🕊️

Overview of Key Cold War Concepts

May 8, 2025

Cold War Overview

Quiz Information

  • Matching sections (3?)
  • 13 items to click through on test
  • Total of 35 points

Possible Test Questions

  • Arms Race Escalation in the 1950s
    • Introduction of nuclear weapons, hydrogen bombs, and ballistic missiles
    • USSR set off its first atomic bomb in 1949, followed by hydrogen bomb development in the early 1950s
  • Great Leap Forward
    • Agriculture initiative aimed at creating a classless society
    • Slogan: “Hard work for a few years, happiness for a thousand.”
    • Forced commune living, but ultimately failed due to dependence on external factors like weather
  • Failure of the Cultural Revolution
    • Difficulty maintaining permanent revolutionary fervor
    • Lack of support from military officers and Communist Party members
    • Public backlash against the actions of the Red Guards
  • Soviet-Chinese Relationship
    • Deteriorated due to lack of support from the Soviet Union to help China reclaim Taiwan
  • Communist Alliances
    • Britain, France, USA, Soviet Union were mentioned as an alliance, possibly an error

Vocabulary

  • Proletarian: Working class
  • Satellite States: Economically and politically dependent countries
  • Policy of Containment: Restricting communism within existing boundaries
  • Arms Race: Competition to build up military resources
  • Deterrence: Prevention of war through the threat of nuclear retaliation
  • Communes: Collective farms in China during the 1950s
  • Permanent Revolution: Mao Zedong's concept of ongoing revolutionary fervor

Key Figures

  • George C. Marshall: U.S. Secretary of State, creator of the Marshall Plan
  • Nikita Khrushchev: Soviet leader who ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall
  • Chiang Kai-shek: Chinese leader who fled to Taiwan
  • Deng Xiaoping: Ended the Cultural Revolution in China
  • Mao Zedong
    • Initiated the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution
    • Created Red Guards and wrote the Little Red Book
  • Red Guards: Enforcers of Mao's policies during the Cultural Revolution
  • Richard Nixon: U.S. President focused on improving relations with China

Key Events and Concepts

  • Cold War Dynamics
    • USA vs USSR
    • Truman Doctrine: Financial aid to deter communism
    • Marshall Plan: Economic assistance to rebuild Europe
  • Berlin Airlift
    • Air delivery of supplies to West Berlin during Soviet blockade
  • Berlin Wall
    • Symbol of Cold War division
  • Military Alliances
    • NATO: Formed in 1949, including USA, Canada, and several European nations
    • Warsaw Pact: Established in 1955, led by the Soviet Union
  • Forms of Governance
    • NATO: Democracy
    • Warsaw Pact: Communism

Guided Notes

  • Superpowers Post-WWII: USA and Soviet Union
  • Ideological Differences: Capitalism vs Communism
  • Stalin's Post-War Strategy: Preventing capitalism spread, avoiding free elections
  • U.S. Anti-Communism Policies: Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
  • Divided Germany: USA, Britain, Soviet Union, France
  • Berlin Airlift Explanation: Necessity due to Soviet blockade
  • Attraction to Mao's Policies: Appealed to lower class

Kahoot Highlights

  • Superpowers post-WWII did not include China
  • Communism spread by Soviet Union, capitalism defended by USA
  • Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan: Provided financial aid
  • Berlin Airlift: Response to Soviet blockade
  • NATO vs Warsaw Pact: Anti-communist and communist alliances respectively
  • Reasons for failures in Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution
  • Deterrence: Nuclear strategy to prevent war
  • Cultural Revolution: Mao's attempt to reshape Chinese society