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U-2 Incident
The Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane . Khrushchev, the Soviet leader at this time, declared that the Soviet Union would not take part in a scheduled summit conference with the U.S., Britain, and France unless the U.S. immediately stopped flights over Soviet territory, apologized, and punished those responsible.
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/u2-spy-incident -
Berlin Wall
On the night of August 12-13, 1961, trucks with soldiers and construction workers rumbled through East Berlin. They dug holes to put up concrete posts and strung barbed wire all across the border between East and West Berlin. Suddenly, on the evening of November 9, 1989, East German government announced that they will open up the boarder between the East and West Berlin. This opened up trade between East Germany and the United States. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
a U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovered nuclear missile sites under construction. Reconnaissance flights by U-2s continued over Cuba, while U.S. and Soviet officials exchanged words of warning for a nuclear war. Later on, Khrushchev announced that they were withdrawing the missiles from Cuba and the U.S. quietly removed the missiles from Turkey that equally threatened the Soviet Union. This event the closest the U.S. and Soviets ever came to hot war or direct combat. -
Vietnam War
The U.S. was fighting for the South Vietnamese against the communist North Vietnamese, so the Soviets decided to back up the communists. This way the soviets didn't have to directly fighting the U.S. The U.S. made very little progress in Vietnam because they couldn’t seem to adapt to the Viet Cong’s fighting style. This was key to the idea of cold war because the U.S. and Soviets helped the opposing sides but didn’t have to wage hot war on each other.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war -
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Joint space venture between USA and USSR heralded as an end to the ‘Space Race’.
