cold war
Carlton Williams-Sewell
superpowers in the cold war
the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during the war. Together, these nations and others brought about the downfall of Hitler's Third Reich. When the war ended in 1945, these two countries emerged as world super powers. the two super powers had very different ideas of how Europe should be restructured. that's what initiated the Cold War.
iron curtain
Iron Curtain the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other non communist areas.
containment policy
- A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, Africa, and Vietnam.
- The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II.
- Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces
Berlin crisis ( berlin airlift)
- The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control
- It would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies.
- Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air.
Korean war (conflict)
- On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel
- the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south.
- By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself.
- in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today.
second red scare
- Americans feared that the Soviet Union hoped to spread communism all over the world, overthrowing both democratic and capitalist institutions as it went.
- The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. It was originally created in 1938 to uncover citizens with Nazi ties within the United States.
Hollywood ten
- In October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the (HUAC), during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business.
- These prominent screenwriters and directors, who became known as the Hollywood Ten, received jail sentences and were banned from working for the major Hollywood studios.
McCarthyism
the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence.
how did the cold war effect the american society?
Americans also felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level, and thousands of alleged communist sympathizers saw their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family and fired from their jobs. While a small number of the accused may have been aspiring revolutionaries, most others were the victims of false allegations or had done nothing more than exercise their democratic right to join a political party.
arms race
a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons, especially between the US and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
cuban missile crisis
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 over the presence of missile sites in cuba ; one of the “hottest” periods of the cold war.
space race
- the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration.
levittown (suburbs)
Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. william levitt who assumed control of Levitt and Sons in 1954, is considered the father of modern suburbia in the United States.
interstate highway system
a network of U.S. highways connecting the 48 contiguous states and most of the cities with populations above 50,000, begun in the 1950s and estimated to carry about a fifth of the nation's traffic.