AP®︎ World History: Topic 8.3 Flashcards

1945–1991 global rivalry in which the United States and Soviet Union competed through opposing blocs, arms buildups, and proxy conflicts while avoiding general war with each other

A group of states aligned politically, economically, and militarily with one Cold War superpower

U.S.-led military alliance formed in 1949 whose collective-defense principle treated an attack on one member as an attack on all

U.S. strategy of preventing communism and Soviet influence from expanding into additional states

Soviet-led military alliance formed in 1955 that coordinated the Eastern bloc’s forces and helped preserve Soviet control in Eastern Europe

Soviet-led organization that linked the economies of Eastern bloc states to the Soviet Union

The spread of nuclear weapons to additional states and the expansion of existing nuclear arsenals

American-Soviet competition to accumulate more nuclear warheads and develop more powerful weapons and effective delivery systems

Preventing an attack by threatening the attacker with unacceptable retaliation

Condition in which each side retained enough second-strike capacity to destroy the other after absorbing a nuclear first strike

1962 confrontation over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba that ended with their withdrawal, a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba, and secret removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey

U.S.-Soviet negotiations that limited some categories of strategic weapons without eliminating nuclear arsenals or ending the arms race

Conflict in which outside powers support opposing local governments or movements instead of fighting each other openly and directly

1950–1953 proxy war in which a U.S.-led UN force defended South Korea while the Soviet Union and China supported North Korea; the armistice left Korea divided near the 38th parallel

Leader of Soviet-supported communist North Korea during the Korean War

Leader of American-supported anti-communist South Korea during the Korean War

Post-independence proxy war in which the Soviet Union and Cuba supported the Marxist MPLA while the United States and apartheid South Africa supported UNITA; foreign intervention helped prolong the conflict until 2002

Marxist movement that established Angola’s government and received Soviet weapons and extensive Cuban military assistance

Jonas Savimbi’s Angolan movement, supported during the civil war by the United States and apartheid South Africa

Leader of UNITA, the U.S.- and South African-supported movement that fought the MPLA in Angola

Nicaraguan revolutionary movement that overthrew the Somoza government in 1979, pursued socialist reforms, and aligned with Cuba and the Soviet bloc

Counterrevolutionary forces funded, armed, and trained by the United States to fight Nicaragua’s Sandinista government

U.S. president whose administration armed and funded the Contras to oppose the Sandinista government and Soviet-Cuban influence in Nicaragua

Scandal exposing Reagan administration officials’ illegal effort to channel proceeds from secret arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras

Nicaraguan proxy conflict in which U.S.-backed Contras fought the socialist, Soviet- and Cuban-aligned Sandinista government; the Sandinistas lost a 1990 election and transferred power