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29 Cards in this Set
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Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties (SALT I and II) |
The agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union for the control of certain nuclear weapons, the first concluded in 1972 (SALT I) and the second drafted in 1979 (SALT II) but not ratified. |
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Détente |
A term meaning the reduction of tensions between states. It is often used to refer to the superpower diplomacy that took place between the inauguration of Richard Nixon as the American President in 1969 and the Senate's refusal to ratify SALT II in 1980. |
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Sino-Soviet split |
The process whereby China and the Soviet Union became alienated from each other in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is often dated from 1956 and Khrushchev's speech to the twentieth congress of the CPSU, but view has been challenged in recent years. |
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People's Republic of China (PRC) |
The official name of communist or mainland China. The PRC came into existence in 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong. |
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Third World |
A collective term of French origin for those states that are part of neither the developed capitalist world nor the communist bloc. It includes the states of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia. Also referred to as 'the South' in contrast to the developed 'North'. |
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Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) |
An agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, in 1957, by thirty-five countries including the United States and the Soviet Union, which promoted human rights as well as co-operation in economic, social and cultural progress. It was succeeded in the 1990s by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has fifty-five members, including all European nations, all former republics of the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada. |
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Protectorates |
Territories administered by an imperial state without full annexation taking place, and where delegated powers typically remain in the hands of a local ruler or rulers. Examples include French Morocco and the unfederated states in Malaya. |
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Fidelistas |
The name used for the Cuban revolutionaries under Fidel Castro's leadership. After a long guerrilla campaign the Fidelistas eventually toppled the Batista regime on 1 January 1959.
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Bay of Pigs |
The site on 1 April 1961 of an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles opposed to the Castro regime. It had the support of the American government and the CIA was heavily involved in its planning. By 20 April most exiles were either killed or captured. The failed invasion was the first major foreign policy act of the Kennedy administration and provoked anti-American demonstrations in Latin America and Europe and further embittered American-Cuban relations. |
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U-2 spy planes |
An American high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft used to fly over Soviet and other hostile territories. |
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Inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) |
Any supersonic missile that has a range of at least 6500 kilometres and follows a ballistic trajectory after launching. The Soviet-American SALT I Agreements limited the number of ICBMs that each side could have. |
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) |
Established by the North Atlantic Treaty (4 April 1949) signed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. Greece and Turkey entered the alliance in 1952 and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955. Spain became a full member in 1982. In 1999 the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined in the first post-Cold War expansion, increasing the membership to nineteen countries. |
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Mutually assured destruction (MAD) |
An American doctrine of reciprocal deterrence resting on the United States and Soviet Union each being able to inflict unacceptable damage on the other in retaliation for a nuclear attack. |
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Limited Test Ban Treaty |
An agreement signed by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States in 1963, committing nations to halt atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons: by the end of 1963, ninety-six additional nations had signed the treaty. |
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Massive retaliation |
A strategy of military counter-attack prevalent in the United States during the Eisenhower administration, whereby the United States threatened to react to any type of military offensive by the Soviets or Chinese with the use of nuclear weapons. The strategy began to lose its credibility as the Soviets developed a substantial nuclear capability in the late 1950s. |
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Bretton Woods |
The site of an inter-Allied conference held in 1944 to discuss the post-war international economic order. The conference led to the establishment of the IMF and the World Bank. IN the post-war era the links between these two institutions, the establishment of GATT and the convertibility of the dollar into gold were known as the Bretton Woods system. After the dollar's devaluation in 1971 the world moved to a system of floating exchange rates. |
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European Economic Community (EEC) |
Established by the Treaty of Rome 1957, the EEC became effective on 1 January 1958. Its initial members were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany (now Germany); it was known informally as the Common Market. The EEC's aim was the eventual economic union of its member nations, ultimately leading to political union. IT changed its name to the European Union in 1992. |
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Federal Republic of German (FRG) |
There German state created in 1949 out of the former American, British and Frence occupation zones. Also known as West Germany. IN 1990 the GDR merged into the FDR, thus ending the post-war partition of Germany. |
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German Democratic Republic (GDR) |
The German state created in 1949 out of the former Soviet occupation zone. Also known as East Germay. The GDR more or less collapsed in 1989-90 and was merged into the FRG in 1990, thus ending the post-war partition of Germany. |
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Ostpolitik |
The West German policy towards the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, which aimed at reducing tensions with the ultimate hope of negotiating the peaceful unification of Germany. |
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Peaceful co-existence |
An expression coined originally by Trotsky to describe the condition when there are pacific relations between states with differing social systems and competition takes place in fields other than war. The idea was vital to Soviet diplomacy particularly after the death of Stalin. |
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Prague Spring |
A brief period of liberal reforms attempted by the government of Alexander Dubček in 1968. The period ended with the invasion by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military forces. |
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Brezhnev Doctrine |
The 'doctrine' expounded by Leonid Brezhnev in November 1968 affirming the right of the Soviet Union to intervene in the affairs of communist countries in order to protect communism. |
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Submarine- (or sea-) launched ballistic missile (SLBM) |
A ballistic missile designed for launch by a submarine (or surface ship). |
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Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty |
An agreement between the United States and the USSR signed on 26 May 1972, limiting the number of ABM deployment areas, launchers and interceptors. The United Sates withdrew from the treaty in 2002.
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Decolonisation |
The process whereby an imperial power gives up its formal authority over its colonies. |
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Apartheid |
The Afrikaans word for racial segregation. Between 1948 and 1990 'apartheid' was the ideology of the Nationalist Party in South Africa. |
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Multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) |
A re-entry vehicle that breaks up into several nuclear warheads, each capable of reaching a different target. Not included in the SALT I agreements of 1972. |
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Mujahedeen (Arabic: those who struggle in the way of God) |
Term used for the Muslim guerrillas who fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1979-89. |
