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204 Cards in this Set
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George Kennan |
Head of American Embassy in Moscow in 1940s and 50s; invented the concept of containment |
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Long Telegram |
Feb, 1946: Kennan's telegram suggesting that there could be no peace with an expansionist USSR - advocated for containment. |
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Containment |
Kennan's idea that preventing the spread of the USSR and communism would ultimately lead to the empire's collapse. |
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Truman Doctrine |
March, 1947: "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." US aids Greece and Turkey soon after speech. |
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Marshall Plan |
1947: The economic arm of containment. Funded the rebuilding of Europe. Stalin does not allow E. European states to take part, leading to Soviet-run pro-communist coup in Czechoslovakia and blockade of Berlin. |
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George Marshall |
Secretary of State under Truman; responsible for Marshall Plan |
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Cominform |
Revived after Marshall Plan to spread communist propaganda throughout Eastern Europe |
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Czech Coup |
Feb, 1948: Masaryk, pro-West Czech leader dies after being defenestrated from a building in Prague. Communists take power. Signal of Soviets' aggressive tendencies to the West. |
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1948 Italian Elections |
April, 1948: As elections approached, the Communist party seemed poised to win. CIA and Pope shift public opinion the other way, and Christian Democrats win in a landslide election. Indirectly causes Stalin to crack down on Czechoslovakia and East Germany |
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Berlin Blockade |
Instigated by Stalin and E. German leadership to force Western powers out of Berlin. West responds with airlift. |
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Berlin Airlift |
Western solution to Berlin Blockade. B-29s were deployed as nuclear threat to Stalin. Stalin ultimately lifted the blockade in May, 1949 |
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Program A |
1949: Kennan's plan for the eventual reunification of Germany independent of both the USSR and the USA. |
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Stalin's 1952 Note |
March, 1952: Stalin proposes holding free elections in Germany. West refuses, wary of independent Germany. Stalin did not want free elections either but knew West would refuse, allowing him to gain support in East Germany |
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NATO |
April, 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, USA-led defensive alliance instigated by W. Europe after Czech coup and Berlin blockade. Forces Stalin to acknowledge that he's lost Europe's allegiance. |
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Federal Republic of Germany |
May, 1949: West German state, member of NATO. |
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Konrad Adenauer |
First Chancellor of FRG (1949 - 1963). Dislikes Protestant and Prussian East Germany. Leads West Germany through its "economic miracle." |
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German Democratic Republic |
Oct, 1949: East German state. Paid heavy price in war reparations to USSR. Very impoverished. |
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Walter Ulbricht |
First leader of GDR. Runs GDR like police state. |
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Josip Tito |
Communist dictator and leader of Yugoslavia. Operated independently of Stalin and even criticized Stalin for his subjugation of Eastern Europe. Received Marshall Plan aid. Stalin hated him, but wouldn't risk war to oust him. |
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Warsaw Pact |
1955: Eastern European military alliance lead by the Soviet Union. |
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Chiang-kai Shek |
Chinese nationalist leader. Officially recognized as legitimate leader of China by West. Fled to Taiwan when it became clear that Mao had won in 1949. US support of Chiang earned Mao's resentment. |
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Mao Zedong |
CCP leader. Surprisingly won civil war against Chiang's Nationalists in 1949. Stalin apologizes to Mao afterwards for underestimating him. |
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"Lean to One Side" policy |
Mao's foreign policy to remain mostly independent but lean to one side (USSR). He chooses USSR because of ideology, the US "betrayal," and his belief that the US would back Chiang's invasion of the mainland. |
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Sino-Soviet Pact |
1950: After Mao visits Moscow, China and the USSR sign a formal treaty of mutual assistance. Takes Truman by surprise. |
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Dean Acheson |
Secretary of State under Truman and a proponent of containment. Architect of the US "Defensive Perimeter" in Asia. Would later encourage US entry into Korea and pushed NSC 68. |
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Defensive Perimeter |
Dean Acheson's declaration that the US would defend all territory to the right of a line he draws in the Pacific, including Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, but neither S. Korea nor Taiwan. Anything to the left of the line is UN responsibility. Interpreted by Stalin and Mao as declaration that US would not get involved in Korean war, prompting Stalin to give go-ahead to Stalin. |
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Kim Il Sung |
Leader of the North Korean communists. Repeatedly begged Stalin for blessing to invade S. Korea. Finally receives green light after Acheson's speech, initiating first hot war of the Cold War. |
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Syngman Rhee |
Nationalist leader of South Korea, 1950 - 1953, determined to unify Korea under his control. |
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NSC-68 |
April, 1950: National Security Council report during Truman administration proposing an increase of the defense budget because containment would require superior military forces. Gained support after onset of Korean War in 1950. |
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Incheon |
1950 amphibious invasion at Incheon by General MacArthur, trapping North Korean troops in South Korea and taking the offensive in the war. |
