5 Steps to a 5 AP World History, 2014-2015 Edition

KEY IDEA

228 i

CHAPTER

26 The Cold War and the Postwar Balance of Power

IN THIS CHAPTER

Summary: The decades following World War II were dominated by the rela-

tionship between the two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet

Union. During the postwar period, the superpowers were almost always on

the verge of warfare. As former colonial possessions gained independence,

many of them sought aid from the United States or the Soviet Union. As

the Soviets extended their dominion throughout Eastern Europe, Asia, and

Cuba, the United States attempted to contain communist expansion.

Key Terms

Afrikaners*

Alliance for Progress*

apartheid*

ayatollah*

Berlin Wall

brinkmanship*

coalition*

Cold War*

collectivization*

containment*

Cuban Missile Crisis

Cultural Revolution*

Five Year Plans*

Geneva Conference*

genocide*

glasnost*

Government of India

Act

Great Leap Forward*

Guomindang*

Iron Curtain

Korean Confl ict

kulaks*

Marshall Plan*

May Fourth

Movement*

New Economic Policy

(NEP)*

nonalignment*