Charles de Gaulle was made president right in the midst of France's war with Algeria because the French people were sure he would fight and win back Algeria. He shocked the nation by ending the war, but only by granting Algeria independence in 1962. ~Ashley

Free France- was the portion of France not occupied by Germany or governed by one of Hitler’s puppets during WWII. Charles de Gaulle led the group of resistors who fought against the Axis powers, including the rest of France, and slowed the progress of Germany by taking extreme action, like blowing up bridges. –Alexis

Marshall Plan - Initiated by Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the European Recovery Plan as it was formally known allowed the US to send aid to 17 countries from April 1948 to December 1951. This aid was offered to the USSR, knowing they would refuse it. Because of this aid, as well as the efficiency of governments in each country, the GNP of these 17 countries increased by 15-25% Also the popularity of communism and other radical parties decreased. - Erin

NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a defensive military alliance created by Western Europe, Canada, and the USA. It was the first military alliance joined by the US and was a bold move, separating the communist and westerners into official camps. The USSR responded by founding the Warsaw Pact in 1955, a similar communist alliance. - Hayes

Nuremburg Trials - At Yalta, it was decided that every attempt must be made to remove all Nazi influence in Germany and to punish those involved. At the Nuremberg War Trials, 24 major Nazis were put on trial, 21 were found guilty of war crimes and 10 were executed. Goring was found guilty but committed suicide the day before his scheduled execution - Erin

Oppenheimer, Robert -Headed the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico to create the atomic bomb. Kristen.

“Peaceful Coexistence”- was Khrushchev’s philosophy that communist and non-communist states could exist simultaneously without conflict. This didn’t necessarily happen, as tensions increased between the USSR and the US tremendously while Khrushchev was in power. -Alexis

“Prague Spring”
- Alexander Dubcek

Potsdam Conference - the Potsdam conference lasted from July 1945 to August 1945. The leaders present were Stalin, Truman, and Churchill, until he was voted out of office; then Clement Atlee took his place at Potsdam. At Potsdam, Truman tells Stalin about the success of the Trinity Test, although Stalin already knew because of his many spies on the Manhattan Project. Also at Potsdam, the leaders set up 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council: US, USSR, GB, France, and China - Erin

Rommel, Erwin - Rommel was a german field marshal in charge of the Africa Korps in WWII. He became famous for his victories and swift tactics, and was known as the desert fox. He was involved in of the plots against Hitler, and was given a choice of whether to commit suicide or face trial. Rommel committed suicide in 1944. - Hayes

Sartre, Jean-Paul

Secret Speech (Khrushchev) Khrushchev gave this speech in 1956, telling leading political men in Russia that Stalin was bad for Russia, twisting the principles of Communism to advance Stalin's own objectives, and that he (Khrushchev) would set them back on track towards true Leninist Communism. This was the beginning of an era of De-Stalinization in Russia. This shocked Russia partly because no one had ever openly contradicted Stalin and still maintained their status as a good Communist, and because though people were aware of Stalin's horrible actions, the scope of Stalin's brutality had never been so openly revealed. —Connie

Tito (Josip Broz) Tito was the elected communist leader of Yugoslavia who resisted Soviet efforts to influence his foreign and domestic policies. He broke away from the international communist group, Cominform, in 1948 and accepted aid from America and other Western powers in order to escape political pressure from Moscow. Tito was also a leader of the Non-Aligned movement with Nasser and Nehru. -Grace

Truman Doctrine - The Truman Doctrine was established when Greece and Turkey were under the threat of falling under Communist control as Great Britain no longer had the money or resources after the war to control the states. Truman asked Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars to support Greece and Turkey so they wouldn't become Communist, establishing the precedent that the US would actively intervene to support democracies threatened by Communism. Kristen.

- Greek Civil War

Vichy France - Vichy France was technically an “independent” state of France not occupied by Germany. The president of this state was Petain, the hero of Verdun who was handpicked by Hitler to be president. Petain served basically as a puppet president of Hitler. He rounded up French Jews, even more than he was required, to be sent to concentration camps. - Erin

Wannsee Conference - held amongst Nazi senior officers, outlined the systematic plan for Jewish extermination. The euphemistic language used at the conference to outline the plan maintained an air of civility during the conference, which, combined with the posh atmosphere of the Wannsee mansion, contributed to the Nazi delusion that they were the most civilized race on earth. –Alexis

- Final Solution

Warsaw Pact In 1955, the USSR forms the Warsaw Pact as a reaction to the creation of NATO (a defensive military alliance between US, Western Europe, and Canada) in 1949. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance including Russia and most of Eastern Europe. —Connie