The Berlin Airlift:
The Berlin Airlift was a military operation by the United States, Great Britain and other western European nations to take food, fuel and other vital provisions into West Berlin. The Berlin airlift began after the Communist government of East Germany, which surrounded West Berlin, under the orders of Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin, launched a blockade cutting off the land and canal supply routes to the western part of the city. It began on April 1, 1948. The only remaining access routes into the city were three air corridors across the Soviet Zone of Occupation in East Germany. The Western Powers made the decision to launch the Berlin Airlift to get vital supplies to the West Berliners rather than abandoning the city. The Berlin Airlift lasted for 318 days, on May 12, 1949, in which 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies into the city. |
The term 'Iron Curtain' is a related to the Cold War and the guarded border between the countries of the Soviet bloc, the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, and the rest of Europe. The idea of the 'Iron Curtain' was made famous in a speech by the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, in which he condemned the Soviet Union’s policies in Europe. Churchill's speech was seen by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as “war mongering” and it heralded the beginning of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The term 'Iron Curtain' describes the "impenetrable barrier" or border between the states that became members of the Warsaw Pact (in Eastern Europe), and those that were not (then called The West).
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The Cold War was not actually a war with battles, but instead a war of words, primarily between the United States and the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union and the United States became the two leading world powers after World War II. They both developed atomic weapons, which made the thought of an atomic war very scary. It was also a war of ideas. The Soviet Union thought that countries should become communist, which gave all the power to the government and tried to make everyone else equal. The United States believed in capitalism, which gives people the opportunity to be successful by working hard. For over 40 years from the 1945 until 1991 the United States and the Soviet Union were constantly competing to make sure the other did not gain in advantage. This competition was a major reason several wars were fought, as well as the reason space exploration began
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Beginning in the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union (a socialist1 country that was made up of what are now 15 different countries and that existed from 1922 to 1991) had a very tense relationship known as the Cold War. Although the Cold War never did escalate from tension to real violence between the two countries, people in the United States worried that the Soviets might attack with a nuclear bomb.2 To prepare for such an event, elementary and high school students performed emergency drills at school, just as we might do fire or other safety drills today. The most common drill was called “Duck and Cover.”
In a duck and cover drill, a student drops to the floor and gets under something, like a desk. Then they lie face-down, curl up, and cover the head and neck with a jacket, book, or even their hands. The goal of this drill was to protect against several dangerous side effects of a nuclear blast. The force of the explosion could create immense3 amounts of heat. It could also cause windows to shatter.Keeping one’s face on the floor could prevent burns and protect it from flying pieces of sharp glass.Q1 The United States government worked hard to teach as many people about the duck and cover drill as possible. In 1951 they also released a short video, also titled “Duck and Cover,” written for children in schools. This film featured a cartoon turtle named Bert, who ducked and covered whenever he saw a bright flash of light. Schools encouraged teachers to yell, “Drop!” in the middle of a lesson in order to see if students were prepared at any moment. |
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. The conflict was fought between the Soviet-backed communist North Korea and China against the United States and the UN-backed South Korea. The United Nations troops, the majority of whom were from the United States, were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Reinforcements from the communist People's Republic of China joined the North Koreans and the conflict ended in a stalemate and a truce was signed on July 27, 1953 formally ending the war in Korea. North and South Korea remained separate, occupying nearly all of the same territory they had when the Korean War began.
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John F Kennedy (1917-1963), nicknamed the "JFK" or the "King of Camelot", was the 35th American President and served in office from 1961-1963. The Presidency of John F Kennedy spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the Cold War Era and the age of the Space Race and the Cold War Arms Race. President John F Kennedy represented the Democratic political party which influenced the domestic and foreign policies of his presidency.
The major accomplishments and the famous, main events that occurred during the time that John F Kennedy was president included the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) , the Berlin Wall was erected. Alan Shepard became the first American in space. The Women’s Rights Movement and Feminism emerges and the 1963 Equal Pay Act was passed. The Civil Rights Movement gains momentum with the Freedom Riders and the March on Washington. Source: America-Historama.org |
Cuban Missile Crisis |
The Cold War Space Race (1957 - 1975) was a competition in the exploration of space between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Space Race included the exploration of outer space using rocket technology with artificial satellites to send animals and humans into space, and to land people on the Moon. The Space Race started as the Russians developed rocket technology and launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, on October 4, 1957. The Space Race ended in 1975 with Apollo-Soyez space project.
Source: America-Historama.org |
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