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POW Question |
Stalls armistice talks, as American and North Korean POW counts differ. US also incurs Chinese animosity by asking Korean prisoners if they wanted to return to N. Korea; half say no. |
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Death of Stalin |
March, 1953. Korean War ends soon after as Stalin is driving force behind war (wants to weaken Chinese). |
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Robert Oppenheimer |
Physicist who led the Manhattan Project. Opposed to building H-bomb, so was removed from atomic projects in 1949. During height of McCarthyism, the Atomic Energy Commission revoked his security clearances because he didn't always report advances by Soviet agents. |
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Manhattan Project |
US program, under FDR, to develop the nuclear bomb. |
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Leslie Groves |
Military commander of Los Alamos. Tried (unsuccessfully) to militarize the project and scientists' living/working structures to keep security tight. Failed b/c focused on threat from outside rather than from inside. |
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg |
Los Alamos technicians and Russian spies, executed in 1953 |
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Klaus Fuchs |
German communist scientist recruited by British in 1944 and sent to Los Alamos. Served as Soviet spy. |
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Ted Hall |
US technician at Los Alamos. Passed critical information about the secret of implosion to the Russians. Saw the Soviet Union as an ally and thought the world would be safer if no country had a nuclear monopoly. |
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Why drop the atomic bomb on Japan? |
1. To intimidate the Russians. 2. To save lives. 3. To gain a diplomatic upper hand. 4. To prove that the administration didn't waste $2 billion. |
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Atomic Diplomacy Theory |
The idea that the mere possession of a bomb would give the US the upper hand in negotiations with the USSR. Failed because if did not take into account Stalin's "show no fear" policy. |
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Molotov |
Stalin's foreign minister. Responsible for presenting a strong Soviet face at the Foreign Ministers Conference in 1945 after the dropping of the A-bomb. |
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Baruch Plan |
1946: Movement by scientists to put the A-bomb plus all plutonium and uranium mines under UN control. Russians reject the plan, but US probably would have it they hadn't. Russian rejection led to US race to build up arsenal. |
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Hydrogen Bomb |
USA first tests in 1952 at Bikini Atoll. USSR first tests in 1953. More powerful than A-bomb, indicating that nuclear weapons are losing all tactical use. Onset of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). |
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Why not use A-bomb in Korea? |
1. Japan and S. Korea are in range of Soviet bombers. 2. No suitable military/industrial targets to hit. 3. Use might drive away potential allies. 4. Credibility: if bomb isn't effective, nuclear diplomacy is shot to hell. 5. Could provoke direct US-Soviet clash. |
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Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Elected on pledge to end the Korean War. Threatened the use of nuclear weapons but secretly wished not to use them. |
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"Massive Retaliation" speech |
Jan, 1954: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' speech threatening to respond to future events like Korea at a time and place of our own choosing, indicating that in the future A-bombs would be used to save money on conventional weapons. Nuclear deterrence. |
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John Foster Dulles |
Eisenhower's Secretary of State, author of "Massive Retaliation" speech |
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Lavrentii Beria |
Stalin's close confidant and head of the secret police. One of the three people competing for leadership in the USSR after Stalin's death. After Stalin's death, suggested that "all we want is a peaceful Germany, and it makes no difference whether or not it is socialist." Rejected by other Soviet leaders, purged, and killed in December. |
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Nikita Khrushchev |
Simultaneously wants to revise Stalinism (introduce human face to communism) and hold tight fist over Europe and USSR. |
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20th Party Congress |
Feb, 1956: Khrushchev makes "secret" speech in which he 1) acknowledges the fallibility of Communism and the inhumanity of Stalin, 2) repudiated the doctrine of inevitable conflict by asserting possibility of "peaceful coexistence", and 3) acknowledged that there was more than one way to achieve Communist victory. |
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Poznan Uprising |
Polish United Workers' Party rises against Soviet control and demands radical reforms from USSR. Put down by Polish forces, but the Polish Communist Party appoints Gomulka as new head of state without Soviet approval. Khrushchev visits to make sure new regime knows who's boss but is denied access to the politburo meeting, indicating a loss of Soviet prestige in E. Europe. |
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Wladyslaw Gomulka |
Old victim of Stalin's purges, chosen by Polish Communist party in Oct, 1956 as leader. |
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Imre Nagy |
1956: Inspired by 20th Party Congress; sides with rebels against USSR to negotiate withdrawal of Soviet forces from Budapest. Subsequently announces Hungary's withdrawal from Warsaw Pact, prompting Khrushchev to crush coup with Red Army and have Nagy executed in 1958. |
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Domino Theory |
Idea that if one country falls into a superpower's sphere of influence, others will follow. |
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Hundred Flowers Campaign |
1957: Mao's campaign encouraging the voicing of opposition to the party. Ultimately eliminated people who expressed opposition. Mao hoped that the campaign would draw dissidents into the open so they could be elminated. |
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Quemoy/Matsu Crisis |
