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Soviets Get Big Bombs
Only months after the US detonated the first Atomic bomb, the Soviets started to work on one of their own. In 1949 the Soviets detonated their first nuclear bomb. The Soviets had received information from US scientist Klaus Fuchs, who sent them the blue prints of the "fat man" that the US dropped on Japan. This showed the dangerous levels of brinkmanship that both the US and the USSR were willing to go to. After, the USSR had atomic bombs the arms race was in full swing. -
Fidel Castro Comes to Power in Cuba
Castro was born into wealth. His father was a wealthy sugarcane farmer. He was educated in law at the University of Havana. Castro first joined the Orthodox party that was trying to stop the corruption in Cuba. With the Orthodox party he tried to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1947, but failed. When Batista took power,Castro first tried to overthrow him in 1953 but failed. Castro fled to Mexico where he built up another regime to try and overthrow Batista again. -
Fidel Castro Comes to Power in Cuba P2
Eventually in 1959 after 2 years of fighting. Fidel Castro finally overthrew Batista and came to power. This symbolizes the Cold War because it showed how poorly the US did at containing communism. Cuba was the first country in the western hemisphere to be a communist country.
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U-2 Spy Plane Controversy
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot who worked for the CIA. He was flying a U2 plane over the USSR taking photos deep in Russia. Russia shot down his spy plane and kept him prisoner. The US tried to cover up and say it was a NASA plane, but it was soon revealed that it was a spy plane. The Cold War was a proxy war, and this event was different because Russia actually shot down the plane. -
Basketball Olympics
The 1972 Olympic Basketball gold medal match was the most controversial match in Olympic history. In the Olympics in 1972 no professionals were allowed to play. The US only used college players, so the soviets listed their best players as soldiers or workers. During the game many the Soviet bias was apparent. During the second half a Soviet player punched a US player in the face and the ref did not see! Then after this the Soviets got 3 chances on the inbound play to score and finally did. -
Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF)
The INF was a treaty to try and stop the nuclear weapon progression that had been going on for the last 30 years. It was a treaty that eliminated intermediate and short range missiles. Both the US and USSR agreed, and with it the arms race was almost done.
