Key Organizations and Figures of the Cold War Era
CAME (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance): An economic agency created in response to the Marshall Plan by the USSR and its Eastern European allies. It was a system of collaboration and coordination of markets and economic policies.
OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation): An institution created in 1948 by 16 European countries, recipients of the Marshall Plan. It is the origin of the European Economic Community.
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG): Formed from the areas clustered by the USA, UK, and France, with its capital in Bonn.
German Democratic Republic (GDR): Formed from the Soviet-controlled areas, with its capital in East Berlin.
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): A military alliance founded in 1949 by the Western bloc, aimed at organizing the defense of the signatory countries.
Warsaw Pact: A military alliance integrated by the USSR and all Eastern European countries, except Yugoslavia, founded in 1955 by the Eastern bloc.
Iron Curtain: A term used during the Cold War to refer to the European border between the Soviet sphere of influence and Western Europe.
W. Lippmann: An American journalist who coined and contributed to the dissemination of the term “Cold War”.
H.S. Truman: The U.S. President who asked Congress for authority to aid Greece and Turkey and ordered the release of the first atomic bomb.
Guerrilleros (Partisans): Communist partisans.
Mao Zedong: Communist leader.
Ho Chi Minh: Vietnamese nationalist leader. Vietnam proclaimed the independence of the North in 1954.
Viet Minh: Communist guerrillas who received support from the USSR.
Red Phone: Established in 1963, it placed the Kremlin and the White House in direct communication.
Moscow Treaty (1963): Treaty banning nuclear explosions in the atmosphere.
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks): The name given to the agreements between the U.S. and the USSR to curb the strategic arms race.
Sun Yat-sen: Proclaimed the three principles of the people: nationalism, democracy, and socialism.
Kuomintang: A people’s party in China created in 1905, aimed at achieving liberation from European economic dominance and improving living conditions.
Chiang Kai-shek: Military leader and President of the Republic of China, who faced both war and the Communist Party.
Gandhi: A member of the Indian lower bourgeoisie. He sought to regain India’s independence and ancestral Hindu culture.
OAU (Organization of African Unity): Established by the newly independent African countries.
Hutus: The majority of the people of Rwanda, who were subjugated by the Tutsis.
FLN (National Liberation Front): Led the insurrection and launched an offensive to gain independence for Algeria.
OAS (Organisation armée secrète): A secret French terrorist organization aimed at preventing Algerian independence. It carried out attacks against de Gaulle.
Intifada: A movement of rebellion by young Palestinians in territories occupied by Israel.
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization): An organization that attempted to create a Palestinian Arab state. It was created in Jerusalem and presided over by Yasser Arafat.