1954, 1958: Mao shells the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu, forcing Khrushchev to make nuclear threats for a bunch of rocks in the Pacific. When the Soviet Union ultimately criticized China, Mao promptly split with Moscow. Mao maintains an air of unpredictability and simultaneously confronts both superpowers. |
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Great Leap Forward |
1958-60: Mao's industrialization and collectivization plan for China. Kills 30 million Chinese and destroys Chinese agriculture. Proves that Mao operated on the principle of continuous revolution. Soviets disapprove, further straining Sino-Soviet relations. |
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Geneva Conference |
1955: First meeting between US and USSR leaders since WWII, at which Eisenhower makes Open Skies proposal. |
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Open Skies Proposal |
Eisenhower proposal to allow US and USSR reconnaissance over each other. Eisenhower was afraid of a bomber gap and wanted to know Soviet capability. USSR rejects the proposal, and Eisenhower resorts to using U2 planes to spy on Soviets. |
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U2 |
Surveillance planes with excellent resolution. Confirm the nonexistence of a bomber gap. 1959: U2 is shot down. Resulting crisis causes collapse of the Paris Conference and the acceleration of the arms race in the USSR. |
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Paris Summit |
Khrushchev slams Eisenhower for U2 crisis. Negotiations collapse, Khrushchev storms out and orders increased missile production to create an actual missile gap. |
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Sputnik |
1957: First Soviet satellite in space. Proved that the USSR had the capacity to get long-range missiles anywhere in the US, shifting US fear form a bomber gap to a missile gap. |
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ICBMs |
Prompts US to start a missile program to catch up, shifting the focus from a bomber gap to a missile gap. However, Russians never mass-produce any missiles. For Khrushchev, actual capability doesn't matter; it is the perceived capacity that does. |
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"No Cities" doctrine |
Secretary of State Robert Macnamara's proclamation that no civilian bases would be targeted in nuclear warfare, making nuclear war morally acceptable to the American people |
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Mutually Assured Destruction |
A term coined by Robert McNamara and based on the principle of existential deterrence. MAD stabilized the nuclear world. |
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National Defense Education Act |
Passed in response to the perception that the USSR was winning the scientific battleground of the Cold War. |
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Khrushchev's Ultimatum |
1958: Khrushchev offers the West an ultimatum to hand West Berlin over to East Berlin in 6 months or face all-out war. Prompts the US to station nukes in West Berlin. |
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Vienna Summit Conference |
JFK - Khrushchev conference that convinced JFK that a crisis in Berlin was imminent. |
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Crisis of 1960-61 |
Khrushchev reimposes his 6-month deadline for the turnover of Berlin. JFK responds by mobilizing reserves and increasing defense funding. |
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Berlin Wall |
Aug, 1961: Ulbricht with Khrushchev's support builds wall to prevent mass emigration from East Germany. |
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Checkpoint Charlie |
Oct, 1961: Confrontation between US and Soviet tanks at the US sector/Soviet sector border. Became symbolic of nuclear tensions and indicated a tact acceptance of the wall on both sides. |
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Fidel Castro |
Revolutionary who took over Havana from unpopular dictator Fulgencio Batista. Nationalizes US-held land and corporations. Anger Eisenhower, who issues an embargo on Cuba. |
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Che Guevara |
Argentine physician who led Cuban revolution with Castro. |
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Bay of Pigs |
1961: CIA-run invasion of Cuba by ex-pats, countered by a full Cuban mobilization. Within 72 hours, all invaders are captured or killed. Drives Cuba into military alliance with USSR. |
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IRBMs |
Khrushchev has excess of IRBMs but deficit of ICBMS. Thus places IRBMs in Cuba as deterrent. Removes IRBMS from Cuba in exchange for removal of American IRBMs form Turkey and pledge not to invade Cuba. |
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Robert Kennedy |
JFK's attorney general. Convinced JFK not to bomb Cuba to prevent loss of PR war for attacking a third-world nation. |
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Why did Khrushchev place missiles in Cuba? |
1. Khrushchev had general sense of desperation that Kennedy was winning the Cold War and saw missiles in Cuba as way of reestablishing the balance of power. 2. Khrushchev feared the US would invade Cuba, with which he felt ideological solidarity. |
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Geneva Conference |
1954: A conference held to resolve the situation in Indochina that led to the division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel. |
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Ngo Dinh Diem |
Originally popularly backed leader of South Vietnam with US support. Ousted and assassinated in a US-backed coup in 1963 due to this repressive style of governance. No stable alternative takes his place. |
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Viet Cong |
Ho Chi Minh forms southern guerrilla alliance in attempt to overthrow the Diem government. |
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Golf of Tonkin |
Confrontation between West and East in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. LBJ uses it to win support for blank check for war expenses. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passes Congress in Aug, 1964, allowing LBJ to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the US and prevent further aggression." |
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Charles de Gaulle |
Proposes a diplomatic approach to the war in Vietnam. Publicly breaks with the US. |
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Long 1964 |
The year that the US gets involved in Vietnam |
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Tet Offensive |
