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sputnik
It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee.
remaining in orbit until January 4, 1958.
the Soviet Union had made a substantial leap in technology, which was interpreted as a serious threat to US national security. -
Berlin Airlift
Soviet forces blocked rail, road, and water access to Allied-held areas of Berlin.
The Berlin blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War.
the Americans foiled the Soviet plan to take West Berlin hostage. -
creation of NATO
NATO was the first peacetime military alliance that the United States entered outside of the Western Hemisphere.
Its purpose was to ensure peace in Europe.
As tensions in Europe rose, the United States realized that a lasting peace was not going to follow suit. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
Formally known as the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
was an organization of socialist and people's democratic states of Central and Eastern Europe. -
Construction of Berlin Wall
the communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began building a barbed-wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall” or “anti-fascist stronghold” between East and West Berlin.
it was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the leaders of the US and the Soviet Union clashed in a tense 13-day political and military standoff
President Kennedy did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles.
it was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and it was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to a nuclear conflict. -
Moon landing
Six missions brought humans to the Moon.
American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon.
American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon. -
Destruction of Berlin Wall
the anti-government protests in East Germany and the democratization of other Central and Eastern European states.
a history of division and repression, but also of yearning for freedom, and the events that led to his overthrow are no exception.
the fall of the Iron Curtain and one of the series of events that began the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, preceded by the Solidarity Movement in Poland.