Key Events and Concepts of the Cold War and WWII
Cold War
General Assembly: Body where all UN member states are represented. It dictates resolutions and sanctions approved by a majority.
UNICEF: UN fund responsible for developing programs for the defense and protection of children.
Cold War: Indirect cultural and political confrontation between the USA and the USSR, which emerged after WWII to lead the world.
Arms race: Accumulation of weapons, each time more sophisticated, during the Cold War.
Sputnik: In 1957, the launch of the first artificial satellite by the USSR marked a milestone.
Marshall Plan: North American credit plan for the economic recovery of Europe. It aimed to stop Soviet influence in 1947.
Bretton Woods Agreements: Acceptance of the gold standard and the US dollar as the reference currency in the international capitalist system (1944).
Warsaw Pact: Military defense alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite states, intensifying control over countries within its orbit (1955).
Prague Coup: In 1948, Stalin denied independence to Czechoslovakia and propelled the Communist Party to power, replacing the president with a communist.
Korean War: (1950-53) North Korea, backed by the USSR, invaded South Korea, supported by the USA. The conflict ended with the Panmunjom Armistice.
Cordon Sanitaire: A dividing line created by the USA to prevent the progress of communism after the Korean War.
Peaceful Coexistence: New stage of the Cold War characterized by reduced arsenals, renouncing confrontation, and promoting peaceful interests.
Red Telephone: Direct line between Washington and Moscow to facilitate dialogue between leaders, avoiding direct confrontations.
Ostpolitik: In 1969, Willy Brandt reestablished diplomatic relations between West and East Germany, recognizing the GDR and accepting the borders of WWII.
UN Security Council: UN body composed of 15 members, 5 of them permanent with veto power. Its objective was to implement resolutions taken in the assemblies.
World War II
Appeasement Policy: Attitude taken by France and the UK before WWII, allowing the expansion of fascism.
Munich Conference: In 1938, the UK and France accepted the German occupation of the Sudetenland as a demonstration of the appeasement policy.
Popular Front: Promoted by Stalin, these communist coalitions were successful in France and Spain.
Rome-Berlin Axis: Alliance formed in 1936 between Italy and Nazi Germany, bringing Mussolini into Hitler’s orbit.
Anti-Comintern Pact: Commitment made in 1936 between Germany and Japan to combat Stalin’s expansionist aspirations.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR in 1939 to divide Poland.
Blitzkrieg: German military tactic that consisted of weakening the enemy with aerial bombardments to break communication.
Total War: New type of war (1939-45) in which the effects of the conflict multiplied due to technological advancements.
Pearl Harbor: American base destroyed by Japanese planes, which led the USA to enter the war.
Operation Barbarossa: Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviets lost territories and people, but the Allies were not as successful as they hoped (1941).
Normandy Landings: Major Allied operation to open a direct front against Germany and liberate France and Western Europe (1944).
Nagasaki: Japanese city where the USA dropped the second atomic bomb in 1945.
Battle of Stalingrad: Battle during the second phase of the German invasion, where the Red Army conquered the city.
Genocide: Systematic extermination of a social group for reasons of ethnicity, religion, nationality, or politics during WWII.
Tehran Conference: Peace conference in Iran in 1943 where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill drew the lines for the end of the war and the post-war period.
Nuremberg Trials: Agreement between the Allies to prosecute Nazi leaders for the genocide committed.
UN: Successor to the League of Nations, created in 1945 to ensure international peace and security.