1968: Offensive by Vietminh/Viet Cong against Southern Vietnamese cities. |
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Hydraulic Theory |
John Foster Dulles' theory that if you contain Communism in one part of the world, it will emerge in another part. |
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Paris Peace Conference |
1968: Both sides meet, Communists want a united Vietnam but the US and South Vietnamese refuses to give up, especially in light of Nixon's Republican primary (you'll get a better deal from me). |
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Great Society |
LBJ's campaign against poverty and racism. An attempt to downplay Vietnam and maintain credibility as a democracy at home. |
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Chicago Convention |
1968: Antiwar protest is violently put down on national television, leading to distrust of government and anger about war. |
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George Wallace |
Democratic governor of Alabama. Publicly believed that civil rights movement was infiltrated by Communists. |
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Virgin Lands Campaign |
Khrushchev's plan to plow over grass fields in central Asia and replace them with wheat fields. However, lack of silos, fertilizer, and technology led to a lot of crop failure, precipitating Khrushchev's fall in 1964. |
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Aleksandr Dubcek |
1968: President of Czechoslovakia. A reformist Communist bent on liberalizing Czechoslovak society by abandoning censorship and increasing freedoms ("socialism with a friendly face"). Reforms angered USSR, resulting in Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968. Replaced by Gustav Husak. |
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Brezhnev Doctrine |
Promulgated by Brezhnev in the aftermath of the 1968 Czech invasion. Asserted the Soviet Union's willingness to intervene in any Marxist country to prevent the influence of Western elements. Mostly a bluff. |
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Cultural Revolution |
Student Red Guard and communist party leadership (led by Mao's third wife, Jiang Qing), attempt to expel everything not associated with Chinese Communism. Mass murder, social and economic displacement, and the destruction of cultural centers. |
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Henry Kissinger |
US Secretary of State under Nixon. Integral in opening up negotiations with China. Visits Beijing in 1971. |
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Ping Pong Diplomacy |
Coined to describe the thaw in relations between the US under Nixon/Kissinger and Mao's PRC in the early 1970s. Refers to goodwill visit the American ping-pong team made to China in 1971-72. Nixon ultimately signs treaties with both Soviets (SALT I) and Chinese (Shanghai Communique). |
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Sino-US Relations |
Starting with back-channel talks and Nixon's Feb, 1972 visit to China, relations begin to thaw in the early 1970s. Capitalized on Sino-Soviet split. |
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Zhou Enlai |
Prime Minister of China under Mao. Although Dulles refused to shake his hand at the 1954 Geneva conference, Zhou played a large part in arranging the Kissinger/Nixon trips to China. |
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Deng Xiaoping |
Comes to power in 1978. Revived capitalism with what was only symbolically a Marxist-Leninist state, abolishing Mao's communes in the early 1980s. Narrowly escaped death during the Cultural Revolution. |
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Six-Day War |
June, 1967: Israel launches surprise offensive to pre-empt a planned Arab invasion. Destroyed Egypt's air forces and Israel acquired the Sinai. |
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Limited Test Ban Treaty |
1963: First arms control agreement of the Cold War (soon after Cuban Missile Crisis). Just limited testing of nuclear weapons. |
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Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty |
1968: Second arms control treaty. Prevented continuing build up of nuclear arms. |
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Nixon Doctrine |
Nixon reaffirmed US commitment to defend its allies but called on Third World nations to assume primary responsibility for their own security. |
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Henry Kissinger |
Nixon's national security advisor. Shared with his boss a contempt for bureaucracy and a preference for backchannel diplomacy. Proponent of realpolitik. |
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Realpolitik |
The notion that diplomacy's main goal is stability. |
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Vietnamization |
Nixon's plans to begin pulling US troops out of Vietnam and turn over responsibility for the war over the S. Vietnamese troops. |
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Willy Brandt |
First social democratic Chancellor of West Germany (FRG). Big proponent of Ostpolitik and was eager to relax tensions with the East. |
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Ostpolitik |
Willy Brandt's policy of reducing tensions between the FRG and the GDR/USSR. Brandt signed several treaties to fix the German/Polish border, ease travel between West Berlin and the FRG, and fix the international political standing of West Berlin citizens. |
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Detente |
Relaxing of tensions between the superpowers. Brezhnev realized he needed the economic resources of the West to prop up the Eastern European satellites, and he had lost China to the US. Nixon came to office with the aim of "reducing fear by reducing the causes of fear" - nuclear weapons. Detente reinforced the status quo equilibrium, delaying the fall of the USSR. |
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Warsaw Treaty |
Feb, 1970: Treaty between FRG and Poland that confirmed the Oder-Neise border line. Result of ostpolitik. |
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Kent State Shootings |
Kent State students began protesting the bombing of Communist bases in Cambodia. National Guard broke up protest and killed 4 students. Resulting march on Washington indicated a new level of anti-war sentiment and distrust of government. Result of mass higher education among the new generation. |
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Socialism with a Human Face |
