Cold War foreign policy, containment, and domestic anxieties from the late 1940s through the 1980s for AP US History.
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- What was the Cold War doctrine of containment?
- A strategy to prevent Soviet expansion by resisting communist influence globally, formulated by George Kennan and adopted by President Truman.
- What event triggered the first major Cold War crisis in Berlin?
- The Berlin Blockade (1948-49), when the Soviet Union cut off Western access to West Berlin, leading to the U.S. airlift.
- Which military alliance did the United States form in 1949 to counter Soviet influence in Europe?
- NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), committing the U.S. to collective defense against Soviet aggression.
- In what year did North Korea invade South Korea, prompting U.S. military intervention?
- 1950, leading to the Korean War and President Truman's decision to fight communism in Asia.
- What was McCarthyism?
- A campaign of anticommunist accusations and witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, often without evidence.
- What was the Domino Theory?
- The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow like falling dominoes, justifying U.S. intervention.
- What did the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 demonstrate about Soviet control?
- It revealed Soviet willingness to crush dissent militarily, as Soviet tanks suppressed the Hungarian uprising for reform.
- What was the U-2 incident of 1960?
- The Soviet Union shot down an American spy plane piloted by Gary Powers over Soviet territory, embarrassing the U.S. and escalating tensions.
- What was the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961?
- A failed CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, which embarrassed the Kennedy administration.
- What symbolic structure was built in August 1961 to divide Berlin?
- The Berlin Wall, erected by East Germany to prevent citizens from fleeing to the West.
- What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- A 1962 standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, resolved through Kennedy-Khrushchev diplomacy.
- What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?
- An alleged attack on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese forces in August 1964, used to justify the escalation of the Vietnam War.
- What was Operation Rolling Thunder?
- A sustained bombing campaign (1965-68) against North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail aimed at weakening communist forces.
- What was the Tet Offensive?
- A major 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attack on South Vietnamese cities and U.S. positions, turning American public opinion against the war.
- What were the Pentagon Papers?
- A secret Defense Department study revealing that U.S. administrations had systematically lied to the public about the Vietnam War.