Us Military History 1945-End Of Cold War

Front 1

Bretton-Woods Conference

Back 1

US and Allies decide to create a World Bank, IFC, and the dollar becomes exchange unit. New Hampshire, 1945. This is planned to help rebuild post-war Europe.

Front 2

GI Bill of Rights

Back 2

People who served in the military are given credit so that they may go to college, trade school, or technical school. GIs were also allowed low mortgage rates, low interest loans to start a farm or business and a year of unemployment compensation. This was started to help people who served in the war to begin their new life when they returned home. Started in 1944 and ended 1956.

Front 3

Problems in America 1945-1948

Back 3

Unsure how to get all of the troops home, lots of money owed, need to occupy belligerent states, need to shrink military forces for peacetime, inflation, no more price ceilings, minorities tired of discrimination in a country they fought for, strikes.

Front 4

Fair Deal

Back 4

Put forward by Truman: try to help everyone, thought of as being Communist. 1949

Front 5

Reasons for the Cold War

Back 5

Stress in Europe, Soviet Union doesn't maintain agreement from Yalta (did not maintain Poland's independence), ideological tensions, European financial struggle, Greece fighting between Communism and not, Communism spreading, Soviets in a totalitarian leadership with a murderous leader, Greeks have civil war, Iron Curtain goes up

Front 6

Mao Tse Tung

Back 6

Communist leader in China who wins civil war against Nationalists.

Front 7

George Kennan

Back 7

"Father of Containment" during Cold War. Argued that the Soviet regime was an expansionist one and wanted to contain Communism to keep it from spreading.

Front 8

Truman Doctrine

Back 8

Protect the free world from aggression 1947. Stated that the US would support Turkey and Greece with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet Sphere.

Front 9

Marshall Plan

Back 9

Gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of WWII in order to prevent the spread of Communism. Began in 1948, the US was to rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous again. Set up by Secretary of State George Marshall.

Front 10

Berlin Crisis

Back 10

During the multinational occupation of post-WWII Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied control. The Soviets wanted to force the Westerners out and allow the Soviet zone to provide Berlin with food and fuel, allowing them practical control of the city.

Front 11

National Security Act of 1947

Back 11

Signed by Congress, it realigned and reorganized the US Armed Forces, foreign policy and Intelligence Community apparatus after WWII. Also Created the Department of Defense with individual departments for the army, navy and air force. The CIA was created and the National Security Council was created.

Front 12

National Security Council paper 68

Back 12

Top secret, issued in 1950. Recommended policies that emphasized military over diplomatic action. The document called for significant peacetime military spending, in which the US possessed "superior overall power" and called for a military capable of defending the Western Hemisphere, providing and protecting a mobilized base, conducting offensive operations to destroy vital elements in the Soviet war-making capacity, defending a lines of communication, and providing aid to Allies.

Front 13

Kim Il Sung

Back 13

Leader of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea). Staged an attack on the 38th parallel, which separates North and South Korea. Invaded South Korea with better military and benefit of surprise. US sent power from Japanese occupation to help South Korea.

Front 14

General Douglas McArthur

Back 14

Leader of US's forces in Japan. He is made in charge of stopping North Korean aggression. US 24th division is sent as a peace-meal action to push back. This division is not well trained or equipped. Wants to push at parallel, is relieved for not listening and doing whatever he wants.

Front 15

Ichon

Back 15

US forces land here behind enemy lines and attack the front and back in September 1950.

Front 16

C2K1

Back 16

Communism Corruption in Korea

Front 17

Truman historiography

Back 17

Very low support when he leaves office, Neo-Marxists blame him for Cold War and criticize his way of government, blame him for everything that happened during his term.

Front 18

Eisenhower historiography

Back 18

People saw him as a do-nothing president. Also suspected to have been secretly doing a lot but wanted the people to think that he was not.

Front 19

French Indochina

Back 19

Lost to Japanese, France tries to get it back through puppet dictators placed there.

Front 20

Dien Bien Phu

Back 20

City in Vietnam, bombs were dropped here by China, Part of the fight against Communism.

Front 21

New Look

Back 21

National security policy during the Eisenhower administration which balanced the Cold War military commitments of the US with the nation's financial resources and emphasized reliance on strategic nuclear weapons to deter potential threats, both conventional and nuclear, from the Eastern Bloc nations headed by the Soviet Union.

Front 22

SEATO

Back 22

South East Asia Treaty Organization, created primarily to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia. Established in 1955.