1970: Brezhnev's new policy for the Soviet Union. Planned to give "human face" to socialism by increasing its dependence on the West for food, aid, and technology. To achieve this, he agreed to limit ICBMs, to maintain a new policy of peaceful coexistence, and to attempt stopping Vietnam. First point that Brezhnev gave up trying to win the Cold War and instead draw closer to the West. |
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Moscow Treaty |
Aug, 1970: Treaty between FRG and USSR that both sides would work toward relaxing tensions and reducing the use of violence in dealing with one another. Symbolically legitimized Soviet presence in Eastern Europe. |
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Erich Honnecker |
Replaced Ulbricht as head of GDR in 1971. Made no structural changes to the GDR and was appointed for his willingness to stick to the Soviet line and all it vicissitudes. |
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Quadripartite Agreement |
Sept, 1971: Sectors of Berlin were held not to be a constituent part of the FRG and thus not governed by it. Additionally, provided legal basis for civilian transit from the Western sectors to West Germany and vice-versa. |
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German-German Transit Treaty |
Dec, 1971: Laid out details for travel between West Berlin and West Germany. |
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Christmas Bombings |
1972: US bombed Hanoi in attempt to get South Vietnamese leader to sign the proposed Paris peace treaty that Kissinger had orchestrated. |
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Jackson-Vanik Ammendment |
1972: Linked most favored trade status to human rights issues such as freedom of immigration. Meant to rebuff Soviets for their policy on Jewish immigration. |
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Moscow Summit / SALT I |
May, 1972: Nixon and Brezhnev sign agreement restricting development of ABMs and freezing numbers of ICBMs and SLBMs in place for 5 years. Human rights issues prevented its ratification in the US. |
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Basic Principles |
Nixon and Brezhnev agreed to reject attempts to gain unilateral advantage in crisis situations and promised a willingness for peaceful coexistence and mutual restraint. Also established that neither side would challenge the other in the third world. |
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Watergate |
1973: End of Nixon presidency |
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Vladivostok Summit |
Nov, 1974: Ford and Kissinger travelled to Russia to meet Brezhnev. Each side agrees to limit missiles and bombers. |
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Henry "Scoop" Jackson |
Democratic senator from Washington State. Opposed detente because he didn't trust the Soviet Union. Demands for more human rights in the Soviet Union held up ratification of the 1972 Moscow Summit. |
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Charter 77 |
1975: Czech demand for human rights. Its signatories (including Vaclav Havel and Sakharov) were jailed and persecuted. |
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Helsinki Accord |
1975: Agreement signed by 35 nations that 1) recognized the spheres of influence of both superpowers by calling European borders inviolable, 2) called for economic and technological cooperation to reduce nuclear weapons, and 3) called for Soviet reversal of human rights violations. In signing it, Soviets accepted commitments to freedom of speech, information, and travel that they had no intent to follow, but which haunted them afterwards. |
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Anwar Sadat |
Egyptian president that started the Yom Kippur War, teaming up with Syria to take back Sinai. Bold overtures to US broke from policy of his predecessor, Nasser, who was heavily pro-Soviet. Nullified Soviet-Egyptian Treaty of Friendship in 1976. Launched a new era of Middle Eastern diplomacy. |
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Yom Kippur War |
Oct, 1972: Egypt invaded Israeli-held Sinai. US was allied with Israel but Sadat made overtures towards to US, putting Kissinger in a bind. US finally decided to support Israel, after which Sadat turned to Brezhnev for aid. Brezhnev called for cease-fire and repudiates US for getting involved. Also readies nuclear missiles. Kissinger puts US forces on DEFCON 3. Increased US-USSR tension helped undermine detente. USSR intentionally cut out of treaty process. |
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Shuttle Diplomacy |
1972: To resolve the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger flew from country to country daily in hopes of reaching a lasting agreement. |
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Golda Meir |
Prime Minister of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1972 Yom Kippur War. Had a good relationship with Kissinger, facilitating agreements. |
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North Vietnamese Offensive |
Spring, 1975: North Vietnamese invade Saigon. USA does not intervene. |
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Angola |
After the Portuguese colonialists exited, the state collapsed into chaos. A Soviet-backed Communist faction prevails. Cubans put heavy pressure of Soviet Union to back Angolan Communists. US takes it as an indicator of Soviet bad faith, leading to end of detente. |
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Camp David Accords |
1977: Egypt-Israel talks moderated by US President Jimmy Carter. Established US aid to Egypt and a permanent UN presence in the Sinai. Increased US authority in the Middle EAst. Almost unanimously rejected in Arab world; to many Arabs Sadat was a traitor. |
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Somalia and Ethiopia |
1977-78: Marxist government took over in Ethiopia and the regime turned against the US. Somalia, a USSR ally, began to appeal to US for support for invasion of Ethiopia, Didn't get any, but invaded anyway, causing USSR to remove all support from Somalia. US took this as a Soviet abuse of detente and a violation of the 1972 Basic Principles. |
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Cyrus Vance |
Secretary of State under Carter. Firm believer in detente. |
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Carter Doctrine |
1980: Carter articulated the US determination to prevent outside control of the Persian Gulf by pushing for a rapid deployment force that would enable prompt US intervention anywhere in the "Arc of Crisis." |
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Salvador Allende |
