Study Guide Fifteen

General Problems of the Post-WWII World

FINAL EXAM

NOTE: If you can answer these questions satisfactorily, you should do well on this section of the final exam. The material below consists of important material from the lecture. Questions on the test will be largely taken from this material.

Terms (definition and significance):

massive retaliation

mutual assured destruction

intercontinental ballistic missiles

bi-polar world

monolithic communism

Big Three

Stalin

Yalta Conference

Potsdam Conference

Charter of the United Nations

General Assembly

Security Council

Berlin Airlift

containment

Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

Molotov Plan

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Warsaw Pact

Fall of China

Korean War

Summit Conferences

mutual coexistence

Khrushchev

Fidel Caston

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Cuban Missile Crisis

multi-polar world

detente

Questions to Think About:

Why were the years after WWII a confusing time?

Why were Americans fearful about nuclear weapons during the late 1940s and the 1950s?

What was the nature of the bi-polar world after WWII and how did it affect US foreign policy?

What were the problems that the US and its allies faced after WWII?

How did the misconceptions of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union about each other help to bring about the Cold War?

List and describe the areas where communism seemed to be expanding after WWII.

What was the role of the United Nations in international affairs after WWII?

What was the greatest crisis of the Cold War and why?

Why did the world shift from bi-polar to multi-polar during the course of the Cold War?