Key Historical Events and Terms of the 20th Century

Cuban Missile Crisis

• A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba.

• A peaceful negotiation between the United States and Cuba regarding trade relations.

• A military conflict between Cuba and the Soviet Union over territorial disputes.

• An economic embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba to limit its trade.

Marshall Plan

• An American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe.

• A military strategy used during World War II.

• A trade agreement between the US and Japan.

• A social welfare program initiated in the 1960s.

Containment

• A military strategy to expand U.S. territories.

• A geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States to prevent the spread of communism.

• A diplomatic approach to strengthen alliances with European nations.

• An economic policy aimed at increasing trade with Asia.

NATO

• A military alliance of European and North American democracies founded after World War II.

• A trade agreement between European countries.

• A cultural organization promoting arts in North America.

• A humanitarian aid group for disaster relief.

Warsaw Pact

• A military alliance formed in 1949 among Western nations.

• A collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

• An economic agreement between Eastern European countries.

• A peace treaty that ended the Cold War.

Holocaust

• The genocide of European Jews during World War II.

• A major battle fought in Europe during World War II.

• A political movement in Germany during the 1930s.

• A type of concentration camp used in World War I.

Cold War

• A period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies after World War II.

• A military conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries.

• A time of economic prosperity in Europe and North America.

• A series of diplomatic negotiations leading to global peace.

Reparations

• Compensation imposed during the Paris Peace Conference upon the Central Powers following their defeat in the First World War by the Allied and Associate Powers.

• A type of military strategy used by the Allied Powers during World War I.

• Financial aid provided to the Central Powers after World War I to rebuild their economies.

• A peace treaty signed at the end of World War I that established new national borders.

World War II

• A global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations.

• A conflict primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• A war fought mainly in Europe between 1914 and 1918.

• A series of battles fought in Asia during the 18th century.

Iron Curtain

• A term used to describe the boundary that separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries from about 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

• A type of physical barrier built to prevent the movement of people between two regions.

• A metaphor for the economic divide between Eastern and Western Europe during the Cold War.

• A military strategy used by NATO to counteract Soviet influence in Europe.