Under Marxist-Socialist Unidad Popular party, Allende gained control of the Chilean government by democratic means in 1970 and took steps to nationalize the lucrative copper industry. US business interests convinced Nixon and Kissinger to turn the CIA against the Allende government. When CIA-backed right-wing fighters brought civil war against the Allende regime, Chileans rallied against US imperialism. Killed by a British airstrike in September, 1973. |
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Agusto Pinochet |
Helped by the CIA, led 1973 coup seizing control of the army and, after Allende is killed, taking over the government. His policies of privatization and deregulation make Chile's economy one of the strongest in South America. However, he is most well-known for the many political murders he orchestrated. |
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Sandinista Rebellion |
July, 1979: Sandinista rebels challenged the repressive dictatorship of Somoza, which had ties to the US. After taking over, the Sandinistas forced the US (Carter) to recognize them as a legitimate government. |
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SALT II |
1979: Carter and Brezhnev agreed to freeze all nuclear weapons. Both the Soviet military and the US Congress apposed it. Treaty was never ratified after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. |
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El Mozote |
Dec, 1980: US-backed slaughter in El Salvador. US extended aid to repressive regime that brutally suppressed protests. El Mozote was site of one massacre. |
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Nur Mohammad Taraki |
Left-leaning leader of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Led a Marxist revolution and took power in 1978. Conservative Shiite fundamentalists of the Mujahadin resisted Taraki's rule. Taraki fled to USSR for help. Amin, his Prime Minister, killed him upon his return. Brezhnev took Taraki's murder and a personal affront, leading to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. |
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Afghanistan War |
Christmas Day, 1979: Soviet forces commenced the war by assassinating Amin, whom they claimed was a CIA agent. Reinstated Karmal to defend Taraki's Marxist government. Karmal is too weak to fend off insurgency. First time Soviet forces had attached any nation beyond border of Warsaw. Ended detente once and for all. US boycotted 1980 Olympics, issued grain embargo, withdrew SALT II, and decreased scientific and cultural aid to the USSR. |
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Neona Project |
1949: US forces crack Soviet codes, making it possible to track those involved with Soviet espionage. |
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Operation Verona |
1960: First reconnaissance photograph taken from space satellites. |
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Oleg Penkovsky |
1962: Soviet Lt. Colonel who spied for the US, fearing Khrushchev's adventurism and angry that his career had stalled. Perhaps the most important spy of the Cold War, he was able to give the US technical specs on soviet missiles in Cuba during the Missile Crisis. |
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Kim Philby |
Double-agent for the USSR in the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Helped Soviets discover every UK agent in its country. Caused the CIA to get paranoid as it could not establish a foothold in the USSR when it came to espionage. |
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George Blake |
British intelligence agent who revealed to the Soviets the location of the Berlin Tunnel, which tapped Soviet intelligence. |
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Nicholas Daniloff |
1986: USSR arrested Daniloff as a spy in retaliation for the American arrest of Gennadi Zakharov. Daniloff was framed. The Shultz-Shevardnadze negotiations allowed Daniloff to be released and sent home. |
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Soviet Military-Industrial Complex |
Between 1950 and 1970, complex consumed about 25% of the USSR's GNP (compared with 10% for the US). Since the USSR's GNP was a third of the US' GNP, this expenditure had a disproportionate effect on Soviet economic health and pushed many citizens to bankruptcy. |
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Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) |
First Polish Pope. Called on Polish people to "recapture their destiny." Highly popular. Soviet Union feared his influence. |
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Solidarity |
Sept, 1980: Collection of hundreds of unions in Poland formed under the leadership of Lech Walesa to lobby for greater political concessions from the pro-Soviet government. Brezhnev threatened to invade. Polish government took him seriously, announcing martial law in Dec, 1981. Following wave of strikes in 1988, Solidarity went on to achieve overwhelming victory in the parliamentary election in June, 1989, signaling the collapse of communism in Poland. |
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Lech Walesa |
Chairman of Solidarity in Poland. Imprisoned after the unsuccessful 1981 strikes by Jaruzelski. Led the successful 1989 revolution which won a vast majority of Senate seats. Elected President in 1990. |
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Mujahadin |
Conservative religious group in Afghanistan and precursor to the Taliban. Undermined Tareki and then attacked Red Army supply lines after the Soviet invasion, killing Soviet morale. |
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OPEC |
Group of middle-eastern oil-producing countries that banded together in a cartel to regulate prices of crude oil to increase their profits and cause inflation abroad. US entered oil shortage in early 1970s, highlighting its dependence on foreign oil. USSR profited from oil price hike, but was severely hurt when oil prices dropped again. |
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Oil Shocks |
OPEC cartel embargo - partially motivated by Egypt-Israel "betrayal" at Camp David Accords. Forced the US to become more fuel-efficient. When prices fell drastically in 1982, the Soviet economy began to bottom out. |
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Yuri Andropov |
Brezhnev's successor. Didn't do much. Died. |
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Konstantin Chernenko |
Andropov's successor. Hoped to return to 1970s-style Soviet-American detente "without shifting the Soviet position." |
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Andrei Gromyko |
Senior Soviet diplomat to the US |
