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Winston Churchill Biography
Winston Churchill was the British prime minister from 1940-1945. He was at the forefront of politics for 50 years, and has gone to Cuba, India, Sudan, Oldham, and South Africa. He participated in WW1 on the Western Front. During WW2 when he was prime minister, he declared war on Germany after their invasion in France and made the bold statement We shall never surrender. He suffered from depression which he called the Black Dog. He later called the split in Europe the Iron Curtain. -
Stalin Biography
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid 1920s until his death in 1953. He participated in WW1, the Russian Revolution, Russian Civil War, and the Polish-Soviet War. He soon became the leader of the Soviet Union, resulting from 34-49 million deaths, directly linked to him. He signed the Non Aggression Pact with Hitler, later to be betrayed, and fought Germany during WW2. He highly favored communism, and had it spread to most Eastern countries, creating the Iron Curtain. -
John F. Kennedy Biography
Nicknamed JFK, was the 35th President of the United States who took actions during the Cold War. He initiated the Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba. He also dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis and prevented nuclear war. He supported Project Mercury to get a space station hovering over Earth. The creation of NASA helped with the Apollo program to eventually get Americans on the moon. On November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated at the age of 46, in Dallas, Texas. My birthday :/ -
Yalta Conference
The US, UK, and the Soviet Union meet up to discuss post-war reorganization for Europe. The leaders pledged for free elections in the countries after the war was over with. (Stalin broke this pledge). -
End of World War 2
With the end of WW2, the Soviet Union and capitalist countries such as the US, began to show major distrust in each other with both ideas of capitalism and communism coexisting. -
The "Iron Curtain"
The boundary that had split the Warsaw Pact and NATO countries. The name originated from Winston Churchill, as communism and capitalism set up borders to prevent each others' ideas from taking over. -
The Marshall Plan
Known as the ERP (European Recovery Program) was the American program to aid European countries with monetary support to help them rebuild their own economies. It was designed after WW2 to ensure that the European countries would not give into the Soviet's communism. They planned to remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and rebuild destroyed lands in Europe. -
The Berlin Airlift
After the USSR set up a blockade between East and West Berlin, the US began delivering supply drops through planes. They flew over the blockade to feed the citizens of East Berlin. -
NATO
Worried that Communist expansion to the US and 11 other Western nations was imminent, the countries form NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). If one of the countries in NATO were to be attacked, then all members will act as if they were attacked. -
The Warsaw Pact
After witnessing the NATO alliance between the capitalist countries, the Soviet Union formed their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. Most of the countries were forced into joining by the USSR. -
The Vietnam War
With the US and the USSR facing off for world resources, both sides of Vietnam favored their own side in the Cold War. South Vietnam allied with the US, while North Vietnam was sided with the USSR. The US thought that if North Vietnam won the war, the rest of Southern Asian countries would go communist. This brought them into the Vietnam War to stop them. -
The Sputnik Satellite
The Sputnik 1 satellite was the first satellite to be launched by the Soviet Union. Once the US was informed about these Soviet satellite operations, President Dwight D. Eisenhower described it as the "Sputnik Crisis" as the US now began to compete with the Soviets in the race for space. -
US Propaganda
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Soviet Propaganda
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The U-2 Incident
The U-2 was an American spy plane for covert surveillance over the Soviet Union. However, the plane was shot down by the Soviet Union over their airspace. The US at first denied its purpose, then later revealed that it was used to gather information after they had revealed the surviving parts and pilot of the plane. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
This invasion took place in Cuba, as it was meant to get rid of their leader, Fidel Castro. JFK had ordered the CIA to execute such an invasion, late claiming to not have been involved with the attack. However, Cuba already knew that the US were training mercenaries for the invasion, from the UN. -
The Berlin Wall
The Soviets built the Berlin wall to prevent any communication between Eastern and Western Germans. It had remained their for 28 years, with extreme security. Here is a cool music video about the Berlin Wall and the Cold War from a special video game :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVz6svD5axg or www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZVz6svD5axg -
Berlin Border Map
Map of Germany split into East and West between the Soviets and NATO -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The brink of nuclear war came upon when Soviet field commanders deployed nuclear weapons onto Cuba for "defense." John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev later came to agreements and the war was avoided. -
China's A-bomb
China detonates their first nuclear bomb, coming in 5th place after the US, Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. The US and the Soviet Union became concerned about China's atomic bomb. This had complicated the arms race even more and intensified the tension between the US and the USSR. -
SR-71
The SR-71 (Blackbird) was a long range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft that traveled at Mach 3+. It was developed by the US, and spied in North Vietnam. When these planes were locked on to by enemy missiles, the pilot would simply accelerate the aircraft, outracing the missile. 32 have been developed, 12 were lost in accidents, and none were taken down by enemies. The plane traveled high altitudes, having the pilot required to wear specialized pressured suits that would give them oxygen. -
ILLUSTRATION 1
JFK and Nikita Khrushchev battling in an ARMS race. Whoever loses press the button to send nuclear missiles to the opponent. -
ILLUSTRATION 2
Both sides are shooting harmless arrows until one of them sets off the many nuclear bombs. This mimics the tension between the US and USSR as one of them will make the final blow, and cause the missiles to be launched -
ILLUSTRATION 3
Both the US and USSR are looking at each other in anger, as they want nothing to do with each other. They both sit on opposite sides of the world, with their own ideals, not wanting to be challenged. -
Number of Nuclear Launchers
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Number of Warheads
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Labor Strikes in Poland (History of Solidarity)
Workers in Gdansk, Poland, seize the Lenin Shipyard and demanded pay raises. They also wanted the right to form a union apart from communist control. Their leader was known as Lech Walesa, who would end the communist rule in Poland. -
Music Video: Description
This is a music video from the game Call of Duty: Black Ops, which took an alternative route during the cold war. It has an American and a Soviet on both sides of the wall singing about the Ẃind of Change. This song was made in 1991, the year the Cold War had ended. The German rock band Scorpions had wrote a song, celebrating the glasnost in the USSR, and talks about hope when tense conditions arose due to the fall of Communist-run governments among Eastern Bloc nations beginning in 1989. -
Music Video: Wind of Change
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVz6svD5axg or www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZVz6svD5axg
Check the next event for info. -
Cuban Missile Crisis in 5 minutes
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Cold War in 9 Minutes video
