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Berlin Airlift
In June 1948 the U.S. and Britain announced a proposal for establishing a new currency, the Deutschmark, into West Berlin. This immediately caused economic chaos in the Soviet Union as people frantically struggled to adjust to the new system of currency. The Soviets responded on June 24 by cutting off all road, rail and canal links between West Germany and West Berlin. -
The Korean War
On June 25, 1950, the North invaded the south pushing all the way to the tip of the peninsula in a matter of months. The U.S. soon intervened by landing in Incheon, not too far south of the 38th parallel. With the help of the U.S., the South pushed back up to the Chinese border. The Chinese then fought back and pushed back down to the 38th parallel. The rest of the war was fought along this line where an armistice was signed in 1953. -
Sputnik Crisis
The Sputnik crisis was the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program. It was a key Cold War event that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. The launch of Sputnik I rattled the American public. President Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to it as the “Sputnik Crisis”. Although Sputnik was itself harmless, its orbiting intensified the continual threat the United States watched for from the Soviet Union -
Space Race
After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle pitted the world’s two great powers–the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union–against each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and–by extension–its political-economic system. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
On October 14, 1962, a U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovered nuclear missile sites under construction. These missiles would have been capable of quickly reaching the United States. President Kennedy convened a small group of senior officials to debate the crisis. This group was known as ExComm and they met almost continuously for the next two weeks. -
Assassination of President Kennedy
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three sh -
The Vietnam War
The allies agreed because they wanted to get rid of all communism. However, because the U.S. was fighting against the communist North Vietnamese, the Soviets decided to back up the communists. This way the soviets weren’t directly fighting the U.S. but instead were using a proxy war. The fighting escalated until in 1968 there were about 550,000 Allied troops there assisting the south. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
A politburo member named Schabowski briefed the media on November 9, 1989 on the swiftly written decree he misinterpreted what it said, announcing that East Germans could freely use all border crossings to "permanently exit" the nation. Word soon spread and people gathered at the border crossings. Although the guards had no orders to do so, they reopened the borders with the rest of Germany, allowing people to cross freely. The wall ceased to function from that day forward, and people were soo