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Reagan Doctrine |
1981: Because Reagan held the attitude that the Soviet Union was an "Evil Empire," his administration began trying to win back the gains the Soviet Union was perceived to have made during the detente period. He increased military expenditures, dismissed SALT negotiations, and tried to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. |
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Alexander Haig |
Reagan's secretary of state in 1981-82. Not interested in detente and a hard-liner when it came to nuclear arms. |
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Casper Weinberger |
Reagan's Secretary of Defense. Pushed for a major increase in military forces and was a strong supporter of SDI. |
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"Zero Option" |
1981: Reagan proposed that the USA and the Soviet Union eliminate all of their IRBMs from Europe. NATO would not deploy planned Pershing and Cruise missles. |
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"Star Wars"/Strategic Defense Initiative |
Reagan's ambitious, controversial plan to create a space-based defensive shield that would render ballistic missile attack obsolete. Reagan believed the program would provide the US with a moral alternative to mutually assured destruction. Thatcher was against SDI until the administration subcontracted much of the technological development to British companies. Reagan promised to share the technology with the Soviets but they did not believe him. Accused Reagan of violating the 1972 ABM treaty to start a new arms race. USSR could not compete - broke. |
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"Evil Empire" Speech |
1983 speech to UK Parliament in which Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil nation and a threat to peace on earth. Characterized the president's early hardline stance against the USSR. |
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Anti-Nuclear Movement |
Movements gained strength in both the USA and the USSR during the 1980s. |
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KAL 007 |
Aug, 1983: Soviets mistakenly shoot down Korean Air airliner. Leadership would not admit error on principle of prestige. Heightened tensions between the US and the USSR. |
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Able Archer |
Nov, 1983: NATO military exercise that involved more senior officials than usual. Soviets were convinced that it was a precursor to nuclear attack. Marked a turning point for Reagan from hardliner to pro-negotiation. Perhaps the second most dangerous moment of the Cold War. |
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Ivan and Anya Speech |
Dec, 1983: Reagan asked Americans to imagine a "Jim and Sally" talking to an "Ivan and Anya" and to think about how the group would focus their discussion on everyday topics. Reagan's way of humanizing the US-USSR relationship. |
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Paul Nitze |
Arms control guru in Reagan administration. Helped write the 1972 ABM treaty and did not support deployment of SDI. |
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George Shultz |
Reagan's Secretary of State from 1982-1988. Consistently touted a softer-line approach in nuclear arms debates and was far less hawkish than Alexander Haig. |
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Margaret Thatcher |
British Prime Minister and head of the Conservative Party. Part of a larger shift toward conservatism. Called the "Iron Lady." Reagan's ideological ally, sharing his beliefs in free markets and capitalism as the path to prosperity and to resist socialism at home and abroad. Opposed to the 1990 reunification of Germany. |
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Suzanne Massey |
Coffee-table book author who published "Land of the Firebird" about Russian history. Helped change Reagan's views from hard-line anticommunism to a softer, pro-negotiation stance. |
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Iran-Contra Affair |
1984: After Congress cut off funding to the anti-Sandinista Contras in 1984, NSC staff arranged a complex deal to funnel American arms through Israel to Iran and send the proceeds to the Contras. Huge scandal, weakened Reagan administration. |
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Mikhail Gorbachev |
Last leader of the Soviet Union. Not prepared to use force to achieve his goals. Established a reputation for both competence and deference. Younger than the existing Soviet leadership and the first since Lenin with a university education. |
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Perestroika |
1985: Gorbachev's policy of "Reconstruction." Gorbachev felt that Soviet diplomacy had to contribute to domestic development. Perestroika was his plan for freer emigration and better human rights, reduced armed forces, withdrawal from Eastern Europe, and freedom of self-determination. |
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Matthais Rust |
May, 1985: 19-year old German amateur aviator who landed in Red Square. Greatly embarrassed the Soviet military, providing Gorbachev with the opportunity to oust many older, more hard-line members of the military leadership (known as the "Rust Massacre"). |
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Geneva, Nov 1985 |
Reagan and Gorbachev met, though tension over Star Wars resulted in no agreements made to curb the arms race. Marked the beginning of a new era of US-USSR communication. |
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Chernobyl |
April, 1986: Moscow government initially denied what had happened. Once photos became available and radiation spread to Western Europe, Gorbachev admitted failure and used it to push for a new policy of glasnost (openness in government). Devastation hit home in both US and USSR and provided renewed incentive to limit nuclear arms. |
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Glasnost |
1987: Gorbachev's idea of Soviet system openness. Intended it as a political weapon. Hoped that greater openness would mobilize intellectuals and the new middle class against party oligarchs. Released dissidents, relaxed censorship, and allowed the existence of special interest groups. |
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Reykjavik, Oct 1986 |
Gorbachev proposed a 50% cut in ICBMs and the acceptance of the Zero Option. Both sides quickly agreed to get rid of all nuclear weapons by 1996 - an idea so radical that neither side had thought it feasible - but both sides stood firm on the question of SDI. Reagan demanded the right to develop and test it; Gorbachev refused. |
