Pax Americana -a term applied to the concept of relative peace in the Western Hemisphere and later the world as a result of the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States beginning around the middle of the 20th century and continuing to this day

Yalta Conference-- the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization

McCarthyism-a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party

Space Race-the competition between nations regarding achievements in the field of space exploration

Sputnik-each of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which (launched on October 4, 1957) was the first satellite to be placed in orbit

Taiwan-Island nation in the Pacific Ocean near the mainland of southern China; seat of the Republic of China

The Korean War-A war, also called the Korean conflict, fought in the early 1950s between the United Nations, supported by the United States, and the communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)

Paper Tiger -a person or thing that appears threatening but is ineffectual.

Nikita Khrushchev- the first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party

Samizdat-the clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe

Gulag-a system of labor camps maintained in the former Soviet Union from 1930 to 1955 in which many people died

Leonid Brezhnev- a Soviet politician who led the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982 as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, presiding over the country until his death and funeral in 1982

Prague Spring- a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II

Brezhnev Doctrine- A policy which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in places where capitalism threatened communism. (by extension) Any similar policy of ideologically motivated intervention in the affairs of other states

Lech Walesa (Solidarity)-a retired Polish politician and labour activist. He co-founded and headed Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995

Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II)-the first Pope born in Poland; the first Pope not born in Italy in 450 years

Afghanistan-a mountainous landlocked country in central Asia; bordered by Iran to the west and Russia to the north and Pakistan to the east and south

Osama Bin Laden-Arab terrorist who established al-Qaeda

“Military Industrial Complex”-a country's military establishment and the industries that produce arms and other military equipment

Cuban Missile Crisis- A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey

David Ben-Gurion-Israeli statesman (born in Poland) and active Zionist who organized resistance against the British after World War II

Vietminh-a member of a communist-dominated nationalist movement, formed in 1941, that fought for Vietnamese independence from French rule. Members of the Vietminh later joined with the Vietcong

Battle of Dienbienphu- the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh

Vietnam War-a Cold War conflict pitting the U.S. and the remnants of the French colonial government in South Vietnam against the indigenous but communist Vietnamese independence movement, the Viet Minh, following the latter's expulsion of the French in 1954

U.S. 1960’s/1970’s-Women, African Americans, Native Americans, gays and lesbians and other marginalized people continued their fight for equality, and many Americans joined the protest against the ongoing war in Vietnam

Ghana (1 st Independent African Nation)- a republic in West Africa comprising the former colonies of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, the protectorate of the Northern Territories, and the U.N. trusteeship of British Togoland

Anwar Sadat-An Egyptian statesman who (as president of Egypt) negotiated a peace treaty with Menachem Begin

Congo Crisis-a complex political tumult that began just days following Belgium's granting of Congolese independence in 1960

Algeria- Republic in northwest Africa, bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea

OPEC-Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries: an organization formed in 1961 to administer a common policy for the sale of petroleum. Its members are Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Ecuador and Gabon were members but withdrew in 1992 and 1995 respectively

Green Revolution-A significant increase in agricultural productivity beginning in the 1940s and resulting from the introduction of high-yield varieties of grains, the use of pesticides, and improved management techniques.

Decolonization of Africa-an event where colonised peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.

1972 Munich Olympics-an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972

National Liberation Front (NLF)-a revolutionary movement that seeks the national independence of a country, usually by guerrilla warfare

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini-Iranian religious leader of the Shiites; when Shah Pahlavi's regime fell Khomeini established a new constitution giving himself supreme powers

Shah Reza Pahlavi-Shah of Iran who was deposed in 1979 by Islamic fundamentalists

Third World-the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America

non-aligned nations- Nations of the Third World that as a group rejected alliance with either the United States or the former Soviet Union

Iran-Contra Affair-A scandal in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, which came to light when it was revealed that in the mid-1980s the United States secretly arranged arms sales to Iran in return for promises of Iranian assistance in securing the release of Americans held hostage in Lebanon

Sandinista-a member of a left-wing Nicaraguan political organization, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza. Opposed during most of their period of rule by the US-backed Contras, the Sandinistas were voted out of office in 1990

Contra-a member of a guerrilla force in Nicaragua that opposed the left-wing Sandinista government 1979–90, and was supported by the US for much of that time. It was officially disbanded in 1990, after the Sandinistas' electoral defeat

The division of Germany led to tensions between USSR and the US

In Yalta, the USSR was able to gain dominance over eastern European countries

Many countries soon followed suit with developing nuclear weapons

McCarthyism and the Red Scare suppressed freedom of speech and arose fear of communism

Pax Americana was a worldwide peace enforced by America which helped out other nations

The Space Race was also a contest between the nations

A victory for communism was when China became communist

The Cold war and the independence of colonies were he main issues after WWII

The war was helpful for Japan and the US terminated occupation of it in 1952

The War drove a wedge between the US and the other European allies

Korean War showed the US's anti-communist stance and Stalin withdrew pledge to help out China

North Korea invaded South Korea and American/UN forces intervened

Khrushchev was aggressive and continued to try and catch up to the west

Brezhnev doctrine lead to unrest in USSR and many wanted freedom

The Vietnam war led to the loss of life for 15,000 USSR soldiers

Brezhnev stopped Czechoslovakia trying to escape the USSR with a policy called the "Brezhnev Doctrine"

The US continued to build up military despite warning from Eisenhower

The Bay of Pigs invasion caused a rift in between Cuba and America

After Fidel Castro came to power, Cuba became reliant on the USSR

Chinese became communist from revolutions led by Mao Zedong

Statehood for Israel was declared in 1948 but not without conflicts

The UN also passed a division within Palestine between Jews and Arabs

Civil rights and feminist movement were intertwined with Vietnam War protests

Increased resistance and lack of control over colonies lead to many's independence

Many allies promised more self-governments for their colonies

The collapse of colonialism was another prominent side effect of the Cold War

Ghana became one of the first African colonies to gain indepnedence

Egyptian army officers overthrew the King and retook the Suez Canal

Congo became independent in 1960 and elected the PM Lumumba

Joseph Mobutu held out threats to his powers until his exile in 1997

Congo is known fro its precious goods which lead Leopold II to capture it

Congo was a weak, new nation that was caught within the politics of the cold war

Reformists wanted to create a powerful Arab-Islamic nation from the integral part of France

The FLN was met with French opposition and conflict led to 300,000 Algerians being killed

Even though there were many deaths the birth rate remained high

Portugal called the trio not colonies and revolts began to break out

They gained independence in 1974 and lead to the rise and fall of many ideologies

Colonialism was no longer considered an appropriate form of government