-
Warsaw Pact
In 1955, the Soviet Union and the Communist nations of Eastern Europe formed there own alliances, known as the Warsaw Pact.The Warsaw Pact included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungry, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. -
Sputnik
On October 4th 1957 the arms race too another leap forwards with the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik, history's first artificial satellite. -
Bay of Pigs invation
With the U.S government seeking to overthrow Castro, they trained an invasion force of approximately 1,500 Cubans who had fled Castro's authority's .In April this force arrived and tried to over throw Castro but failed. -
Cuban missile crisis
The Cuban missile crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.After a two week stand off Soviet leaders removed the missiles when the United States agreed to remove U.S missiles from Turkey and promised not to attack Cuba. -
counterculture
In the 1960's a rebellion of teenagers and young adults against mainstream American society spread across the country. -
Solidarity
In the 1980's Polish electrician Lech Walease led hundreds of thousands of workers in an anti-government protest movement.It held approximately 9.4 million members who are considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism. -
glasnost and perestrokia
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985, he saw the need for change. He proposed two radical concepts, glasnost and perestroika. Glasnost means "openness" and it means willingness to discuss openly the Soviet Union's problems.Perestroika means "restructuring" and referred to the reform of the Soviet economic and political system. -
Berlin wall
After hungry opened its border with Austria in August 1989,thousands of east Germans traveled to Hungary to cross, this now opened the border to the west.Unable to stop the flow of citizens coming into West Germany, East Germany opened the gates of Berlin Wall. -
Velvet Revolution
In Czechoslovakia the Velvet Revolution was called so because it was so peaceful. The Velvet Revolution pushed the Communists out of power. The Revolution also forced free elections. -
Boris Yeltsin
On July 10th 1991 Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Russia.In August 1991 hard-line Communist Party leaders sought to end Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms and preserve the Soviet Union by taking over the Soviet government in a coup d'etat. The effort failed largely becasue of the opposition of Boris.
