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Berlin airlift
Supply of vital necessities to West Berlin by air transport primarily under U.S. auspices, in response to a land and water blockade instituted by the Soviet Union in the hope that the Allies would be forced to abandon West Berlin. May 12, 1949. During the around-the-clock airlift some 277,000 flights were made, many at 3-min intervals. -
Creation of Nato
military alliance was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949, which sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. -
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KOREAN WAR
Nearly 100,000 North Koreans smashed across the 38th parallel and overran Seoul, the South Korean capital. On June 27, U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea; a week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command. Communist China entered the war on Oct. 19, 1950. -
Creation of the warsaw pact
In May 1955, the Soviet Union institutionalized its East European alliance system when it gathered together representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in Warsaw to sign the multilateral Treaty on Friendship, -
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Vietnam war
In Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 11/1/55 to the fall of Saigon on 4/30/75. Fought b/t N.Vietnam, supported by communist allies, and the government of S.Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed S.Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war -
Sputnik 1
Launched by the Soviet Union, Sputnik was the world's first artificial satellite -- a 184-pound, beachball-sized sphere stuffed with eerily beeping radio transmitters. Americans reacted with shock and disbelief. -
Creation of the berlin wall
The East German government erected the Berlin Wall in order to keep its citizens from fleeing to the West. -
Cuban missle crisis
In 1962, the Soviets were desperately behind the U-S in the arms race. Soviet missiles could only reach Europe. -
Moon landing
millions of people gathered around their televisions to watch two U.S. astronauts do something no one had ever done before. Wearing bulky space suits and backpacks of oxygen to breathe, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first human beings to walk on the moon -
Destruction of the berlin wall
The East German government announces that visits to West Germany and West Berlin will be permitted. Thousands of East Berliners pass into West Berlin as border guards stand by. People begin tearing down the wall