Key Terms and Events of 20th Century International Relations
General Assembly
One of the six principal organs of the UN. All member states are represented and meet once a year.
Atlantic Charter
A joint policy agreement prepared by the USA (Franklin D. Roosevelt) and the British Prime Minister (Winston Churchill) in 1941. The charter set out the common principles of the two allies at the end of the Second World War.
Pacific Coexistence
A new stage dominated by the distancing at the end of the 1950s. The climate of tension between the two blocs gave way to this new stage.
Collaborationism
The favorable attitude towards the German occupiers by a part of the population of that country.
Bandung Conference
A meeting of African and Asian leaders who had been under European colonization, held between April 18th and 24th in Indonesia.
Yalta Conference
The second conference held by the three major allies. It took place in Yalta in February 1945. They decided to eliminate the Nazi regime in Germany and other areas.
Munich Conference
A meeting driven by France and England in 1938 to curb Germany’s aspirations after the occupation of Austria and the Sudetenland.
Paris Conference
A meeting where peace treaties were signed with the other allies of Germany in 1946.
Tehran Conference
The first conference where Great Britain, the USA, and the USSR met in 1943. Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt attended. The first joint military actions were taken.
Security Council
The most powerful organ of the UN, responsible for maintaining peace and security among nations.
Arms Race
A process in which states invest large amounts of money in weapons, ship construction, and troop training.
Decolonization
The process that took place over 30 years in which colonies became independent from their metropolis.
Cold War
A model of international relations developed after the Second World War, based on antagonism and permanent tension between the blocs led by the USA and the Soviet Union.
Blitzkrieg
An attack based on the use of armored divisions and significant air support. A rapid surprise attack.
Holocaust
The persecution and genocide of Jews by Hitler’s Germany during the Second World War.
Kominform
Russian acronym for the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties. It was an organization for the exchange of information and experiences among the Communist parties (1947-1956).
Neocolonialism
Designates the indirect control, mainly economic, exercised by former colonies over their former metropolis or by a more powerful state over a poorer one.
Non-Aligned Movement
A group of countries that wanted to maintain a neutral position and not align with any superpower. They aspired to play an active role in international politics.
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)
An organization created in 1964 to defend the liberation of Palestine. Yasser Arafat directed it, promoting terrorism against Israel and its allies.
United Nations Organization (UNO)
A global intergovernmental organization created by the Charter of San Francisco in 1945, with the aim of maintaining peace, promoting economic, cultural, social, and humanitarian cooperation, ensuring the security of states based on the principles of equality and self-determination, and ensuring human rights. 46 states joined initially.
Warsaw Pact
A military cooperation agreement among communist countries to secure their defense against a possible Western attack in the context of the Cold War. It was created in Warsaw on May 14, 1955.
Marshall Plan
A US plan for the reconstruction of the European economy after the Second World War. It takes its name from US Secretary of State George Marshall. It consisted of aid and loans to countries that welcomed it for the economic recovery of Europe.
Resistance
The name given to the group of underground organizations fighting against the Nazis in German-occupied countries. They engaged in actions of information, sabotage, and guerrilla warfare against the occupying troops during the Second World War.
Iron Curtain
An expression used after the Second World War to define the symbolic border separating the USSR and its allied states, with communist ideology, from the rest of Europe, with a capitalist economy and allied with the United States.
Treaty of Versailles
Signed in 1919 between Germany and the victorious powers of World War I. It imposed harsh conditions on Germany, including territorial losses, military restrictions, and heavy reparations. This stimulated the desire for revenge among Germans and Italians.