germ, 'nam, cuba

Yalta & Potsdam Conferences• Allied forces meeting after WWII to divide Germany and other parts

of Eastern Europe into temporary "spheres of influences".

West Germany• The French, British, and American regions in Germany that merged

into one.

East Germany• The Soviet Union's region of Germany.

Berlin Blockade• The Soviets cutting off land access to Berlin from the west.

Berlin Airlift• The West flying in food and fuel to the "trapped" western half of

Berlin after the Berlin Blockade was set up.

Berlin Wall• The Soviets dividing Berlin in half by constructing a wall that fell in

1989.

Vietminh• Vietnamese nationalists fighting the French who tried to hold on to

Indochina after WWII.

Ho Chi Minh• Communist leader of North Vietnam.

Ngo Dihn Diem• President of the democratic South Vietnam.

Viet Cong• A member of the communist guerrilla movement in Vietnam that

fought the South Vietnamese government forces with the support of the North Vietnamese army in the Vietnam War.

Platt Amendment• Allowed the United States to remain involved in Cuban affairs and

provided for the presence of U.S. military bases.

Batista Dictatorship• Dictatorship supported by the United States in Cuba during the Cuban

Revolution.

Cuban Revolution• Fidel Castro attempting and succeeding in overthrowing the Batista

dictatorship replacing it with his own regime.

Fidel Castro• The great promoter of democracy for Cuba, but installed a

dictatorship once he took control of the government.

President Kennedy• United States President that authorized the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Bay of Pigs Invasion• A small force of Cuban exiles trained and supported by the United

States that invaded the Cuban island, but were unsuccessful in their attempt to start a revolt.

"Good Neighbor"• A diplomatic policy of the U.S., first presented in 1933 by President

Franklin Roosevelt, for the encouragement of friendly relations and mutual defense among the nations of the Western Hemisphere.

K.G.B.• The intelligence and internal security agency of the former Soviet

Union.