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Berlin Airlift
Western Berlin received an airlift because they needed daily goods/supplies after the Soviet Union's Blockade on their city. -
Soviets detonate an atomic bomb
Joseph Stalin authorized the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons. These were then named “first lightning” and tested at Semipalatinsk Test site, in Kazakhstan. The Soviets built buildings, bridges,and other civilian structures and also placed animals in cages nearby to test out the effect of the nuclear weapon. -
Geneva Accords signed
The Final Act of the diplomatic conference was signed by 196 states, all UN member states, Palestine, and Cook Islands. They traveled to Geneva to discuss the terms of wartime humanitarian agreement and was signed to establish the Red Cross emblem signifying neutral status and protection of medical services and volunteers. -
China falls to the communists
China fell to Communism and led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began a chain of events that led to their fall to communism. -
Korean War
North Korea attacked South Korea leading to the Korean War. The principal participants, the United States and United Nations joined the war on the South Korean side. Millions of people lost their lives. In July 1935 the war ended with Korea still divided into two hostile states. -
Fidel Castro seizes power
Fidel Castro prepared to run for office in the election of 1952. The elections got canceled when Fulgencio Batista seized power. Castro began movements against Batista and shortly after Batista fled the country and Castro assumed full authority over Cuba. Castro turned Cuba into a communist state. Castro’s communist reforms aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union and alienated it from the United States, the U.S. imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. -
Rosenbergs executed
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electric chair because they both refused to admit any wrongdoing. They proclaimed their innocence up to the time of their deaths in Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York. -
McCarthy hearings
McCarthy made speeches in the senate in which he alleged Communist influence within the press and federal government. He blamed other people for supporting communism with no evidence to back it up. In order for him to stay in office and win, he accused others that they were in favor of communism. -
Sputnik orbit
The USSR launched the Sputnik orbit, basketball-sized satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome to test radio and optical methods of tracking. It was sent out by a huge rocket. -
NASA created
NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union's October 4, 1957 launch of its first satellite, Sputnik I