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The Cold War began.
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The Soviets launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. Sputnik traveled around the earth at 18,000 miles per hour, circling the globe every 96 minutes. Its launch was a tri-umph of Soviet technology.
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One last flight took place on May 1, and the pilot was Francis Gary Powers. Four hours after Powers entered Soviet airspace, a Soviet pilot shot down his U2 plane, and Powers was forced to parachute into Soviet-controlled territory. The Soviets sentenced Powers to ten years in prison.
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An unsuccessful military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the paramilitary group Brigade 2506.
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A barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin
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This was a 14-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other. It was one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict.
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The Cold War ended.