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Eduard Shevardnadze |
1986: After Rust embarrassment, Gorbachev sacked Gromyko from his position as Foreign Minister and replaced him with Shevardnadze. Together with US Secretary of State Shulz, he hammered out many arms reduction agreements exemplifying better US-Soviet relations under perestroika and glasnost. |
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Washington, Dec 1987 |
Gorbachev and Reagan sign the INF Treaty |
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INF Treaty |
1987: Gorbachev and Reagan agree to dismantle Soviet SS-20s in return for NATO not deploying Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe. First reduction of an entire class of nuclear weapons. Reagan proposed it in 1981 (Zero Option) but no one took it seriously then. |
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Moscow, May 1988 |
Reagan visits the Kremlin, declares that the USSR is "no longer an evil empire." Addresses Moscow State University on the principles of the market economy. |
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Unilateral Arms Reduction |
1988: In front of the United Nations, Gorbachev pledged a unilateral arms reduction. |
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George H.W. Bush |
Determined to distance himself from the notoriously hawkish Reagan Administration. Upon entering office, he ordered a lengthy policy review to figure out if Gorbachev was serious about change. |
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Sinatra Doctrine |
1989: Gorbachev replaced the Brezhnev Doctrine with an assertion that Warsaw Pact nations could do things "their way." Assumed that they would choose communism with a human face, but they didn't. |
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Polish Elections of 1989 |
In wake of Sinatra Doctrine, Solidarity Party under Lech Walesa wins all but one seat in the Polish parliament. First non-communist government of Poland since 1955. |
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Janos Kadar |
Communist head of Hungary, forced to resign because he was not reform-minded enough. Afterwards, 1956 revolutionaries were freed, Nagy was given a public funeral, and the state made a reconciliation with the past to start fresh. The new administration took down the barbed wire between Hungary and Austria. |
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Erich Honecker |
GDR leader, was not pleased with Kadar's deposition in Hungary. When he appealed to Moscow for help, he was refused. |
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Warsaw Pact Summit |
1989: Old Soviet leaders and Eastern European communists argued with Gorbachev and the new Eastern European leaders over policy of Soviet non-intervention. Gorbachev stands firm. |
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Vacation Crisis |
Summer of 1989: East Germans flocked to Hungary in order to flee to the West. Made the weakness of E. Germany clear to the world. After E. Germany closed its borders to Hungary, refugees went to the W. Germany embassy in Czechoslovakia instead. |
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Helmut Kohl |
Chancellor of West Germany. Allowed felleing East Germans entrance into West Germany. Finally struck an agreement with Honecker to let the refugees go from East to West Germany, but only if they travelled through East Germany first to be officially "expelled." |
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Leipzig Square, Oct 1989 |
Police could not handle size of protest. Gorbachev made it clear to East Germany that the USSR would not use force to keep the East Germans back. The military came close to firing on the crowd, but they were held back. Ultimately, Honecker resigned and restriction on travel to the West was lifted. The Wall soon came down. |
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Vaclav Havel |
1989: Extraordinary playwright and the most renowned opposition leader in Czechoslovakia. Became the Czech president in the 1989 elections, succeeding longtime Communist leader Gustave Husak in what came to be known as the Velvet Revolution. |
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Alexander Dubcek |
Czech reformer who took control in 1968 under a liberal reform program before bing ousted by the Soviets. After Havel's revolution, made chairman of the Federal Assembly in the new Czechoslovakia. A symbol of the enduring desire for freedom and liberalization in the Eastern bloc countries. |
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Velvet Revolution |
1989: Czechoslovakia's bloodless revolution that installed Vaclav Havel to power. |
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Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu |
Dec, 1989: the brutal dictators tried escaping mass protests by helicopter but were eventually caught, arrested, tried, and executed. |
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Malta, Dec 1989 |
First summit between Bush and Gorbachev. First meeting at which both sides agreed to no longer consider the other the enemy. Addressed problem of German reunification. |
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Chicken Kiev Speech |
1991: Bush gave speech in Kiev urging Ukraine not to separate from the USSR. Showed the Bush Administrations' hesitance to let the USSR fall apart and throw the global power structure into uncertainty. Neither Ukrainians nor Americans were pleased. |
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Boris Yeltsin |
First freely elected president of the Russian Republic. Led the opposition to the coup against Gorbachev from the Russian White House. Held televised press conference with Gorbachev in which Gorby refused to repudiate the Communist Party, destroying his last remaining credibility. Yeltsin ultimately formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with the leaders of Belorussia and Ukraine, telling Bush before informing Gorbachev. Gorbachev ultimately could not control the reforms he began. |
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Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania |
Demanded independence from the USSR starting in 1990. |
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Coup of 1991 |
Gorbachev is held under house arrest. Yeltsin positions himself as most legitimate leader. |
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CIS |
Loose confederation between Russia, Belorussia, and the Ukraine to replace the USSR. |
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Dec 25, 1991 |
Gorbachev officially dissolves the Soviet Union. |
