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Events During The Cold War
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US creates and tests first hydrogen bomb
After the soviets detonated a bomb in 1949, Truman ordered that the Hydrogen Bomb be created. The first airdrop of the bomb happened on May 20th, 1956. The blast was equivilent to 15 million tons of TNT. The blast created a fireball at least 4 miles wide and was said to be brighter then 500 suns. Aircrafts 15 miles away could feel the shock waves from the explosion. -
Soviets launch Sputnik
On October 4th 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the worlds first artificial sattelite. The sattelite was about the size of a beachball and took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. Many Americans feared that because of this creation, the Soviets were ahead in the arms race. We responded to Sputnik by creating and launching Explorer 1 in January 1958. This led to the beggining of the space race. -
The Six Day War
A war lasting 6 days between Syria, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq. It was also known as the Arab-Israeli War. The war was put into place to defend the Israelis from the impending attacks from the Arabs. -
US sends man to the moon
In July of 1969, the U.S sent the first man to the moon. President Kennedy first brought up the idea to send a man to the moon because the US was still trailing behind the Soviets in space developments. On July 16th, Apollo 11 launched with 3 astronauts on board. It entered into lunar orbit on July 19th and landed on the moon the next day. Sending the astronauts to space was very costly but it put the US in front of the Soviets in the space race. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) was signed by president Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev on May 26, 1972. The treaty was to limit the number of nuclear missiles used in the US and Soviet arsenals. However, the treaty didnt last long and SALT 2 was put into place. SALT 2 ended up failing as well when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. -
USSR invades Afghanistan
On December 24th, 1979, the Soviets Union invaded Afghanistan and began the Soviet-Afghan War. The soviets sent sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and took complete political and military control of large parts of the country. It was the first time the soviets had invaded a country outside the Eatern Bloc. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan to help spread communism throughout the country.