Front 23

Eisenhower Doctrine

Back 23

Stated that a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from the US forces to "secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism. 1957

Front 24

Sputnik

Back 24

The first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. Worried the US because if the Soviets could send a satellite up there, what's stopping them from sending a nuclear weapon from there?

Front 25

U-2 incident

Back 25

1960, an American flying a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace

Front 26

Cuban Missile Crisis

Back 26

A 13 day confrontation between the Soviet Union/Cuba and the US in 1962. Khrushchev put missiles on Cuba to keep the US from trying to overthrow the government or trying to invade Cuba. Ended when Kennedy convinced Khrushchev to dismantle the missiles in exchange for a public agreement to never invade Cuba.

Front 27

MONGOOSE

Back 27

A covert operation by the CIA in 1961. Attempted to remove Communists from power in Cuba and it aimed for a revolt to take place in Cuba by October 1962. Policymakers wanted there to be a new government with which the US could live in peace.

Front 28

RAND

Back 28

Research and Development - nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the US armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company.

Front 29

Flexible response

Back 29

A defense strategy implemented in 1961 by Kennedy to address skepticism of Eisenhower's policy of massive retaliation. Calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the US the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of warfare, not limited only by nuclear arms.

Front 30

Atlas, Jupiter, Redstone

Back 30

rockets launched containing mercury and gemini capsules

Front 31

Reagan Doctrine

Back 31

Opposed the global influence of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War. Under this, the US provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in the effort to "roll back" Soviet backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 1980-1991.

Front 32

Mikhail Gorbachev

Back 32

Former General Statesman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985-1991). First and last president of the Soviet Union (1988-1991). Reoriented the Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Front 33

URGENT FURY

Back 33

The invasion of Grenada in 1983. Medical students were held hostage in Grenada, US Special Forces and Rangers land and battle, 19-20 Americans killed, the students are rescued. Triggered with a bloody military coup which ousted a 4 year revolutionary government, the invasion resulted in the restoration of a constitutional government.

Front 34

contras

Back 34

Label of various rebel groups opposing the Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua. Received financial and military help from the US.

Front 35

Iran-Contra affair

Back 35

A political scandal in the US in 1986. Senior members of the Reagan administration were secretly facilitating the sale of arms in Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. They believed that this would secure the release of hostages and allow US intelligence agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.

Front 36

Carter Doctrine

Back 36

Stated that the US would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. It was a response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and was intended to deter the Soviet Union from seeking hegemony in the Gulf.

Front 37

Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Back 37

Designed to transport infantry or scouts with armor protection while providing a covering fire to suppress enemy troops and armored vehicles.

Front 38

War Powers Act of 1973

Back 38

It was intended to check the power of the President to commit the US into an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.

Front 39

Imperial Presidency

Back 39

A term from 1960 that addressed the both the concern of the presidency being out of control and that the President had passed constitutional limits.

Front 40

Budget Impoundment Act

Back 40

1974. Governs the procedures by which Congress annually adopts a budget resolution, a concurrent resolution that is not signed by the President, which sets fiscal property for Congress.

Front 41

MIRV

Back 41

Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle. A ballistic missile payload containing several warheads each capable of hitting one of a group of targets.

Front 42

SALT I and II

Back 42

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the US and the Soviet Union on the issue of armament control. The talks took place in Helsinki in 1969. The first led to an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement between the two countries. The second had an agreement but the US chose not to ratify in response to the invasion of Afghanistan.

Front 43

START

Back 43

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. A bilateral treaty between the US and the USSR on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. 1991. This barred the two countries from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine launched ballistic missiles, and bombers.

Front 44

General Creighton Abrams

Back 44

Army general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968-1972. He served as Chief of Staff of the US Army from 1972-1974. He worked to stop shrinkage of the army, reorient the military, and defend Western Europe.

Front 45

"Total Army Concept"

Back 45

Ready army with reserve and national guard.

Front 46

TRADOC

Back 46

1973 US Army Trading and Doctrine Command. Charged with the overseeing of Army forces, the development of operational doctrine, and the development and procurement of new weapons systems. Learning literature and doctrinal literature provided for everyone.

Front 47

Harry Summers

Back 47

Wrote 'On Strategy' which was an analysis of US adventures in Asia. The Vietnam War in context, what went wrong in battles, strategic defeat (Viet Cong was used to wear down the US military until it could be strategically defeated)

Front 48

Nixon Doctrine

Back 48

1969, stated that the US would assist in the defense and developments of allies and friends, but would not undertake all of the defenses of all the free nations of the world.