Cold War is a term that described the tense relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. The term Cold War “captured the ominous character of the hostile relations between the two sides, not actually at war but mobilizing their military and diplomatic forces in anticipation of a new conflict in Europe” (Brower & Thomas, 2014, pg. 192).  The term Iron Curtain referred to a perceived impenetrable divide between Europe and the Soviet sphere of domination in eastern Europe (Brower & Thomas, 2014, pg. 192).  The Soviet Union sought to maintain control of Eastern Europe to safeguard them from Germany as well as to spread communism (Cold War, n.d.).  Containment was a policy developed in the United States to stop the spread of communism abroad.  One way the United States and Western European countries carried out containment was by establishing NATO.  Domino Theory was an idea that governed the U.S. foreign policy beginning in the early 1950s.  According to domino theory, a communist victory in one nation would cause a chain reaction of communist takeovers in other territories.

HIST 410N WEEK 4: COLD WAR BUZZ WORDS DISCUSSION

Brower, D., & Sanders, T. (2014). The World in the Twentieth Century: From Empires to Nations (7^th ed.). Pearson Learning Solutions.  VitalBook file.

Cold war.  (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War