Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West. (p. 821)
Cold War
The ideological struggle between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States) for world influence. The Soviet Union and the United States came to the brink of actual war during the Cuban missile crisis but never attacked one another. (821)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Organization formed in 1949 as a military alliance of western European and North American states against the Soviet Union and its east European allies. (p. 822)
United Nations
International organization founded in 1945 to promote world peace and cooperation. It replaced the League of Nations. (p. 822)
World Bank
A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (p. 822)
Marshall Plan
U.S. program to support the reconstruction of western Europe after World War II. By 1961 more than $20 billion in economic aid had been dispersed. (p. 823)
European Community
An organization promoting economic unity in Europe formed in 1967 by consolidation of earlier, more limited, agreements. Replaced by the European Union (EU) in 1993. (p. 825)
Truman Doctrine
Foreign policy initiated by the U.S. president in 1947. It offered military aid to help Turkey and Greece resist Soviet military pressure and subversion. (p. 826)
Warsaw Pact
The 1955 treaty binding the Soviet Union and countries of eastern Europe in an alliance against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (p. 826)
Korean War
Conflict that began with North Korea's invasion of South Korea and came to involve the United Nations (primarily the United States) allying with South Korea and the People's Republic of China allying with North Korea. (p. 826)
Vietnam War
(1954-1975)Conflict pitting North Vietnam and South Vietnamese communist guerrillas against the South Vietnamese government, aided after 1961 by the United States. (p. 829)
Cuban Missile Crisis
Brink-of-war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the latter's placement of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. (p. 829)
Helsinki Accords
Political and human rights agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, by the Soviet Union and western European countries. (p. 830)
Nonaligned Nations
Developing countries that announced their neutrality in the Cold War. (p. 839)
Third World
Term applied to a group of developing countries who professed nonalignment during the Cold War. (p. 839)
Cultural Revolution (China)
(1966-1969) Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist part of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation. (p.841)
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Organization formed in 1960 by oil-producing states to promote their collective interest in generating revenue from oil. (p.844)