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The Cold War key terms

Flash cards on the Cold War's key ideas and events, from the Iron Curtain and the Truman Doctrine to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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The cards, front and back

  1. 1
    Front

    Cold War

    Back

    The rivalry from about 1947 to 1991 between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. The two superpowers never fought each other directly, but competed politically, economically and militarily.

  2. 2
    Front

    Superpower

    Back

    A state with enough military, economic and political strength to influence events worldwide. After 1945 the term described the United States and the Soviet Union.

  3. 3
    Front

    Capitalism vs communism

    Back

    Capitalism is based on private ownership and markets; the US led the capitalist bloc. Communism, as practised in the Soviet Union, was based on state ownership and a single-party state.

  4. 4
    Front

    Iron Curtain

    Back

    A phrase for the division of Europe between the Western democracies and the Soviet-dominated East. Winston Churchill made it famous in a 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri.

  5. 5
    Front

    Truman Doctrine (1947)

    Back

    US President Harry Truman's policy of supporting countries resisting communism, starting with aid to Greece and Turkey.

  6. 6
    Front

    Containment

    Back

    The US strategy of stopping communism from spreading to new countries, rather than trying to overthrow it where it already existed.

  7. 7
    Front

    Marshall Plan

    Back

    A US programme from 1948 that gave billions of dollars of aid to rebuild Western European economies after the Second World War.

  8. 8
    Front

    Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948 to 1949)

    Back

    The Soviet Union blocked land routes into West Berlin. The Western Allies flew in food and fuel for about eleven months until the blockade was lifted.

  9. 9
    Front

    NATO

    Back

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance founded in 1949 by the United States, Canada and Western European countries for collective defence.

  10. 10
    Front

    Warsaw Pact

    Back

    A military alliance formed in 1955 between the Soviet Union and Eastern European communist states, in response to West Germany joining NATO.

  11. 11
    Front

    Arms race

    Back

    Competition between the superpowers to build more and better weapons, especially nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

  12. 12
    Front

    Mutually assured destruction (MAD)

    Back

    The idea that neither side would start a nuclear war because the other could still strike back and destroy it.

  13. 13
    Front

    Space race

    Back

    Competition in space exploration. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite, in 1957; the United States landed astronauts on the Moon in 1969.

  14. 14
    Front

    Korean War (1950 to 1953)

    Back

    War between North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, backed by UN forces led by the US. It ended in an armistice, and Korea remains divided.

  15. 15
    Front

    Berlin Wall (1961 to 1989)

    Back

    A wall built by East Germany in 1961 to stop people leaving for West Berlin. Its opening on 9 November 1989 became a symbol of the Cold War's end.

  16. 16
    Front

    Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

    Back

    A thirteen-day stand-off in October 1962 after the US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. It ended when the Soviets agreed to remove them, and the US secretly agreed to remove its missiles from Turkey.

  17. 17
    Front

    Proxy war

    Back

    A conflict where the superpowers supported opposing sides rather than fighting directly, such as in Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan.

  18. 18
    Front

    Detente

    Back

    An easing of tension between the superpowers in the late 1960s and 1970s, including arms-control talks such as SALT I.

  19. 19
    Front

    Glasnost and perestroika

    Back

    Reforms introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s. Glasnost means openness; perestroika means restructuring of the economy and politics.

  20. 20
    Front

    End of the Cold War

    Back

    Communist governments in Eastern Europe fell in 1989, Germany reunified in 1990, and the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991.

How to use this template

This deck explains the key terms and events of the Cold War in plain language. It is designed for secondary school history students, first-year university students and anyone who wants to understand how the post-1945 world was shaped. Cards run roughly in chronological order, so learning them in order gives you a timeline as well as definitions. Use Learn mode first, then Test mode, and let spaced repetition bring back the cards you miss. Printing double-sided gives you a pocket set for quick revision on the bus or between classes.

Tips

  • Always identify which side each term belongs to: a US policy, a Soviet action or an alliance.
  • Learn pairs together: NATO and the Warsaw Pact, glasnost and perestroika, containment and the Truman Doctrine.
  • For crisis cards, practise explaining the cause, the events and the result in three short sentences.
  • Look for patterns of tension and calm. The Cold War moved between crises and periods of detente.
  • Use a world map to locate the proxy wars and see how far the rivalry reached.

Make it fit

  • Add cards on the Vietnam War, the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 or the Prague Spring of 1968 if your course covers them.
  • For a regional focus, add how the Cold War affected your own country or region.
  • Split the deck into early, middle and late Cold War for three short study sessions.
  • Use the Cuban Missile Crisis card as the starting point for a class role-play of the thirteen days.

Updated October 28, 2026

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