8.1 - Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization

Question 1

Big Three

Answer 1

the main Allied leaders during WWII—Franklin D. Roosevelt (US), Winston Churchill (UK), and Joseph Stalin (USSR)—who shaped postwar decisions and the emerging Cold War order

Question 2

Tehran Conference

Answer 2

1943 meeting of the Big Three to coordinate WWII strategy and discuss postwar plans, laying groundwork for postwar tensions

Question 3

Yalta Conference

Answer 3

1945 meeting where the Big Three negotiated postwar Europe, division of Germany, and plans for Eastern Europe—setting up Cold War rivalries

Question 4

Potsdam Conference

Answer 4

1945 meeting (Truman replaced Roosevelt) where Allied leaders finalized postwar arrangements, further heightening tensions between the US and USSR

Question 5

Harry Truman

Answer 5

US president after FDR, took a tough stance against the USSR and launched key Cold War policies like the Truman Doctrine

Question 6

Cold War

Answer 6

period of ideological, political, and economic rivalry (without direct war) between the US and USSR, shaping global relations after WWII

Question 7

Dwight Eisenhower

Answer 7

US president (1953–1961), led during the Cold War, built up the US nuclear arsenal, warned of the “military-industrial complex

Question 8

Self-Determination

Answer 8

the principle that nations have the right to choose their own government; supported decolonization but also led to Cold War proxy conflicts

Question 9

Hydrogen Bomb

Answer 9

a powerful nuclear weapon developed and tested by both the US and USSR, escalating the nuclear arms race during the Cold War

Question 10

Military-Industrial Complex

Answer 10

the alliance between a nation’s military and defense industries; Eisenhower warned it could gain too much influence during the Cold War