Key Cold War & EU Terms: Definitions and Timeline
Key Cold War and EU Terms
Derecho de veto: Derecho a impedir que una resolución se cumpla.
Gerontocracia: Régimen político en el que el poder está en manos de personas de edad muy avanzada.
Comunas populares: Cooperativas de producción agrícola en las que no existía la propiedad privada.
CIA: Agencia Central de Inteligencia de EEUU, creada en 1947 por el presidente Truman.
Kremlin: Sede del gobierno soviético en Moscú.
Ulster: Región de Irlanda del Norte que se mantuvo integrada en el Reino Unido. La cuestión de la unificación se vio teñida de sangre por las acciones terroristas del IRA.
Neoliberalismo: Ideología económica que defiende la libertad de mercado, aun a costa de la merma de las conquistas sociales.
Cold War Timeline
- 1945: A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- 1947: Marshall Plan aid
- 1948: Start of the Berlin Blockade
- 1949: NATO established
- 1950: Korean War begins
- 1952: USA explodes hydrogen bomb
- 1953: Korean War ends
- 1955: Warsaw Pact formed
- 1956: Hungarian Revolution
- 1957: Sputnik launched
- 1959: Cuba becomes communist
- 1961: Bay of Pigs invasion
- 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1963: Limited Test Ban Treaty
- 1965: USA openly involved in Vietnam War
- 1967: Six-Day War
- 1968: USSR invades Czechoslovakia
- 1973: Yom Kippur War
- 1979: USSR invades Afghanistan
- 1986: Reykjavik Summit
- 1987: INF Treaty
Eurozone: EU states which have adopted the euro as their sole legal tender.
Trade barriers: Taxes charged for the entrance or exit of goods in a country, should there not be any special agreements.
Common Agriculture Policy: The EEC gradually eliminated the trade barriers between member countries.
Single Act: The treaty signed by EEC member states which permitted the free circulation of capital, goods, and people among member states.
An Ageing Continent: The number of people over 65 is almost the same as the number of young people.
Key Cold War Events
The Cold War: Confrontation that began in 1945 and lasted until 1980, between the United States and the Soviet Union. Neither side ever fought the other directly, but they did fight for their beliefs using client states who fought on their behalf.
The Korean War: Refers to a period of military conflict between North Korea and South Korea regimes, with major hostilities lasting from 1950 until the armistice signed in 1953.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Was a confrontation between the US, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in 1962, during the Cold War.
The Arms Race: Describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation.
The Space Race: Was an informal competition between the US and the Soviet Union to see who could make the furthest advancements into space first. It involved the efforts to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land them on the moon. It began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik.
A satellite state: Is a political term that refers to a country which is formally independent, but under heavy influence or control by another country.
Eastern, communist, or Soviet blocs: Were used to refer to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, the countries of the Warsaw Pact, and both Yugoslavia and Albania.
The European Union
The EU: Is a supranational organization as it holds sovereignty over some powers awarded by the member states, that is to say, it can exert legislation on some subjects. It is, with Japan and the US, the main economic power in the world.
EU citizenship: The four rights which any citizen of an EU member state has:
- To circulate and live freely.
- To be an elector and a candidate in the municipal elections.
- To be protected in a third country.
- To make requests to the European Parliament and present claims to the defender of the European community.