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Iron Curtain Speech
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."
It was Churchill's speech, which he titled "The Sinews of Peace," that changed the way the democratic West viewed the Communist East.
Chuchill was basically saying - the Soviet Union and communism is now the enemy of those who love freedom and democracy, and that the Soviet Union stood in defiance and contempt of the values that the West stood for. -
Marshall Plan
After World War II, Europe was in poor condition. Industrial and residential centers in England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium and elsewhere lay in ruins. Most of Europe was close to a famine because most of its farm land had been ruined during the war. European nations received nearly $13 billion in aid,
This affected the cold war by showing the US wasn't completely awful and help to soften the rivalry. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite to be sent into Earths orbit. It was launched successfully by the Soviet Union October 4th, 1957. It was the size of a beach ball and less than 200 pounds. This achievement freaked the US out because this meant that they had the technological advancement to launch missles over to the US. -
Bay Of Pigs
The purpose of the invasion was to overthrow Castro. It was a total failure because it was meant to be a surprise attack but Cuba became aware of it and Cuban forces were there waiting when the forces landed. -
Berlin Wall Built
Just past midnight during the night of August 12-13, 1961, East German soldiers and construction workers headed to the border of West and East Berlin. While most Berliners were sleeping, the workers quickly constructed a barrier made of concrete posts and barbed wire along the border. When Berliners did finally wake, they found themselves stuck on whichever side of the border they had fallen asleep on. For nearly three decades, East Germans would be kept behind this barrier, the Berlin Wall. -
Man Lands on the Moon
American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon. As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal and the landing craft left a crater about a foot deep. -
"Miracle on Ice"
The fact-based story of how the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviets at the 1980 Lake Placid, N.Y., winter Olympics, then went on to win the gold. Them beating the Soviets was clearly a jab at the Soviet Union. -
Korean Airlines flight 007
On September 1, 1983, Korean Airlines (KAL) flight 007 was on the last leg of a flight from New York City to Seoul, with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska. As it approached its final destination, the plane began to veer far off its normal course. In just a short time, the plane flew into Russian airspace and crossed over the Kamchatka Peninsula, where some top-secret Soviet military installations were known to be located. The Soviets sent two fighters to intercept the plane. According to tapes of -
"Rocky IV"
Rocky gives the speech near the end of the movie in which he talks about how he changed and everyone can change. The speech even brings the representatives of the Communist Party in attendance to their feet in applause. The message is quite clear: let's work together and end the Cold War before it gets serious. -
Berlin Wall Falls
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself.
