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NATO
NATO was formed in on the 4th of April, 1949 as a means of protecting Europe and a replacement for the collapsed League of Nations. Throughout the Cold War, NATO did very little except for monitoring the movements of the Soviet Union. -
Hungarian Uprising
On the 23rd of October,1956 the Hungarian Uprising began. Hungary had been under Soviet control for almost a decade and this internal uprising began to make the country democratic. In response to this, Khrushchev ordered 1,000 tanks into Hungary to end the uprising. This uprising resulted in the deaths of 2,500 Hungarians, including women and children. -
Sputnik
On the 4th of October, 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik into space. This was the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth and marked the beginning of the Space Race between the USA and USSR. This caused tension between the two powers as the Unites Stated felt threatened by a Soviet satellite flying over it. -
Spy Plane Incident
On the 1st of May, 1960 an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet airspace. Even though the United States attempted to claim that the spy plane was a weather plane, the pilot, Francis Gary Powers was captured by the Soviet Union and was proof of the United States spying. This event occurred just thirteen day before Paris Summit, a meeting aimed to help relations between the USA and USSR. However, because of this incident, the USSR lost trust in the USA and the summit collapsed. -
Berlin Wall
On the 13th of August 1961 construction began on the Berlin Wall by East Germany. This wall was built to stop the people of East Germany escaping from Soviet rule to West Germany. The Berlin Wall was built in very short period of time, meaning that families were split up and temporary food shortages became common. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
An American U-2 spy plane flew over Cuba on the 14th of October, 1962. It captured pictures of missile sights being built on the island and nearing completion. This was very threatening to the United States and President Kennedy met with a group of advisors called ExComm to determine a response. It was decide that the best approach was to blockade Cuba. After several weeks it was agreed that the Cuban missiles would be dismantled in return for the US dismantling its missiles in Turkey. -
Moon Landing
On the 16th of July 1969, Apollo 11, the first attempted moon landing mission, successfully landed on the moon. This was the climax of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins becoming the first men on the moon. This feat meant that the United States essentially won the Space Race as the Soviet Union had no way to top it. -
SALT Treaties
The United States and the Soviet Union met on the 17th of October 1969 for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I). These talks lated for 3 years and a treaty was singed in 1972 limiting the number of strategic arms and strategic defence systems that each country had. Later that year SALT II treaties began and lasted for another seven years.
