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Period: to
Cold War
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Beginning of the Cold War
The Cold War was a result of remaining hostilities from World War 2. It was a continued state of political, military tension, proxy war and economic competition. The communist world, Soviet Union and its allies, and the United States and its allies were all part of it. -
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Lasted from June 1948 to September 1949.The Soviet Union tried to get the people of Berlin out by blocking all highway, rail, and water traffic from the east to the city.The United Kingdom, France, and the United States supplied food, coal, petroleum, and other supplies.The British delivered 2 million tons of supplies in more than 250,000 flights. -
Korean War
The war began on June 25, 1950 when North Korea attacked South Korea. The war was the result of the division in Korea. The war paused on a stalemate, where neither side wins. The border between the north and south remained the same throughout the entire war, and was turned into a demilitarized zone, a place where military force is prohibited, in the end. -
U-2 Spy Plane
In the early 1950s with Cold War tensions rising, the U.S. desired better reconnaissance to help determine the Soviet Union capabilities and intentions. It was believed an aircraft that could fly at 70,000 feet would be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and radar. This would allow over flights to take ariel pictures. The first plane launched was on July 4, 1956. The plane flew over Poland, Belorussia and the Soviet Baltic, before returning to its launch base in Wiesbaden, Germany. -
Vietnam War
The war was between the Communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the non-Communist Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnam. North Vietnamese and Communist-trained South Vietnamese rebels tried to overthrow the government of South Vietnam, and eventually unite the country. The United States and the South Vietnamese tried to stop this, but they failed. The war ended on April 30, 1975, the longest war in American history. -
First Man in Space and Sputnik
The first man in space was a man named Yuri Gagarin of Russia. He was in space for a total of 108 minutes in Vostok 1.
Sputnik was launched from Russia on October 4, 1957. It was the first satellite in space. It circled the Earth once ever 96 minutes at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour. It later crashed on January 4, 1958. -
Bay of Pigs
This event was the attempt of about 1,500 Cuban exiles to advance into Cuba and create a provisional government.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower had training camps for the exiles.
About 1,200 people were captured and more than 100 were dead. The survivors were captured and released for $53 million worth of drugs and food from the United States. -
S.A.L.T.
Between 1969 and 1979, S.A.L.T. were meetings between the Soviet Union and the United States to limit the production of nuclear weapons.
The meetings took place in Helsinki, Finland; Vienna, Austria; and Geneva, Switzerland. -
First Man on the Moon
The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong. He was accompanied by Buzz Aldrin in the Apollo 11. The mission launched on July 16, 1969 and took 4 days to get from Earth to the moon.
"That's one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind." is what Neil Armstrong said over the transmission. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
13 out of 15 republic areas in the Soviet Union had declared independence and were called Sovereign nation-states. The Soviet Union officially collapsed on December 21, 1991 when the presidents of Belarus and Ukraine met in Minsk, Belarus. They announced that they had made a new confederation called the Commonwealth of Independent States. They stated that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and invited remaining republics to join them, and most did.
